Rejected, cyberspace-style

I want a woman. Not in some kind of caveman, knock her over the head and have my way with her way, ala Ben Rothliesberger, but a woman in a relationship.
I'm 32 years old and the small, somewhat casual relationships I have had throughout my life just don't seem to be enough now. Some of my friends are married, or heading towards marriage, and some are even having kids. It seems like the grownup thing to do.
In all honesty, you get to a certain age and realize that, yes, you would like a family, and that you would like to start on all that stuff right about now. It certainly doesn't mean I want to get married tomorrow, or have kids next year. I have had somewhat of an aversion to both of those things, so the concept is going to take a little getting used to. But, a real, no holds barred, Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan relationship, I'm down for that.
As such I decided last month to do something different to try and meet girls. I have never really been one for the bar scene. I am just not the go up to the girl and ask her to grind in my crotch for three hours sorta guy. Most of the women I have dated have been friends of a friend whom I have gotten to know, like, then dated. It has worked out well.
But, as my friends are all now older and already in relationships, and since their girlfriends and wives have collected a mass of friends that either look like they have a weekend pass from the leper colony, or are already in a relationship, meeting someone through them seems unlikely.
So, I took the plunge, plunked down my money, and signed up for internet dating. un stuff.
Now, here is my theory about internet dating, and it probably doesn't bode very well for me in the future: I get why guys do internet dating. As men, we have to cast the biggest net possible. We have to play every angle. It is a tough world out there and you usually have just as good a chance of striking out as you do hitting a homer. Its like applying to a job. You don't just send your resume to one place and cross your fingers. And, if you're rejected by that place, you don't keep sending the application back hoping persistence wins out. In love, persistence usually lands you a restraining order.
So, for guys, utilizing every avenue to find someone is completely understandable. For girls, not so much.
Look, if you are a well balanced, somewhat attractive woman who isn't carrying around Kate Gosselin numbers of kids and don't have a hitman former boyfriend in your past, you should have a pretty easy time finding a guy. Don't believe me? Well, if you think you fit that description, take a step outside, find a small but heavy rock, and throw it. The first guy you hit will probably want to date you. If he turns out to be a jerk, repeat rock throwing until you find the right one.
So, when I see women looking for love on the internet superhighway, I automatically begin to think, "what the hell is wrong with her?"
Kind of a strange thing to admit when you're signed up for internet dating, right?
Well, beggers can't be choosers, and despite my misgivings, there are so many people doing it now, figured I had a good chance to finding someone interesting and normal.
The site I signed up for sends you "matches" each week and you get to look at their picture and profile and see if you "connect." In all honesty, all one does is look at the pictures, I think. Let's face it, dating on the internet and dating in real life isn't going to be all that different. You go up to someone and strike up a conversation based on how that person looks, and how attracted you are to them, not based on their likes and dislikes and whether their grandmother was the most influential person in their life.
After you find someone who looks interesting, you send out a series of questions to them, which they can choose to answer if they wish to begin communicating with you. If they wish that you would go away and die, instead, they simply don't respond.
What I have learned? Being on the internet just provides people another way to reject you.
What I have come to realize is that there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with women who sign up to date on the internet. It is the smartest thing in the world for them to do. Why? Because they put up their picture, usually one from a wedding or a party, one that isn't extremely suggestive but shows they are very visually appealing, write some nonsense about how they like to hike in the summers and snowboard in the winter, and then watch as the invites come rolling in. Their "mailboxes" on the site are probably filled every single day. And, they don't have to reject anyone, don't have to wait for some guy they like to make a move at the bar, only to be disappointed when he doesn't, and don't have to worry about being hounded by someone who just won't take no for an answer.
They simply peruse the profiles, pick out the most promising candidates, delete all the others, and start whittling down their finalists.
It begins to feel like your applying to colleges again when you are on these sites. You start out by sending your "invites" to the ones you really want. Then, when you don't hear back, you begin to look at "matches" that maybe aren't as appealing, but you still consider interesting. Then, when even those don't respond, you just begin to canvas the entire world, looking for someone, anyone, to write back.
We will see if that blanketing strategy produces anything. Right now, nada.