First Date in a While

A couple days ago I went on the first date I've been on in three years, the previous being the time I took The Magster Magdus to KFC back in April of 2005 (and, yes, I believe we went Dutch). This one was a little more classy.

The nice young lady who had the misfortune of going on a date with me is one of several people with whom I've been irregularly communicating on a dating website. For the most part, I've just been engaging in small talk with the people that I meet on the site -- the usual "What do you do?" and "What are your interests?" type stuff. Several of the ladies seem to be really interesting people, but I've had no real expectation that any of this would result in much.

At the suggestion of Jaysix, though, I asked one young lady out to the movies. However, in true McBastard fashion I didn't ask one of the ladies that I most favored. Instead, I asked someone I really wasn't interested in. Her profile on the site is kind of bland, and I couldn't tell much from her photos. We'd chatted a couple times, but she didn't seem interesting or interested.

Why would I ask out someone I'm not interested in? The thinking was that if I am scared of being rejected (which is usually the case) and intimidated by someone I'm attracted to (which is always the case), I should ask out someone I'm not attracted to. If I'm rejected, no big deal. Like Nothing ventured, nothing gained taken literally. If I'm not rejected, well, then I've at least got a date. This, in theory, should boost my confidence, preparing me for future encounters with ladies I am attracted to. In single-guy-dom this maneuver is known as "slump-busting." Dumb ideas like this are also one of the many reasons single guys are single for so long.

Surprisingly, the lady accepted my invitation. I prepared myself to go downtown to catch a Dark Knight matinee with some chick, make some small talk, and then head back home. Imagine my astonishment when I showed up to the theater and there was an attractive young lady waiting in the lobby for me. As we waited in line for tickets we talked a bit, and I came to realize that what I had assumed was indifference when we were conversing via the interwebs was actually timidity. And when she did speak up, she was actually interesting.

After the movie, I asked, quite suavely, if she "wanted to, like, go do something." She obliged and we went to dinner. After dinner, I asked if she "wanted to walk around or something." She obliged; we went to Millennium Park and watched the Navy Pier fireworks. She walked me back to Union Station and suggested that she wouldn't mind waiting for my train with me. I was more than happy to have her company. What started out as a movie date ended up taking an entire day.

One of my favorite parts of the date, and this may seem counter-intuitive, is that for half of the evening, we just sat there, not talking at all. In my strange, backwards mind this in endearing, so I enjoyed just sitting there with a dumb grin on my face. I worried that I was boring her out of her skull, but she assured me that, despite our mutual silence, she was actually enjoying herself. In fact, she agreed that we should go out again some time.

I guess the moral of the story is ... well, I'm not so good at morals. Maybe it's Dont judge a book by it's cover? Hell, I don't know. The only thing I'm really going to get from all this is that I should listen to Jaysix more often.