I’m addicted to online dating.

It all started after I read a story about Boston-based dating site OKCupid.com. It was supposed to be a bar-like environment where normal, fun, people casually check each other out, chat and sometimes meet in person. More on that sometimes later. I’d never tried online dating, but this seemed different. I signed up, awkwardly filled out the profile, uploaded a few (honest but flattering) pictures and began to answer the questions used to match users with others.

The initial rush of guys sending messages and invites for instant chats was mind-boggling and exciting. And the crop of guys contacting me wasn’t a colony of trolls or real-bar rejects. Many were cute, some were even hot. Most seemed normal, some seemed cool. I immediately started weeding through my matches and starting up message chains with guys who interested me—and expressly deleting those who sent me messages like, “when you smile, you have the puffiest cheeks ever…it’s so cute…they’re like two bags of lays potato chips right before you pop them!” (Seriously, that’s a real one!)

I have steady, interesting, fun conversations going in my OKCupid mailbox with several guys. Now it’s time for us to meet in person. And that’s where things get tricky. Though I’m delighted to see the new messages in my inbox from familiar users when I log on, I’m having a really hard time agreeing to actually go on a date with one of these dudes. It’s not that I don’t expect them to be perfectly nice—and maybe even great. They might be. It’s just that it’s so much fun dabbling in several of them at one time, which I can do at home from my MacBook. The thought of cutting short my rare OKCupid time to actually go out on a date with just one guy feels like a lot to ask. I know I’m being counterproductive. The point of meeting someone online is to really meet that person. But right now, I’m too addicted to online dating to actually date someone I’ve met online. I’m trying to set a goal: Go out with at least one of the guys a week. But when I’m out with friends or doing things for work the other 6 nights a week, that one night just seems so much more enjoyable if it’s spent flirting with a smorgasbord of guys (while wearing my pajamas and eating a Lean Cuisine). Maybe it’s the homebody Taurus in me, but what’s a gal to do?

To read more about OKCupid, go to bostonmagazine.com.