I realized I am getting at least one thing out of this

online dating thing, even if it isn't any actual real world dates. I am doing something that terrifies me. I am doing what this cute little bit of sidewalk advises passersby to do:

Reblogged from 18° 15' N, 77° 30' W

And it can be hard sometimes. And it can be intimidating. And okay, I still blatantly ignore men who are obviously not worth my time and attention, so sue me. But, I am TALKING to people I don't know--I'm even having long and substantive conversations across a wide variety of topics with a couple of them. One guy even publicly left a compliment on my page about my conversation skills and how easy I was to talk to last night. And yeah okay maybe part of the difficulty I generally find in that is removed when your communication is via message or text, but I'd like to think that having these digital conversations with men I don't know will give me at least some practice, some idea of what to say and how to begin and how to not be the most awkward thing ever when someday I see a beautiful specimen on man in a coffee shop (or at the train station, or at the student center) and want to introduce myself. And so I think I'm going to keep doing it, at least for a little while. I don't really think it can hurt. It might even be doing me some good.