Sorry to disappoint

But there are no really good stories from the speed-dating. Once again, while it was not at all unpleasant, it was ultimately unproductive.

It started out a bit ragged...for some reason the usual venue was closed when the coordinator got there to set up. She freaked out, then started across the street to beg another bar or restaurant to take us on short notice. Fortunately, the place right across the street was willing, but she was understandably a little late getting things ready, and the layout wasn't super-organized.

So, we all sat the bar and chatted for a bit. Since it was a last-minute thing, there were no free appetizers. Bummer. I talked for a while with a couple of other women, both of whom knew each other from their Sunday School class. Then I chatted for a bit with the pleasant fellow on my other side...but it turned out he was there for the 29-42 group, and I was going with the 39-52 folks. Oh, well.

Then off we went. There were only five couples in my age group. The younger age group was larger, and they seemed livelier. Of the five possible guys, one was a retread from the last event I attended. He didn't pick me then, so I sure as hell wasn't going to pick him now, so...four guys. Not great odds.

The conversations all flowed pretty well. I didn't feel any immense attraction to any of them. The one guy I found somewhat physically appealing was kind of a goofball. He sat down and said instantly, "So, tell me all your deepest darkest secrets." My response: "Hey, that's what my blog is for!" "You have a blog!?" Then we veered off into a discussion of Facebook, which he recently joined, and that's kind of where we stayed. Him: "Facebook is so smart...how do they know all these people from my past? 'We think you might know...' It's crazy." Me: "Well, they just cross-reference the information you gave them when you filled out your profile." Him: "Oh." He seemed kind of disappointed, and I wanted to say "No, I mean...it's MAGIC!"

One other guy said he was also an actor. Me: "So how come I don't know you?" So diplomatic. He hasn't been in town all that long, and he usually works at theatres I don't work at, so our paths hadn't crossed. We did have some mutual friends, though, so we talked about that, mostly. He mentioned having been in a particular show last year that I didn't see, but remembered getting a pretty scathing review. I did NOT bring that up. Give me some credit. Heh. He had seen the show I did last year with sciatica. He "thought I looked familiar."

Then there was an oil and gas title attorney who just moved to town, and who lives in and LOVES the part of town I hate the most. Him: "Everything I need is close by. There's no reason to ever go anywhere else." Me: "I can't think of any reason to EVER go to that part of town. There is nothing there I need." (Again with the diplomacy.) Him: "I hear that a lot." Hee.

Who else...oh, an oil and gas engineer who likes to play golf. Yawn.

And, of course, the aforementioned returning player. I had to remind him that we'd done this before, and then he talked at length about how that last time didn't work out so well for him. I bit my tongue and did NOT say, "Maybe you picked the wrong girls, dillweed." The instant the bell rang, he jumped up and started off, then, turned and said, "I'm not being rude, am I? I did hear the bell?" Yes, dude, you did. Go.

So, that was that. I then went down the block and had an entertaining meal at one of my favorite restaurants, with a couple of the other participants. The two Sunday school women, of course. We compared notes on the guys, and filled in some gaps for each other on the information we had managed to pry out of them. And...that was that.

I logged in this morning and decided to go ahead and say "yes" on the actor and the goofball. So far...no one has said "yes" on me. I can't say I'm either surprised or disappointed. I'm just hoping they don't offer me yet another freebie. I'm a miser--I can't turn down FREE.

And...life goes on.