POOL. GENE POOL.

Last night we finally got around to watching the first episode of "Hooking Up," in which the reality-TV cameras follow 11 NYC women who use the Internet to troll for boys. It was riveting / hilarious / heartbreaking, and the next episode airs Thursday on ABC.

My theory is that people who meet online and get in a relationship always have in the back of their mind that if things don't go their way, they always have the profiles of the people they were interested in but didn't yet meet. You know, as a backup plan ready to be put into place at the slightest provocation. There is something mildly sleazy about the whole thing....

That said, this evening I learned that an acquaintance asked a guy out (face-to-face) and learned on their first date that he's a twice-convicted felon. 20 years ago, but still..... It was a lovely date but he didn't call, so after some weeks passed she called him. They went out, and she learned that he'd been out of touch because he was worried about her reaction to his felon-admission (it came out when she asked him flat out if he had a record, which is a pretty darn hard-hitting question if you ask me). It was another good date. But then she learned that he regularly drops acid. And that was that.

So maybe it's not that much better meeting people in person. Or through friends, which as we know can *really* blow up in one's face.....