And so it begins?

A certain someone in New Mexico said that I needed to do a blog post on a date I had yesterday. I haven't been sure whether I would be blogging here again, but since it would have been too much to text her the story, I will oblige here. To step back a bit, yes, I finally jumped back into the online dating pool a couple weeks ago. In the beginning I really only screened or weeded the guys who have reached out to me, but have recently decided that that isn't working out so great. What? I may actually need to make an effort? Sigh.

It's very strange but I am getting pinged by guys who are either way too young or way too old for me. I don't know where the guys in their mid to late 30s are. I guess they are either looking for 28 year olds or still married? I don't know. And look, I am open to a guy a couple years younger, but 10 years younger is a bit much for me. So I decided that I should try to make myself reach out to five guys a week, or reach out to someone for every guy that reaches out to me. This plan had me either like or wink at 3 guys over the weekend, to no response. Am I supposed to actually spend time writing a real message? Double sigh.

Anyways, so I did meet up wit a guy yesterday. Initially he had said coffee, but then came back Saturday with the suggestion of one of my favorite restaurants in town. I was a bit leery of making it an actual meal, and didn't want him to potentially ruin this favorite restaurant of mine, but said ok.

I don't feel that I'm really that picky anymore, at least as much as I used to be. I'm really trying to be open and focus on the things that actually matter. So I can overlook the fact that he was clearly older than his pic. In his pic he clearly had very dark brown hair. In person it was more salt and pepper. Again, not a huge deal... but just not what I was expecting. I can also overlook the fact that he showed up wearing wide wale corduroy pants with pleats (sorry just not my thing). I've significantly improved a guy's wardrobe before, and have no doubts that I could do it again. :)

But I could not overlook the fact that I felt like I was having a conversation with a pinball machine. I would say something, and he would fixate on one tiny piece of that and instead of actually listening and responding to it, would use that to jump to something completely different. I completely felt like while I was talking he was just trying to think of what to say next instead of actually listening to me.

He's kind of a serious hiker/climber and towards the end of the date, he asked if I wanted to go next weekend. A friend of mine noted that I should have been concerned about being invited to somewhere a bit less public when I still barely know him. But I was less concerned about that than the fact that I would be stuck having a conversation with a pinball machine on a mountain! At least with the restaurant I was able to make a getaway... on the mountain the only option would have been to fling myself off the side. Not a great getaway option.

So all in all, its definitely not the worst first date I've ever had, but wasn't great. And so the humor (choosing to think of it as more humorous than painful) of online dating continues!