PERFECT FIRST DATE? (THE GOOD)

Last of a three-part series.

This first date began way way back to the beginning when I first joined JDate in July. I pulled up my search criteria and there she was. Miss Popularity. Yep, she was the most popular girl in my region between age 27 and 39. It was easy to tell why. Attractive (of course), professional (attorney by trade), and smart (judging by her profile). She seemed to have it all, and so I decided I’d throw my hat into the ring.

We started off well. We had some nice banter going with IMs and emails. But I did notice something a bit unusual about her. Her answers were very short. One or two words, and she didn’t seem to laugh at any humor I threw at her. Her personality seemed ‘cold’ to me. I had two tickets to an upcoming Evanescence concert, and I wanted and needed a date. I had only known her for a few days but asked her to the concert anyway figuring no way in hell she’d agree to go. But much to my surprise, she said she’d love to go, but… Damn those ‘buts.’ But, she had other plans. I was after all, asking on short notice so I certainly didn’t expect a miracle. And I thought this was rather good news since she did say she would have gone despite having hardly known me.

A few days later, I told her the concert was great, sorry she missed it, and asked if she’d like to meet me at Starbucks for coffee (See? I was trying to play it smart and play for the conservative coffee meeting). Her reply surprised me. She said I’d have to come up with something better than that if we were to meet. Huh? I was honestly offended by her response. To me, I just wanted to us to meet. It didn’t matter what we did or where we met, but apparently it mattered to her. So I basically told her that if I was in a bidding war, then maybe I was not the right guy to participate. I didn’t mean any harm by the remark, but I clearly offended her. She got a little steamed, and I apologized for the unintentional insult. After that episode, she became non-responsive until she eventually told me she was not interested.

So I let her go, but kept in touch by randomly saying hello once in a while. I eventually got back into a conversational mode with her, and we were once again on speaking terms. She still showed no signs of thawing out of my perceived ‘cold’ personality. But then we got to talking about music, and she showed a little softness and warmth that I’d been looking for. I sent her a few links to a few songs. She particularly liked ‘Run’ by Snow Patrol. I then offered to make her some CDs with some cool music and she agreed. Ultimately this led me to asking her to another concert (the band “Live.”) I told her we’d go as friends and have a good time and listen to some great music. Simple. At first she said she’d have to think it over. I told her even if she hated me, she would enjoy the concert so why not just agree to go? She finally relented and agreed to go. I couldn’t believe it. Little ol’ me had a date with Miss Popular!

The concert was at a Hard Rock Casino & Resort. We agreed to meet there. I had low expectations because I was prepared for a ‘cold’ reception from this ‘Ice Queen’ as I dubbed her. But I had an icebreaker for her. I made her some more CDs and had them nicely packaged in one of those CD holders. When I saw her come through the door, she looked every bit as good as her picture. I gave her my standard hug greeting and gave her the surprise. She was very thankful and told me that was awesome of me to make her those CDs. I guess not all women are offended by a gift. She had a great smile, and we were off to a good start. We went to the café for some drinks and some appetizers prior to the concert. To my surprise, we had a really nice time. She actually had a very nice personality. The Ice Queen was nowhere to be found. She had a beer; I ordered a Long Island Iced Tea in her honor since that was her hometown. I think she liked that. Our waiter was a bit weird. He said he didn’t like chicken wings because he didn’t like to get his hands dirty. We laughed at this ridiculousness and ordered wings anyway. I liked the fact that she could get her hands dirty and lick the wing sauce off her fingers. Again, no signs of the Queen. I paid the tab; she thanked me, and we walked over to the concert venue.

The concert was awesome. We both loved it. Live only played for barely an hour, but they were great and were really into it. Before I knew it, the date was over. I asked her if she’d like a nightcap, but she said she had to work the next day and wanted to get home. I offered a ride to her car and she accepted. I pulled up to her shiny white Porsche Carrera. I told her she was a great person, and she said I wasn’t too bad myself. She kissed me goodnight and off she went. Gee, four hours went by in a flash.

I replayed the date in my mind on the way home. All in all, I decided it far exceeded my expectations. Or should I say, she did. I was glad she showed her personality, and I was glad she seemed to like me. Yes, this indeed WAS a good date! I looked forward to bigger and better things in the future. The date inspired me to write a poem. So I got home and wrote it. But that’s for another post…



So there you have it. The good, ’The Bad’, and ’The Ugly’. But you want to know something really unusual? That good date was in September. I haven’t seen her since. I had asked her out a few times without success. She finally admitted she was seeing someone but wanted to be friends. Ah, there it was. My specialty. Friends. I doubt I’ll ever see her again, and that’s too bad. We still email once in a while and I send her some music from time to time. In the meantime, ‘The Bad’ date and I have been corresponding frequently, too and are also friends. Weird, huh? It just goes to show you, I have a long, long way to go before I figure out this online dating stuff, if I ever do figure it out.