Positive things about the date: K. has looked nice and spiff-ily dressed for both our dates. I like that in a guy. He is very much a gentleman and courteous. I also like that he has a sensitive side and isn’t afraid of it. One part of the concert tonight was very moving, and it was nice to see a man unafraid to admit he had been moved to tears by it.

** The day after this date, I happened to be down south in P. for a friends reunion. We met up for ice cream that afternoon and had a fun time together. Does it count as a third date? Eh, maybe I’ll just call it a get together for now. We both ate the same ice cream, which was fun. And speaking of fun, L. is on his way to pick me up for a third date wherein we will pick up our art masterpieces and do…. other stuff? He’s definitely more on the spontaneous side in some ways.

One thing I’ve noticed lately about L. is that he is very complimentary. I appreciate that in a guy. Words of affirmation are always important and it’s definitely nice to know that a guy thinks you’re cute for doing something a certain way.

Stay tuned to find out how I feel about L. and our three dates!

My Date: The Neurologist

OkCupid Analysis: 94% Match, 92% Friend, 1% Enemy

What: Documentary

Where: Independent theater

Time: 8pm

The Neurologist and I went out on Monday for the second time.  As I described in my previous post about our first date, first dates can be exhausting.  I’m happy to report that Date #2 was much more relaxed and just easier overall.  The pressure of first impressions was gone and with the documentary being the focus of our date, we didn’t have to work to continuously carry the conversation in the getting-to-know-each-other stage of a relationship.  After the film I accepted his offer to drive me home and we had a chance to talk.  I really enjoyed the film but I think the car ride was my favorite part of the date.  I had mentioned to him that I started watching Mad Men and when he dropped me off he suggested that we should get together to watch the show this weekend.

Our date was on Monday and it’s now Friday.  On Thursday neither or us had contacted each other, though I wasn’t worried about it.  It seemed to be an indication that he and I need the same amount of space rather than of our mutual disinterest.  I texted him on Thursday, saying that I hoped he was having a good week and was able to enjoy the beautiful weather.  He responded within ten minutes and suggested meeting for tea on Friday night after we both finished our other plans.  So he is still interested!

Tomorrow morning is Date #1 with The Software Engineer.  I will be sure to write tomorrow.

If you haven’t already, you can sign up for email updates on the right side of the page.

-M

We arrived to The Claddagh and are subjected to a 45 minute wait, which didn’t make much sense because the place didn’t seem full enough to make us endure the wait. Oh well, we grabbed a beer and started the small talk. I tried to stay away from favorite numbers, freemasons and art exhibit talks. So I decided to talk about wine. Something I’m not all too familiar with but I knew that Dave Matthews had teamed up with Steve Reeder to conjure up some beautiful tasting wine. If you haven’t checked it out you should, www.dreamingtreewine.com. It’s fantastic.

Anyway, while I’m trying to sound wonderfully intelligent with my small amount of wine knowledge I stop and say, “oh that’s right you don’t like wine do you?” I swear I remember him saying that in one of emails or texts or phone conversations or maybe at the art museum?! He looks at me and says “how do you know?” Well instead of brushing it off, I try to convince him that he had told me that in one of our previous conversations. Wrong. He loves wine. We awkwardly laugh and I say “oh that must have been another guy…” I swear I was only half-joking when I said it, but in all fairness it was the Italian Stallion that didn’t like wine, ironically. Just as I was about to insert my foot into my mouth again the buzzer went off and we were seated in a secluded little section of the restaurant. It was actually quite nice.

I forgot to mention in the last post about our first date. All throughout the date he kept telling me that I looked just like his best friend, yes his best friend is a girl…I do not look like a man. At one point he wanted to take a picture of me to send to her…weird. After his five-minute tangent about how much I looked like his best friend, same face, hair, jaw structure I interrupted him and asked him why he wasn’t dating her. It was a legit question and I hope you didn’t read that with an attitude because I wasn’t trying to be facetious by any means. He quickly replies with “She has a boyfriend.” I nod and we continue walking but then he says under his breath “But that isn’t the real reason” What the hell does that mean?! He then continues to say “I mean we fooled around and stuff, but it just didn’t work out, we’re still friends though.” That’s great first date conversation, let me tell you!

Okay, back to dinner. After we order, and he talks about his Duke game that he stayed up watching the previous night. He looked at me and shook his head with a grin on his face. Did I have a booger hanging out of my nose? Was my hair messed up? Something had to be in my teeth… Then he said it. “I can’t believe how much you look like my best friend!” Seriously, we’re going to go through this again? I even wore my hair curly this time. What the heck. Luckily, I was saved by the waitresses little squeaky voice as she asked us if we’d like another drink. YES PLEASE!

We finished drinks and dinner without any mention of the best friend. Thank goodness. We decide to ride together to the movie, there was a cute little argument/bet about whose way was quicker to get to the theater. He was the gentleman and let me choose my way, which was the shortest and quickest way of course. We get there and the 9:30 movie was sold out, so we decide to go to the 10:15 movie until the couple three people in front of us bought the last two tickets. We look at each other and decide that we’d go to the 10:45 movie. That gave us some quality small talk time. I won’t bore you with those details, just know that there was no insertion of my foot in my mouth and no mention of the best friend. He did try to get me to make out a few times by blatantly asking, I just giggled.

The movie was good, he didn’t like it but I did. Maybe it was the badassness of Denzel or the gorgeousness of Ryan, but either way I thought it was a decent film. He drives me back to my car and suggests that maybe I should start it and then come back in his car while it gets warm. Sounds like a great plan, because it was fuh-reezing! I quickly hop out trying to open my door without unlocking it, smooth move. Start it and then jump back in his car. He thanks me for the fun date and the great company. I thank him and lean in to give him a hug. Thats when it happened. The kiss. He had placed his hand on the back of my neck and pulled me in, which I find extremely sexy. However. It was one of the most unpleasant kisses I have ever experienced. I’m pretty sure his mouth was open and his tongue was out before our lips even touched. We were not in sync at all. He consumed half of my face in his mouth in the process. Hence the name: Big Mouth Bass. I’m trying to pull away and reach for the door handle but can’t quite get away because he’s got that damn hand on the back of my neck! I finally break free and smile and thank him again for the wonderful evening. He really is a great guy…who knows…maybe we will remain friends in the future…

We talk, we text, we laugh for the entire next week. The weekend rolls around and I invite him over for pizza and a movie with my best friend. You know, the FRIEND TEST! If the best friend doesn’t like him then there is absolutely no chance of a future with this guy! My best friend comes over and we sit and talk, I prepare her for the craziness of the Italian Stallion. She’s kind of crazy herself, so I wasn’t too nervous.

He calls me, he’s completely lost. I give him directions and go out and meet him in the parking lot. As I’m approaching the car I see the silhouette of flowers. Hot, funny and a gentleman?! This could be bad… He hands me a bouquet of flowers “This is for ‘G’…and these are for your” as he hands me the second bouquet. Excuse me while I mop myself up off the ground. Seriously!?! He brought flowers for my best friend?! I greet him with a hug and a kiss and show him to the apartment. I’m not sure “G” has ever received flowers and responds “Do these need water?!” I told you she was crazy!

We settle in and watch a movie and order some pizza. After the movie is over “G” decides to leave but the Italian Stallion stays. You see, if it wasn’t for my new couch I probably wouldn’t have invited anyone over. But damn it, my couch seats like 10 people and I haven’t had anyone over! Why not take advantage of the situation! We decide to watch Forrest Gump…a personal favorite of mine. After the movie, we decided to go to sleep, he lived 20 minutes away and it was well past 2:30 am. So I let him sleep in my bed but told him no funny business. Surprisingly, he listened.

The next morning he took me downtown to the City Market, a local farmers market held inside for the winter. I’m a sucker for handmade soaps and local food, plus I’d never been before! A+ on a date idea for him. I had such a good time with him, we even got suckered in to trying different Olive Oils. How does one try olive oil? You guessed it, by taking mini shots of it. I think by the time I tried all of them I was going to turn into a bottle of it. Yuck!

After the City Market, he took me on a tour of downtown, where he grew up. Showed me where he hung out as a kid, where he jumped off the roof and even drove me by his friend’s house. We scoped out some run down factories and I found some awesome places to take photos. All while we were driving he even let me control the radio. This was great.

He dropped me off at home and we went our separate ways for the day. I was planning on visiting a friend who had just had a baby and he was going to clean his house to invite me over for dinner that night. Wait, he cooks too?! SCORE. I saw the baby, showered and was ready for my evening at his place. I waited. Continued to wait. Was still waiting by 6:30 that night. I hadn’t heard from him so I decided to go out to dinner with my family. If any of you know my family, you know that they like to give me a hard time, embarrass me and try to make me uncomfortable, in a fun way of course. I guess that’s where I get it from. The entire dinner was asking about the Italian Stallion and I just brushed them off and tried to make up answers to their crazy questions. Finally, around 7:45 I get a text from him that he fell asleep, didn’t clean and wanted to know if he could just come back over to hang out. I said yes.

Please keep in mind, normally I wouldn’t invite people over, or makeout with them on the first date. I’m not too sure what got into me with this one! He came over around 9 and he brought some cheesy Eddie Murphy movies, his favorite actor. We watched them and laughed, after the second movie we decided to go to bed again. Once again, he listened and didn’t make any moves besides some kisses. Such a gentleman, right?

The next day he left early in the morning and promised he’d talk to me later. I remember closing the door behind him and leaning up against it with a smile on my face, like the movies. Later that night he sent me a text saying he missed me.

We went about our work week as usual, with random texts throughout the day. Thursday rolled around and he was going to join my dad, brother and I downtown for some Superbowl festivities. I didn’t hear from him all day, and then halfway down he sent me a text saying he was working late. Oh well. Unfortunately, this is where the story doesn’t get all warm and fuzzy. I then didn’t hear from him for an entire week. The first two days I was kind of sad about it but then after that I just brushed it off, it wasn’t like I was going to marry this guy. He was just fun to be around, right?

A week from his last text, I sent him a text, “Just want to make sure you’re alive!” then he called me. Are you serious?! After a week of NOTHING you’re going to call me after I send you a text?! I was in the store so I didn’t pick up. When I called him back, I was ironically heading to the art museum for another date with a different guy. His loss We make small talk and he throws in the line “I was waiting you out, I wanted to see if you’d call me first!” Are you serious?! What the hell?? How old are we? Whatever.

Needless to say, this story isn’t a happy ending, I’m not all that sad about it and to be honest he was a great person to pop my online dating cherry. The only thing that sucks is that I truly did have a great time with him and he made me laugh. If we didn’t work out dating, I at least wished that we’d remain friends! I haven’t spoken to him in over a week again, maybe he’s waiting me out again…he’ll be waiting a long time this time…