Hearing the munching sounds of popcorn come from the other end of the phone line, a close friend zones in on my latest “date from hell” story. “I swear, the stuff that happens to you only happens in movies. You really are my entertainment,” she tells me. Not wanting to share my personal dating life with the world, I figured, ‘to hell with it!’ If my life stories bring her such amusement, why not share it beyond our phone calls. To start, I began this blog months after trying out a dating website. (I know, I know.) I was always the main person in my social circle denying I would ever even consider. “I’m pretty social. If I want to meet someone, I’ll just go outside and strike up a conversation.” I’ve never been much of a dater…at all. I’m more so a relationship type of female. After a while I figured I’m young, single, and this is my time to get to know people and figure out exactly what I like. I’m not middle-aged and trying to find my husband or anything. I just figured I’d try it before continuing to knock it. After you experience something, then you can truly understand what you’re talking about.

Something very important for me to note: I did not go on a dating website with intentions of creating a blog afterwards. It was never, and still is not, my intention to experiment with hearts, ever. Throughout the blog I will keep my sources, myself, and others involved protected. Some names may be changed. Some posts may not, and probably will not, be in chronological order. And although the first several posts and then some will be in retrospect, in-the-moment feelings may have subsided but my words still come from an honest and introspective place. I hope in sharing these tales they not only spark a wide-eyed giggle, but also produce some lessons learned and mistakes not to be redone.

In addition to the ‘dating blog’, I will also have a separate tab for my beginner’s travel blog. Random from the first topic, I know. When deciding what topic to blog about, many topics came to mind. Then I thought of what honestly consumes most of my time outside of the typical “work, family, friends, etc, etc”; Men and travel immediately came to mind. Fortunately, I have many opportunities to travel quite frequently. Sometimes it’s for a contract job, most of the time it’s for pleasure and I just leave, just like that, just because. If only I could have documented those times, those memories, those fellow travelers, those sceneries. I say nay to any more missed connections and lost photographs. I suppose I get so caught up in the laughter, the atmosphere, the moment, I forget it will not last for long. It ends tonight. Consider the next few years of travel recorded.