Matchmaking.

It’s not news that I’ve been single for awhile, and my parents (in particular my dad) seems to be more concerned than I am about this. Whenever my dad is in town he would go on and on about asking me to find a girlfriend and to get married. Sometimes he would call me from Singapore to tell me such things. To say that I’m irritated is an understatment – but things just have to get worse.

Last Monday he called me while I was having a drink with my friends, and told me that one of my uncles was trying to arrange something and wanted me to meet this girl. I was thinking “what the heck” and immediately told him that I’m not interested and got him to stop doing such things. Instead of trying to listen to me, he was trying to convince me – and I’m putting it nicely – to go for it. He was harping on about I’m not getting any younger, and I should stop procastinating, etc etc. I was really irritated and wanted to cut him off the line, but since I didn’t really want to do that, I just told him that I’ll sort it out with that uncle myself. I thought that was enough to shut him up and leave me alone. But instead, he called me again yesterday and asked me if I had gone back to my uncle. I told him no and more importantly, I did not want to do that. I wasn’t interested and I wasn’t going to change my mind. Again, instead of accepting my point of view, he went on again to say that I should meet her – to an extent that I felt I was forced to do that. It left a really sour taste for me.

When I told my sister about that, she shared a story with me which I thought was just horrible. My dad is even trying to talk to my friends to try to “sell me off” to them. It was annoying enough to have him make me go for these matchmaking meetings, but to get my friends involved is just way out of order.

This morning my uncle called and asked me, and I thanked him for trying to arrange but I really wasn’t interested. He sounded cool and said it was OK. And that was the end of the story, at least for me.

To be honest, the reason why I didn’t want to do this introducing and matchmaking thing is that I find it just so awkward. I mean, I don’t mind meeting new people in a normal setting – my friends from the football circle, my Toastmasters friends, etc can all testify to that – but I just think it’s so weird to be meeting a particular person that I don’t know through this kind of arranged meeting. It’s like, everyone at the table knows what this meeting is all about, and to meet someone that I don’t know for that purpose is just so odd to me. Perhaps some people don’t think that’s a problem, but to me it is. After all, if I don’t even feel comfortable going for this, how would I be comfortable talking to the girl that’s there? I probably want to get out of the place before I even arrive and since that’s the case, why should I put myself, and probably the other person, through that kind of discomfort?

And besides, I think I have someone in mind – I don’t know if the feeling is reciprocal, but it could be something that I want to work towards as well, though it might be a bit hard since she’s not someone living in the same place as I do right now (you may try to guess where if you’re really that free). Given that, that’s even more reasons for me not to do this matchmaking thing. I believe in love at first sight, but I don’t think that applies in a matchmaking session.

And yeah, I’m expecting an earful from my dad if he finds out that I’ve rejected the meeting.

아… 짜증나.