[manaboutown]

Thank you MandoMan for your thoughtful comprehensive post.

Looking back I became single in 1994 and tried the old fashioned short four line personal ads in a local newspaper. Through them I met three delightful physically attractive women whom I dated for varying amounts of time and remained friends afterward. The ads had no photos so these were sight unseen meet-ups during which we discovered some mutual chemistry which cannot be achieved until meeting in person. This was in Newport Beach, CA. I believe one's location makes a huge difference in how many potential partners one can meet.

Then a dating service called Great Expectations became available in Irvine and I tried it. They maintained a library of profiles and videos of members. One could go to their business and look for dates on their shelves. The service would contact one's selectees to see if they wanted to meet the selector. I had pretty good results but discovered misrepresentations; many of the women lied about their ages; some lied about the number of times they had been married and even about how many children they had. This problem carried over into my dating app experiences. I tried eHarmony, Match, PoF and met several women, but nah...

It's Just Lunch is another dating service I tried (in Albuquerque, NM) and ended up dating the woman who ran it.lol

All of my three long lasting relationships came from meeting someone when I least expected to do so. I met one in a hospital, another at a church Thanksgiving time barbecue and the last at a Single Gourmet dinner, all in Newport Beach.

Over the years I met several women living around the country on airplanes, sightseeing vacations to Europe and Asia. I visit a few; they visit me; we remain in contact. Life is good.