Why So Many Dating Woes?

I recently wrote about Mr. TMI, the over-sharer I've encountered in the dating jungle. In case you've forgotten;

• his friend tried to commit suicide
• he made me talk to her on the phone
• he wanted to talk on the phone for hours about whether I preferred self-checkout or cashiers,
• he texted me O-H and wanted me to text back I-O (I grew up in WV and don't really understand that weird Ohio habit)
• and he told me all about how his infected salivary gland had formed some giant lump on his lip.

All this before we had even met!

He e-mailed me on Tuesday to see if I was "still interested in getting to know each other better." I know I shouldn't find fault with that, but isn't it just a little bit creepy? It sounds more like what he thinks women want to hear than anything else. Yesterday, he sent a text about how he had just read a Trivial Pursuit question card and thought of me. Again, we've never met - let alone played trivia.

At this point, let's call it what it is: creepy, odd, strange. The thought of meeting freaked me out so I e-mailed him to say we weren't a good match but good luck in the future.

Yes - Even More Detail on the Salivary Gland

He e-mailed me back asking for specific reasons why we weren't a good match. (I pretty much never understand why people do that - but especially if we've NEVER met. If you need a reason, just tell yourself I'm crazy!) Then he asked if it was because of the 'temporary lump' on his lip and included a wikipedia article about his infected salivary gland, adding that it had already disappeared.

I wantd to write him back and say "Case in point." To be honest, I don't think the words 'salivary' or 'gland' (or 'moist' for that matter) should EVER come up in conversation -especially if you're trying to develop a romance. It was bad enough that I had to hear about it - but did he really need to send me pictures? It's icky. That wasn't why I didn't want to go out with him - but it certainly didn't help.

Seriously, is this what everyone experiences in the dating world? In the past six months, I've gone out with:

• a man who collected energy drinks and lived with his mom
• a man who had a snowman Christmas tree topper, wanted to decorate my Christmas tree for me after one date and lived with a 30-year-old man who had never kissed a girl
• a man who listened extensively to The Spice Girls (the later years)
• and a man who told me I should let him get "a little lucky" because he had just lost his job.

No wonder I like hanging out with my cats!