The perils of a first date in a hotel bar

First, the basics...cute, smart, well traveled, only child. There were
a few nit-picky details that I thought were a little strange, but I'd
give this guy another shot.

The date started at 8:30, at a hotel bar. This is a nice bar, in a
nice part of town but I'm still confused a little as to why, with so
many options available, he would still choose a hotel bar. Get your
minds out of the gutter, people, I'm sure that that didn't cross his
mind going in!

Anywhoo, the conversation ranged from Europe to accents to in-breeding.
Apparently, he has this idea that Virginians marry young. I say that it
prevents in-breeding because when you're of a certain age in Virginia,
the only options available to you tend to be those family members who
haven't yet crossed the threshold into marriage. I, of course, was
joking, but sadly, I think he thinks I was serious (again with the
nit-picky details). Yipes!

For the record: No, I didn't share any stories about certain friends of
mine whose cousins are now dating each other (though as an aside to
anyone who doesn't know the story -- and I'm not outing my friend -- the
boy's from her dad's side, the girl's from her mom's side and my friend
is the common link between the two). I could have, but I didn't.

Around 9:30, I was ready to call it a night. We had talked for an hour,
had a good time and a few laughs, and I was confident in that I had made
enough of an impression that he'd be clamoring for another date by the
weekend.

Mike, however, had other plans.

For those of you who are thinking, "Mike? I thought she went out with a
guy named 'Jeff'! Is she using aliases again?" Yes, I was and no, I'm
not. Mike is the businessman from Chicago who basically hijacked the
date because he was "bored," wanted to "chat," and that's what people do
in a hotel bar when you're hundreds of miles from home and there's
alcohol involved. So, he opened his mouth and then wouldn't shut the
hell up. Over the course of the next 90 minutes, we heard about his
kids, his business, Mayor Daly, real estate, and social security.
Money, kids, and politics, of course, are all topics you never want to
talk about on a first date. Thanks to Mike, we covered them all. Gee,
thanks, RANDOM STRANGER!! Worse, I had mentally shut down at 9:30, so
my contributions to the conversation, though at times impassioned,
didn't always make a whole lot of sense.

So much for the good impression.

Basically, I don't know where I stand with this guy (Jeff, not Mike --
Mike, I'm pretty sure, liked me quite a bit). I'll do the "thanks for
the lovely time email" tonight and then I'll hope that he judged me on
the first half of the evening, not the second half of the verbal
threesome. If I passed, I'll be picking the next location.

And, believe you me, it won't be a hotel bar.