Lifestyle
Taking “Blind Date” to a New Level
By Brianna Hunt
Wednesday, February 30th, XX46
The dating scene today is a far cry from the one of our parents and grandparents generation. Gone are the days of blind dating; being told to get dolled up and head down to a restaurant to meet a friend of a friend, getting to know each other over a nice meal and forging a genuine connection through face to face communication. Those days have been ushered out by the rise of online dating; with dating apps and social media enabling us to connect virtually with people from all over the world with just a tap, a swipe or a like. A recent poll of college aged adults showed that about 2 in 5 met their significant other through a dating app, and 4 in 5 have used some form of dating app or other online platform to search for romantic companionship.
While many enjoy the convenience of getting to know someone through a screen, there are some who mourn the loss of the methods of the bygone era. And then there are some like Tatianna Nelson, today’s person of interest, who have fallen back into the more traditional form of dating, but have added their own modern twist.
We caught up with Tatianna at Hello Brewtiful, her favorite coffee shop, and the location where she had her first date with her current partner, Juke.
“Online dating can be so discouraging. You swipe and don’t match with someone that you wanted to, or you do match and then have a lukewarm conversation, then one of you ghosts the other. It’s not exactly an exciting experience.”
Tatianna told us that she had been using online dating apps for years without any success, and could not figure out why she wasn’t having the same luck as her peers, many of whom have found their lifelong partners through dating apps.
“I thought I was broken. Like maybe my brain was just wired differently and that was why I just couldn’t for the life of me make any genuine connections with people I met online.”
She also expressed that she struggled with finding dates the “organic way.”
“It’s stressful, you know? Because nine times out of ten, any guy that just approaches you when you’re out and about and asks you to go out with him is like, one stabbing away from being Ted Bundy. And then my friends would try and set me up with their friends and– not to be rude to any of my friends because I love them, I really do– but they’ve got some…questionable tastes in friends. They’re friends with me, that should tell you all you need to know!” She laughs.
Tatianna said that everything changed when she realized that the issue she was having wasn’t just with her dating methods, it was also with her dating pool.
“I sat down and thought to myself “alright girl, what’s the deal? What’s the real problem we’re having here?” And then I had an epiphany! I came to the realization that the issues I was having…they were such human problems, weren’t they? And well, I can’t exactly stop being human, but I could certainly stop dating them!”
Tatianna says her whole life changed when she started dating Visitors.
“Of course I couldn’t find them online, with the effect they have on technology, you really have to meet them face to face. So it was partially where I was looking for dates and partially who I was dating.”
When asked what the draw of dating a Visitor was, she replied, “they’re actually amazing conversationalists when you can understand them. They’ve seen and they know so much more than we do, so they’ve truly got some interesting stories to tell. ”
Tatianna tells us that she’d gone on three dates with three different Visitors, which she enjoyed even though they didn’t work out, before meeting Juke.
“I call them Juke, because when they told me their actual name it made me black out for a moment. But they’re really super sweet! Very intelligent and the projection of them that I’m able to actually comprehend? Super hot.”
She then tells us of her future plans to grow in her relationship with Juke.
“I’ve been talking to some doctors about the legality of undergoing a surgery to remove my optical nerves. Really trying to give a new meeting to the idea of “blind dating.” She joked.
“I have been so happy with Juke, but one point of contention in our relationship is the fact that well, with them being fourth dimensional, and our brains not being built to comprehend that, being around them is doing actual, physical damage to my brain. I think that with this surgery, with less sensory input always coming in, I’d be able to be around them more comfortably. Juke doesn’t think that it’s worth it for me to do that for them, but I do.”
When asked what she would do if she underwent the surgery, but things did not work out with Juke, she replied “Well fingers crossed that’s not something I’ll ever have to worry about, but I still think it’d be beneficial in the long run. Even if things don’t work out with Juke, I still have a preference for dating Visitors. I don’t think I could go back to dating humans at this point!” She laughed.
While many optical surgeons would refuse to do the surgery that Tatianna is requesting, it is not unheard of for cosmetic surgeons to perform, on the grounds that it is “a surgery that changes the way you look,” a technicality that has been exploited in the past by patients looking to save some money on optical surgery, and by cosmetic surgeons looking to make some extra money.
“The surgery is a long term goal,” she continued, “ but for now I just wear a blindfold to most of our dates. It doesn’t solve the problem completely, but it does help a little.”
When asked if she could recommend dating Visitors or if this was just a personal choice for her, Tatianna replied, “One hundred percent I would recommend it. Being able to sit face to face and connect with someone that way is definitely worth some of the roadblocks it comes with. Definitely preferable to online dating, in my opinion.”
So there you have it folks. If you find yourself missing the way things used to be, reminiscing about the good old days of face to face dating, but struggle to find people who share the same sentiments as you in the age of online dating, maybe take a page out of Tatianna’s book. Take a look at (or a feel for, if you can afford the optical surgery) the Visitors’ side, and try to incorporate some of the aged methods of dating into our current and modern lifestyle.