| ||
May 7, 2003, 11:19AM Speed dating offers way to meet a date in minutesBy ANDREW GUY JR.Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle Brrrrring! Brrrrrrring! Hello? Girl, what you up to tonight? Nothing, chile. You? A date. (A snicker) With who? (A pshaw) Heck if I know. I'll find out when I get there. Blind date? Eight blind dates. Imagine eight minutes to figure out if your date has bad breath. Or whether she's an ax murderer. Or whether he has kids. Or if she hates kids. Or if she has a personality disorder. Or whether he hates his mother. Or whether she's a dog person, cat person, bird person, or simply hates animals. Nuts? Not to the millions of people jumping into the latest dating craze. It's "speed dating," and as busy urban professionals grow weary of the bar scene -- and tired of the unpredictability of Internet dating -- more are turning to these unique dating events to meet Mr. or Ms. Right. "It's like this," said Auris Huen, a 29-year-old pharmacist who dragged three girlfriends to a recent speed-dating event at Club Flamingo in Montrose. "With a regular blind date, you're stuck with them all night. But this way, if the other person doesn't work out, you move on." This is how it works: Men and women are paired up. The hostess sets a timer. The conversation starts. Eight minutes later, the timer goes off. People get up and switch tables to begin a new "date." In between bells, you're supposed to meet, greet, chat, make a love connection -- or at least a friend or potential business associate. Participants carry score cards and mark the people they would like to meet again. At the end of the night, cards are turned in, and they are notified via e-mail if there is a match. Ding! Ding! Ding! "OK, time to switch!" Aleta Scott shouts into a mike. Like robots, the 30 people sitting at tiny tables stand up, shake hands, check their cards. They wander around the room, looking at numbers on tables. It is a recent evening at Club Flamingo, a hip jazz joint at Ruggles in Montrose. The 30 people here -- 15 men and 15 women -- have paid $29 for this random chance at love. This event is sponsored by 8minuteDating, which offers speed-dating events across the country, including Houston. Other speed-dating services in the Bayou City include HurryDate, and FastDater. "Hi, I'm Mike," said Mike Waltmon to the woman sitting at his table. "Nice to meet you." "Hi, I'm Tricia," said Tricia, who wouldn't give her last name. "Same to you." In eight minutes, quite a bit is revealed about Mike and Tricia: Mike is a cop. Tricia works at an energy company. Mike's daughter is choosing colleges, leaning toward Texas Tech. Tricia's daughter was accepted to the University of Houston. Mike's free time is spent raising his two teenage daughters. Tricia's free time is spent as a belly dancer. "Really?" Mike said. "I can tell. You have those exotic eyes. Those belly dancer eyes." "I've heard that one before," Tricia laughs. More chatting. It is revealed that they went to rival Houston high schools. Ding! Ding! Ding! Waltmon is a speed-dating regular. He's done it three times. No matches yet. "If you're gonna have a blind date, you might as well have eight of them at the same time," said Waltmon, who is divorced. His type? "Attractive, but she doesn't have to be Jennifer Lopez," Waltmon said. "A good job, but not CEO. One kid, or none, not more than one." (Never mind that he has two kids). Date No. 6 for Waltmon was Claudia Blades, a 36-year-old Houston teacher. They seemed to hit it off, laughing and joking as the minutes ticked away. Blades later said she thought Waltmon was nice, but then whispered: "I don't care much for the children." (Never mind that she has an 11-year-old.) Blades loves speed dating. "You get the person's vibe immediately," Blades said. "You get a big impression in the first few minutes, and if you connect, you can always meet later." Most speed-dating services offer events for certain groups. There are events for people 25 to 35 years old. Events for people 35 to 45. There are events for African-Americans, Hispanics, and gays and lesbians. Scott noted, however, that anyone can sign up for any event. The average speed dater is a professional who is fed up with the bar scene and tells horror stories about Internet dating, Scott said. "If you've done online dating before, unless people are brutally honest -- which most people are not -- you don't get a picture of a person," said Scott, a Houston events coordinator who arranges several speed-dating events a month. "But this way, you get to see everything up front." Everything. Bad teeth. Crossed eyes. Dirty hair. Bad breath. Goofy smile. "Eight minutes is plenty of time to learn the basics," Scott said. "A lot of people know what they want in terms of the basics." A warning: A cheesy line is a cheesy line. And there were lots of cheesy lines overheard on this particular night. So, you're looking for Mr. Wonderful, huh? Well, I'm looking for Miss Right. I'm mature, but I'm pretty young at heart. One person who swears he didn't use cheesy lines is Ralf Fischer, a lanky, energetic, 32-year-old chemist with an Austrian accent. He did admit, however, that he may have had a few too many cocktails at the pre-event mixer. "I'm single, and I don't want to stay single," Fischer said. "There's a lot of energy in this room tonight." At the end of the night, Fischer said he wasn't sure if he made a connection with anyone. "I have the impression that I was always talking," Fischer said. "Maybe I was."
|
| ||||||||
|
