I lived in NYC years ago. That was when I first tried OLD. It wasn't as terrible back then. I met up with a bunch of weirdos, but none of them were predatory, negging, etc.

This is by far the most bizarre 1st date I've ever been on.

I met up with this guy at a Greek restaurant. He suggested the place. I knew he was tall, based on his photos, but when I saw him walking towards me, I felt intimidated. Like 6'4-6'5, muscular, with really pale skin and dark hair, he had handsome vampire looks.

Anyway, so we sat down, and I noticed he had very intense eyes. He wasn't staring at me, but I could just feel it. I tried making small talk about the menu, and he said "I'm a vegan". I made a joke about why are we at a Greek restaurant if you're vegan, and he said "You said you liked Greek food in your profile" Which was sort of sweet. He was a bit awkward and not making good conversation, so I asked him why he is vegan (mistake). He went on a monologue rant about "meat eaters", started talking about photosynthesis and how it's possible for humans to survive with just sunlight. He was really into new age, conspiracy, woo woo things-- he didn't write any of this on his profile and our chats were light before meeting, so this was all a surprise.

Then he told me a long story about how he has severe Crohn's disease, how he used to be a bodybuilder eating tons of meat everyday, until he became very sick. His vegan diet helped him to live a normal life, avoid the hospital, be able to work and have a life.

So then he started talking about blood types, and how we have different blood types because aliens visited earth and mated with humans years ago. At this point, I was more annoyed by him than intimidated, and I stopped being so cordial. I laughed and said "So are you an alien?" He said "Maybe", and started discussing colostrum and how he has out of body experiences while meditating. After that, he went on about numerology and how is number is so significant and important, how the number 3 can be found everywhere. Then he calculated my numerology number, which was 8. Like 10 minutes later, he looked at his watch and had a really puzzled look on his face, and he looked at me and said "My watch stopped at 8, this has never happened before" I laughed and thought he was just being cheesy, but he looked really scared of me, he apologized and told me he had to go home to meditate about this, paid for the check and scurried out of the restaurant. I think he believed that I stopped his watch with my body's electromagnetic system. I did see his watch, and it really was stuck at 8, which was bizarre.

I was annoyed by him, but at least I have a funny 1st date story, he wasn't disrespectful or rude to me, he didn't show up late, he planned a thoughtful date, he paid the check even after he almost shit his pants being scared of me.

Even super eccentric super intense new age guys understand basic baseline behavior, they understand basic etiquette, they know not to treat others badly. I'm not saying this guy was HVM, but at least he wasn't trying to take advantage of me, wasn't insulting me, wasn't trying to get sexual on a first date/touch me. I think he was just awkward and maybe didn't have too many people to talk to, so he talked too much, got too personal.

I'm not saying this guy was a HVM, but at least he was entertaining and cordial. You can be as crazy and eccentric as you want, there's probably a lid to your pot somewhere in the world, especially in a big city. Just be authentic, don't be a shitbag, don't try to trick people, have decency.