4 hours of my life

I'm pretty sure that when I leave a date and I calculate the amount of time I've spent on the date that I'll never get back in my life, it's not a good sign.

So I had been communicating with this guy for a long time, maybe 3 weeks. And we had exchanged long, detailed emails, very reminiscent of the emails I exchanged with the guy who lived with his ex, except without the humor. I was hoping for the same connection with this guy like I had with the guy who lived with his ex, because of all the guys I've dated this year, he was the one I had the best personal connection with, conversationally at least. So, since this was reminding me of those early emails, I was hoping that our first date was going to be just a good. Unfortunately not.

We met up at the Iron Hill Brewery, which I had been to on a few dates previously this year (Phillies writer & the Bad Kisser), and it reminds me slightly of Google as well... but that's another story for another time. Anyway, we agreed to meet inside, and he was there before me. When I walked in, I recognized him and walked over to him. He says, "hey, I know you!" I guess as a friendly greeting, but no... not really, he doesn't. And he gives me a great hug and kiss on the cheek. It was very friendly and affectionate. It made me slightly uncomfortable, and I could tell he was nervous, so that made it even weirder! So I asked if he wanted to get a table or sit at the bar, and he said a table, so I thought he meant a table in the restaurant. So we stood around for a little bit, I thought maybe he had already put his name in, and we were just waiting. And after about 2 minutes of small talk, he says, so let's go get that table. Um.. ok, and we end up sitting at one of the high top tables at the bar. To me, that's sitting at the bar... but ok. I'm not going to say anything, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference. What does make a difference is that every single time I start telling a story, or say ANYTHING, this guy not only interrupts me, but starts telling a story that I can tell he thinks is related, but has completely nothing to do with what I was talking about. Maybe if he'd let me finish one of my thoughts, he'd see that. But probably not.

We have dinner, and drinks, and the time is passing just fine. Until about an hour and a half into the date. First I think I have something in my hair. He keeps looking at my hair/shoulder instead of making eye contact. It was so bizarre. He continued to do that for the duration of the date, and it was making me self conscious. I don't think I had anything in my hair, and if I did, he should mention it, not stare at it and make me uncomfortable! At that point, I'm just done. I was tired from a long work weekend, and the date started to feel like work itself. That is NOT a good sign. At some point, I'm not sure when, he started talking about past relationships, and bad dates that he's been on. And asked me about some of mine. I know the rules of dating, and if you want something to work out, you DON'T bring up past dates during a date... but I have no intention of making this work, so I'm game. And to be honest, this is the only question I think he asked me all night. No joke, the rest was just him talking about himself... The. Entire. Night. So, I tell him the makeup story (first blog ever!) and the Christmas Eve bowling story, but of course I don't even get through the whole story of that one because he has his own story that is completely unrelated.

After 4 hours of sitting and basically just listening to this guy talk, I was done. I don't even think I made a reference to the time, I just stood up and announced that I had to go. It was rather abrupt for such a long date. But I couldn't take it anymore, I was so tired and felt like I might snap if I sat there for much longer. We walked outside, and it was raining so I said we should say goodbye there, instead of at the car. He asked if I wanted him to take me to my car, which I told him I would be fine, and thankfully a guy came outside at that moment to smoke, spoiling any chance this guy had at making ANY kind of move. So I got the same hug and kiss on the cheek that I got when I first got there, and we parted ways. It was a long date at the end of a very long week.

The weird thing is I think this guy thinks the date went well. I wouldn't be surprised if he thinks there is a chance for another date, although his work schedule and my weekend schedule probably won't allow for that happen anyway! For the first time in a very long time, I'm actually grateful that I have a work schedule that creates weekend conflicts.

For those of you who don't know, I'm currently training for my first triathlon. It's just a sprint, but it's something that is taking up a lot of my time, and when I'd rather be at the gym than on a date, that's a sure sign that it's time to take a break. Although I say that all the time, and it never happens. So we'll see, there may or may not be dates in the future. I'm talking to a couple, that may or may not pan out into dates!