Date successful

So here it is Tuesday afternoon, and I never reported about my date on Sunday! Shame on me.

Well… it was really fun!

We met at the Stone Zoo (which itself was somewhat depressing since the animals seemed underfed and sluggish) where we got slightly sunburned walking around and looking for 2.5 hours, chattering the whole time. He is all-around smart (educated, but not a know-it-all) and appropriately funny (we traded date-from-hell anecdotes, but without becoming grouchy), tells these good stories in his suck-you-in voice (deep, with a Brooklyn accent. So nice to hear that again), dresses nicely but not overly metro-sexually (quality brown leather shoes with square toe, cool jeans), has excellent manners (helped me down from the bleacher seats where we watched a bird show; was kind to strangers; opened and closed the car doors for me, but not leeringly.) He had intelligent, descriptive answers to my questions and continued to pose interesting questions to me. If I had to say what we talked about, I wouldn’t be able to put my finger on it, though -- we kind of just constantly shared info about ourselves and talked about anything and everything. He was also an excellent driver and I felt very safe with him. Much laughing and smiling took place.

After, he found this cool local restaurant with beautiful décor and excellent waitstaff where we lunched on Asian food (I had the Thai crazy noodles, he had chicken lo mein.) Also, when he paid (for the zoo tickets and the lunch tab -- I left the tip) he did not make a big production about pulling out his wallet and paying; he just paid, like a normal man. Granted, the whole date only cost him $36, but it’s the principle of it. (Unfortunately, there are a lot of cheap men out there. Just one of the reasons they are single, in my ‘umble opinion.)

Hmm. Actually, thinking about it, I have mostly been a cheap date in the past, which is why it really bothers me when a man doesn’t want to pick up the tab. I bet I could have a fun date in a supermarket! If I had to quantify this one, I guarantee that was the most fun he could have had for $8 an hour (the date was slightly longer than four.) And if our date were a movie, I would have watched it. There was not one boring moment (at least for me), and that’s unusual. Comparatively speaking, it was at least twenty-five times better than the first date with WF, and far less awkward than hanging around with another woman for the first time. I just feel comfortable with this guy!

There had been a quick hug hello, and a quick hug goodbye, and I wanted another hug before he walked back to his car after walking me to mine (three cars down, that was sweet of him), so I asked for one, and it was about the quickest hug I have ever had. Maybe he’s not used to doing the hug thing? I dunno. It still didn’t seem awkward, but considering we kept bumping into each other while navigating the uneven walkways at the zoo, I had been anticipating a slightly longer hug at the end of the date. My mom told me he was probably just exhibiting an appropriate first-date PDA. He said we should do it again, but didn’t ask me out right then and there. Drat.

Anyway, dispensing with protocol, I decided to be myself and follow up with a (short but sweet) email the next day, telling him that I had a great time. And he called me later that day! So I guess he likes me, or at least kind of likes me. Or at least was willing to be seen with me in public once. But he still has not asked me out again. The call ended with him saying we should talk again, so I said, ok, I’ll give you a buzz sometime this week. He said ok. I wonder what “the competition” is like. Sigh.

All in all, he is A Generally Cool Guy. I don’t think I have ever dated someone in this genre of Cool before. Wish me luck…