Meeting Mr. Wrong...                                                    Philippines, a duration of 2 years     

12 hours after I clicked "send", email responses started pouring in. Most of them guys and only a couple of women (the latter lasted just 2 emails later - looking back they must have wondered what I was up to). On the 5th day I met Mr. Scotland and sparks flew. We were both enthralled. The exchange bordered on feverish, we wrote long emails every single day, and every weekday night I was on tenterhooks for the clock to strike 10pm, it was our unofficial cyberspace meeting time for a 2 hour YM chat. We had fun, we were tickled. I couldn't believe it, after just 5 days I seemed to have found Mr. Right! This went on for about 4 months.

But several things bothered me about Mr. Scotland, first he only chats and emails me at work. I was thinking wouldn't it be more special if he spared some of his weekend exclusively talking with me? Second, even if he worked with a big phone company he never made a move to call me but when he did (2x) it was sort of grudging (yes, it was still at work too) and admittedly our YM chats was better than our phone conversation. He sounded distant and seemed like he wanted me to take the lead. Third, he was my age (late 20s) but still lived with his parents (is this normal in Scotland?). Fourth, he would disappear for a week or 2 weeks without notice, only to find out later that he went on a vacation. Fifth, after cyber-whispering to me sweet nothings, and voiced out loud of visiting me in the Philippines there wasn't anything solid in his plans.

I painfully came to the conclusion that Mr. Scotland wasn't into me as much as I was to him. 5 months and we weren't moving forward from the "flirting" stage. So I broke off whatever "relationship" we had. He said he was hurt. But a month later I found out that he was involved (long term commitment as he would put it) with another scottish girl from work. How very convenient.

More Mister(s) Mistake...

So I continued sending and getting emails from other guys around the world. One of my friends who I got hooked into internet search led me to starmatch.com where I met Mr. Java Programming from Canada. It was the first time I met somebody who doesn't have a sense of taste, literally. There was Mr. Florida who got divorced from his wife after a month and seemed to have issues with his adoptive parents and his ex. There was Mr. Pilot/Drummer from New York who lost more than 80 pounds. Mr. Restaurateur from the US who was a young widower with 3 small kids. Mr. Biker from Switzerland who called me up at 3am and had an off-putting goat laugh. Etcetera. A lot of them were really nice guys but no sparks like Mr. Scotland.

Not surprisingly I also met a lot of creeps from this website, like Mr. Desert Guy from the US (at that time I could hardly differentiate the 50 states) who offered to fly me over the US. I never heard from him again when I questioned the discrepancy of the birthdate in his profile and the age of his son. Or in the ICQ a guy from the Middle East whose initial message was "want to feel my hot lips?". Or a guy in Israel who claims to be an Indian working there as a scientist and also happens to be a successful fashion designer with shows and exhibits left and right in his homeland. Or Mr. Musician from Canada whose first letter asked if I was a virgin. He said that he also asked this of another filipina and he doesn't know why she got angry. He didn't fare better with me either.

Fast forward a year and a half later I was already working in Cebu. Another friend insisted I sign up at friendfinder.com, by this time I was already on the verge of giving up and wasn't really looking forward to going back to writing that introductory email. I have lost some steam. However the determination of meeting Mr. Right halfway and the gut feel that he wasn't in the Philippines made me forge ahead. More misters mistake. Then on February around 1 year and 10 months of searching, I got a very short note from friendfinder that said I was pretty and asked if I would be interested in writing to him. What do you know, it was Mr. Chicago.

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Currently listening to: Bon Jovi's "It's My Life"
Currently reading: Pediatrician's Book On Childcare
Currently watching: American Idol