He Said, She Said (Updated)

The difficulty in writing this blog is knowing that the subject will be reading it. I was going to just can it all together, and write nothing. But since he did, I should as well. So, for once, the readers can see both sides of the date, which may have been more interesting had it been a terrible date or something really substantial had happened to write about... but here you just get 2 accounts of the same story.

Friday night's date started with me running late as usual. I showed up an unthinkable 15 minutes late (really late... even for me), which is a terrible way to start a date. My date was gracious enough to feign indifference to the fact, and thus began the date. We walked over to St. Marks because my date needed a new pair of shades, which was a good way to start the evening. We tried on a few pair each, I managed to find the most ridiculous pairs to try on and he eventually found a pair that he wanted to get. It was a fun way to ease those first few moments of awkward tension that are inevitable on dates like these. We continued on to DBA on 1st Ave, which I hadn't been to in almost a year, and I forgot how much I enjoy that place. 24 beers on tap, endless selections of alcohol... seriously, you can't go wrong here. We had a few beers and talked easily. This may have been the result of having each read each other's blog before going out, but whatever the case may be - it was not your typical first date conversation. A really nice change of pace for me, though. I am SO sick of talking about school and work, and stuff that practically puts me to sleep as soon as I start talking about it... I was glad to have to actually pay attention to my date and the conversation as it was going on. Because I knew that whatever I did or said had the chance of ending up in his blog, I was consistently conscientious of everything that was going on. But maybe less concerned the more I drank.

We continued from there to a Mexican restaurant on 2nd Ave, where we had some margaritas - arguably not the best drinks I've tasted. Dinner was good, but as we were ordering I noticed that the waiter was clearly having a hard time paying attention to our order, and kept watching something on the street. Sure enough, there was a guy passed out on the street. At first I thought he might have been dead. I think the only way I'd ever lay down on the corner of 2nd Ave is if I were very near death. But, alas, he was not. It would have been a first for me on a date, and maybe a really bad omen. But this guy was merely sleeping (passed out) on the corner of the street, but he drew in a lot of attention. Both from the restaurant and from people passing on the street. He layed there for a while until the police and ems came to revive him and apparently just drop him off on another street corner (we passed him walking - if you can call it that, stumbling is more like it - up the street later in the evening). We finished dinner and drinks, my date claiming that he had to finish his drink, because "he's a man, and men finish their drinks." Men also wind up with really terrible hangovers the next day too.

My date then allotted the time walking from dinner to the next location to be the phone portion of the date. He needed to check in with his friends and make some calls, and I made some calls to see if I was going to meet up with a friend later. We went to the next bar and had some good whiskey. His phone rang easily every 5 minutes. I am not ill at ease with people answering their phones on the date, life happens, and he was polite about it. But I did feel like I was taking up time that he was wanting to spend elsewhere. While I was having a good time, and didn't necessarily want the date to end there, part of me wanted to just tell him to go meet up with his friends because they were clearly expecting him somewhere, and the date was infringing on that.

I tried not to pay attention to his conversations, really... I know what kind of questions my friends ask me when I talk to them before and after (and sometimes during) dates. I didn't need to hear his responses to what I could only imagine his friends were asking. After a few conversations with his friends he told me the time frame of our date was now alleviated... I didn't realize we were on a time frame... but ok. That works. The phone calls pretty much subsided after that, and we chatted over whiskey about camping and array of mind altering substances that we had or had not ever tried. Not bad.

We took a walk to pick up a package that he needed to get for a concert the next day. It was a nice night, and after all the drinks I had consumed thus far, the fresh air was a pleasant change of pace. And really, who cares if your date decides he needs to partake in some shady business like picking up unidentified packages from doormen. Really, it just adds to the adventure. We then continued on to yet another bar to top off the evening. At that point, my inhibitions are pretty much shot, and I can chalk up another date fallen into the "drinking and dating" category with the subcategory of "things Erica should not talk about on a date". We left the bar - both intoxicated - and he was probably very late to go meet his friends at that point, kissed a little bit on the street corner, and parted ways.

I managed to get home (with a few run-ins with crazy men on the F train), take a prescription strength Ibuprofen with a large glass of water, and pass out. I woke up feeling not bad at all. I talked to the guy the next morning on IM, and he seemed like he was hurting pretty bad from the night before... I blame it all on the bad tequila he insisted on drinking (and possibly that he drank for 3 more hours than I did.)

Overall, a fun date. Which brings me to my last date of the week... tonight is my 6th date in 7 days... and by now it's really just standard operating procedure.

** on edit, he's right. I have crazy librarian skills. Not that he made it too hard to find his new blog... it's the exact same text. Tricky Tricky. - E. 8/29/06