I’m 47, trying to get back in there after a hell-spawned relationship, and I just got stood up twice in one night. I live in a small town, had to drive an hour to meet Tinder Match 1. Halfway there she says, are we still on? Yes, as planned this morning, I’m halfway there already (I said it more pleasantly than that.) Says she wasn’t sure, so now she’s gonna be late. Then 15 minutes later she says she’s going home, because this is “not how she does things.” I’m at the appointed place and time!

So I go outside, message a different match, and say hey, I’m in town with no plans, if you’re the spontaneous type let’s go grab a drink. She says yes, names the place, I drive across town, sit down to order, right then, I’m blocked. Not a word. Just blocked. I’m pretty sure she wasn’t in there waiting to see if I look like my picture — for one thing, I do, and for another, I’d have notice a lone white girl in a restaurant full of Vietnamese people. I guess she might have been in the parking lot or something. Or just messing with me from the start.

So, feeling real low about the whole thing. My inner dialogue is beating the shit out of me, telling me to quit trying. Any other ideas?