You're bored and lonely, and you want to go on a date - right now.
In an era when you can get anything as soon as you want it - movies on demand, music downloads, celebrity gossip on your cellphone - now you can find potential soul mates in an instant. A new online dating service in Boston invites users to sign up for same-day service, matching them with dates in a matter of hours.
Unlike most Internet dating services, Crazy Blind Date is about immediacy, not compatibility. Users are not asked about interests and hobbies. The big questions are where and when they are available.
"Online dating lacks spontaneity," said Sam Yagan, the 30-year-old Harvard University grad who founded CrazyBlindDate.com and also runs the more traditional OkCupid.com. "You can't sign up to Match.com - or OkCupid, for that matter - with any reasonable expectation to get a date for tonight. It might take you five, 10, 15 hours to line up a date that may or may not even go well in real life."
Crazy Blind Date works like this: Users register on the site and list the times and places they want to meet a date. They also note any dating restrictions (no guys under 30, no high-school dropouts). Questions about religion, smoking, and other characteristics are optional. Once a user submits a request, Crazy Blind Date arranges a meeting. Within a few hours, users are e-mailed the specifics of their date: a place, a time, and - for dramatic effect - a blurred photo of the other person. As of now, the service - which is free - operates in Boston, New York, San Francisco, and Austin, Texas.
Unlike such sites as Match.com and JDate.com, there's no browsing through pictures or looking for a partner with similar tastes. But that raises a question: Is an insta-date a quality experience? Can it spawn insta-love?
We tagged along on some Crazy Blind Dates over the past few weeks. Here's what went down:
Sarah and Andy at the Cellar in Cambridge
Andy Prout is a 26-year-old computer programmer. He joined Crazy Blind Date because it "seemed to buck the trend of Internet dating sites that try to tell you everything about a person before you meet them." He liked Sarah. He wanted to see her again.
Sarah, who works in higher ed and would not give her last name, wasn't interested. She said she wouldn't be continuing with the Crazy Blind Date because it seemed too dangerous to meet up with a stranger.
"Don't get me wrong: I am not paranoid, just practical," she said, "and as an outgoing, attractive 28-year-old woman, I cannot in good conscience put myself in that situation again, you know?"
Bianca and Ben at Spirit Bar in Cambridge
Bianca Romero, 24, a Chicago native who works in social services, was looking for someone "spontaneous and silly." Ben Zanger, a 24-year-old artist who lives in Quincy, was looking for someone worthy of his time.
"I'm 24, but I'm more like 34," he told us.
Bianca loved Ben's big eyes. Ben said Bianca was fun.
Last week they were trying to schedule a second date with some frustration. "She kind of flaked," Ben said by phone, before he asked if we were free for a drink.
Amy and Jay at the Miracle of Science in Cambridge
Amy Kelly, a 27-year-old MIT grad student in geochemistry, got matched with Jay, a 25-year-old "artist/consultant" who refused to give us his last name. She wanted to meet a good guy. He said he signed up because, as he wrote in an e-mail, "There is good reason why Cambridge, Mass., is the No. 1 spot in the country for singles; no one talks to anyone!!!"
Amy and Jay were able to amuse each other for about two hours with small talk, but they didn't make a second date. Amy said of the service, "[It's] fun, but not for those looking for 'the one.' "
Audrey and Don at the Parish Cafe in the Back Bay
Audrey Bedrock, 21, a student at Babson College, was searching for signs of off-campus life. Don Asay, 25, a research analyst in Jamaica Plain, wanted to meet new people.
Sadly, the New Jersey natives didn't click. But on subsequent Crazy Blind Dates with other people, Don met someone he liked in New York (he signed up for a Crazy Blind Date when he was bored at home in Jersey), and Audrey met a nice guy around here.
She wrote in an e-mail, "[T]he first several matches may not be great, but I didn't mind because the places were cool, and they gave me a really good date the last one I went on."
Vawnya and Andy at Trident Booksellers & Cafe on Newbury Street
Account manager Andy Savage, 27, had never tried online dating, but Crazy Blind Date appealed to him. "You didn't search for a person you liked," he said. "You were just like, 'I'm free at this time.' " He likened the idea to meeting a girl at a bar - except this girl would already have agreed to talk to you.
Savage was matched with Vawnya Nichols, 27, who does marketing for a local theater. "It was a lot of fun," she said of the date. As of last week, a second date was pending.
"We exchanged numbers, but I don't know," Andy said.
Vawnya had a more optimistic report: "I think we're probably going to do something next week."
Jacob and Stacy at Au Bon Pain in Cambridge
Alabama native Stacy Prince, 23, holds down two jobs - one in accounting at MIT and one at the Baak Gallery (she loves art). She wore a hoodie to their date.
Jacob Scott, 24, is a grad student at MIT. He showed up wearing a T-shirt that said "Procrastinators: Leaders of Tomorrow."
They talked about their hobbies under the bright, fast-food lights. They got along. But after the one outing, Stacy said she'd be leaving the Crazy Blind Date matrix.
"Nothing against him, but we just didn't have a connection," she said. "I haven't used the site again. I feel like if I am going to spend the time to go out on a date and put my best out there for someone, then I want it to be someone I choose - someone I actually want to go out with and get to know better, and someone who I have talked to before our date."
Meredith Goldstein can be reached at mgoldstein@globe.com.
