Claudia Castillo of Plantation vowed to celebrate her 30th birthday by going on 30 dates in the month of August. She made it to 29.
"I came up one short," says Castillo. "I could have made it to 30, but I didn't want to do it just for the sake of the number."
Also, she was exhausted -- even more exhausted than when we checked on her three weeks ago. "People say that first dates are like job interviews -- and to do that 29 times, it got real old for me."
The big question is: Did it work? Is dating purely a numbers game, such that the more dates you have with different prospects, the better your chance at turning one of them into a relationship?
Castillo's answer: "As far as anything becoming a relationship, it's too early to tell. I just had one date with most of these guys, and some of those were weeks ago."
She's stayed in touch with a number of the men she went out with and hopes to see more of them this month. "As much as this was a social experiment, I believe that actual romance happens more organically."
Her best dates: a trip to Disney World with a 30-something named Brad and a trip to the Morikami Museum in Delray Beach with Mike L.
The worst: Her brush with a cowardly fellow who left her at the front gate of a Marlins game after pretending to go back to his car for an umbrella. "But that didn't even bother me that much," says Castillo. "It was more of a shock."
It seems that she was more offended by the people who commented on her blog and emailed her through her website accusing her of concealing her true motive: self-promotion. Of course, the singles circuit is all about self-promotion. That instinct wilts only after a person has landed in a stable relationship. So unless Castillo is secretly in a committed relationship, the charges seem pretty flimsy.
Castillo has been on local television -- and those segments have been picked up and then aired in markets like Philadelphia and Dallas. But Castillo insists that this wasn't designed to be a business opportunity and says it likely won't develop into one.
If anything, it's given her an appreciation for the company of friends and nostalgia for the days that she didn't have such social obligations. "I'm a little bit happy it's over, because I haven't been able to see my friends and have a normal life."
