Dating Dimes* on a Dime in DC

*slang noun in relation to physical beauty in place of a "perfect ten"

By Westmoreland

00. Prologue

The dating disposition of the reasonably appointed* heterosexual male shifts through three standard categories. Guys date in

* Preparation
* Selection
* Consumption

These states tend to transition in and out of range of each other given the appropriate context. Each phase leads into the other on a predictable cycle until that male achieves a steady state of marriage, confirmed bachelorhood, or death. Quickly, let���s walk through a primer for each, shall we?

Preparation
Dating a woman in this phase means that this is said male���s lady. She is also very likely to be the ���One���. They have attended church services. She has met his mother, hung out with his friends, gets money from him (without prompting) and has been in abstract or detailed discussion/negotiation regarding marriage. She is good to go for the gold band. She is the future mother of his child���ern.

Selection
Dating a woman in the selection phase does not guarantee that she is exclusive to his dating pursuits, but she is competitive. He is buying dinner for her (sigh) with the expectation that she may soon be cooking dinner for him. This is the phase where he is returning her phone calls, popping the cell open on the first ring or kind of happy to get her text messages. She is foxy, and makes him feel warm (and/or corny and/or vulnerable). A dating operation in this phase may also be discontinued without any warning. What?

Consumption
Dating a woman in this phase is not really dating. Sometimes you can just text a ���babe��� to meet you at a bar. (I actually learned how this phase worked from a beautiful female friend of mine. I cringed when I discovered that you can actually get a woman to go back to your place WITHOUT ever having bought her dinner. I have run through some experiments using this approach. Unfortunately it is fairly effective. Note to self: train my unborn daughters well not to meet some clown at a bar for a drink. Ever! But I digress.) Consumption is really about frequency -- quantity. Usually this is a phase that younger guys overindulge once they discover that they have a subtle superiority in the urban dating marketplace. One day, though, they will discover the hidden costs and loneliness inherited from crunching through a bunch of women like Pringles. I love Barbecue Pringles, but they don���t fill you up and you can���t even throw them in the microwave, so they are hot but never ever warm.

In any case, this is where I, as a 30-something, professional, single male in D.C., will track my phase implementations. Who knows, maybe along the way you and I will learn something powerful���