Written by Karen Lin   10/01/07

Once upon a time 15 eligible bachelors and 15 sexy bachelorettes attended a social dating event in the Sydney CBD on a warm January evening. As the 7pm mark approached the debonair Ian was the first to arrive, smart and suity in corporate grey. he seemed relaxed and confident. Next was Ken and his entourage of Chris and Dennis, the 'Boys Just Wanna Have Fun' group, ready for a great night out. The seemingly shy Brad in his investment banking ensemble was next to arrive.. along with streams of other boys Tommy, Tam, Minh, Simon, Danny, Chung, Dung, Matthew, Janet (first lady to arrive). I started to fear the worst, as more than half the men arrived and barely any of the women had surfaced! As per usual, the fashionably late ladies drifted in packs or pairs to peruse the selection, much like a hunter on safari in the Serengeti looking for a prized catch!

As our daters arrived we were ready to let the games begin. however, I must confess I felt nerves shooting through the room similar to that of a NASA control team on the verge of Shuttle release. understandably as this was the first for most of our daters. virgin speed dating is quite an experience! As the ladies claimed their territory, the men were left to play musical chairs to start the dating rounds. this proved a rather entertaining sight, as men fought for various spots to ensure their evening was off to a good start!

It was quite clear that some of the men were quite taken by some of the girls. Joanna, Amy, Erica and Devorah to name a few. On the other hand it was quite difficult to scope who the women thought were interesting, as they kept their thoughts to themselves. however after some digging I managed to get 'Generally all the men seem very nice and well presented?' Come on ladies, this is not a United Nations diplomatic treaty negotiation! Give me some goss!!!! With a few more drinks and giggles. really, you ladies are worst than Bond on a mission, I could detect that Minh, Brad, Ian and Charlee had some admirers...?

The second round of dates proved intense on our daters as a night of meeting 15 people is tremendous social and mental work. I could feel that people were thinking - this is boot camp for dating, as the remaining dates come promptly every 6 mins!

There were some interesting surprises for the evening, including a pair who had previously dated each other - proving the theory that the world is entirely small and we are easily separated by six degrees!!!!! Don't feel embarrassed guys, this happened to me recently at a dating function which got written up in the Sydney Morning Herald..!

Towards the end of the event I was still trying to get a feel of the talent from our ladies but Fiona and Penny managed to escape sighting work commitments are their excuse - rather lame ladies! Jenna, Joyce and Devorah floated off whispering amongst themselves, still no goss for me! Cathy and Patricia, having spent the whole evening seated next to each other were deep in conversation upon departure, as were Amy, Vicky and Angela! The men on the other hand hung around to chat. Karen was completely happy and rather tipsy, blaming me for constantly feeding her alcohol throughout the evening! Kathy had popped in to help out with the food and drinks but managed to do a fabulous job with her Girl About Town mentality and flirted and fluttered her way through the night with men asking her why she was not dating??? As the night ended some of our bachelors began to chat up our organisers and a few people paired off into dark corners of the bar..!!!!!????

Overall it was a fantastic evening and I got the general feeling all had a wonderful and memorable experience! Thank you to May, Ann for organising the event with me. Ky, Jason, Michael and Kathy - thanks for being unbelievably helpful and patient, you guys were great!

Thank you everyone! Hope you had a fantastic experience! As Allan Chalmers once said:

"The Grand essentials of happiness are:
something to do, something to love, and something to hope for."

Happy Dating!

Karen

    Photos