Apples and Oranges.

This online dating thing is helping me to realize, once again, that women and men are like apples and oranges. Or from different planets (Mars and Venus, if you will). We just do not think the same way or do things the same way. Our protocols for dating are extremely disparate and, I've found, this only leads to confusion. Say, for instance, I was me (not much of a stretch, I know) and I go out with someone who I feel I could potentially grow to like a little bit more...maybe even a lot more. After the date do I:

a. thank him and tell him I'll talk to him soon
b. think about him constantly
c. think about how cool it would be if it were "okay" to email/text/call him the next day (even waiting that long is too long) to thank him
d. email/text/call him the next day
e. think nothing, he should be thinking of me

Now, if you're me, it would be a combination of (a), (b) and (c) (and it can be, this is my test). Guys, I think, tend to not think about anything. I think they do what they want, when they want, without thinking about how it will affect the future (and that of our children).
Now, let's say I did send the first correspondence after the date. And let's say I wasn't sure if the person felt the same way. He hasn't responded to my email (it has only been about seven hours). Do I:

a. assume he's busy at work or with other things and accept that he has a 24-36 hour window in which to respond before I freak out
b. call him
c. send another email, saying that I've been having email issues and just wanted to make sure he got the last one
d. not think about it--if he doesn't like me, his loss

Again, if it were me, I'd do (a). Why is it, though, that men often (and sometimes creepily, only because girls don't like over-attention so early on in the game) think it's okay to call? And, if the girls don't answer the phone, what does that say to them? When will his next attempt be, now that he has an unanswered email and an unanswered phone call?

Based on previous postings and the comments they've received, it is quite obvious how differently the sexes approach the online dating thing, generally, and regular dating, specifically. The whole decision on whether or not to hide, the constant checking of profiles, the repeated emails to a stranger who obviously has not written you back in the past, the varied and non-discriminate "requirements" for a potential date/mate...these all just prove my point.

Now, if men and women behaved the same and accordingly, and we (being the women) had no opportunity to analyze and anticipate their next move then, LBH, the whole dating experience would lose some of its fun and luster. I think we thrive on the fact that they are so different and we don't have a set of "rules" by which they will act. They're such anomalies that it adds to the "fun." And it gives us something to talk about. And over which to obsess.