According to Speed Dater #36, I should make the post I've been meaning to make about the Date & Dash event I went to at
Submerged on Feb. 23rd.
I got an email from
Eventful about a
Date & Dash event, and I noticed it was free for the first twenty people (usually $35). I thought it'd be fun to cover for the blog, so I signed up. Earlier in the day, Austinites had braved the Snowpocalypse of 2010, but they still turned out for the event.
There were about twenty or thirty daters, and I got three minutes with each of them. The women had assigned seats, and the men rotated around. The host gave everyone a numbered sheet of paper with room to take notes and circle yes or no to each date. At the end of the night, you gave part of the paper back to the host so she can enter your matches for you if you forget. It's really low pressure, and I think the timing of 3 minutes is just right.
It was a lot of fun! I was totally skeptical about the whole thing, which was another reason I wanted to do it. I was 98% sure I wouldn't meet ANYONE I'd be interested in, as I'm pretty particular and not really the dating type. But I was really surprised to meet some interesting people. I was sort of hoping for some crazy stories (think 40 Year Old Virgin), but apparently Speed Dater #36 was on the receiving end of that. The girl I was sitting next to mentioned that she just wanted to talk to a lot of these guys, because they were cool, but not necessarily date them. I felt the same way, but I was afraid to circle yes and contact them after, because I figured they would have different expectations. So, if I went again, I might figure some way around that. I would suggest making sure you're keeping track of your date's number, because towards the end I realized people weren't in order and it threw all of my notes off. (But the host was very helpful and gave me the list again).
It was my first time at Submerged also, which is located at the very end of 2nd Street. They have coed bathrooms, which I thought was cool. They have a cozy VIP room available as well.
Number #36's view? Here you go:
When I signed up, I didn't have a genuine interest in going speed dating. In fact, I originally planned on creating a pseudonym and wearing a disguise, but in the interest of genuinely trying something new, I went as myself.
When I arrived at Submerged around 8, there weren't more than a dozen people there. My heart sank and I became even more skeptical of the entire "speed dating" experience. When the event actually started, however, there were at least 20 women, and I suspect there roughly as many men too.
As a gent, (and the following opinions may not be representative of the group) I did not expect to meet anyone or make any special connections. My goal was to have as much fun as possible (which ended up being a lot more than I thought).
Even the crazies, which made up about a quarter of the opposite sex, were entertaining.
All-in-all, I recommend going speed dating, even if you're not looking for a relationship. As the Great One once said, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."
