Communicating 101

I will not go down in history as The Great Communicator. I know myself well enough to know that this is an area of which I can use improvement. I communicate just fine when it's work related, actually I'm pretty darn good at expressing exactly what I need to get my job done to the best of my ability but when it comes to one-on-one "let me tell you how I feel", I lack significant skills to be politely understood.

Often, I try not to care what someone thinks about how I feel because frankly, most people don't. Sometimes, I feel bad for saying exactly what I think and others I feel bad for holding back. Of course, I'm not known for holding back too much nor for feeling bad too much.

In the dating world, one must approach victims (I mean potential dates) with a certain kind of finesse to ease into email chains that may lead to an invite for a drink or dinner or doom... At first, I thought I was doing well, wooed into emailing with a young gentlemen well before the organized online dating site recommended, we exchanged words that were polite, interesting and gentle.

Here is the gist:
Example 1 (I'm the italics)
What do you do? Oh, I'm in film. Oh how cool, I'm studying law. Oh how boring, but I'm sure you like it, what kind?
How are you enjoying the weather? Love the snow, hate the cold. Yeah, me too.
How do you feel about Universal Healthcare? I think I'm for it. Yeah, me too.
Oh, We have something else in common! Yeah, how exciting.
So do you want to get a drink sometime? Yeah, why not.
Cool. Did you facebook or google me yet? No, didn't even cross my mind.
Oh, well text me sometime.

That's it. And he expected me to text him to set a time for a drink. Is there some unwritten rule that I have to facebook or google a guy I'm interested in? Needless to say I didn't text him and half expected him to contact me about that drink - no word. Have I been rejected because I didn't care enough to google him? Seriously? And I was SO polite in all my emails.

After that I thought a change of strategy was warranted. I'll just be more myself right upfront.

Example 2: (I'm still the italics)

So, Hey girl. I saw your pic and you're super cute! This dating service says we should be matched! Wanna chat more? Tell me what your instant messenger service of choice is and I'll hit you up. You're in Brooklyn right? Cool. PS - I looked up what your name means, oh Joy!

Joy or Joyous but it should have been Oy. Seriously? How can you tell if I'm cute from my single tiny picture? And do you put all your faith into Dating sites selecting appropriate matches or do you prefer to judge for yourself? And, "instant messenger service of choice" is this 1999!? Do people IM still?
Just kidding. Dating sites makes me get fresh. I've been faking use of the service for 3 weeks and it's proving more work than I had hoped.
Yeah, I live in Brooklyn and I don't really IM or gchat or whatever because it's too distracting for work. I respond well to emails though. What is it that has struck you about my profile (other than my super cute pic) that has sparked you to risk communication?
Hope you're having a lovely Monday and a good start to the week.

So, really, what am I doing so wrong? This second guy hasn't responded to my email yet but I have high hopes that I've sparked his interest in being more my sassy self. But if I believed in doubt, now would be a good time to start doubting those communication skills of mine...