....Success?

Okay, so last I checked in with you guys, I had deleted my okcupid. However, I was still chatting off and on with a couple people from skype after giving out my info before deleting my okcupid profile. I'd met them after moving my geographic location 20 miles north as I moved in with my parents for a month or so while saving up for a new place.

She actually messaged ME first (ladies of OKC, take note! That seems to work!), asking me about my fencing (of the athletic type), and that she was a fencer herself; we shared a common interest, it showed she had read my profile. We promptly skipped out on OKC messaging and went straight to skype's video chat, which really gave a face and voice to the name.

I admit, I was a bit put off at first; she was loud, and there were other things, but I found out there were reasons for it, and as I came to know her as a person on our first "date," I discovered quickly that she was a lot like me in many ways. She wanted to know when I'd call her my girlfriend. I wanted to wait until I had my own place secured/could adequately be a good boyfriend before going for it.

Well, everything went well, I asked her out, and a bit more than a month, and we're still a couple progressing nicely.

My advice to take away from this:

#1: Be near a major city. And I hate to say it, but fudging numbers with regards to my location would have probably paid off for me just the same if I hadn't actually moved in with my parents. I can't argue with the results. I was just outside the search range of most people in Philadelphia, and moving the 20 miles nearer put me within a ton of different colleges' and city dwellers' range. Quiver was sending me people 60+ miles out at that point in all directions; at least there's mass transit towards the city as I moved a bit closer to it.

#2: Let r/Okcupid go over your profile. They tend to pick through it decently well. I have helped a few people out thus far, making (I think) positive profile suggestions.

#3: Ladies, if you send a message, don't just write "Hi." Write something that shows you read his profile and interests you. If you can't find anything in there that interests you, why are you contemplating sending the message?

#4: Switch over to Skype video chat pretty quickly. It helps with the jitters prior to any date/getting stood up, and makes both parties seem like another person. I feel like there's a degree of faith in conversation that the other person isn't just lying. It's strengthened when you actually can hear it rather than just read it. No, AIM or MSN won't be "just as good," nobody over the age of 14 uses those.

#5: Mybestface is mostly garbage. It'll help you toss out the REALLY bad ones, but don't rely on it for anything else.

#6: Facebook friends is basically making the first date semi-official, but not cementing the relationship. Wait a couple dates before submitting the request, and talk it over first. Hell, sometimes it still won't work out, but you'll have made a new friend!

#7: Don't line up more than 2 dates a week. By the third person, you'll have nothing left to give, no energy, just a sense of "God, I've been here already, can I just get this over with?" Just re-schedule it.