In the blink of an eye

Picture this: two strangers huddled together, feverishly exchanging undercuts and jabs. At the sound of the bell, each disengages.

No, I'm not talking about boxing, and the punches landed aren't of the physical kind. I'm describing speed dating, the latest fad to seduce singles in search of love.

Created by a Los Angeles rabbi as a method for marriage-minded men and women to swiftly evaluate potential partners, speed dating has swiftly spread throughout the free world.

There goes one more item I can check off my mental list of things & experiences to try out before I die.

At the behest of my girlfriends Nicki and Lisa, the 3 of us recently-heartbroken singles attended a speed dating event organized by Blink Dating at the Lustre Lounge last night.
The handsome price of $59 will give you the possibility of meeting that special someone 15 times over, in 4 minute intervals.

We arrived early, the bar was dark and back lit in a deep crimson red. Sara, the ever so cheerful and robust host greeted the 3 of us as we walked in promenade style, arm in arm. Drink cards and Match cards were distributed out like stacks of lotto scratchies from your local newsagent, along with sticky tags with our first names scrawled across with black magic marker.

Observing the pockets of people standing around the venue, I could clearly see some single men standing around awkwardly holding a drink, the women came in groups of 2 or more and stood around giggling amongst themselves.

The rules were clearly explained to us:
You get 4 minutes to talk to each person.
Each person has a number next to their name tag, the women sit at the table which matches their tag number.
The women remain seated in their seats while the men walk up to each table in an ascending order.
You get a sheet of paper to take personal notes and a scorecard to mark a Yes/No response on whether you'd like to see the person again.

I found the experience rather exhausting and at the same time an interesting social experiment as I got to talk to a sample out of the population of women out there.

First impressions rarely count from past experiences in life. However, in this meat market setting with only 4 minutes to let your charm shine through, the rules of the playing field have been re-written to be all about making an impression - fast! If you ever get the chance, have a browse through Malcom Gladwell's - Blink; which explains what goes on in our heads the first 2 seconds of looking at someone.

Out of the 15 women, 5 of them went straight to the "No" category in my scorecard within the first minute of meeting them due to poor grooming, bad breath and excruciatingly boring conversation amongst some of the reasons I mentally gave myself.
Another 4 eventually found their way into my "No" pile while the 6 "Yes" I ticked were interesting people that I wouldn't mind meeting again.

After the event, Lisa and Nicki told me about their experiences with the other men. 2 of them just were plain creepy, a bunch of the others were lacking any decent social or conversational skills while the rest seemed to be decent blokes.

Would I return for an event like this again? Probably not.
This probably could work for really busy individuals or people who just need to short circuit their routine of hanging out with the same social circle and be forced to meet to different people.

However, I personally feel that this takes the thrill out of the chase, the game, the pickup. Whatever you may want to call it, the art of seduction has been around for centuries and for a good reason - it works.

Perhaps I'm just an old fashioned guy in modern world...