Nine months ago, I began to explore the idea of dating in general and, specifically, online dating. Back then (wow, that sounds so long ago) there seemed to be a bit more real profiles. I chatted with a few women and then put everything on hold so I could process my thoughts about the experiences. Some months later, I revisited and quickly discovered the game within the game… not only the game of realizing that these types of apps typically result in shallow connections, but the game of realization that even the “selfie verified” profiles most often involved fake images. It takes some effort and a little bit of skill to zoom in on the profile photos by zooming in on the outer edges of the screen. Within almost all of the photos that looked real overall, my zooming revealed subtle AI errors, such as double rows of teeth within certain parts of the mouth and certain fingers appearing longer than they should or even curled unnaturally… but, way back nine months ago, one of those women was quite real. We gradually transitioned our conversation to a different platform and… The rest is history. We are partners enjoying a very real, three dimensional life together through lighthearted texts and calls, and have now spend time together locally five times. We are deepening our relationship through the Paired couple’s app that fosters daily conversations about compatibility and creating a better understanding of each other for live conversations, physical activities like Pickleball, and… building a relationship together over these past nine months.