Tuesday, March 10, 2009

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.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

At least you tried, even if none of the guys were that great. I would probably wimp out and be too shy to go to a speed dating thing.

3carnations said...

I hope they offer you another freebie - Third time's a charm, right? :-)

Maybe you should go for the 29-42 age group!

Stefanie said...

I can't believe you told a potential date that you have a blog! I'd be way too paranoid he'd go out looking for it. No guy needs to know that much about me before we've even shared a meal together.

lizgwiz said...

-r-, I'm sure H appreciates you not speed dating. ;)

3car, oh, would that I COULD do that age group. I'm a bit...over the limit.

stef, if I had had any real expectation that I would ever be actually going out with him, I'd never have said it. ;)

georgeious said...

your speed dating went about as well as my job interview... only i wasn't quite so diplomatic. maybe if you get another freebie you should just feign choking as a way to spice up the evening.

Anonymous said...

I like your bluntness.

I can't believe you didn't even make up a story for us. Improvise, dang it! You're an actress. Oh, well, I will cling to my dreams of crazy hijinks ensuing at the next speed dating round.

stinkypaw said...

There's nothing wrong with being blunt (ok preaching to my parish here).

That "part of town" isn't that where the other one was from also?

shelleycoughlin said...

I'm with Stefanie, you are a brave woman telling potential boyfriends about the blog! Then again, I guess it would be hard for them to find it since your full name isn't on it.

You should have bailed on the older age group and joined the fun group. Maybe it would smack Mr. Short Term to his senses!

lizgwiz said...

george, I promise to have an "episode" of some sort if I ever do it again. Just for you. ;)

green, my life seems ridiculous enough without making up things! Hee.

stinky, that is the very same part of town. Unfortunately, it's also where Mr. Short Term currently resides, though, to his credit, he doesn't like it, and is thinking of moving downtown. Good boy!

npw, also, the speed-daters aren't allowed to exchange any information beyond first name (unless you're matched, and choose to, of course), so there wasn't much risk. Our coordinator did tell us that if there was someone in the other group that seemed interesting, to email her and she'd let them know. Nobody seemed interesting enough to go to THAT much trouble.

3carnations said...

What about the pleasant fellow on the other side of you at the bar? You could email her about him! :)

Anonymous said...

Yeah...3car is right...ask about him?!

;)

Anonymous said...

Poor Facebook guy! He's probably confused by his TiVo too. (Oh, I guess I shouldn't talk about him yet. He might turn out to be the one.)

Whiskeymarie said...

I love that you do things like this and are so honest about how it goes. I selfishly want you to go to another one so that we can read about it.

And that guy? With the Facebook thing? Holy cow, you dodged a bullet on that one, I think.