"The Dating Scene"

Several years before I met my husband, I was involved in the Internet chat rooms (which was kind of new that time) and posting my ads on-line as well, hoping to meet a "dream-guy".

At that time, there were hardly any "wackos" in the chat rooms as they are nowadays,. So, it was quite fun chatting in those rooms for hours and hours, making innocent jokes and punchlines. As a result, my mother often got frustrated not being able to reach me by phone (TDD) since I had a "dial-up" mode and the Internet cable did not even exist.

Most of the people in the chat rooms were locals. It was not about a year later, that the local chat room group set up a meeting every month for locals in a bar/restaurant.

Eventually, I met this hearing guy on-line. We exchanged few e-mails for about a week. He asked to meet me but since I, at that time, worked from afternoons to mid-evenings, suggested that he meet me outside my work, which was safer.

One late afternoon, he stopped by. We stood outside and chatted amicably for about fifteen minutes and then he left. I knew from seeing him that he wasn't my type though he seemed nice.

That night, upon returning home, I got an e-mail from him, saying he was glad to finally meet me and thought I was a nice person.

To my surprise, he added, "To be honest with you, I was only looking for a one-night stand but upon seeing you, I thought that you were a sweet person. I felt I did not want to take advantage of you."