This is the latest post from our New York-based Date Reporter Megan. She’ll be documenting her experience dating in New York. Catch up on her story here. In this post she covers Date Ideas: In the words of Jemaine Clement, it doesn’t hurt to do something absolutely … outrageous. 

I like to date outside the box. I believe in taking chances. Take, for instance, my HowAboutWe profile. It’s a little weird, deliberately so. Let’s just say I have a weakness for straight guys whose personalities match a specific Crayola crayon color. As for my date ideas? Mostly cut and paste jobs from episodes of Sesame Street.

How about we… don disguises, go to Canal Street, have fake IDs made up with the best fake names ever and try to get into a bar using said aliases.

[Required Editor's Note: We don't condone illegal activity.]

Or better yet…

How about we… Fill water balloons with different types of secret liquids and go to a park and throw them at each other and try to guess the contents.

No? Okay. Then…

How about we… go to an oyster shucking party and see who can come up with more inappropriate pick up lines.

Not exactly dinner and a movie.

The thing is, part of my experiment in online dating is to see whether it’s possible to date in the way that I think (dress, eat, drink and work) – that is, for myself. Yes, I want to date just for me. Sound a little backwards? Probably. So far, my approach isn’t winning me any site-wide popularity contests.

I probably get one actual response for every five intrigues, which I think is the online dater’s polite way of saying, “what is this girl on?” Occasionally,  I’ll get two intrigues from the same person, meaning, well, he’s really intrigued?

In my two weeks on the site, I’ve gone on one date; it involved a game of competitive UNO (for gold pirate coins, gum and an American flag pen) with an interesting and creative guy. We met at a bar that I like near my place in Brooklyn. It wasn’t starry-eyed love: He was nice, we enjoyed decent conversation, and yet there was no real OMG “how about we… leave-this-bar-and-go-back-to-my-apartment” spark. Nevertheless, I appreciated his willingness to go with the flow.

At one point, I could tell he was thinking (probably when I nonchalantly took a stack of gold pirate coins out of my clutch): this girl is weird — totally herself — but weird, which means I can be myself too. So even though there weren’t romantical fireworks,  our pleasantly strange date spurred me to keep putting out the weird.

I think it might even be starting to work — here’s one of the latest responses to hit my inbox that wasn’t an intrigue:

“Best idea I’ve heard in a really long time. Would totally be down w/ that. Got any names for yourself in mind?”

And another:

“You continue to come up with the best date ideas yet. I actually got my first fake ID ever on canal street when I was 15… I wish I still had it! When shall we go?”

I don’t know if I’ll end up going out with either of these guys. Well, maybe. I do still need a date to my best friend’s wedding.

Regardless, these responses are a great reminder that you don’t always have to date it safe, and it is possible to date (even online date) as uniquely as you like.

So my point, are you dating it safe?

Do you actually enjoy sunset strolls, or is it just that did Michael Bolton convinced you that you should? Are you really a whiskey on the rocks type of person, or did you think it sounded more universally appealing than: “‘I love chocolate milk with whipped cream vodka?”  Just because online dating allows you to control what you put out there, doesn’t mean you have to get rid of the weird. The you.  In fact, I think the weird is the best part. So yeah, I put it out there – oyster pick-up lines and all.

Next step: Finding someone willing to attend a wedding with someone they barely know, or at least get drunk and dance with me in my awful bridesmaid dress on Saturday.

Megan E. Baldwin is a writer and casual DJ who lives in Brooklyn with her little sister. Someday she’d like to find someone with a very good heart and better smile who likes honey and cereal.