Posts Tagged ‘Marriage’

Do Wrong Numbers Ring Wedding Bells?

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009

I heard a story the other day about a couple who met in just about the oddest way. The woman was minding her own business one night at home, doing some work, watching Grey’s, or whatever her night might have involved, and then her phone rang. She answered and the guy on the other end started going on about stuff she didn’t understand. She quickly interjected and the guy realized, oops, he’d called the wrong number.

Case closed, right? Sorry. It’s okay. Hang-up. Move on with your lives. But no, in this case they kept talking. They talked “…for hours.” Romantic so far? Right. So the next night they got on the phone and talked some more, about movies, about work, about social lives, and perhaps even about Grey’s. Needless to say, they eventually decided to meet in person and have been happily dating ever since.

Right. That’s odd. That’s out there. But it can happen.

The thing is it seems to happen one heck of a lot. A brief Google search—yes, I know I have too much time on my hands—revealed about half a dozen stories, each ending in marriage. Those half dozen were all on one page, so who knows what would happen if I kept clicking and counting.

The wrong number stories were all pretty much the same, except that one of the ones from the last few years involved text messaging. Now, I get people calling me by mistake all the time—my number spells my name (I knew a guy, okay?) and someone has the same number, and same name, with a different area code. I can’t help but wonder now how I can’t seem to turn any of those coincidence-filled wrong numbers into a conversation while all these other people are turning it into love.

Needless to say I’m a little suspicious. Who are these people that entertain strangers on the phone? More confusing to me than that is wondering how entertaining the people at these wrong numbers must be in the first few seconds to sway the poor dialer to forget about the person he/she originally wanted to contact.

So is this all a sham? Is it an attempt made by a few people here and there to get some prenuptial media attention? Maybe it’s that the guys making the calls weren’t actually dialing someone else in the first place. Perhaps they were bored and purposefully called a “wrong number” to challenge themselves to start up a conversation. And yes, maybe it’s all real.

Does anyone out there happen to know any couple who have met like this? What’s their story? What go the conversation started? If you have anything to share about that, by all means add a comment. It would also be nice to hear what you think about how real these stories sound. One or two stories are easy enough to swallow, but is this something that could really be such a regular occurrence?

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments

Strange Places To Meet Singles

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

A strange place for meeting singles? What’s a normal place? That’s probably a hard question all by itself because people just won’t agree. I suppose it’s safe to say that clubs and bars are normal, however ineffective they prove for most of us. A singles party should also be up there with the norm. No one will find out you met your mate at a singles event and be shocked. The internet used to be the strange “You really met there?” kind of place, but no more. I mean, eHarmony actually keeps a running tally of how many now-married couples met on their site.

When I think about strange places for meeting singles, I think of a movie scene where two people hook up in a police station or at the tourist information center in downtown New Delhi. These are those happenstance things that occur all the time, but are rarely planned. Except in the movies.

Thinking a little harder though and I remember a few times when I went out of my way to purposefully choose a strange place to go solely for the purpose of trying to meet someone. Bookstores are a biggie. They hardly have the allure of nightclubs but do manage to draw the singles crowd nonetheless. Time and again I’ve walked in to browse for books while knowing full well I was really hoping to find something more.

Grocery stores are supposed to be a popular choice for cruising for singles. Apparently guys have been have been checking out more than produce there for years. The concept is golden because you know the people you meet there are going to be local, you’ve got aisles and aisles worth of things to spark conversation with and it’s an incredibly nonthreatening atmosphere. Still, I can’t think of a time when I’ve met anyone at a grocery store let alone having a conversation that consisted of much more than “No I don’t collect Air Miles.”

In the end, I’ve never had much luck at all going out of my way to meet singles in unconventional places. The few times when the strange locales have given me any luck were all through chance. The strangest of those places though would have to be the telephone. Not a telephone dating service, as that wouldn’t really be strange. It was actually someone I started talking to as a result of answering a friend’s phone. As I recall, it took about two hours before I actually let him take the call.

Take a moment to think back on your own experiences. Have you ever gone out of your way to frequent an odd location because you thought it would be a good place to meet someone? Or has an unusual location paid off for you by pure chance? Add a comment below and share it with us. I’m sure there’s quite a few good stories floating around out there.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments

Single Life: You Get What You Pay For

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

There are so many costs associated with the single life that don’t all transfer over to the post single life. Most of these costs, naturally, have to do with dating. There’s the cost of getting out just to be social, the cost of gong to singles events and there’s the cost of actual dating.

Let’s be honest, now. For the actual dating, at least the initial stages, men seem to get the lighter wallet as a result. That’s not to say it’s always the case—I don’t want to get a sexist stamp placed on top of this. Still, between ladies nights and the way a lot of (notice it doesn’t say “all of”) the time men are assumed to be springing for the drinks and first dates…

All of that aside, let’s get back to the overall issue at hand. Single life can be expensive. Going out to bars costs money. Getting into clubs cost money. Drinking at the clubs, which is at least one third of the reason most of us go, cost money. (The other two thirds? Dancing and meeting people.)

Now, these aren’t the only ways to meet people. If you choose it though, you end up being faced with money spending options. There are cheaper clubs, there are even free clubs on given nights, and there are clubs that give too-good-to-be-true deals on drinks. Then there are the ones that cost a good couple day’s pay just to get through the night. All the same can be said about things like singles parties and singles events. There are those that are bargains and those that cost some bucks. What’s a person to do?

The motto to follow is right in the title: You get what you pay for.

Low prices attract a different crowd and a different mindset than high prices. That’s not to say only high class single men go to expensive clubs or only low class women turn up to lady’s nights. Those aren’t the effects of prices necessarily, but there are effects.

A low priced club or single event just ends up attracting more people. Low prices even attract people who aren’t taking things all that seriously. For singles’ events that’s even more the case. A cheap events company, or a low price event, will attract both the serious and the ones who just feel like getting out but aren’t really looking for what’s being offered.

As for higher prices, well, that comes with a few benefits. First of all it tends to limit the crowds for some things, making it easier to meet and greet people you want to meet and greet. Another perk is that your money usually does go somewhere, which is in most cases quality. Better entertainment, better organization, better drinks.

Does all of this hold true to your experiences as of late? If not post your thoughts in our comments section. Just click on the link below. Then again, you should feel free to comment on just about anything you’d like!

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments