Recommendations/suggestions on where in NOVA are good places for the straight male love-shy to find nice girls? (Alexandria: felon, school)

[treebw]

I believe the original post was regarding meeting more women (and also added that he is not being able to get past date 1 or 2). He dates, so obviously knows at least a couple of ways to meet people, yet an introvert who also has issues getting to date 3. If he meets women with similar interests he will probably get to date 3.

I was married, to a narcissistic cheater :-) probably took your comment a little personally.

[akorosdc]

Originally Posted by bangorme

The point I'm making here is that men and women are wired differently. They tend to like different things and the chances of you finding one that likes what you like are about the same as my dream coming true. Hence the whole "marriage is hard work" thing. So, one should not ask themselves "What do I like" and then try to find a woman that likes what you like. You need to ask yourself "What do many women like" and then try to put yourself there (ideally it's something you kinda like or can tolerate easily). Cooking is a great example, and learning is another. When I went back to get my Masters, I met several really neat women, and had I not had the inconvenience of being married for 30 years, would have enjoyed getting to know them better. I'm sure if you think about it, you can come up with a bunch of things that would be right for you.

Originally Posted by treebw

No offense to bangorme, but I hope that most men do not take your advice.
I would love to meet a man who knows what he likes and is not afraid to admit it. A man who wants to share with me his loves and mine. More than likely there will be something we both absolutely love.

So if you like D&D, dont be afraid to admit it. You took the fist step in looking into gaming sites or whatever, go for it. The more you put yourself out there the more likely you are to meet someone. If you meet a woman who likes similar things, then it's more likely you will get past date 1.

I'd say do a little bit of both of these things. Sure, you want to do things where you can meet women, but don't let that stop you from being "you". Explore interests purely to do something new, not get a date. First off, it'll make you a more interesting person. Secondly, it'll keep you occupied when you don't have that date to go on. My cousin was nearly engaged to his (now) ex-girlfriend a few years ago, until he realized that she had no real interests or personality outside of the relationship. It drove him crazy, and they broke up. You may not find many women who are into D&D, but it's not necessarily going to scare everyone away just because you like it. Actually, if that's truly one of your interests, you're better off if she does write you off purely because of gaming.

That said, there's nothing wrong with trying something completely new, like a cooking class or something. If you don't like it, then it's no big deal, but you could discover something new about yourself.

[normie]

Originally Posted by juniperbleu

That said, there's nothing wrong with trying something completely new, like a cooking class or something. If you don't like it, then it's no big deal, but you could discover something new about yourself.

Art classes at the Torpedo factory might work well for you. Or photography classes. If you meet a girl you like at a photography class you two can go on photo shoots together (on a class assignement, of course) and get to know each other without the pressure of being on a date.

[NYgal29]

"At every church I've been to, 95+% of the people were very cold, and it was clear that I would never be accepted or part of the inner circle, and so I've essentially completely given up on that approach."

Try St. Athanasius in Vienna, if you want to give church another shot. Small congregation, very nice and warm people. The people go out of their way to try to make people feel welcomed. There's a few nice single girls there too.

[Phoenix2017]

Hi everyone! Back on C-D after a rather long hiatus (although have still been on the from time-to-time, albeit in "lurk" mode, lol). Sorry for not being more active lately...been very busy with quite a few dates over the past several months, which has actually taken up most if not all of my available free time outside of work & things around the house.

Just wanted to give a quick update on things relating to my original post in this thread, in case anyone might be interested in hearing more details. Although I still have yet to be in a first official "relationship" so far, I have made some substantial progress (have been on 22-23 dates total, since Nov. 2009). This in turn has provided some additional "confidence" on my part in many ways, and over time has made it lot less painful when things didn't work out. (Quite a few of the gals I dated appeared to be very nice, but they pretty much all felt they didn't have enough in common with me to try for a relationship, or they mentioned not feeling "chemistry" or a "spark", and so just wanted to "be friends").

Anyway...not giving up by any means; I will definitely continue trying! May even have 2 new dates to arrange for this weekend; we'll see hopefully
[SIZE=3] [/SIZE]

[Yankeesfan]

Welcome back, and thank you for sharing the good news.

[Phoenix2017]

Thanks Yankeesfan

Originally Posted by Yankeesfan

Welcome back, and thank you for sharing the good news.

[marie5v]

Try match.com or eharmony.com - I forget which one, but I know two married couples that met through one of them.

[tmotos]

Two things knight2009:

1. Woman smell desperation from a mile away.

2. A boring man is the kiss of death.

Don't be desperate. Don't be boring.

[Phoenix2017]

Originally Posted by marie5v

Try match.com or eHarmony.com - I forget which one, but I know two married couples that met through one of them.

Yes I tried both of the above, as well as about 8-10 other online dating sites Had very little luck actually being able to get the ladies on the sites to respond though, with only two major exceptions -- the OKCupid.com site, which I was able to find quite a few dates from, and the avemariasingles.com site, which I didn't quite get as many dates on, but did get quite a few hundred+ e-mails from the ladies there. Didn't have any luck really at all though on the the other dating sites like eHarmony, Match.com, plentyoffish, singlesnet.com, fusion101.com, zoosk.com, etc. etc.

From my own experience of trial-and-error, the only online dating site that I would recommend to anyone (in terms of actually being able to get dates on from), would probably be OKCupid.com.