Someone's got her dating shoes on

I’ll admit it. It’s rather difficult when you’ve had three and a half dates over the past week, and none have them have done anything to warrant the types of posts you all know and love. They were all nice in their own way, but only two made the cut.

Wednesday

A teacher named Phil kicked off the week. Phil didn’t make the cut. Phil was nice, but pretty anonymous. I was carrying the conversation (and not in the best way). Like, at one point, we were talking about music (standard first date “what do you like” convo). He mentioned he played the bass. I asked which type, stand-up or rock. He said rock. AWKARD PAUSE. I continued…are you in a band? Him: Not anymore. AWKWARD PAUSE. He also didn’t seem to know what he wanted. Like, he suggested a hipster bar, and then was making faces when he saw all the tattoos.

At the end of the night, he paid, but I don’t remember if we hugged, shook hands, or just turned and went our separate ways.

Saturday

Was a Public Health Service officer named Dominic (Dom). Some of you got the text about me wondering how long I should give him because I didn’t have his cell phone, and the place he picked to meet had multiple entrances and about a thousand people milling around (in front of the Aquarium). Average wait time: 15 minutes (thanks guys!). He showed up in 8…just after this bird dived bombed me, eliciting a scream from a passer-by. I thought I’d been hit, but it turned out that the man had just seen his cousin.

Dom hikes and camps, and so that’s what we did. All over the Inner Harbor…in heels (me, not Dom – the US Navy frowns on that). Again, I was carrying the conversation, but it was in a much, MUCH different way. Like, I was coming up with topics, and he was actually interacting with me. If he didn’t know much about something, he admitted it, but then he’d say, “What about this?” All good.

Lunch was with the little Italians with cannolis afterwards – all dutch. I had a sugar high and a sunburn by the end of the afternoon. Still don’t have his cell but he’s made the cut for at least a second date. Since he works in DC, I’m thinking that he should pick a place down there…somewhere on the hill, preferably, just after he gets out of work so I can see him in his uniform. He’s attractive (though I believe he wrestled in high school and at BC, so you know what that means for his ears), and you all know my affinity for men in uniform.

Sunday (x1.5)

On Sunday, I woke up to a horoscope that read something like “Today, you’re going to have to do something that’s completely out of line with what you wanted to do. Suck it up and deal.”

Considering that all I wanted to do was veg out in front of the TV (it was one of THOSE days), I wasn’t feeling so great about my date with Brian. I had already rain-checked on him the previous Sunday, though, thanks to my birthday, so I was going to “suck it up and deal.”

I’m so glad I did too…his was the best of the week!! Food was fantastic, conversation was even better (James Joyce). We talked about all those taboo subjects (religion and politics – luckily, we sit on the same side of the fence on both), but our takes on them were completely off the wall. “What was the worst thing you ever did at church?” sparked a good half-hour of laughing fun. We also talked about our worst date (another taboo subject!), and after assuring him that he wasn’t it by far, I described in full, vivid detail, the lonely lawyer (it’s on the blog…let me know if you need the address). He couldn’t believe what I was saying, I told him he should have tried living it.

We’re definitely going out again…fifteen minutes after I emailed him to thank him for lunch, he emailed back asking when I was free. He’s got a roll-out at work (he’s in IT too), but he said he’d make sure that he made time if I was up for it.

Sunday evening was the half-date. Since this was the guy who made me fly half-way across the country, and I hadn’t seen him since his return from Phoenix, I wasn’t so sure. But then, he said it was a party for his football team in my neighborhood, and since it seemed so casual, I thought I’d stop by.

Thank God his friends were cool. I didn’t see Todd most of the evening. In the five or so minutes we actually talked, he was gearing up towards an apology for his previous behavior. Sadly, just like Phoenix, there was no completion of the task. Just so we’re all clear, telling someone you owe them an apology and then not following through on it does not an apology make. He didn’t even introduce me to our host…when I got there, he was on the porch talking to this chick named Christa. I asked if she was our host, and she said she wasn’t…then Todd pointed to the real host, and said, “He’s in there.” Christa gave him a very dirty look and graciously offered to make the introduction to Steve and Chuck (Steve’s roommate), and the various and sundry other guests who all had the same question, “How do you know Christa?” It was all very awkward, but I had a good time once I realized that I was going to have to make my own friends. I did, of course. The porch-dwellers were very cool. One of the guests (Cat) claimed to be living across the hall from Dominic West of the Wire. She also claimed to have dated Drew Carey and be the second cousin of Oliver and Kate Hudson, and a cheerleader in high school. I’m not sure I believe any of it (especially that cheerleader thing), but she was cracking me up.

At the end of the night, I said my goodbyes, and I was getting ready to walk down to my car. Suddenly, Todd appears out of nowhere and starts walking with me. We make it to the car where he tries to kiss me. I did the quick looking-for-the-keys-duck, so he got the top/side of my head, but STILL WTF was he thinking??!!?

Needless to say, he did NOT make the cut (again). I’m thinking of changing his ring-tone (just like I did for crazy-Ben so that I don’t have to answer it). Any suggestions??? ;)