A bit of history

I was thinking that a bit of background might be useful...A recent experience illustrates just how far down the path of goofiness I have gone.  Or perhaps I should say the "path of I don't know how to talk to a single man anymore".... in person...

I have been on and off Internet dating sites for a few years. In fact, when I think about it, all of the men (except for 1)  that I have dated/had coffee with/met for a drink in the last 5 years I have met online.  Which means that the introductions and initial chit chat was taken care of via email.  Which also means that when I am face to face with someone that I haven't already gotten to know virtually, I am clueless about what to say.  Face it - when you meet online, you know what they do, where they live, what food they eat, music they listen to, what movie they last saw and their view on housework, religion, politics and that's before you even contact them.  So, when I see a man now - he is a blank slate... a great unknown... and I freeze.

Here's the situation.  I was online a couple of years ago, and had exchanged a couple of brief emails with "R", discovered we worked in similar fields,  then  I decided to "give it a go" with someone else online  and went off line(again).  Ok, time passes, and I am at work and realize that one of the guys I keep passing in the hallway is "R" - I think.  I mean, he's 6' something, bald, has tattoos - could be anyone right? I mean, if it was him don't you think he would have said hi?  If he did know it was me and didn't say hi, it must be because he doesn't want to admit that he knows me...We didn't even make eye contact. Good grief, what was I meant to do? I couldn't just go up and say, "Hi! Aren't you the guy I emailed on the online dating site a couple of years ago?"  Well, I could have - but I didn't.  I just continued to pass him in the hallway and remained intent on checking out his shoes...

So - how do I deal with this? I decide that the obvious thing to do is to re join the site, see if he is there, and contact him via email - it's worth $20 to try and hang onto a little bit of dignity isn't it? And that's what I did.  And yes... it was him... and yes, he remembered me... and yes, he agreed it was kind of weird bringing it up at work... okay, so I am not a complete goof... we met a couple of times for coffee... and that was it because really, it just wasn't ... it... so I go offline... again... and interestingly, around the same time that we actually met and spoke to each other we both had schedule changes and now work on completely different days and never see each other.  Phew...