The "Magneto" Knight

If I told you things I did before, told you how I used to be,
Would you go along with someone like me,
If you knew my story word for word, had my history,
Would you go along with someone like me" -Young Folks
Peter Bjorn  and John

There is a reason why Morgan Spurlock never did a "30 Days of Dating" segment when he had his show. He's a smart man. . .

I can't recall at this time how this all started with this Knight; as in, who contacted who. I feel like he reached out to me, but I can recall liking his pictures and found his "About Me" interesting, so maybe I reached out to him. Sadly, my mind has turned into a mush of intros and get-to-know-you emails. If you can forgive me, please read on.

However I got to the point of reading this man's profile, I can remember the email I sent in response to reading it. 

In this particular profile this man had written quite a bit about himself, which is a rarity on this dating site. He was well traveled, well read, shared quite a bit about himself and seemed really open and honest about his life in general. What struck me as odd was at the end of this great "About Me" was this odd disclaimer.  

He had written this whole paragraph about how no matter how many times he wrote a personal email to someone on this site, he didn't get seem to get any response. He went on to share that he didn't know why people were on a dating site if they weren't going to respond to someone who was looking to date them. I believe that he even mentioned in his profile that he had written a paper for school about on-online dating. Tou che'. That was pretty interesting to me.

In my infinite wisdom, I took his open ended question as an opportunity to craft my response leading with why I wasn't interested in getting to know him.  

I wrote him back that he seemed like a well rounded guy, and that I was impressed with the time that he had taken to write such a thorough and thoughtful profile. I expressed that even though I found his profile pictures attractive and what he had to say as very intriuging and engaging, the fact that his profile said looking for "nothing serious" wasn't something I was interested in. I also offered up that this may also why some of the women that he has reached out to have not responded. I wished him well and told him that he looked great on paper, and would surely attract a person that he could be happy with. I closed the note by wishing him well, and then sent on the email. Feeling perhaps I did my good deed for the day, I took this as a sign to get a move on with my day and logged off of the dating site. 

I NEVER EXPECTED that he would email me back. 

At some point when I logged back on later that week I saw a familiar profile picture in my in box.  I tried to jog my memory as to why I was recognizing this profile. Hmmmm.  We all know how I suck with identifying people from earlier blog entries, so I clicked on the message. 

Still haven't lived this mistaken identity down. 

"Please Come Back" the opening line pleaded.  

"Interesting," I thought.

Here was the guy who I had written to earlier in the week telling him why I wasn't interested! What the . . . 

He expressed that he was grateful that I had said something about his "relationship status" on his profile. He apparently didn't realize that his profile still had "nothing serious" as his relationship want.  He mentioned that he had written the profile a while ago when he may have been in a different mindset, and then just never updated the profile to reflect his desire to get into a relationship with someone. He asked me if now, perhaps, I would be interested in getting to know him since we were, in fact, on the same page.  

I couldn't decide if this was a ploy to talk to me, or a legitimate oversight on his part. Either way, DID I want to talk to him??

Well, other than a few things that he mentioned in his profile that made me cock my eyebrow, (that you AND I will learn of later) he seemed great on paper.

Why the hell not. 

I sent him back that if his new status change was truly the case, I would entertain getting to know him. 

From this point forward we emailed on the site a few more times over the next few days. I was fascinated with his interests. He had lived all over, and we could talk about our respective travels to all the places we both had visited.  He and I talked about books we read, bad dates we had been on, and how we ended up on this site.  We took to asking each other a string of unique questions like, who we would want to fight (dead or alive), what your favorite season is, favorite food your Mom cooked growing up; wholesome sort of questions. I was impressed that there was a man that was willing to be my pen pal to get to know me without being creepy. Sad but true that this was unique.  

As time went on sometimes we would just send lists to each other.


I'm a decent cook
I love non-fiction books 
I'm afraid of skydiving

I don't drink coffee

(My example above is for visual reference, because this will be pertinent to the next piece of the communication I am going to share.)

During one of these strings of emails back and forth I had put together my list of cute tid-bits about me. I wasn't paying attention to the fact that I had edited one of the lines and not proof read the final caption. The small window to send emails on the site it had cut off the last line I had edited and moved up in the list, totally changing the appearance of the excerpt. What it was supposed to read:

. . .
Favorite color is blue
I'm a dog person
Almond Joys are my favorite candy bar
I don't do any home improvements well 

Turned into:


Favorite color is blue
I'm terrible at doing any of my own home improvements 
I'm a dog person
Almond Joys are my favorite candy bar     (This line representing the crease on the email box.)         
I don't do a

I don't see the last line. 

I'm proud of my cute little "Chris tid-bits" and I just hit send. 

I now notice that I have an IMMEDIATE response in my inbox. This one starts with: 

"WOAH. I didn't realize you would share that at this point in the conversation. OK then. Well here we go.  Really?  Not even on holidays or for special occasions?"

And then his email continued on to list some of the regular get-to-know you list items he would ordinarily send.

Yes at this point I was so horrified I turned into Tom Green. 

I nearly threw up on my shoes as I read what I had sent to him. What seemed like my sharing of sexual preferences, was just an epic editing blunder.  I was mortified. 

That was not how that was supposed to read. FML.

A wave of panic came over me.  I immediately sent back:

"OMG. I am horrified.  I totally didn't mean to send the last line looking like that. It was supposed to read, 'I don't do any home improvements well', but due to my poor editing you got that cheeky response.  Not my intention at all to have sent that last line. Dear God."

I then asked if we could move to regular email so that way I could spell check and actually see all of what I was writing and sending. He laughed it off, so I didn't really know if he was even serious or not in HIS response. I was too busy being mortified of my proofreading debacle.

The conversations on email went on for quite a while. Our schedules were a mess and it seemed like we might not ever get together. He had a bit of anxiety about us meeting and to say I wasn't gun shy of another date at this point would be a severe understatement.  

He and I had had some good conversations but there was a strange feeling I had that I just couldn't put my finger on. 

Part of me didn't want to drive nearly an hour away to God-knows-where where he lived to meet up with someone I barely knew.  He seemed genuine and from what I had gotten to know, I thought he was pretty cool, but I still wasn't sure I wanted to burn a night off. Keep in mind that most of the other dates to this point had left me yearning for those hours of my life back.  

After some back and forth about where to finally meet I had agreed to go to (now brace yourself) this classy place for a first date; the Dingo's Den.  Yes.  It sounds like it was.  I had Googled this place and it came up under Top North Jersey Dive Bars.  

Interesting. 

I was reticent in my true feelings about the place, which were, "Really. This is date one buddy?" and instead offered up what I thought might be a better location. 

He was not interested in another location. 

He had mentioned an anxiety about being in places that might get crowded.  I figured that the last thing I wanted to do was add stress to a first meeting so I acquiesced to his request. The positive spin was 'even if the date sucked I was trying out a new place?" Silver lining, right?

We scheduled for our date at the Dingo's Den and I think he teased me a few times about not showing up.  I told him that I never missed a chance to check out a good dive bar and fortunately he thought that assured I was coming. 

I arrived at our scheduled date and take a look at the building I was going to walk into. Yep, this place fits the bill. 

Keep in mind, after I shared where I was headed to with my friends, they had me promise that I would send licence plate numbers, his name and location I was at to make them feel better. 

Super sexy location for a first date.

I wandered into the dimly light room and looked to my left to see the long, nearly empty bar with two patrons at opposite ends. I imagined I had a 50/50 shot that one of these guys was my Knight. 

I noticed that the man sitting at the far end of the bar was talking to the barkeep. He looked pretty similar to the man in the pictures online so I made my way down the bar to meet this person. Sure enough this was my Knight. 

As he saw me approaching, he stood up and pulled out the chair next to him for me to sit. I thanked him and took my seat on the stool next to his. 

I noticed that he was sipping on a can of PBR. He asked if I wanted a drink and I agreed to a can of PBR as well. When in Rome, right?

As I sat there looking at him, he was just as he appeared in his pictures.  He had a thick, blond head of hair that was pushed behind his ears.  He had a scruffy beard and mustache and his eyes were a deep blue.  He had gauges in his ears, nearly a full sleeve of tattoos on both arms, and he appeared to be his purported height of 6' 4. He kind of looked like Thor. No joke. 

I can't say I was upset.  What can I say, I am a sucker for Norse men. 

And in my spare time I go on dates with superheros.

We got to talking about my drive there, our respective day's at work and just other small talk you have when you are meeting someone for the first time.  He looked super nervous.  He kept shaking his leg and tapping his fingers.  To get him to relax a bit, I asked him about how he knew this place and if this was where he brought all his first dates. 

He relaxed a bit and seemed most comfortable telling stories of his previous dates, that yes, he generally did bring here.  He told a story of a date he had had at this very place that went totally awry after the date got drunk, out of hand, and tried to ram her hands down his pants. I promised that I was going to be on my best behavior and he had no worry for me behaving like a lunatic. 

As we talked I noticed how passionate he was when he spoke. He was very animated and had some very strong opinions about things.  I found myself being uncharchteristically quiet.  He sort of ranted at points about his subject matter and would get very heated about certain topics.  There were a few instances of this behaviour,  but the one case in point I truly remember nearly put the kabash on the date.  At one point he shared that he was looking for a relationship with someone that was totally open and honest, with no secrets at all what-so-ever.  I retorted with how I felt that everyone had secrets from their partner and some were best to just keep. This sent him off. . .

He couldn't comprehend that when you were in love with someone and in a committed relationship as to why you would keep ANY secrets from them. He said people only kept secrets when they were ashamed or trying to hide somethign that was unflattering for them. I vehimently disagreed.  I expressed that there were experinces and stories that I enjoyed keeping to myself just because the experiences were mine that had nothing do with shame or an unflattering perception. This was like throwing lighter fluid on a fire.  He intensely debated that I must secretly be ashamed or embarassed of these stories. I shared that I did not. His voice elevated. My blood pressure escalated. This man was a great at arguing a point but all this disagreement was turning me off. 

I think that he got that I was not really wanting to argue about our perceptions about secrets so he dissmissed the conversation by calling me shady and to stop the back and forth I agreed that I guess I was shady. Whatever. 

To try to smooth things over he suggested that we pick out some music from the juke box.  This was a good way to put some space between us and the insignificant odd argument that we were having so I agreed. We poked fun at each others picks and found that we actually did like A LOT of the same music.  Music. The great equilizer.  

Now that the conversation had cooled we resumed our seats at the bar.  He was definlity more quiet  now. I worried that he was traumitized that I actually bit back when arguing a point.  Feeling bad for being assertive I took this opprotunity to ask him some questions about some of the info on his profile.  

I had noticed on his profile that he mentioned having had a magnet installed in his hand.  I had read up on this magnet installation on line to see what is was all about, but I wanted to here his take as to why he had done this.  I asked why he had chosen to do this and what it did for him.  He explained that with the magnet in that he could feel energy fields and that it also made for great party tricks.  

He then proceeded to ask the bar tender for a bottle cap so I could see the magnet live in action.  Sure enough, the sucker stuck right to his finger. 'Well, if this works out,' I thought, 'this should be quite the hit at the Manzella family dinner table

I asked if this magnet installation took a long time to heal and if it hurt.  He mentioned that he had a very high threshold for pain and had requested that they NOT anestitize him.  I thought that was total crazy pants, but well, I get my legs waxed. I guess that could be construed as masochism?

I told him that I thought the magnet was pretty neat, even if it was the most excruciating pain he had ever experienced.  I asked if he regretted doing it, and he said he was pretty happy with how it turned out. 

He then took this opportunity to segue to another what I would like to call an"out of left field" hobby of his.  He mentioned he could take a lot of pain and therefore he sometimes did suspensions. 

I asked if he ment brakes and suspensions, but I had a feeling that what he did didn't have anything to do with cars.  

He then affirmed that, yes, he did in fact not do brakes and suspensions, but rather enjoyed spending his time with hooks through the skin in his back hanging from the ceiling.  My skin ached just thinking about it.

You know the moment when you realize how different your lifestlye is from someone elses?  Yep. That was this very moment.  

I can see Russia from here!

Let me just take a minute to say that if you have a hobby you are proud of, enjoy it, and aren't hurting anyone but, er, yourself, I am all for you sucking the marrow out of life and enjoying your hobby.  HOWEVER. . . Did I see myself standing in an audience of on lookers telling the person next to me "yeah, that's my man hanging up there." Well. . .that's a no. 

I guess I couldn't really hide my shock because the next thing he told me was that one of his dates had literally gotten up and run out of the bar after he shared this with them.  He also looked hurt by this.  I didn't want to make the guy feel bad, and I think that is why I didn't just pull the plug on this date after this most recent share.

I wasn't sure where to go with this. For lack of material, I asked how exactly one suspends themself and how he got into it.  I think he mentioned that he and his ex were into it and that sugued to what would be the last conversation of the night.  I think I must of asked what happened that he and she didn't work out.  He had mentioned a few times through the conversation that evening that he was sexually adventerous and the sex was what had kept him in his last relationship for longer than he wanted to be in it. 

Seeing as sex seemed to be a recurring theme I stopped the convesation so we could address this point he had been so itchy to talk about.  I asked why he was so very concerned about  sex and felt the need to keep bringing up stories that seemed tied to his various partners and situations.  He expressed that he had had a lot of bad sex and that he was concerned for his future sexual endeavors.  I asked what he was into that made it so difficult for him to be satisfied with the partners he had in the past.  

Keep in mind at this point I was 98% sure that I wasn't going to go out with him ever again, and this was just R&D into the male mind. 

The case in point that he gave for why he and the ex were so hot for so long was that she was adventerous and he liked that.  I was curious what sort of adventures he was into.  I had to know what a guy who liked putting hooks into his back got off on sexually.  

I asked what it was specifically that he was into and then was sorry that I did.  To keep this G rated because my mother reads this, I will just say this. . . I am all about adventure with a bit of 50 Shades peppered in. I am all for trying new things.  He however, prefered things that I think I have only seen in SVU episodes and hardcore foreign porn. This propensity was the deal breaker. This was not gonna work.  

I expressed at this point that it was getting late.  I had about an hour drive home and I was hoping to get a good nights rest because I had a full day the following day.  I thanked him for his time and told him I enjoyed the talk. He was a gentelman and walked me out to make sure I got to my car OK.  

He wasn't a bad guy, I just didn't see us making it as a couple. . .for any number of reasons.  I thanked him, and as I drove away, all I could think was I'm going to be single forever.

The Knight of Convenience

I recently ran into a girl friend of mine from my youth while shopping at the local Trader Joe's. She and I knew each other from elementary school in West Orange where I grew up.  We had not seen each other in years, but she immediately recognized me, having been my friend on Facebook for some time now. It was delightful to see her.

We spoke of our families, our day off, my first dog, Shadow, who she remembered, and happened upon the topic of dating. She had been reading this very blog and being a single person out there in the fish bowl, shared a similar story of 'what you see is not necessarily what you get' with her dating experiences.  I remember saying to her that we had spent all this time on our educations, careers, traveling and enriching ourselves. For who? 

Was she single. Probably.

Neither of us had foreseen running into each other 25 years later, single, without children and with such low expectations for dating.  We looked great, but were exhausted from the "monotonous discomfort"- as my friend Steve so aptly put it.  We decided that we would meet for drinks to get together there after to catch up, and have a night out where you didn't feel like you were on an interview.  As I walked off I thought of one of the most recent dates I had been on. 

This particular suitor had sent me a message introducing himself in the usual way on the dating site. He had just happened upon my page, thought we had some things in common and he lived locally. He was hoping I would want to catch a drink to see if there was chemistry. This was his intro. 

Here's my new view of online dating in 2014.  There is no flirting. There is no flattery and complimentary alluring innuendo. Modern dating has turned into: Email (maybe a few) of solicitation, obligatory getting-to-know-you texting and then the date. There are usually no phone calls.  There is no hope for dinner out, or flowers like you would see in the movies for a first date. It's not all Richard Gere in Pretty Woman as we children of the 90's were hoping for.  Well not entirely. . . 

If dating were sex, it would be more like sex with a hooker.  Wham, bam, thank you ma'am is the speed with with which you virtually 'meet' and then voi' la; you're on a date. Interest in another person online seems to expire more quickly than milk, so it's get out there or be left in the dust. Modern dating is a Chuck Norris, daisy-cutter style of dating.  

Now having learned to conform to this new Chuck Norris approach to cutting to the chase of whether or not you wanted to go on a date, I now feel I have a black belt in this art form.  

I check out his profile page on the dating site before I respond. He looks attractive in his picture but I have now begun to pay more attention to what these guys write.  Sometimes what they are 'saying' in their profile let's on more than just the words they type. This will make more sense in later posts.

He has a few selfies of himself from the neck up and clothed.  Thank God. He gets the gold star for the day. 

He has a few pictures of places and events. OK, that's pretty standard. 

Is is a good looking, dark haired man, with matching well manicured facial hair and what seems to be a good sense of style. 

He lives in the area, is employed, has a list of similar interests and has a simple yet attractive 'about me' section. He shares his interests, what others think of him and what he's looking for in a partner. He writes in full sentences and uses punctuation.

I look to his age cringing in awful anticipation of the worst.  Ah ha! My fears of  once again plunging into the kiddie pool have been laid to rest.  He's older than me! No wonder he writes with punctuation!

He's in.

I agree via email to meet for this get together and ask him where he would like to go. We agree we will go out in Morristown later on in the week, and he sends on his phone number so we can set up places and times. 

I feel like I have done this 100 times in the last nine months. I'm sort of thread bare from this endeavor but I remain positive and hopeful???

The day that we were scheduled to meet, I end up not feeling well and canceling. I ask if I can get a mulligan and he politely agrees.  Later on that week when I am feeling better, I text him to see if we can try to connect again. I mean, I have to meet this man; he still uses full words, not just text speak. 

We agree that we will meet the following evening at a bar in Parsippany that is conveniently located for both of us. 

The night of our date I put on my usual 'date outfit', that consists of jeans and a cotton tee shirt , with a long jacket like sweater over it. I arrive at the restaurant that we agreed on and the server ushers me to a table. I sit there and let my eyes wander while I am waiting.  I've sort of spaced out when I notice in my peripheral vision someone approaching. I focus my attention on this figure next to me. Here he is.

His pictures online were pretty true to form. Here he was; a good looking, tall, dark-haired, dark-eyed man. 

He said "hello" and then immediately popped himself into the seat across from me. 

The waitress then immediately came by to get his drink order.  He said something to the extent of "I'll have my usual."

He placed his order, sort of winking at the waitress in a kind of 'I'm a VIP here' sort of way. I guess that's his swagger?

"So this is where all the PoF dates come?", I thought to myself and sort of smirked.

I ordered a glass of Sauvignon blanc, and settled in. "I think we have a fellow veteran dater here folks," I thought to myself.  Cool. Maybe there will be a little more ping-pong in the conversation than the last date.

He asked me if I had ever been to this bar before. I explained how I had seen it built, but had never been here. He then divulged that he lived about 500 yards away and had walked here. 

"Convenient,"I thought to myself. Was this another guy just looking to hook up? I was now a little apprehensive of the evening. I mean, any bar you can drag your date's body from. . . 

I noticed that there were a number of TVs that were probably great to watch games on.  I mentioned this and we began to talk about sports teams that we liked.  I liked none of his.  He liked none of mine. I think that he may have actually scoffed and laughed at me when I mentioned I was a Giants fan. I couldn't be offended by this. They did suck so far this year. 

I explained to him how this year I had become more interested in the game of football and learning stats and plays. He looked at me as if I had begun speaking in tongues.  Had he never heard of a woman who loved football?

To make sure he understood what I meant, since for some reason he didn't seem clear, I began to talk about the games that I had seen the previous Sunday. I recalled some of the plays and all of a sudden it became Sports Center mash up here on our date.  He began to challenge my re-telling of the games I had watched and felt some of my re-cap was wrong. He argued that the plays and people I thought were successful were not correct accounts of the performances and dismissed progress for any of the teams that I was in favor of as happenstance or luck. 

This was resulting in an awkward silence. 

He was now ordering his second beer.  He had relaxed back in his chair, with one arm slung over the back of the hi back chair. His body language either read, "well this is over" or "Yeah, that's the way it is." Either way, I was not feeling the vibe. 

I figured to change from this heated subject to a more mellow topic, why not ask about his job. I segued to inquiring how he liked his work in the hopes of this getting us back to homeostasis. He began that it was a job, but he had been there for ages and well,  "it is what it is."

He seemed to have this over arching blasé attitude about everything from that point forward.  Now I was beginning to check out. I don't want to date someone who is unattached and blasé about his existence.  Nope.  This wasn't gonna cut it I was thinking as he then remarked. . .

"Do you work out at all?"

"Ouch," I responded. Jokingly.

"Well I couldn't tell," he responded.

Jeez.  I guess my season of pumpkin beer was doing more damage than I  thought.  I now felt like Kobe beef dangling across the table from him. 

He then ordered a third beer.  We had only been here for about an hour. I was now uncomfortable: Not at the drinking,  just talking to him.  I felt like he thought I was such an awful date that he was going to drink me away. He was looking around, for what, I had no idea. I had finished my glass of wine and thought it was my chance to make a dash for it. I would wait till he was done with THIS beer and then mention that I still had some work to do and had to get home. 

I wasn't going to waste any more of what could be a good night of conditioning my hair or re-arranging  my underwear drawer at home. 

We both suffered through the conversation during his third beer. If there was a camera there, you could have seen us both uncomfortably shifting in our seats.  I hadn't ordered another glass of wine so I could hopefully 'empty-drink pressure' my date into finishing his. We muddled through more mundane conversation about the traffic in the area and commutes to work.

I work from home during the day.This should give you an idea of how well the conversation was going.

I think that watching mold grow at this point would be more entertaining.  As soon as he finished his beer I noticed that he was going to hail the waitress over for another beer.

Hells to the NO. I am outta here.

I told him that I was really appreciative of his getting together for this mulligan date but since it was a school night, I best be getting a move on home.  He seemed more upset at the lack of opportunity for another beer than missing out on more time with me.  In fact, while I was standing up to leave, I think he was hailing the waitress for another drink.

It was A OK. There was zero chemistry and he was more in love with the curves of the beer glass than he would ever be with me.