Dating

I have a new job as a travel agent (really enjoying it, it's going great.) :-)  I was informed this week that should I be able to bring a date to the company Christmas party for free, it's going to be my longtime best gay friend.  (I've gone to quite a few of his office Christmas parties as his "girlfriend".)  I've joked more than once about how there seems to be a disproportionately high number of gay men working in my company (in the industry?), and he figures a company party is a great place for him to meet men.

So, I got up early enough, found a passable outfit to wear, and didn't chicken out (always a looming possibility.)  There's a series of zany fast food commercials playing now with the slogan, "Try New Things".  Well, today I tried a zany new way of meeting someone.

Of all the reasons to be a tourist in New York, I never imagined "to try the dating scene" would be one of them!

I had brunch yesterday with one of my classmates, who is a Torontonian by upbringing but just got back from working a few years in New York. We are both Sex-and-the-City-philes, and eventually our conversation turned to comparing our respective dating experiences.

Tonight I tried a new concept in meeting people - The Silent Party.  The premise behind the Silent Party is that traditional ways of meeting people (e.g. clubs) don't work because it's just too hard to have a conversation.  Either the music is too loud or it's too hard to approach someone new to chat.  The Silent Party seeks to remedy this by creating a no-talking environment; you can only pass notes to other people present, allowing you to "converse" without having to strain and shout.  As well, there's a "musical chairs" set up that has all the men rotate through every table in the room (the women stay seated), so you have the opportunity to "meet" everyone.