Every day we feel like we won the freakin' lottery, and we got our lucky ticket on the Stranger Lovelab!
Trent: So, it was getting close to my first winter school break in my new Seattle environs. I've had a couple of dates since arriving in the Fall, but nothing I saw as terribly promising. I turned to LoveLab on The Stranger's site in search of some companionship over the holidays and, if I'm lucky, a steady dinner/movie/nookie date partner.
Jessica: Last winter I placed a personals ad on Lovelab, not expecting anything except to meet some interesting people, and maybe a little action if it was in the cards.
Trent: I wasn't looking for anything serious as I knew I was going to be leaving after finishing school in the Spring of 2008. Besides, I'd already been through one marriage right after high school, so I considered that square filled, and my last seven years of wanton manwhoring left me more than a little skeptical about finding a woman I found interesting and enjoyable after the first three dates, at least for more than sex. Honestly, after seven years of casual sex, I didn't have high hopes for finding interest in simply sex, either.
Jessica: My ad was "featured" on the Lovelab home page and generated an overwhelming number of responses in the short time I left it up. I was impressed with the overall caliber of responses and did meet some very interesting people, but one respondent in particular stood out immediately. His wit, warped sense of humor, and excellent and varied taste in music setting him apart from the pack.
Trent: It's funny what catches your eye in someone's ad. I found Jessica attractive from her pictures, but I think I was most intrigued by the lack of smiles in her pictures; mine are usually all smiles, so I wanted to see hers. Her allusions to work and education made for an interesting puzzle as well, but I think it was her list of songs in her 'personal soundtrack' that earned my credits, particularly 'Three Days' by Jane's Addiction: one of my favorites. So, I wrote her and she wrote back. We exchanged a few fun and thought provoking e-mails and arrived simultaneously at the decision to meet.
Jessica: Our first date was comfortable although we were both a little wary, but it became apparent we had much in common - both professionals with punk rock roots, subversives who enjoyed flying beneath the radar. After our second, it was clear that there was definite potential for chemistry. The catch? He was only here for a year finishing up his master's degree before he would be moving to Colorado. At the time, this was fine with me as I honestly didn't expect to fall for him and had given up on Love long ago. I was happy to find a partner in crime in a groovy "friends plus" situation. We took things one day at a time, living in the moment. In fact, we never even had "the talk" until we had been dating for five months. He finally broached the subject of "us" and his impending move on our way to Sasquatch, and by the end of our first talk on the subject, we'd all but decided to get married.
Trent: I won't deny I was a little concerned when she wore pink to our first date, but she suggested Taco Bus for dinner and bowling for after, so I didn't pin her for a girlie girl. We ended up playing pool instead of bowling and she responded well to my shit talking. We drove around the blindingly decorated houses on Candy Cane Lane and professed our fondness for such things in spite of their horrible lack of environmental consciousness. No kiss, no hug, but a good handshake, a sincere smile, and a mutual desire to meet again...the perfect end to a first date and the perfect start to my eternal wedded bliss.
Jessica: Two months after "the talk," we flew to Las Vegas and got hitched. Our honeymoon was spent at Burning Man. We've weathered a few major life events in the short time we've been married that have only brought us closer together. I marvel that I found someone so perfectly well suited to my quirks and temperament. Every day we feel like we won the freakin' lottery, and we got our lucky ticket on the Stranger Lovelab!
Kelly & Todd
We both, really wanted to let the Portland Mercury, and more specifically the Mercury Lovelab know about what this funky online personal ad carnival ride can churn out - real people in real relationships that work, and are seriously happy to have found each other.
Once upon a time about 14 months ago I was an active member of your website. I was always finding and going on lots of interesting, some very uninteresting, and some very strange dates. I was a regular ol' 24-year-old Portland gal, just playing the dating game. I had been a Lovelab member for about three years at this point and I just hadn't found "the one" I guess you could say. At this time I was all about deleting my ad ASAP because in my eyes 'it didn't work out.' But, right before I did delete it I of course caved into my old addictive Lovelab tendencies and did one last dude-search. I did an advanced search for someone over 6', and over 25 yrs.
As usual a long list appeared in front, but it was mostly full of profiles I had already perused. I went through them all silently hoping for just one new profile that I could check out partially out of boredom and partially out of desperation because my love life had been just full of lame asses lately. Then I saw his. I clicked on it, and I read it and was immediately intrigued. I decided to "flirt" with him.
We exchanged one email, a week or so of phone calls that lasted for hours into the night and had us giddy to meet each other, and one first date at Huber's that landed us on the waterfront hoping to not be accosted by meth addicts trying to work up the courage for that first kiss. We totally shared that kiss that night as well as his bed and I moved in shortly thereafter.
I moved to Alaska this last August to pursue my dream to teach high school in remote Alaska, and he supported my dream from Portland with phone calls every night at 9pm and wake-up emails every morning.
And I'm so excited to tell you that he has joined me up here in Alaska to live. He quit his job and is making a fresh start after asking me to to marry him over the holidays at fine Portland restaurant in front our families. We're just digging this engagement time together.
So, hey I guess the moral is you really can find "the one"- or whatever you wanna call him or her in a personal ad online. Even when the chips are down and all you can find to date the old-fashioned way is some hometown-trash that you chewed up and spit out and never wanted to have to lay eyes on again there is still hope my people.
We plan on a long engagement considering this extravagant Alaskan adventure. It's funny to think that this Alaska-thing started out as my pipe dream 3 years ago and has ended up as my brilliant reality with a sweet addition (him).
We both, really wanted to let the Portland Mercury, and more specifically the Mercury Lovelab know about what this funky online personal ad carnival ride can churn out - real people in real relationships that work, and are seriously happy to have found each other.
Oh and hey Lovelab Girl, we'll send ya a wedding invite, who doesn't love getting drunk and dancing with the hot little sister of the bride?
Thank you Portland Mercury Lovelab,
We Love Ya,
Kelly & Todd
Aaron & Erin
Earlier this year I signed up on LoveLab. I wasn't sure I was really
looking for love per se but hoping for some friendship at least. I
wrote up what I thought was a good profile and posted some of my best
pix then sat back and waited for the hotties to come calling. A month
later I hadn't met any hotties, so I bought a month of messaging and
said "if they won't come to me I'll go to them." After meeting a few
girls who responded to my messages I was starting to get a little
jaded. They really weren't my type and I figured when my paid account
ran out I would take a break from online dating. Then, out of the
blue, I got an email from one of the girls I had messaged a few weeks
earlier, who I had never met because our schedules didn't match up.
She invited me to get coffee and I accepted, even though I had already
resigned myself to going back to the bars and friend's blind dates.
That morning I put on my best jeans and my favorite Batman t-shirt and
went downtown to meet the last girl I would ever meet online. After
talking for about half an hour over a soy chai and a latte I asked if
she wanted to get something to eat. After a couple sandwiches and
sodas, I told her I hadn't really expected her to be so awesome and I
had been invited to the Rat City roller derby with some friends that
afternoon. My friends happened to have an extra ticket and she just
happened to be ecstatic about the possibility of her first roller
derby game.
After the best first date ever, we continued dating regularly. The
signs that we were meant to be together started early and continued to
present themselves often. We both have the same name (although spelled
differently). We're both givers and natural leaders. Somehow this
works out because we take turns giving and leading. We've both been
through the same relationship nightmares in the past. Neither of us
put up with drama from ourselves or each other. We got tattoos for the
same reasons before we met. They're even in the same place.
Before this gets too disgustingly cute I'll skip to the end: we're
engaged. We've reserved Golden Gardens for July 20th 2008. We just
wanted to say if it weren't for you we would be putting up with losers
and jerks we met in bars.
Thanks, The Stranger
-Aaron
Joel Murphy and Thomas Dudley
My best friend growing up met his boyfriend on here years ago and this last month I went to their wedding where they now live out in western mass. It was amazing and I coudn't be happier for them, so thank you for that.
-Miliken Gardner
Lisa and Glen
In January 2006, I thought I’d try my hand for the second time at online dating. I had some basic rules: no long distant relationships, respond only to people with photos, delete those offering to suck my toes, etc. I created a profile with the Stranger’s Love lab. I had been on for about two weeks, and had a fair share of interesting contacts, but no one that really appealed to me. I decided that at the end of the second week I’d stop online dating, and pursue a platonic daydream relationship.
The next day I returned from work and opened my profile to see that I had received a contact from a person that did not have a photo. I normally would have deleted this immediately, but for some reason I read the mail. It was a simple and humble, seemingly sincere letter that called my attention and interest. It was the first time that he had ever sent an online dating contact to anyone (He said it’s the best five bucks he’d ever spent). I responded, and asked for a picture. It took him a week to produce a picture (he’s very intelligent but not very skilled on the computer).
We kept corresponding on the computer then eventually on the phone. We’d have four hour phone conversations often, laughing, debating, and empathizing. We finally met, and I was very content – tall and handsome, plus funny. We’ve been together ever since. We’ve been through a lot, and I can honestly say that he is my best friend, my counsel, my sparing and life partner. He’s the cat’s meow!
-Lisa P. and Glen G.
Its an awesome service and the people are truly genuine and really
cool. I did meet a wonderful man after dating some really cool very
handsome fellas, so I'm totally thrilled with your service. Its a
wonderful way to meet new people.
Do believe if this doesn't work out with this dude...I WILL BE BACK!!!
I tell all my single girlfriends about it. Your questions are so
cool and really allow you to truly be yourself.
Thanks for your help Audrey!
-Anonymous
I have fallen deeply in love, thanks to your fine service.
Thank you Tim Keck!
I had come across this girl’s page, and all the info matched well with what I was looking for... and she was gorgeous. So I go to Email her... but I'm broke, so I have to wait ‘til Friday to get paid and send her a message. So I send her the message, we talk a bit and decide to meet up for coffee. We met up at the park in Cap hill, got some coffee, hung out for a while, then went our separate ways. We were talking later that night on AIM, and we were discussing how fucked up it is that they give people with specific diseases the most difficult name for them to say. For example, Dixlesia, t-t-t-turrets, AIDs... and so on. I figured any girl that would laugh about these sorts of things (let alone any joke I make) is worth keeping around. So we changed our Myspace relationship status and we've been pretty damn happy ever since. It's been about 8 months now, and we haven't had any major disagreements yet.
-D + U
I only went on one other date before meeting my current girlfriend.
She sort of swept me up before I had a chance to fully dive into the
online-dating experience and meet lots of other folks. That's fine by
me though - I got what I was looking for.
-Eric
A year or two ago my friend was using Lovelab. She went on a few dates with a few different people and then she met this one guy who is really wonderful and they've been dating since. Then, this last weekend her man proposed to her! I am so happy! I really like them together, they are super cute. Anyways I just thought I'd share the happy Lovelab story with you.
-xo-j
Success story! It didn't take long to meet my new boyfriend. I posted a profile in early June, went on several dates, and met Neil shortly thereafter. We started dating in late June and I haven't needed to use Lovelab since. As a matter of fact, we've just returned from a weekend in Las Vegas, our first trip together as a couple.
I really enjoyed the service. I was able to meet people in my target audience with some level of pre-screening. Craig's List is a free-for-all and Match.com is a ripoff. Because Lovelab has a small price associated, it weeds out those that are not too serious, yet caters to the young, hip and sexy. Overall, I was very pleased.
Cheers!
Amy
Dear Portland Mercury,
I just celebrated my second wedding anniversary with my wife on September 30th. We met via the Mercury Lovelab back in May of 2003. She initiated the first move and the rest is history.
We love your paper and hope you guys keep the Mercury going for a long time.
