With all that introductory crap out of the way, I continue with this year's (and blog's) first date details. John is the name, politeness is his game! He lives in DC and is a first year law student at Georgetown. He is 36, put 13 years into the Army, and is a native of Philadelphia. He is the oldest of 5 kids and seems to be an honest, down-to-earth guy.
All past blogged dates have been from either OKCUPID or PLENTY OF FISH (POF). Mr. John hails from eharmony. Eharmony is tricky! They let you think that there's "free communication", however, being a professional online dater, I know better. Sure, it's free until you get to the end of their guided question surveys. Then, in order to continue communication, you have to pay or else you are unable to communicate with them EVER again. Knowing this, I beat the system a bit and luckily, John is smart and figured out my cleverness!
I was going to suggest I meet him in DC since I haven't had a "Tourist Day" in the nation's capital in a long while. Then I came to my senses and realized if I did that then that is going to let him think that I'm just going to make accommodate him from the get go. Plus, if he wants to meet me and is serious about meeting me, then he can make the trip to me. I asked if he wanted to come out my way and he said sure! We met at Caribou Coffee. He was 5 minutes late because he was "lost" in the new Waugh Chapel Center going in circles trying to find the place. I had to direct him to the "old" center. Upon his introduction to me, he shook my hand. Interesting approach! A lot of people are concerned about the end of a date. "Will he try to kiss me? Will he ask to see me again? Is he going to walk me to my car? Will he shove me into the trunk of aforementioned car?" For me, the first meeting of a date is what I'm most curious. It's tough to know how to approach someone that you've only had a few text conversations with. Shake hands? Hug? Awkward wave? I'm sure it's more stressful for the guy in this situation because he's trying to impress and not look like a douche all the while trying to figure out if she wants to be touched, waved to or is shaking hands too douchey of a move? John was just smooth enough to pull off a good handshake! Him being rather cute helped that out as well. I'm not sure what's going on in the teeth department though. They are all accounted for, but it seems that there's some "graying" on some of them. I will chalk it up to improper lighting and hope for a better look-see in the future. I certainly would still keep him in the running if it wasn't a lighting issue because he has everything else going for him. We chatted at Caribou for about an hour and a half. He then had to get back home to work on school crap that needs to be done before Monday.
After a date, you typically know if the guy was into you or not. Not to toot my own horn or to seem a bit egotistical but all previous dates, either the guy was interested and I wasn't or it was mutual that the spark just wasn't there to make another date worthwhile. This date, with John, I have a feeling that I was more into him than he was me. Everything seemed to go well while talking. The conversation never went stale. However, when we were leaving I told him thanks for coming out this way. He said he had fun and "good luck with the rest of your class" and then gave me a hug. I was hoping for, "we should meet up again soon" or "perhaps next time, we can grab some dinner". Something! But his comment was kinda like saying "good luck in the future that I'm so not going to be there for!" Oh well, you can't win them all right or this would be a lot easier and way less blogging! Just more blogs by me to look forward to! I will be sure to put out an update IF (notice the BIG if) there's something to update. Til then- Sayonara
