So Where Do You Go To Meet Someone?

There are a lot of questions floating around my mind as part of this project, and one of them is: where do you go to meet someone? It seems like a fairly simple question I suppose, but the answer is a little elusive. My friends all give me the same advice. Joe, they say, you want to meet someone who likes the things you like and does the things you do, so look at your hobbies and interests and go to places that engage those tastes. Well, there's just one little problem there.

My interests seem to lie outside the mainstream "datable" material. I like to go shooting and fishing. I like reading, but not to the exclusion of all else, and definitely not to the point where I analyze something to death. Most of my time revolves around work and home chores, so what little time I do have is usually spent recovering from one or the other. When I do indulge in my hobbies, it's usually a solitary pursuit.

Take yesterday's and today's events. Today I went to a gun show. I like walking around and seeing what there is to see. There is all kinds of history at gun shows, and not necessarily just guns. I saw flags, coins, a few stamps, pictures, old money, books, and, of course, guns. I spent nearly five hours hanging around there and helping my friend Gerry run his table. (Ok, I didn't quite run anything, but I did get to sit behind the table like I was running it.)

Being behind the table and walking around a show, you see a lot of different things and a lot of different people. I saw old guys, families, couples, handicapped types, some women, some children, and even a baby or two. But is this a place where I can meet someone? Maybe, but I wouldn't quite know how to go about doing it, especially because most of the women there in my age/interest range were walking around with their husbands/boyfriends.

Last night was a little different. I went to a concert with friends. It was a concert I wanted to go to--a lot of John Williams' movie music. It was mostly science fiction/fantasy: Star Wars, Harry Potter, Superman, etc. It wasn't a concert they usually go to, but they went with me anyway. I noticed the same thing as at the gun show--a lot of different kinds of people, but really no single women. As we were driving home, we were talking about this project and the blog, and this very question was brought up. Where does a person go to meet people? At this stage of life, it's a little difficult because you don't have school to rely on any more. My main solution has been the church. I don't yet know if it's a good solution. I hope it is, but only time will tell.