NY Subway "love at first sight" Romance Ends

[The Lizard]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080729/od_nm/subway_dc

New York subway romance hits end of the line

By Belinda Goldsmith Tue Jul 29, 7:21 AM ET

CANBERRA (Reuters) - A modern-day love story of a man spotting the girl of his dreams across a New York subway train and tracking her down over the Internet has failed to have a fairytale ending with the relationship over.

For Web designer Patrick Moberg, then 21, from Brooklyn, it was love at first sight when he spotted a woman on a Manhattan train last November. But he lost her in the crowd so he set up a website with a sketch to find her -- www.nygirlofmydreams.com.

Unbelievably in a city of 8 million people, it only took Moberg 48 hours to track down the woman, with his phone ringing non-stop and email box overflowing as usually cynical New Yorkers took sympathy on the subway Romeo and joined his hunt.

The mysterious brunette was named as Camille Hayton, from Melbourne, Australia, who was working as an intern at the magazine BlackBook and also lived in Brooklyn. One of her friends spotted the sketched picture on the Web site and recognized her.

But after finding each other, appearing on TV and getting international press, the couple took their romance out of the public eye, with Moberg closing down the Web site and with both refusing to making any more comments -- until now.

Hayton told Australian newspaper The Sunday Telegraph that she dated Moberg for about two months but it just didn't work out.

"I say we dated for a while but now we're just friends," Hayton, now 23, told the newspaper. "It's really nice that people embraced the story. It is part of my life now."

Hayton said she is still recognized about three times a week on the streets of Manhattan as "that girl"' and the question is always the same: "So what happened?"

"I think the situation was so intense that it bonded us," she said, adding it "bonded us in a way that you could mistake, I guess, for being more romantic than it was. I don't know. But I wanted to give it a go so I didn't wonder what if, what if?"

Hayton told The Sunday Telegraph that she is enjoying single life in New York, keeping busy with acting classes, working in two vintage clothing stores and as a waitress.

Last week she had a small role as a waitress in the long-running daytime soap "As The World Turns" and last year she was an extra in a "blink and you'd miss it" scene in the hit movie "Sex And The City."

"I just can't believe it happened. It feels like a long time ago," said Hayton.

Moberg, however, was still refusing to comment on the relationship.

"We've decided not to do any more press," he wrote in an e-mail to Reuters.

As much as I'd like to feel sorry for the guy, my cynical, jaded side is saying "Ha -ha!" in classic Nelson Muntz style.

So to review:

- Love at first sight is BS. It basically means "Holy crap, that person is so hot! If they're willing to date me, I'm in LOVE!"

- The internet might be full of people who are romantic and root for the underdog to win, but it's more full of people who laugh at you when you crash and burn. Don't share your personal life with the internet.

- The woman is obviously using her recent sort-of-celebrity to bolster her wannabe acting career. Way to be a useful tool there, Patrick.

 

[Johann Krauss]

heh

 

[jaguarr]

I'd say love at first sight didn't work for this particular couple, but I know of several couples that fell madly in love with each other upon meeting and have been together for many years so I wouldn't say one instance of it going South means that the idea of love at first sight is complete bunk.

jag

 

[AndThePickles]

Seriously, if someone started a "man-hunt" for me after just glancing at me on the subway, I'd run faaaar in the other direction

 

[The Lizard]

I'd say love at first sight didn't work for this particular couple, but I know of several couples that fell madly in love with each other upon meeting and have been together for many years so I wouldn't say one instance of it going South means that the idea of love at first sight is complete bunk.

jag

I would just contribute those happy anecdotes to random chance and good luck.

Whatever it is that makes one or both members of a potential couple go ga-ga before they even know each other, it sure isn't "love" in its deeper form. Superficial looks, or pheromones, or even environment, but not love.

Even if they decide they love each other madly after just one date and end up spending their entire lives together, that's still based on more information and interaction than "love at first sight". It might work out, but it's just a roll of the dice. (The D&D percentile dice, that is - [/nerd])

 

[Nirvana]

This story is rather creepy yet somewhat charming. Nice effort on the guy's part, shame it didn't work out. I agree with Jag, as well.

 

[jaguarr]

I would just contribute those happy anecdotes to random chance and good luck.

Whatever it is that makes one or both members of a potential couple go ga-ga before they even know each other, it sure isn't "love" in its deeper form. Superficial looks, or pheromones, or even environment, but not love.

Even if they decide they love each other madly after just one date and end up spending their entire lives together, that's still based on more information and interaction than "love at first sight". It might work out, but it's just a roll of the dice. (The D&D percentile dice, that is - [/nerd])

Who says that love has to be at it's most intimate and deepest form in order for it to qualify as real love? If people felt an immediate connection and attraction to one another right away, and to them that constitutes at lesat the beginnings of love to them, then it is. Nerd.

jag

 

[PWN3R]

I love how his website says, very specifically, "Not Insane."

 

[The Lizard]

Who says that love has to be at it's most intimate and deepest form in order for it to qualify as real love? If people felt an immediate connection and attraction to one another right away, and to them that constitutes at lesat the beginnings of love to them, then it is. Nerd.

jag

But that's just "an immediate attraction" - the beginnings of something, not yet love.

Yes, I know love is a nebulous concept to define, but if you're going to use the word beyond a more superficial cultural definition (eg: "I love Amy Adams." "I love goth girls." "I love Hostess Ding-Dongs"), then there has to be something contributed to the relationship beyond "first sight".

And yes, I'm a nerd. Obviously the source my bitterness in the relationship department.

 

[hammy]

So to review:

- Love at first sight is BS. It basically means "Holy crap, that person is so hot! If they're willing to date me, I'm in LOVE!"

I wouldn't say that. I'd say it didn't work for this particular couple, but I do think that there is such a thing as love at first sight. It's rare, to be sure, but it does happen. It's a connection that goes beyond just the physical attraction, to an almost 'psychic' (for lack of a better word) connection.

 

[Zero_Vault]

Good.

That goddamn emo ****.

 

[Darthphere]

I love how his website says, very specifically, "Not Insane."

Where the **** have you been?

 

[jaguarr]

But that's just "an immediate attraction" - the beginnings of something, not yet love.

Yes, I know love is a nebulous concept to define, but if you're going to use the word beyond a more superficial cultural definition (eg: "I love Amy Adams." "I love goth girls." "I love Hostess Ding-Dongs"), then there has to be something contributed to the relationship beyond "first sight".

And yes, I'm a nerd. Obviously the source my bitterness in the relationship department.

You're trying to apply a unilateral, singular definition of love rather than being open to the idea of it being multi-layered and having many different levels of depth to it. Epic fail, Lizzie.

jag

 

[Darthphere]

Jag and I fell in love at first sight.

 

[Zero_Vault]

****ing gross.

 

[Erzengel]

 

[amazingfantasy15]

Not a huge surprise, the guy really didn't have anything to go on besides thinking this girl looked good. Took balls and some stalkerish tendencies to find the girl, but that can only take you so far.

 

[jaguarr]

Jag and I fell in love at first sight.

That's true, but then I quickly discovered what a massive bastard you are.

jag

 

[Fading]

Seriously, if someone started a "man-hunt" for me after just glancing at me on the subway, I'd run faaaar in the other direction

Lol agreed. I mean it's one thing to do a little detective work on your own to figure out who a girl is because you're attracted, it's another thing to sic an entire city on her.

Edit - Heh, the images that brings on. Her sitting in her apartment as ppl rapel from her roof thru her windows asking if she's the girl on the net. Old ladies tackling her in the street, police pulling her over. Seriously....I have too vivid of an imagination , doesn't take much and I have a dozen weird little scenes playing out in my head lol.

 

[Prison Mike]

if those two couldn't make it, what hope is there for the rest of us?

 

[fu manchu]

that almost sound like the premise for the movie that starred Lance Bass.

yeah, i'm shamed i watched that movie.

 

[The Lizard]

You're trying to apply a unilateral, singular definition of love rather than being open to the idea of it being multi-layered and having many different levels of depth to it. Epic fail, Lizzie.

jag

And you're trying to give too many multifaceted, indulgent aspects to what is basically a simple physiological response to visual stimuli.


It's interesting to me how some of you guys choose to be so clinical, skeptical and objective about certain aspects of human nature, and yet all gooey and irrational about others.

Jag's just all frou-frou ga-ga over his new baby, so I'll excuse his gaping mangina for the time being.

 

[jaguarr]

And you're trying to give too many multifaceted, indulgent aspects to what is basically a simple physiological response to visual stimuli.

Amazing that you can boil the concept of love down to such a simplistic thing, but I'd like to point out that even responses to visual stimuli tend to have varying degrees and increments.

It's interesting to me how some of you guys choose to be so clinical, skeptical and objective about certain aspects of human nature, and yet all gooey and irrational about others.

Jag's just all frou-frou ga-ga over his new baby, so I'll excuse his gaping mangina for the time being.

And you're just being lonely and bitter.

jag

 

[Mr Sparkle]

oh god...."Jag's gaping mangina" *vomits*

 

[jaguarr]

oh god...."Jag's gaping mangina" *vomits*

Was it the smell?

jag