Monday, June 20, 2016

A Bit of Bordeaux in Photos

Our first stop in France is the Right Bank of Bordeaux. I can't really promise you posts about any other stops, because you probably don't want to see countless photos of empty wine bottles, and that's honestly the only thing on my mind here. (Wine, not empty bottles.)


 The line of vintages from Château de Siaurac

We have Bordeaux City, Lyon, Avignon and my old pal Marseille ahead of us on the itinerary, but today, we are enjoying Saint-Émilion and its surroundings. There is a château everywhere you look - and it's glorious.

Friday, June 17, 2016

Online Dating: A Very Biased Review of Tinder, Bumble, OkCupid and Coffee Meets Bagel

"Now where is my bagel?"

Despite being busy with fun stuff like training Brazilian jiu-jitsu and working, I am single and thus receptive of going out on a date every once in a while. And thanks to various mobile apps and online dating services, at times I happen to be dating quite actively.

Online dating used to be weird. I remember the days when it wasn't strange to suggest lying to your families about how you met, if you met your partner online. Today, so much of people's lives happens online, that online dating has successfully claimed its own sweet spot in our collective cyberspace as well. It is no longer much stranger than updating friends on what you ate or what you thought about the latest Marvel movie.

Online dating websites are still alive and well (or so I've heard), but it's online dating apps where it's at these days. I also find most of my dates online. My social circle, although not small by any means, happens to consist of people who are already settled, happily or otherwise. I work from home and spend a lot of time training BJJ, which limits my time and, indeed, opportunity to meet someone new in the wild (although things happen). So I turn to online dating again and again, despite not having much luck with the most popular dating apps out there.

After all, dating is fun, even if it doesn't bring desired results.

Oddly, when it comes to finding people online, I do best with Reddit. I owe Reddit several very close and very treasured friends, several casual relationships and one full-blown ex-boyfriend with whom I don't talk anymore. These are all stories worth telling, but not today.