Blood Diamonds
Recently, I needed a distraction and decided to give internet dating one more try. I'm not sure why I thought paying for this type of torture was necessary, but I did.
The last time I went on one of these sites, I told myself I would say yes to anyone who asked me out because you never know who you'll meet. This time I'm being a bit more selective, but also open to saying yes to those that I'm not sure about.
This guy, we'll call him D, asked me out to dinner and even though I couldn't tell from his pictures if I was interested, he seemed nice enough and I said yes.
When deciding on a place to dine with someone new, if a guy isn't willing to leave his neighborhood to meet me for dinner, then I'm less interested in meeting him. If you can't meet me in the middle for our first date, then you must not want to meet me too badly. I wouldn't want to inconvenience you too much on a first date after all.
To my delight, I get to choose the restaurant so I choose one that is near his neighborhood, but easy for me and one I also enjoy. So if all else fails, I know I'll have a good meal.
I get to the restaurant a little early, I know this place can get busy and they don't take reservations, so I thought I'd get there early and put our name in so we don't have to wait a long time for a table. He shows up on time and only had to wait about 5 minutes before we got a table. It was perfect timing.
I'm not a totally shallow person, you don't have to be a perfect 10 -- but you have to have a really fun, funny, happy personality for me to get over any physical attributes that I might not find attractive at first glance.
One physical attribute that is hard for me to get over is crooked or otherwise jacked up teeth. I know, it's pretty shallow but thank goodness I don't live in England.
D indeed needed a bit of dental work, but like I said if he was great fun to be with I wouldn't even notice the teeth.
In the 5 minutes we wait for a table, he tells me that he owns his own diamond business. He doesn't have a showroom or much overhead so he can sell diamonds to people for cheaper than most retail outlets, there by saving people quite a bit of cash in some cases.
He tells me that he also carries around a gun because he could have a million or more dollars worth of merchandise on him at any time and he needs to protect himself and his investments. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this, but it does make me feel uncomfortable so I quickly change the subject.
The restaurant I've chosen is known for it's Americana comfort food, so he orders the mac and cheese. I am training for a triathlon and need protein so I order the flank steak and fries. When our entrees come, he asks me if I want a bite of his mac and cheese and I said "maybe later, I'm fully enjoying my meat!". I ask him if he want's to try some of the steak and he does. I give him a few slices. He then says that the mac and cheese is super filling but that he wishes he ordered the flank steak. "Would you like another bite?" I say. And he says yes. At this point he's eaten most of his mac and cheese and at least half of my flank steak. I don't offer to give him any more because I want the rest of it for myself.
The conversation isn't really flowing that easily and it's a bit awkward. I try to engage him in conversation but we end up spending most of the dinner talking about mountain bikes and why he doesn't like any other kind of biking other than mountain biking. We talked about how much money he's spent on his mountain bike, on his car, and also snowboarding. I wasn't really head over heels at this point and was actually excited to go home and still a bit hungry.
Instead of prolonging the date any longer I opt for no dessert -- even though I was still hungry and wanted dessert.
The other thing that gives me pause on a first date is the paying situation. I know guys get tired of paying for dinners and get irritated at paying when the date is bad, so I always offer to pay my share -- and if a guy is really interested in me he won't let me pay.
D let me pay my share. Actually, the bill was $37-ish and I put down a $20 and he took it and said, "That's perfect." Ha.
Then he gave me a business card and said "Pass my name onto your friends if they need a deal on diamonds."
"Uh, OK"
Was this a date or a business dinner? I'm not sure, but what I am sure of is I threw away his card and went merrily on my way.
The moral to this story? Diamonds are not always a girl's best friend.
The last time I went on one of these sites, I told myself I would say yes to anyone who asked me out because you never know who you'll meet. This time I'm being a bit more selective, but also open to saying yes to those that I'm not sure about.
This guy, we'll call him D, asked me out to dinner and even though I couldn't tell from his pictures if I was interested, he seemed nice enough and I said yes.
When deciding on a place to dine with someone new, if a guy isn't willing to leave his neighborhood to meet me for dinner, then I'm less interested in meeting him. If you can't meet me in the middle for our first date, then you must not want to meet me too badly. I wouldn't want to inconvenience you too much on a first date after all.
To my delight, I get to choose the restaurant so I choose one that is near his neighborhood, but easy for me and one I also enjoy. So if all else fails, I know I'll have a good meal.
I get to the restaurant a little early, I know this place can get busy and they don't take reservations, so I thought I'd get there early and put our name in so we don't have to wait a long time for a table. He shows up on time and only had to wait about 5 minutes before we got a table. It was perfect timing.
I'm not a totally shallow person, you don't have to be a perfect 10 -- but you have to have a really fun, funny, happy personality for me to get over any physical attributes that I might not find attractive at first glance.
One physical attribute that is hard for me to get over is crooked or otherwise jacked up teeth. I know, it's pretty shallow but thank goodness I don't live in England.
D indeed needed a bit of dental work, but like I said if he was great fun to be with I wouldn't even notice the teeth.
In the 5 minutes we wait for a table, he tells me that he owns his own diamond business. He doesn't have a showroom or much overhead so he can sell diamonds to people for cheaper than most retail outlets, there by saving people quite a bit of cash in some cases.
He tells me that he also carries around a gun because he could have a million or more dollars worth of merchandise on him at any time and he needs to protect himself and his investments. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this, but it does make me feel uncomfortable so I quickly change the subject.
The restaurant I've chosen is known for it's Americana comfort food, so he orders the mac and cheese. I am training for a triathlon and need protein so I order the flank steak and fries. When our entrees come, he asks me if I want a bite of his mac and cheese and I said "maybe later, I'm fully enjoying my meat!". I ask him if he want's to try some of the steak and he does. I give him a few slices. He then says that the mac and cheese is super filling but that he wishes he ordered the flank steak. "Would you like another bite?" I say. And he says yes. At this point he's eaten most of his mac and cheese and at least half of my flank steak. I don't offer to give him any more because I want the rest of it for myself.
The conversation isn't really flowing that easily and it's a bit awkward. I try to engage him in conversation but we end up spending most of the dinner talking about mountain bikes and why he doesn't like any other kind of biking other than mountain biking. We talked about how much money he's spent on his mountain bike, on his car, and also snowboarding. I wasn't really head over heels at this point and was actually excited to go home and still a bit hungry.
Instead of prolonging the date any longer I opt for no dessert -- even though I was still hungry and wanted dessert.
The other thing that gives me pause on a first date is the paying situation. I know guys get tired of paying for dinners and get irritated at paying when the date is bad, so I always offer to pay my share -- and if a guy is really interested in me he won't let me pay.
D let me pay my share. Actually, the bill was $37-ish and I put down a $20 and he took it and said, "That's perfect." Ha.
Then he gave me a business card and said "Pass my name onto your friends if they need a deal on diamonds."
"Uh, OK"
Was this a date or a business dinner? I'm not sure, but what I am sure of is I threw away his card and went merrily on my way.
The moral to this story? Diamonds are not always a girl's best friend.
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