The Hinge Experiment: Apparently My Date Reads My Blog

Well, The Hinge Experiment™ has taken an interesting turn.

Yesterday, I celebrated that after weeks of absolutely nothing happening on Hinge, I finally had a new match.

Airica.

We started talking. We discovered some things in common. She lives about an hour and a half away, which I don't consider a major obstacle. Most importantly, we started making plans to meet on Sunday.

So naturally, I did what I do.

I wrote about it with her photo.

And this morning, I discovered one tiny detail I probably should have considered more carefully:

Airica saw the post.

Oops.

Time for a Mea Culpa

I had to do a little mea culpa earlier today.

Airica was shocked that I'd posted about her and our Hinge match.

And you know what?

I totally get it.

She's a private person.

I am...

Well...

Have you met me?

I have a website with my name on it where I document my life regularly.

I write about dialysis.

I write about my prosthetic.

I write about eye surgery.

I write about scams.

I write about family.

I write about dating.

I once turned having zero Hinge matches into multiple blog posts and gave an imaginary iguana named Steve a recurring role.

Clearly, privacy and I have a somewhat unconventional relationship.

But that's my choice.

Airica didn't necessarily sign up for the same thing simply because she matched with me.

That's an important distinction.

My Life Is Public. Hers Doesn't Have to Be.

This was actually a good reminder for me.

I'm comfortable putting a lot of my life online.

Airica isn't.

Neither approach is wrong.

But when another person becomes part of one of my stories, particularly someone I'm just getting to know, I need to remember that my comfort level doesn't automatically become theirs.

So I apologized.

No excuses.

No:

“But I'm a blogger!”

No:

“But that's what I do!”

No attempt to convince her that she shouldn't have been surprised.

She was surprised.

I understood why.

Mea culpa.

Lesson learned.

And hopefully, lesson remembered.

But Here's the Good News...

Despite my apparently irresistible ability to create complications before the first date even happens, it looks like we're still on for tomorrow.

Yes.

Tomorrow.

The Hinge Experiment may finally produce an actual date.

Two people.

Same geographic location.

At the same time.

Intentionally.

I'm almost afraid to type that sentence.

Given the history of this experiment, I'm waiting for Hinge headquarters to send someone to my house and say:

“Sir, there's been a clerical error.”

But as of this writing...

We're on.

There's Just One Tiny Problem

Now I need to figure out what we're actually doing.

Details.

Apparently, announcing you're going on a date isn't the same as planning the date.

Who knew?

She's about an hour and a half away, so I'd like to come up with something that's worth the drive but also relaxed enough that we're not trapped in some elaborate four-hour romantic extravaganza if we discover within the first 20 minutes that we have absolutely nothing to say to each other.

That's the strange thing about meeting someone from an app.

We've talked.

We've messaged.

We've seen pictures.

We've read profiles.

But we've never actually been in the same room.

There is still that moment when two people meet and discover whether the digital version translates into real life.

I'm looking forward to finding out.

And Maybe I'll Try Something Radical

Perhaps tomorrow I'll do something completely outside my normal operating procedure.

Experience the date before writing about the date.

Revolutionary.

I know.

And if Airica prefers that parts of her life stay private, I can respect that.

The Hinge Experiment can still be my story without making every person I meet a public character.

Although Steve the Iguana remains fair game.

He signed a release.

Probably.

Current Hinge Standings

After weeks of watching an empty match screen:

Matches: 1.

Woman I'm actually talking to: 1.

Potential date tomorrow: 1.

Distance: About 90 minutes.

Mea culpas issued: 1.

Dates actually completed: Still 0.

That last number could finally change tomorrow.

First, however, I need to answer the most pressing question in The Hinge Experiment:

What the heck are we going to do?

Stay tuned.

Well...

Maybe don't stay too tuned.

I'm learning. 😂