Character limit...
Now, as for the women...
I don't think I've ever dealt with such a variety of bullsh** anywhere else. Not in New York. Not in Miami. Not in Philly. Not even in Delaware.
First of all, the dating apps. I got somewhere between 15 and 20 matches during my stay, none of which came from Tinder, oddly enough. Every single match on Bumble had set an Opening Move. For those who don't know, the gimmick with Bumble is that women have to message first. I guess that wasn't very popular over time, so a change was made to allow women to set a prompt - something of an "automatic" message that gets sent to the guy for them to answer, so that the onus is still on the man to initiate. Beyond that, on Hinge, almost every woman was Christian, and specified on their profile that they were looking for either a Long-term relationship or a Life partner. Don't get me wrong, the girls on these apps in Scottsdale/Phoenix are gorgeous, but they're just as responsive as anywhere else; ie, not very.
Most conversations expired when they wouldn't reply after the Opening Move, but I did get a few phone numbers and set up some tentative dates. The first was the girl I made the thread about a date, where I thought it would be a waste of time since she was Christian, looking for something long-term, and couldn't be out past 10PM (spoiler: it didn't go well). There was another I matched with before her, whom I set up plans with for the same night as the previous girl. There had been 1 or 2 days between when I last contacted her, so when I texted her asking if she was still free, she sent me an audio message basically saying that she forgot and would've wanted me to confirm with her prior (mind you, I had sent the last message before that conversation). Then there was another another girl who also moved to Arizona from Wilmington that I was supposed to get drinks with that same night. Apparently, she got electrocuted at work and decided to stay in and take it easy. I texted her the next day, asking if she was feeling better, which she replied to and appreciated - but when I asked her if she was feeling good enough to come out with me that night, she never responded. Then there was another another another girl whom I made plans with first for Thursday night, later for Friday night. She was supposed to hit me up after she finished a late-night workout to see where I was and come join me, but never did. Texted me apologizing the next day, so I invited her again, and again she never texted back that night, so I deleted her number.
In-person interactions weren't much better.
One of
@BeExcellent 's friends had a daughter who just graduated, whom I was introduced to. She was very interested and asked for my number, saying she would be out at a certain bar the next night, and that I should come. I wasn't too interested, but I was open to seeing how things would go. Over the next 3 nights, she and her friends would change their minds about going to that bar, stay in as a result of a late dinner, then go to a speakeasy more than 20 miles away, so I stopped texting her and never saw her.
The night I visited El Hefe, I met a really gorgeous girl who turned out to be a bottle girl at Maya who was enjoying her night off. She seemed interested, but told me she doesn't give out her number, and asked for my Instagram. I knew this was probably BS, but she told me that she'd grab drinks if I didn't "look boring" according to my social media. She left soon after that, and unfollowed me the next day, but was so gracious to leave me as a follower on her profile, which I rectified.
The gymfluencer from Cala seemed potentially interested and gave me her number, even going so far as to "love" my message when I texted her that it was nice meeting her. But the next night, when I texted her to come meet me out for drinks, she never responded.
The girl that Trena introduced me to was kinda cute, and also seemed super interested. She got my number from Trena and met me as I was going up to the club section, and we planned to meet downstairs when she got through the line into the bar. After a bunch of texting back and forth to try to find each other, the closest we got was when she and her friend were passing me on their way upstairs, as she was being pulled along. At some point, she leaves the bar and texts me to come to another bar. I decide that's not worth the effort, and by closing time, she's still texting me, so I tell her where I'm staying and invite her to come through. She texts me the next morning that she passed out, so I stopped bothering with her.
There was even a girl at Wasted Grain that tried to co**block on behalf of her friend, who was enjoying my company. I introduced myself, we hit it off, she told me she was single - everything was going pretty well, aside from the fact that she might be a little too drunk. One of her girlfriends comes between us and tells me that the girl has a boyfriend, which leads to a protest from the girl I was interested in. They have a little sidebar arguing about the fact that she's single. This, coupled with the fact that she might be a little too drunk, was enough for me to move on.
Finally, the only positive interaction I had was at Wasted Grain with maybe an hour or so before closing time on my last night there. Met a hot goth girl and her friends in the outdoor section. I came over, introduced myself, and danced with her for a bit. Went for the kiss, she was receptive, and we alternated between making out and dancing. I told her I was staying nearby and that we should leave soon. She starts apologizing, saying that she's not ready to sleep with someone new, since she had just been broken up with a week prior. At this point, I don't feel like doing another lap around the bar looking for someone I'd be interested in with less than an hour left of the night, so we continue dancing, making out, and chatting a little bit here and there. By the very end of the night, I find out she's from Sacramento and visiting her friend, who is upstairs on the balcony of the club section, also making out with a guy. She says she wants to spend more time with me, but wants to see whether her friend is leaving with that guy, or whether they're going to leave together. Unfortunately, things don't work out with that other guy, so her friend comes and collects her from me, and they leave together. I have her phone number, and she's invited me to come visit her in Sacramento if I ever find time, saying she has her own place there.
And that was my Scottsdale experience.
The weather was a nice departure from the snow and ice of Delaware. Everybody I met was very kind, and they had some decent gyms too. However, if you're a single guy, I don't think you're going to have a great time.
Maybe it would've made a difference if I'd visited at a different time of year.
Maybe it would've made a difference if I stayed closer to Mill Ave and the college spots while ASU was still in session.
Who knows? But that's a summary of my week in Old Town Scottsdale, and all the Ls I took with it.