There is much to be enjoyed in the relaxed, surf-surrounded, hipster-inhabited Gold Coast. There's a handful of good cafes and restaurants that enjoy a blissful and momentary hum, until word gets out and the next weekend the place is swamped with Doc Marten-footed, floral print shirted 'nonconformists'.
There are bus-loads of asian tourists snapping hi-tech cameras at blonde children in mini-vans, with the numerous opportunities offered by Gold Coast traffic lights. Skater boys quietly duel Surfer boys with their eyes as they pass on the footpath, both barefooted and chested as each other, both more alike then they realise yet equally hating each other for no particular reason. Girls clad in crochet tops and denim underwear passing girls in crochet underwear and denim tops, making eyes and secretly admiring each other for their good-looks, but simultaneously hating each other for the inexplicable competition.
And worse still by the night, where girls have more extensions stuck on their bodies then they do clothes. Where dudes in v-necks with arms full of ink inflate their chests like pigeons as they walk past such 'girls' - their attempt to 'woo' their potential mate going sadly unnoticed after one too many Smirnoff Blacks, and the concentrated attempt to not fall face first in their six inch heels.
And people ask me why I don't have a boyfriend. I must admit I go weak at the knees when a man strides up next to me wearing a shirt cut lower than mine and asks in his most liquor-breathy voice if he can buy me a drink. Heck if it'll make you any less repulsive than please do. Who am I kidding, it doesn't often go that way, they're not so quick to part with their hard-earned tradie dollars. Sometimes they'll be cutting in the queue and when you pipe up to say something they'll make some remark like: "Feisty aren't we?" or "calm down" or some other stupid comment to make it seem like you're in the wrong, and then somehow they end up trying to get in your pants. Yeah...how romantic. Other times you'll be on the dance floor with a group of friends and you'll notice that one guy giving you direct eye contact as he dances badly to a tune that surely can't be the same one you're listening to. And here there needs to be some differentiation between making flirtatious eye contact and holding a downright creepy stare. He had the latter down pat, I'll give him that.
Sadly the likelihood of meeting someone in the laundromat, the park, the side of the road - whichever wacky location rom-coms seem to impart likely to find everlasting love - are slim to none. I was however looked up and down by a creepy fellow patron in the video store the other day...perhaps i missed my chance for love...
The whole ordeal becomes exhausting. To the point where one finds themselves submitting to the unavoidable grasps of singledom, investing all their affection in their cat or their dog, or their herb garden...and yielding to the notion that they are destined to be alone...with their cat, or their dog...or their plants (which may or may not be on the verge of death).
But alas, hope exists in the form of various dating websites becoming less of a stigma and more of an accepted form of meeting place for the online-society we now live in. Every other aspect of life is becoming an acceptable practice to conduct on the internet: grocery shopping, studying, socialising - and dating is becoming more accepted as an appropriate portal to meet your one and only.
Out of the more popular ones: some offer to match you with your soulmate (eharmony.com); some are known more for their meet-and-greet-for-convenience sort of situation (blender.com); some suggest first appearances should be enough to make up ones mind (tinder.com); and then there's your more modest sites: (pof.com, oasis.com, rsvp.com) offering users the choice to display what they're looking for - and a catalogue of potentials to peruse.
Admittedly I've been on one of the more modest sites for an unfruitful six months. However I've had three more dates than would have been probable otherwise, and a number of online contacts that either I lost interest, they lost interest, or we just didn't quite make it to the meet-up stage. But perhaps the most advantageous aspect of online dating is the opening to talk to someone you may be interested in. In person, certain factors may hold us back from interacting with a potential - whether it be confidence, friends or the decibels of the music booming in the background. Online meeting presents users with the ease of contacting someone you may find attractive or interesting - or, if you're lucky, both - with no expectations (but perhaps a little hope). Online dating offers a shield against that painful rejection, where punters can take a shot in the dark, perhaps bat above their league - and face only a non-response if their interest isn't mutual.
It's harmless really. The option exists to block a member if the conversation gets unfavourable, and it's completely up to you how much you reveal, or don't reveal on your profile. Gone are the days of the online-dating stereotype: big fat guy, oily ponytail, shady glasses, crack hanging out of his tracksuit pants, greasy-chicken fingers mashing the keyboard as he searches for his soulmate....okay sure, these ones still exist - but there's a lot of normal guys on there too (apologies if said-description sounded like you...no really, I'm so sorry). Hey, if you have enough time to go out and meet friends through friends or at laundromats or at singles balls or whatever, then go do it and make your cute little how-they-met stories. The lesser of us (and probably the majority) are going to scan our online mate-catalogues and make-up a story for our wedding night. Who's the real winner, eh?
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