When I was teenager, every young, attractive female was a potential girlfriend.   I never had to look for rings on fingers, or wonder about serious relationships. I especially didnâ??t have to concern myself with how many kids a young woman might have.  Approaching the opposite sex was so much easier back then. Young girls were plentiful, and nobody ever seemed to mind getting hit on. Even if a girl did have a boyfriend, it was unlikely very serious, and you always had a bit of a shot.  Now that Iâ??m thirty, however, and back in the dating game, itâ??s certainly not that easy anymore. In fact, it seems quite an overwhelming and arduous quest to find attractive women my age who are still single.  Itâ??s especially difficult if you arenâ??t ready to be an instant father to somebody elseâ??s kids, as wonderful and special as those kids might be.  Thatâ??s why I absolutely love online dating.  You get to bypass all the nonsense and get strait to the point.  And when youâ??re as busy as I am, and getting on in years, its nice to know that you can still be a bit picky.

     When youâ??re a focused and busy professional like myself, itâ??s a rarity to run into anybody in the workplace who really catches your attention. When someone does, however, it seems more than likely that this person will either be married, or in a serious relationship. And since Iâ??m not too keen on stealing precious moments with somebody elseâ??s wife (unless of course she was really hot and came on to me), the challenge of finding Mrs. Right, or even Mrs. Right Now, can be a frustrating and trying operation.  Besides, workplace relationships, even if they are casual hook ups or one night drunken escapades, can open doors to all sorts of difficulties and frustrations.  Iâ??m sure everybody has heard the horror stories, if they havenâ??t yet experienced it themselves.  Successful workplace romances are usually confined to daytime drama, though these romantic victories never seem to last too long.  As for the rest of us, we will likely need to make an effort on our own time if we want to meet that special someone.

     Bars and socials are great places to meet other singles if youâ??re still in your twenties, like to drink to access, and are primarily looking for a one-night stand.  I myself have never actually dated any of the women Iâ??ve taken home from the bar, unless a handful of late night booty calls count as dating. Nevertheless, I hear it does happen on occasion.  And though I havenâ??t quite outgrown the bar scene, or the women it entails, I have to admit that it has lost some of its original lustre.  More and more I find myself, to my own utter amazement, preferring to spend a Friday or Saturday night at home with a good movie, or even out with a married friend for coffee. Most surprisingly, Iâ??m starting to wonder what it would be like to spend a nice evening going out for dinner and then to a play or an opera.  My god, I am getting old.  But itâ??s hard to meet single women when youâ??re out for dinner by yourself, and especially if youâ??re sitting in a play or at the opera.  I guess some moments are best shared as two.

     So now Iâ??m at my computer, browsing through profiles of local women too pretty to ever work at my company.  And Iâ??m not just restricted to one darkened photograph, one carefully selected photo picked from a million.  Many of these lovely ladies have posted numerous candid shots, not leaving me to wonder if the bottom end is as pretty as the top. In fact, some of the best dating sites today not only allow for unlimited picture uploads, they also allow unlimited video uploads as well.  And with all kinds of questionnaires and descriptive profile information, I donâ??t have to leave anything to chance.  The best part of online dating, however, is I can skip all the wondering (is she with someone, does she think Iâ??m attractive, do we have anything in common, are there any kids, etc.) and find out everything I need in very little time. Personally, I like to make it even more straightforward than that. I prefer one date, not long after our first online encounter, and not more than a few hours long. Then we can each go home and decide if we want to continue with date number two.  Very little time and emotion is invested, and the potential for hurt feelings are minimized. If things donâ??t work out, you move on to the next.  The beautiful thing about online dating is that there are always lots more eligible candidates to move on to. 

     Online chat and dating have completely revolutionized the dating world, opening up more possibilities than our parents could ever have imagined.  Our generation, and the ones to come, can be fussier, more selective, and less inclined to settle, than any other generation before us. We can ask all the right questions even before our first encounter, and we can quickly move on to the next eligible encounter when it becomes apparent that it wasnâ??t meant to be. We donâ??t have to invest months of unnecessary time pining over someone who will never give us the time of day, and we donâ??t have to wait months and months to find out that our goals and expectations are simply incompatible. Online chat and dating can enable us to meet other unique and interesting people from all over the world.  I know I wouldnâ??t mind relocating somewhere warmer, especially if I already had a few promising dates set up.  I just donâ??t see any good reason why any single adult shouldnâ??t give online dating a try.  It might just be the best thing youâ??ve ever done.