How did you meet your SO?

In My Humble Opinion
61

I found him in the mountains. People ask him, when he tells the story, if I was there cruising for men, as if it’s inconceivable that a single woman would be up there hunting out of preference. But that’s exactly what I do. I even always stopped dating during hunting season, as I just didn’t have the time for it. I wasn’t there to pick up on men (most of them are married anyway, and that’s my default assumption,) but I was there to hunt. And had been going to that specific camp with the same people for a number of years.

He says he remembers me from the year before, when our camp ran into his one day. I don’t remember, but he wouldn’t have been on my radar anyway, as he was married at the time. And remember, I wasn’t there to find a man.

Found one I did though; both sets of our friends were determined to see us together this last season, and they were right. We plan to be married by the end of the year. :smiley:

62

On an obscure and low traffic lesbian chat room. I was very much NOT looking to meet anyone there in that sense. It was just a place to chat. A mutual acquaintance on the same site would converse with us each much more often than we spoke to each other, and she noticed that we had similar tastes in music, as we had both recommended a few of the same albums and obscure movie soundtracks to her when she asked for music she could listen to at work that wouldn’t be distracting.

We moved our conversations to an IM one night, and she sent me a few mp3s of recorded live performances of her playing original compositions on the piano. This is one of them. Her music really resonated with me, as did everything else I was learning about her. We exchanged phone numbers and stayed up all night talking on the phone. This continued for a couple of months, and we found ourselves basically in a long distance relationship from Georgia (me) to North Dakota (her). We then met in person in Las Vegas almost exactly 3 years ago. She was there for her sister’s wedding, and I was traveling on business. I changed my return flight to layover in Vegas for a few days.

About 6 months after our first all night phone fest (and multiple visits between Georgia and North Dakota and vice versa, as well as another long weekend in Vegas) we moved her across the country and in with me, and we had our commitment ceremony a year ago this May.

63

We met the old fashioned way.

He picked me up in a bar.

Together 12 this year, married - uh - six this year. Yeah - that’s right. (Had to think on that for a minute…)

64

Playing an online game called Kingdom of Loathing, which we both still play. Our third wedding anniversary is this summer.

65

My mom introduced us. :smiley:

66

We met at work. We both took a job at a new help desk that was apparently recruiting anyone with any sort of PC experience and paying ridiculous amounts of money for starting salaries in our area. It was a nightmarish workplace that caused the employees to either strongly bond or turn on each other like vicious caged animals. Then they hired a sociopathic bitch to supervise us that we christened the “Cuntessa”.

Mitch and I were engaged within a month of her hiring, and we were both out of there within six weeks after that, because our relationship caused her to target us. (I told you she was crazy.)

We are still very close friends with one of the guys we worked with there, and keep in touch with a few others.

We call it “The Help Desk of Love”, after the only good thing to come from it.

67

Well, I met my GF in college at my fraternities Halloween party (I had to wear the padding from my superhero costume for months so she would think I was actually that huge…just kidding). I’m not sure if that helps you.

I can tell you where I meet girls I have to turn down because I have a SO.

The biggest source of attractive women age 23 to 40 I encounter are at work or around the various bars in Manhattan and Hoboken, NJ.

A lot of people seem to join coed softball or other sports leagues. Much like work, the potential problem with dating within a small closed group tend to be obvious.

68

I hope this doesn’t come across as shallow or crass, but…
For those who met their SO online, was their an instant physical attraction when you met in person, or were your personalities so well matched that it overcame any doubts about physical attraction?

I ask because I did once meet a girl online. When we finally met, though, I just wasn’t attracted to her (she was quite heavy). I hated myself for not getting beyond that fact, but I do feel that a fervent desire to see your SO naked is a critical part of a good relationship. By no means is it the most important part (one’s personality is miles ahead of one’s body), but it is one aspect of a budding relationship that seems to play a crucial role in developing a long term connection.

Maybe this just demonstrates my immaturity (and explains why I’m still single). And I do realize that more people are meeting online than ever before. But it is something that I wonder about whenever I consider online dating.

69

My wife and I met giving blood. Sometimes good deeds pay off.

70

Wow, that one just wrecked me. What a beautiful, heartbreaking memory. Wishing you all the best in your healing journey…

71

Both, in our case. We had described ourselves and exchanged (admittedly out of date) photos well before we met, so we had a general idea of what to expect when we finally met. Of course, by then, neither of us looked like our pictures anymore. He had grown some facial hair and put on some weight. I had grown out my bangs. It apparently wasn’t a problem, though. I think it took 2 hours for us to overcome our shyness and the “OMG, she/he’s standing RIGHT THERE!” feelings, but those were the only awkward feelings we had. We fell asleep together on the sofa that afternoon, and we had our first smooch that night, so there clearly weren’t any problems.

It helped that he was attracted to Asian girls and I liked Caucasian guys, I suppose, but I think we’d have been happy even had we not matched up that way. I do think there was a small measure of luck that we felt that physical attraction, but I also think it helped that the pictures we exchanged were close enough to reality that there were no unpleasant surprises. Neither of us is outrageously attractive, but we both fit each other’s expectations, and I think that was what helped make it happen.

Honestly, the biggest struggle I had with regard to physical attraction was associating his picture with him. Up until I saw his photo, I had spent about six months developing a mental picture, based on what I knew about him and his personality. His actual appearance wasn’t close to what I envisioned. (It wasn’t a negative difference, it was just different.) It took a couple weeks for me to reprogram my mental picture of him. Adjusting to seeing him in person was much easier. Like, “Oh, hey, you have a goatee now.”

Yup. It helps a lot with online relationships that turn into a long-distance relationships. Being able to imagine your sweetie there with you or going about their day-to-day lives can be comforting, and to do so you need a reasonably accurate idea of what they look like. Frankly, if you like the person as a person, they don’t need to be drop-dead gorgeous. But what they look like is still important. It helps you feel closer to them.

72

She was my student.

Don’t worry, we’re the same age. I wasn’t hanging out around the Jr. High. I’d posted fliers around town for private English lessons, and she was one of the people who responded. After a couple of months we started dating.

73

OKCupid
I wasnt really looking for anything serious. But wasnt looking for something you would find on AFF (Adult friend finder). Someone suggested the site mostly because of my blogs & it was a free site that gives you the journals & quizzes and such.

he contacted me:
(age)M, (location)
I sign onto a website for Oklahoma and the first face I see is in (location)?

Yes, I spend a great deal of time in Books-a-Million. I haven’t played D&D in years and have only seen my kids playing WoW. I am an avid computer gamer and am going to a lan party at the end of the month.

Re: Starbucks. Never. Sorry if that’s a dealbreaker.

Anyway, cya around!

my response after reviewing his extremely vague profile:

maybe it’s because your location is set to (city)?

I recall seeing one for wichita ks!

starbucks - no prob… they have a java joes at books-a-mill

d&d - these guys are killin me! I am now involved in a 1st addtn, 2nd addtn, and 3.5! as well as gurps! good lordy lord!

sex partners - not at the moment - sorry if thats a deal breaker

You see, there is an option to select what you are “looking for” and one of them is casual/sexual encounters. He had it selected (but I think he selected all of the options, if i recall correctly), so I wanted to make sure he knew where I stood on that. It was kind of a “cool” contact if anything, and nothing to encourage him to seek me out. I took up his offer to meet for a cup of joe at the bookstore, and I found something in him that was remarkable at first glance - something his picture never would have given away, but his aura certainly did!

Lust at first site? Nah, I had his pic and he pretty much looks like his picture, it was just one of those feelings that I cant even describe. We had lunch/dinner a couple of times, found out he knew my roomie and a lot of my friends from the area, and here we are now… practically living together!

Fast? yeah, probably so. But definately not a ride I’m ready to get off of.

74

I met Crusoe at my first ever Londope, which was 4 years ago this Thursday. We’re getting married in July.

75

Dopefest. There’s a whole mess of couples who met at SMDB events.

76

She was the reporter, then editor, of the local, weekly newspaper and I tend to do things that are newsworthy, in a local, weekly newspaper sort of way.

We’ve been married more than ten years. We have a seven-and-three-quarters year old daughter. For six years we have been the publishers of our own small periodical.

77

I met him on the pier.

Really, I did. I was the shipping manager for a company and he was then the Chief Officer in one of their ships. He looked 15 (we were both 24), so I asked him if he was a guest in the ship. He was offended, so he asked me out. :slight_smile:

Apart from a year-long breakup 5 years ago, we have been together for almost 14 years now. Got married 4 years ago and have a 2.5 yo daughter.

78

I’ve posted this in lots of these threads, but it’ll be such fun to share with the grandchildren someday…

EJ & I met in alcohol & drug rehab. Yep- two fine catches, I must say! :wink: Sober for 17 years now, together for 16, married for 14, plus two beautiful kids.

:cool:

79

It was my junior year of college, and I was on a semester abroad in London. My college sent three professors and 30-some other students on the program. One of them was a smart, beautiful Vermonter; she caught my eye on the very first day. We dated for four years, lived together for one, and have now been married for almost 18 years.

80

We met online, in a cheesy MSN chatroom. We chatted and talked for several months, and then met face-to-face. He was way more attractive than his pictures, and I guess he wasn’t too disappointed with me. We’re married, with a houseful of kids now.

I loved him so much that he could have been Quasimodo, and I wouldn’t have cared. He just happened to be wildly handsome.