Ok, now before I write this I feel the need to preface something: I had this date on Wednesday. Yes, it is Sunday and I am finally writing it up. Why? Because my life has a tendency to get a wee bit insane during the week and leaves me little to no time to actually write and post stuff until the weekend. It's why I prefer the dates to happen on the weekends. That way there's not a multiple day turnaround for the post.
Ok. Onto the date!
This was a fairly normal date. It was set up by my friend Dawn who said that it needed to be during the week because this guy worked over the weekend and was only going to be in town until next Tuesday. Ok, I can work with that. Let's call him L.
So, we decided to meet at a restaurant in the Old Market district in Omaha called Spaghetti Works. Since he's from out of town and didn't know anywhere here, he said it was ladies choice. I picked SW because at the very least it's centralized and easy to find. Also, it's cheap.
So, I get off work and rush home to get ready for the date. (Another reason I prefer weekend dates: not so much with the rushing.) We're meeting at around 7, so that does give me a reasonable amount of time to get ready. I finish and head over.
The Old Market and SW are about a 20 minute drive from my house. But, given that parking sucks like a Hoover at any given time in the Old Market, I left about 45 minutes early. Good thing, too, because I had to part several blocks away.
But, I figured I'd be ok, because I always run a bit early and thought that he'd have the same parking issues that I did.
The lucky punk managed to finagle a parking spot just barely a block away and runs earlier than I do, apparently. Ok, interesting.
I arrive on the patio where we're supposed to be meeting and go to sit on a bench to wait. Surprise to me, he was waiting right where I was going to sit. Now, keep in mind that I generally don't know what these guys look like or anything, so I was a bit surprised when he said my name and I realized that I knew him from the Renaissance Faire I'd been to the previous week. He was one of the vendors and we'd flirted briefly. Ok. I can totally get down with this.
So, we go in and get seated at the restaurant. And we're talking about random stuff while we're looking at the menu and waiting for food. So, imagine my surprise when we talk, if briefly, about the two topics that it is widely considered you do not talk about in polite company and/or among strangers: religion and politics. Now, I'm not particularly averse to either of these subjects apart from the fact that my stance on politics tends to be apathetic at best and I'm not great when talking about personal aspect of religion, the whys and the wherefores. I did a reasonable amount of listening during those portions of the conversation. That doesn't make it bad, and I don't want to leave that impression. If anything I am highly impressed that L is comfortable enough with himself that he's willing to talk about two popularly taboo topics on an initial date.
After dinner we decided to go to a movie. He followed me to the theater since he didn't know where it was, and we got tickets to see Dylan Dog. When we got into the theater it was empty. Which means that we amused ourselves by pretending that it was full and that we were tripping over people as we made our way to our seats. It's the little things in life.
Since this isn't a movie review, I'll just say that the movie was neither good nor bad but fairly average.
After the film we parted ways. It was a nice date. L is a nice guy and I wish him nothing but the best in the future. And we'll probably see one another in passing as we both wander the faire circuit. Above all, I'm happy to have a new rennie friend. :)
*************
Thus ends this week's date. Now to find next week's date. Any takers?
K
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Blind Date #3 - Second Chances
Right, so, C got his second chance this past Saturday.
And he totally blew it.
It was supposed to be the same drill as last time. We'd meet at my aunt's table in the casino and go from there. I got there right at 6 and sat down to wait. My aunt was dealing 3 card poker and had a couple of people at her table. I watched and she and I kept an eye out for C.
I waited. Her break came and went. I kept waiting. We told the last lady playing at her table about what was supposed to be happening and she started keeping an eye out for him.
I waited for about two hours before calling it quits and going to my friend Den's to watch Buffy and Firefly and Dr. Horrible.
So, I dressed up, again. Wore make-up, again. Did my hair, again. For nothing. WTF, mate?
Seriously, sometimes it seems like I only decided to do this project for an excuse to use up some of the massive amounts of make-up that I have. Because I won't wear it otherwise.
Anyway. C blew it. Big time. And what's even weirder is that the night before he'd been at the black jack tournament telling people that he was nervous about the date, which means that he was planning on coming. So, seriously, what's his damage?
He's not getting a third chance. But I'd be lying if I didn't admit that it is tempting to have my aunt tell me the next time he's in and to just go down and find out what the hell. But I don't like to waste my time.
On the plus side, I did get to learn a new card game. At this rate, I could just make the rounds and learn all the table games at the casino.
K
And he totally blew it.
It was supposed to be the same drill as last time. We'd meet at my aunt's table in the casino and go from there. I got there right at 6 and sat down to wait. My aunt was dealing 3 card poker and had a couple of people at her table. I watched and she and I kept an eye out for C.
I waited. Her break came and went. I kept waiting. We told the last lady playing at her table about what was supposed to be happening and she started keeping an eye out for him.
I waited for about two hours before calling it quits and going to my friend Den's to watch Buffy and Firefly and Dr. Horrible.
So, I dressed up, again. Wore make-up, again. Did my hair, again. For nothing. WTF, mate?
Seriously, sometimes it seems like I only decided to do this project for an excuse to use up some of the massive amounts of make-up that I have. Because I won't wear it otherwise.
Anyway. C blew it. Big time. And what's even weirder is that the night before he'd been at the black jack tournament telling people that he was nervous about the date, which means that he was planning on coming. So, seriously, what's his damage?
He's not getting a third chance. But I'd be lying if I didn't admit that it is tempting to have my aunt tell me the next time he's in and to just go down and find out what the hell. But I don't like to waste my time.
On the plus side, I did get to learn a new card game. At this rate, I could just make the rounds and learn all the table games at the casino.
K
Monday, April 25, 2011
Blind Date Horror Story: Shoes
Many, many moons ago, my friend Cupp was single. She had some friends at work that had met their significant others through this video dating service.
To preface this: Back in the days before online dating (yes, they did exist) someone came up with the concept of video dating. Basically, a person would make up a video of themselves explaining what they liked and why a person would want to date him or her. Then the agency would keep the videos on file. Members would come in and flip through a binder to select the ones that they wanted to see. Then the clerk would stack them up with videos and take them to a room to watch them. Yeah, it seems a bit creepy to me, too.
So, Cupp had decided to give this thing a shot since people she knew had received good results from this thing. She went and watched some videos a couple of times but really couldn't find someone that grabbed her interest. One time, however, she was walking back to the counter and another member of the service was walking back as well. They started talking and exchanged phone numbers.
A few days later this guy called and they talked on the phone. They did this a couple of times and at some point this guy asked Cupp if when he came back to town for work if they could go to dinner. Cupp considered and agreed.
The appointed time for their date didn't come for several weeks. During this time they had a number of phone conversations where they learned more about one another. During one of these conversations the guy asked if Cupp had any high heels. Cupp thought it was an odd question, but answered him that yes, she did have high heels. (After all, what woman doesn't own at least one pair, however alone and forlorn it may be in the back of the closet?) Then he asked how tall. Cupp really had no idea so she estimated that her tallest pair was probably around five inches. This guy seemed satisfied with this answer and the conversation moved onto other subjects.
So, some weeks later the guy said that his boss was sending him into town for work and asked if he could meet her at her place to take her to dinner. Cupp agreed and the date was set.
The appointed day came and the guy arrived at Cupp's house. Cupp invited him inside and asked if he wanted anything to drink. He accepted a soda and sat in her living room. The chatted while he drank his pop, but then he fell asleep! Cupp wasn't sure what to think about this and she tried to wake him through several means: She shook him. She set off an alarm. She had the dog bark. Nothing worked.
Finally, he woke up. At that point he asked to use the restroom. Cupp told him where it was, thinking that since he just woke up it was a reasonable request. So, he went down the hall towards the bathroom. And Cupp waited for him.
And waited.
And waited.
Finally, she got up and went to make sure he was ok. She knocked on the bathroom door and received no answer. She knocked again and still got no answer. Concerned, she cautiously opened the door to make sure he was ok, and he wasn't in there.
That was concerning, to say the least. Cupp began to do a methodical search of her house. He wasn't in her office or her daughter's bedroom. He wasn't in any of the front rooms or the kitchen. Cupp checked the basement and then outside around the house. He was no where to be found. When she got to the front of the house she saw that his truck was still in the driveway. Cupp went back inside and started looking around again. There was only one room that she hadn't check, which was her bedroom, but she couldn't imagine that he would have gone in there. However, eventually it was the only place that she hadn't looked.
Cupp opened the door to her bedroom and found her date sitting in front of her closet, staring intently at her shoes. She asked him what he was doing and he turned sharply to look at her. At that point he demanded to know whether or not she had the aforementioned five in high heels that they're talked about weeks before.
Cupp told him that she thought that they were the silver ones against the wall in the back. The man reached into her closet and pulled out one of the shoes. After a brief examination he reached into his pocket and took out a tape measure and measured the heel.
As he measured his face turned red and then purple and he looked up at Cupp and declared, "These are only four and three quarters inches!"
Cupp wasn't entirely certain what to say, but fortunately she didn't have to because at that moment the man tossed the shoes onto the floor and stormed out of the house never to be heard from again.
********
Got a blind date horror story? Email theblinddateproject@yahoo.com and I may feature it on a future post. :)
To preface this: Back in the days before online dating (yes, they did exist) someone came up with the concept of video dating. Basically, a person would make up a video of themselves explaining what they liked and why a person would want to date him or her. Then the agency would keep the videos on file. Members would come in and flip through a binder to select the ones that they wanted to see. Then the clerk would stack them up with videos and take them to a room to watch them. Yeah, it seems a bit creepy to me, too.
So, Cupp had decided to give this thing a shot since people she knew had received good results from this thing. She went and watched some videos a couple of times but really couldn't find someone that grabbed her interest. One time, however, she was walking back to the counter and another member of the service was walking back as well. They started talking and exchanged phone numbers.
A few days later this guy called and they talked on the phone. They did this a couple of times and at some point this guy asked Cupp if when he came back to town for work if they could go to dinner. Cupp considered and agreed.
The appointed time for their date didn't come for several weeks. During this time they had a number of phone conversations where they learned more about one another. During one of these conversations the guy asked if Cupp had any high heels. Cupp thought it was an odd question, but answered him that yes, she did have high heels. (After all, what woman doesn't own at least one pair, however alone and forlorn it may be in the back of the closet?) Then he asked how tall. Cupp really had no idea so she estimated that her tallest pair was probably around five inches. This guy seemed satisfied with this answer and the conversation moved onto other subjects.
So, some weeks later the guy said that his boss was sending him into town for work and asked if he could meet her at her place to take her to dinner. Cupp agreed and the date was set.
The appointed day came and the guy arrived at Cupp's house. Cupp invited him inside and asked if he wanted anything to drink. He accepted a soda and sat in her living room. The chatted while he drank his pop, but then he fell asleep! Cupp wasn't sure what to think about this and she tried to wake him through several means: She shook him. She set off an alarm. She had the dog bark. Nothing worked.
Finally, he woke up. At that point he asked to use the restroom. Cupp told him where it was, thinking that since he just woke up it was a reasonable request. So, he went down the hall towards the bathroom. And Cupp waited for him.
And waited.
And waited.
Finally, she got up and went to make sure he was ok. She knocked on the bathroom door and received no answer. She knocked again and still got no answer. Concerned, she cautiously opened the door to make sure he was ok, and he wasn't in there.
That was concerning, to say the least. Cupp began to do a methodical search of her house. He wasn't in her office or her daughter's bedroom. He wasn't in any of the front rooms or the kitchen. Cupp checked the basement and then outside around the house. He was no where to be found. When she got to the front of the house she saw that his truck was still in the driveway. Cupp went back inside and started looking around again. There was only one room that she hadn't check, which was her bedroom, but she couldn't imagine that he would have gone in there. However, eventually it was the only place that she hadn't looked.
Cupp opened the door to her bedroom and found her date sitting in front of her closet, staring intently at her shoes. She asked him what he was doing and he turned sharply to look at her. At that point he demanded to know whether or not she had the aforementioned five in high heels that they're talked about weeks before.
Cupp told him that she thought that they were the silver ones against the wall in the back. The man reached into her closet and pulled out one of the shoes. After a brief examination he reached into his pocket and took out a tape measure and measured the heel.
As he measured his face turned red and then purple and he looked up at Cupp and declared, "These are only four and three quarters inches!"
Cupp wasn't entirely certain what to say, but fortunately she didn't have to because at that moment the man tossed the shoes onto the floor and stormed out of the house never to be heard from again.
********
Got a blind date horror story? Email theblinddateproject@yahoo.com and I may feature it on a future post. :)
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Blind Date #1 - Situation Update
So, you all might remember my first blind date of this project was supposed to be with C a few weeks ago. It was at the casino and C didn't show up. I had a fun night regardless and had even asked the internet at large if I should give him a second chance should the opportunity arise because I wasn't sure what had happened.
Well, according to an email that I had received from my aunt his boss told him that weekend to pack up because he was going to South Dakota. C apparently tried to explain that he had made plans for the weekend already and bossman replied "You're still young and have plenty of time." Given those stats I can't in good consciousness not give the guy a second shot.
So! Blind Date Second Chance will be happening on the 30th. We shall see how it goes this time.
Well, according to an email that I had received from my aunt his boss told him that weekend to pack up because he was going to South Dakota. C apparently tried to explain that he had made plans for the weekend already and bossman replied "You're still young and have plenty of time." Given those stats I can't in good consciousness not give the guy a second shot.
So! Blind Date Second Chance will be happening on the 30th. We shall see how it goes this time.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Blind Date #2 - Geek + Geek = ???
Editor's Note: I wrote this last night after the date but then couldn't get access to the internet and ended up being too tired to edit it appropriately. Thus, it's posted this morning when I've got a (very) few hours of sleep behind me. Enjoy!
**********
So, here I sit in the bar in the lobby at the Sci-Fi/Anime Convention I am at this weekend, ConStellation II. Con is alternately known as GeekFest and I for one adore it. Where else do I get to wear a wig and kitty ears and people not only don't care but will randomly run up to me and give my “ears” skritchies and hug me. It's one of the most affirming situations I can find myself in mainly because it's because I'm with a bunch of people that tend to share my general viewpoints about personal space and are just as offbeat as I am. It's fabulous.
So, I'm sitting here enjoying a post date amaretto sour and BL Lime. Gotta say, this date was pretty fun. It wasn't eventful by any stretch of the imagination, but that's ok. I had a nice time.
It started, technically, on Friday when I received a text from my friend Matt informing me that he had a date for me for the following evening. To which I'm thinking, awesome!! I'd been worried that I wouldn't be able to get set up, but not so! The plan was to meet at the Con on Saturday evening and hang out and do datey stuff, whatever that is. After a bit of pestering on my part and some running around on the part of my all too willing “setter uppers” (yes, that's a technical term), things get arranged.
Fastforward to this evening. It was decreed that S and I would meet at the registration table at 8. Fine by me, that gave me all day to run around, do a bit of volunteering, work a panel, and just generally make a nuisance of myself. Yay for me! So, it's date time-ish. I wander off to primp a little bit because in the course of the generalized chaos that made up my date my wig started to get a bit off kilter and the kitty ears needed adjustment. I like to make a good impression.
I finished primping and wandered back to where my friends were hanging out. At which point my friends Stephen and Matthew promptly flank me. You have to imagine this: Both of them are in steampunk style mercenary wear which includes masks that fully obscure their faces. (Really, it'd been throwing me all day. Do you have any idea how much we rely on non-verbal facial expressions to read a person's communication? Oi!) Matt is wearing a gas mask that he's painted silver that made him look a bit like Greedo from Star Wars and Stephen's is an altered paint ball mask or something similar. Both of them are also carrying guns that they have painted and worked on for prop purposes. Add to this that both of them are taller than me, it makes for an interesting sight. Purple haired catgirl and guards. I just can't figure out if they were pretending to be body guards to protect my kittenish honor or prison guards to make sure I didn't bolt.
We walk towards the registration table and... keep on walking. We're about halfway down the hall past it when I decide something doesn't smell right and stop. I asked Matt to clarify that I was supposed to be meeting S at the registration desk which is back there. Matt stopped and even with the mask I could just see him trying to process this. A few seconds later we turned around and walked back. At this point I'm starting to feel a bit like Princess Leia being escorted to see Darth Vader.
And we arrive. Matt's friend, Rachel, who was the one who suggested S as my date for the evening meets us there and goes to get S. S comes over and walks right past into the art dealer's room. Umn... what? At that point he's gently nudged by Rachel in the correct direction, which is towards my well guarded and purple coiffed self, and he comes over and apologizes for walking right past. We make our introductions and at that point my entourage decides to leave without so much as a wave.
S and I decided that all we really wanted to do was sit and chat. So we did just that. It was nice. We sat in the lobby/courtyard of the hotel and just kind of geeked out. We talked about the weather for a while, which was kind of cool because we both have some interesting bad winter weather driving tales. After that we started discussing our particular fandoms that we enjoy and found a mutual enjoyment of Doctor Who. (I swear, Doctor Who is the Great Geek Equalizer! Who doesn't love it?) There were also a few other crossovers (childhood memories of ReBoot and Starwars), but not much because my fandom tends to be book and comic based and his was more visual media based. It was still cool though because he got to tell me about some television series that I hadn't gotten a chance to watch yet and need to put on my list of things to see.
After about an hour of chatting, we went down to a panel that he had wanted to go to about why the Oscars apparently hate the Sci-Fi genre. I was good with that. It sounded interesting and the only other thing going on was the cosplay contest. It was a nice discussion lead by two of the guest authors at the convention. It was interesting how vehemently people were defending their positions at times, and there was a lot of talk over. But still, some interesting insights into why the industry either hasn't awarded an Oscar to a Sci-Fi film or why the genre hasn't created one worthy of being an award winner.
After the panel we decided to go our separate ways. Since it's a con, there's programming pretty much 24 hours, but since neither of us seemed too willing to go off site for anything like a meal (for my part it's because of my rules to always drive separately to a place; it would have seemed silly to part ways only to meet at a restaurant for food or something) we decided to call it good. It was a good couple of hours and S is a nice guy. The gal that snags him is pretty lucky if a two hour date can be used as a good judge of character.
One of the most interesting things about this date was that it was pretty non-standard as far as doing things goes. We talked, but it wasn't over a meal as is traditionally done. And instead of a movie we went to a panel at a convention. I guess in some ways it could have been considered the geek version of the dinner/movie date, except again there was the lack of food thing. But it was nice. I wasn't sure at first because I've been socialized to think that a date means a certain order of events, usually food and some kind of entertainment. I think one of the things I need to get past is the idea that a date has to contain some kind of preset standard timeline of what 'should' happen. Just because other stuff is done doesn't mean that's not a date. It's just not stereotypical.
Which brings me to another discovery: I am such and friggin' control freak. Seriously. This whole blind dating thing is taking a lot of stuff out of my control and it's kinda bugging me. Not enough that I'm going to give up, obviously, but it's an interesting thought that letting other people plan an evening for me and not let me know the details until it's all laid out is a new experience. It's a bit like falling and not being sure if someone will really be there to catch me or something. It makes me a little neurotic and twitchy and I really need to work on just letting go. Really.
**********
So, that was date #2. It was fun and S is a sweetie. I wish him nothing but the best.
Special thanks go out to Matt and Rachel for setting me up and to S for letting himself be set up. Also, thanks to ConStellation II for playing host to this date.
Remember to email your blind date horror stories to theblinddateproject@yahoo.com for a chance to be featured in a future Blind Date Project Horror Story special.
And now, I'm going to sit back and finish my beer.
K
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Well, that was a waste of make-up
The first blind date has come (kind of) and gone (totally) and quite frankly it was (not) a (complete) bust.
Allow me to explain.
My aunt works as a dealer for a local casino. As such she has some regular patrons that enjoy playing specifically at her table. One of these is C. C likes to play black jack and comes in every two weeks or so while he's in town on business. He prefers to play at my Aunt's table because she's entertaining like that. And her bosses like it that she has regulars. It's basically a win/win.
A few weeks ago, about the time I was formulating this crazy idea, she was shadowing a new dealer who happened to be doing very well so my aunt got a chance to talk to this guy a bit more than she usually would. That's when the light bulb went off and she decided to arrange the date.
Fast forward to tonight. As far as I know, based on an email from my aunt, the date has been confirmed. We're supposed to be meeting at the casino near her table because I don't know this guy from Adam and he's only seen my picture maybe once. (Ironically and completely unintentionally I was wearing the same shirt tonight that was wearing in the picture my aunt keeps behind her work badge.) My aunt was supposed to introduce us and we would go from there.
I arrive at the casino and allow the valet service to take my car because it's a lot safer to do it that way than to park it myself and then have to go find my car in the dark or in the parking garage. I'm willing to spend a decent tip to be safe.
There are two immediate bonuses to meeting a blind date at the casino when it comes to the safety issue: The valet parking mentioned above and security. I love security guards and in general the ones I've met at the casinos are pretty much awesome. I'm pretty sure that if I had chosen to self park I would have been able to ask a security guard to escort me to my car and honestly, having them there made me feel a lot better about meeting a stranger for a date in case things had gone south.
But I'm getting ahead of myself a bit. Or maybe that was closer to a ramble.
Anyway, I wandered inside and hit the bathroom to make some minor adjustments to my appearance and freshen my lipstick before wandering down to flash my ID at the security guard and head to the gaming floor. I walk in and do a quick walk about to see if I can find my aunt but she's not there yet. I'm a little early, so I camp out near one of the sets of dealers tables and wait. She comes and is assigned to a different set of tables, so I just follow her over. I'm not certain of the rules, so I'm hanging back a bit until I'm sure that it's ok for me to even sit at her table and not play. It was, so I go sit and get comfy. She gets pulled away again and I'm just hanging out.
The appointed time arrives and goes and he's not there. No big. He's from out of town and a pre-emptive 'ish' was added to the meeting time, anyway. I'm just big on the whole being on time thing. So, I sit there, talk with my aunt when she gets back, buy an amaretto sour (yummy), and smoke a few while I'm waiting.
I should interject here that casinos are not my favorite of places. Not because of any moral standpoint or anything like that. Frankly, I figure it's a game and no better or worse than people who plug money into Facebook to get extra perks in FarmVille. There are people who have an addiction to these things and I in no way mean to make light of that, however, in the overall scheme of things, it's entertainment. No, the reason I do not care for casinos is the atmosphere. The lights are blinky and the music and voices and klaxons are loud and the whole place tends to smell like desperation and cheap perfume as a general rule. Friday and Saturday nights to tend to hold a more jovial atmosphere, but since my usual experience with casinos has been during the day the idea stands. I'm not averse to them, but I probably wouldn't be able to handle working at one. So to all those that do: I raise my glass.
At some point while I'm waiting, my aunt is sent on break. This is around 7:30. I decide that I'm hungry and go out to the diner that's outside the gaming area to get dinner. I had a nice sandwich and a soda and do some debating as to whether or not I should go back in. I decide to because A: the optimist in me wants to think that C is only deplorably late and B: what else do I have to do? I'd set aside my entire evening for this, after all.
So, I go back into the fray and perch in my chair at my aunt's table. I can't play, because we're related and it's against the rules, but I've never seen Pai Gow Poker and it's kind of interesting to watch. Besides, I don't have money to spend gambling. So, I got to sit there and watch the game, drink free soda, and smoke a few more.
This is where things get interesting, not because C ever showed up, because he didn't, but because it was an excellent chance to observe.
There was a lady that had been playing at the table for a while. She was nice and pretty entertaining in her own right. We joked around about how she ended up being my blind date for the evening.
One guy was wearing a purple check shirt. One of the decks on the table happened to also be purple check on the backs. This meant that the cards had the opportunity to be camouflaged against his shirt at times, which made for some rather amusing interactions once it was realized. Nothing particularly noteworthy, but a few giggles were had.
At some point this couple showed up and they were a bit intense. Obviously, an argument had happened before the came in because both were still pretty riled from it. He played, she didn't and their communication between each other was that subdued sort of pissed off. When he talked to my aunt or any of the other players it was fine, but when they talked to each other I kept expecting explosions.
Another guy joined in after purple shirt left and his first words were, directed at me, "Will you help me out if I need it? I've only played this once." To which I was compelled to reply, "I've been sitting here all night and haven't played a single hand." And we all laughed a bit and my aunt explained that she or any of the other players could help if he needed it.
I also got to see my aunt in action and it was pretty cool to watch her deal out hands and be able to figure up who won and didn't in the span of a few seconds. I'm still trying to figure out how the game is played. And seeing her open her table was kind of neat because there's a lot of security protocols and opening tactics that she has to do to make her table ready for play. And there are security cameras everywhere, including right over her head so they can literally watch the table and make sure nothing shady is going on. It's all kind of heavy, but it makes sense, really.
I decided to leave about the time that my aunt's table was starting to get full. Better to open up my spot for a paying customer and I wasn't getting anywhere anyway.
All this to say: The evening wasn't a total bust. Sure my date didn't show up, but I still had fun. I got to watch and learn (sort of) a new style of poker and see different people and their reactions as they were playing. Sure the lights and noise bugged me a bit, but that always happens with me and casinos. And I figured at that point, I'd dressed up and come out, I may as well make the best of it. And it worked. I had a nice night out.
General consensus? I'm not sure. I kind of feel like I should give C a second chance should the opportunity arise just because the situation is a bit unique. He's not a local guy that can stop by on a whim and for all I know he got caught in the storm that's going through north of here and couldn't make it in through no fault of his own. And there's a bit of a difficult communications breakdown since he really has no way to get a hold of my aunt to let her know what's happening apart from seeing her at the casino. At the same time, we had confirmed in theory and he'd told my aunt that he would be there. I guess I'll cross that bridge if it comes up.
But, I think my aunt is more disappointed than I am that he didn't show. She was really hoping for this to work out well. There is some disappointment on my part, but I'm choosing to believe that he saw me from across the room and felt unworthy to sully my radiant beauty with his presence. Because, I'm hot and stuff. XD
And there's always the next date.
****
Got a thought on whether or not I should give C a second chance? Leave me a comment and let me know!
Have a good night! Tune in next week for a Blind Date Horror Story.
K
PS: Hearing Katy Perry's "Waking Up in Vegas" while at a casino is the very definition of irony.
Allow me to explain.
My aunt works as a dealer for a local casino. As such she has some regular patrons that enjoy playing specifically at her table. One of these is C. C likes to play black jack and comes in every two weeks or so while he's in town on business. He prefers to play at my Aunt's table because she's entertaining like that. And her bosses like it that she has regulars. It's basically a win/win.
A few weeks ago, about the time I was formulating this crazy idea, she was shadowing a new dealer who happened to be doing very well so my aunt got a chance to talk to this guy a bit more than she usually would. That's when the light bulb went off and she decided to arrange the date.
Fast forward to tonight. As far as I know, based on an email from my aunt, the date has been confirmed. We're supposed to be meeting at the casino near her table because I don't know this guy from Adam and he's only seen my picture maybe once. (Ironically and completely unintentionally I was wearing the same shirt tonight that was wearing in the picture my aunt keeps behind her work badge.) My aunt was supposed to introduce us and we would go from there.
I arrive at the casino and allow the valet service to take my car because it's a lot safer to do it that way than to park it myself and then have to go find my car in the dark or in the parking garage. I'm willing to spend a decent tip to be safe.
There are two immediate bonuses to meeting a blind date at the casino when it comes to the safety issue: The valet parking mentioned above and security. I love security guards and in general the ones I've met at the casinos are pretty much awesome. I'm pretty sure that if I had chosen to self park I would have been able to ask a security guard to escort me to my car and honestly, having them there made me feel a lot better about meeting a stranger for a date in case things had gone south.
But I'm getting ahead of myself a bit. Or maybe that was closer to a ramble.
Anyway, I wandered inside and hit the bathroom to make some minor adjustments to my appearance and freshen my lipstick before wandering down to flash my ID at the security guard and head to the gaming floor. I walk in and do a quick walk about to see if I can find my aunt but she's not there yet. I'm a little early, so I camp out near one of the sets of dealers tables and wait. She comes and is assigned to a different set of tables, so I just follow her over. I'm not certain of the rules, so I'm hanging back a bit until I'm sure that it's ok for me to even sit at her table and not play. It was, so I go sit and get comfy. She gets pulled away again and I'm just hanging out.
The appointed time arrives and goes and he's not there. No big. He's from out of town and a pre-emptive 'ish' was added to the meeting time, anyway. I'm just big on the whole being on time thing. So, I sit there, talk with my aunt when she gets back, buy an amaretto sour (yummy), and smoke a few while I'm waiting.
I should interject here that casinos are not my favorite of places. Not because of any moral standpoint or anything like that. Frankly, I figure it's a game and no better or worse than people who plug money into Facebook to get extra perks in FarmVille. There are people who have an addiction to these things and I in no way mean to make light of that, however, in the overall scheme of things, it's entertainment. No, the reason I do not care for casinos is the atmosphere. The lights are blinky and the music and voices and klaxons are loud and the whole place tends to smell like desperation and cheap perfume as a general rule. Friday and Saturday nights to tend to hold a more jovial atmosphere, but since my usual experience with casinos has been during the day the idea stands. I'm not averse to them, but I probably wouldn't be able to handle working at one. So to all those that do: I raise my glass.
At some point while I'm waiting, my aunt is sent on break. This is around 7:30. I decide that I'm hungry and go out to the diner that's outside the gaming area to get dinner. I had a nice sandwich and a soda and do some debating as to whether or not I should go back in. I decide to because A: the optimist in me wants to think that C is only deplorably late and B: what else do I have to do? I'd set aside my entire evening for this, after all.
So, I go back into the fray and perch in my chair at my aunt's table. I can't play, because we're related and it's against the rules, but I've never seen Pai Gow Poker and it's kind of interesting to watch. Besides, I don't have money to spend gambling. So, I got to sit there and watch the game, drink free soda, and smoke a few more.
This is where things get interesting, not because C ever showed up, because he didn't, but because it was an excellent chance to observe.
There was a lady that had been playing at the table for a while. She was nice and pretty entertaining in her own right. We joked around about how she ended up being my blind date for the evening.
One guy was wearing a purple check shirt. One of the decks on the table happened to also be purple check on the backs. This meant that the cards had the opportunity to be camouflaged against his shirt at times, which made for some rather amusing interactions once it was realized. Nothing particularly noteworthy, but a few giggles were had.
At some point this couple showed up and they were a bit intense. Obviously, an argument had happened before the came in because both were still pretty riled from it. He played, she didn't and their communication between each other was that subdued sort of pissed off. When he talked to my aunt or any of the other players it was fine, but when they talked to each other I kept expecting explosions.
Another guy joined in after purple shirt left and his first words were, directed at me, "Will you help me out if I need it? I've only played this once." To which I was compelled to reply, "I've been sitting here all night and haven't played a single hand." And we all laughed a bit and my aunt explained that she or any of the other players could help if he needed it.
I also got to see my aunt in action and it was pretty cool to watch her deal out hands and be able to figure up who won and didn't in the span of a few seconds. I'm still trying to figure out how the game is played. And seeing her open her table was kind of neat because there's a lot of security protocols and opening tactics that she has to do to make her table ready for play. And there are security cameras everywhere, including right over her head so they can literally watch the table and make sure nothing shady is going on. It's all kind of heavy, but it makes sense, really.
I decided to leave about the time that my aunt's table was starting to get full. Better to open up my spot for a paying customer and I wasn't getting anywhere anyway.
All this to say: The evening wasn't a total bust. Sure my date didn't show up, but I still had fun. I got to watch and learn (sort of) a new style of poker and see different people and their reactions as they were playing. Sure the lights and noise bugged me a bit, but that always happens with me and casinos. And I figured at that point, I'd dressed up and come out, I may as well make the best of it. And it worked. I had a nice night out.
General consensus? I'm not sure. I kind of feel like I should give C a second chance should the opportunity arise just because the situation is a bit unique. He's not a local guy that can stop by on a whim and for all I know he got caught in the storm that's going through north of here and couldn't make it in through no fault of his own. And there's a bit of a difficult communications breakdown since he really has no way to get a hold of my aunt to let her know what's happening apart from seeing her at the casino. At the same time, we had confirmed in theory and he'd told my aunt that he would be there. I guess I'll cross that bridge if it comes up.
But, I think my aunt is more disappointed than I am that he didn't show. She was really hoping for this to work out well. There is some disappointment on my part, but I'm choosing to believe that he saw me from across the room and felt unworthy to sully my radiant beauty with his presence. Because, I'm hot and stuff. XD
And there's always the next date.
****
Got a thought on whether or not I should give C a second chance? Leave me a comment and let me know!
Have a good night! Tune in next week for a Blind Date Horror Story.
K
PS: Hearing Katy Perry's "Waking Up in Vegas" while at a casino is the very definition of irony.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Supplemental Blog #1 - Respect and Reasons
It's come to my attention that people may not be certain of my intentions in starting this project and thus are leery of potentially setting me up. It's a legitimate concern. In a world of jerks it'd be easy to see this project as nothing more than an opportunity to be a tool. I get it. Really, I do.
So, let me start by saying that this is not an excuse to make fun or be mean to the guys that I go on these dates with. I fully intend to treat them and the date with the utmost respect. The humor will be applied only anecdotally in the way that I write out the experiences. I'm not doing this with a mean spirit or to make myself feel good by making others feel like crap. That's not the way I roll.
The guys I'm going to go out with on these dates are human beings, just like me. That means that they deserve the respect as a person that I would give any other person, regardless of how well he and I do or do not get along. I fully intend on building this project on the idea of respect: Respect for my dates, myself, and for the social institution of dating.
That doesn't mean that there won't be laughs and funny things that happen along the way. In fact, I'm hoping that it will be a mostly humorous romp. However, it will all be situational and not person based.
So, that brings me to the reason I am doing this project. I'm doing it because I want to. I want to be able to look back on my life and not just remember that I had all these ideas that could have been a lot of fun but I didn't do them. I want to actually go through with some of the ideas that I have. This is one way to do that.
I hope that helps to explain why I'm doing this. If anyone has any questions about this project or my reasons for doing it that I haven't covered you can email me at theblinddateproject@yahoo.com.
Thanks for listening! Stay tuned for more supplementals and the official start of the project.
So, let me start by saying that this is not an excuse to make fun or be mean to the guys that I go on these dates with. I fully intend to treat them and the date with the utmost respect. The humor will be applied only anecdotally in the way that I write out the experiences. I'm not doing this with a mean spirit or to make myself feel good by making others feel like crap. That's not the way I roll.
The guys I'm going to go out with on these dates are human beings, just like me. That means that they deserve the respect as a person that I would give any other person, regardless of how well he and I do or do not get along. I fully intend on building this project on the idea of respect: Respect for my dates, myself, and for the social institution of dating.
That doesn't mean that there won't be laughs and funny things that happen along the way. In fact, I'm hoping that it will be a mostly humorous romp. However, it will all be situational and not person based.
So, that brings me to the reason I am doing this project. I'm doing it because I want to. I want to be able to look back on my life and not just remember that I had all these ideas that could have been a lot of fun but I didn't do them. I want to actually go through with some of the ideas that I have. This is one way to do that.
I hope that helps to explain why I'm doing this. If anyone has any questions about this project or my reasons for doing it that I haven't covered you can email me at theblinddateproject@yahoo.com.
Thanks for listening! Stay tuned for more supplementals and the official start of the project.
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