Disaster Date #3

Happy Sunday! :)

To keep up with the OK Cupid theme, here is the story of the first date I ever went on through that ridiculous dating website. This was the first of three, to get the details of the other two see my last two posts.

This particular date really wasn't that horrible, more uncomfortable than disastrous, but still worthy of a blog entry. I’d been living in SF for a little over a year; I was a few months out of a long term relationship and ready to get back in the dating game. A friend suggested OK Cupid; she had met her current boyfriend on the website and claimed a bunch of her friends met their current significant others through the site. I wasn't looking to jump back into a big relationship, but I thought dating someone new might be fun and figured it couldn't hurt to try.

*Side note, the friend who suggested it is now married to a guy she met on OK Cupid, I guess it works for some people.

Anyway, the first guy of any interest who contacted me was named Jeremy. He was attractive, witty and seemed like he actually knew what he wanted to do with his life. I think I was 22 and I had no clue what I wanted to eat for breakfast, let alone what I wanted to do with the rest of my life; hell, some days I still have no clue what I want to do with my life, although I'm pretty sure have a great outline: marry a pro-baseball player and be a stay-at-home mom with a kick-ass blog and have a killer tan.

Jeremy and I talked for a week or two and he seemed normal enough to me, so I agreed to meet him for drinks. I chose the bar, my go-to local bar The Dubliner and made sure to choose a night that a friend was working the bar. We made plans for 8:30 p.m., I showed up at 8 p.m. mainly because I was super nervous and didn't want to be late? Oddly enough, this was one of the few times muni was on time and got me to the bar in 5 minutes flat. Especially weird because the ride normally takes 15.

I told the bartender, Kyrie, why I was there, explaining that I was meeting a date from OK Cupid and that I was incredibly nervous because this was uncharted waters for me. She told me she completely understood and poured us both a shot of Patron (I don't know how to add the little accent above the O, imagine it's there). It didn't really help so I ordered a beer. As we got closer to 8:30pm, she could see how anxious I was getting and poured us both another shot. As we slammed the empty shot glasses on the counter a rather attractive man walked through the door, a rather attractive yet super short man. He got a big smile on his face and introduced himself as Jeremy. I’d completely forgotten to look at the “about me” section for his height. I’m 5’6”, I’m not a giant, but I easily towered over him. I’m guessing her was 5’2” and I’m pretty sure he was wearing lifts. He was well dressed with dark jeans, a dark green sweater and a blazer. I love when men wear blazers casually, over a t-shirt or sweater; such a sexy look.

So, at this point I’m 2 shots and most of a beer into the night and its only been half an hour. He suggests going upstairs to play some pool. He led the way and as soon as he has his back to me I caught eyes with Kyrie, she pointed to a bottle with a little green leprechaun on it and we errupted into drunken giggles. Poor Jeremy had no clue we were laughing about him; he couldn't help the fact that I was drunk and he greatly resembled the small green man on the bottle. Actually, he could have chosen a different sweater color.

We played a couple games of pool, Kyrie brought up a refill beer at one point and gave me that “do you need an escape look” but I was actually having a really nice time so I gave her a quick shake of the head and she retreated back to the bar. After playing pool we sat and chatted for a while. The conversation somehow drifted towards height and what a struggle being short had been for him in life; that he always had to ask strangers to reach things down from high places and had to stand on a chair in his kitchen to reach things down from the top shelf.

My drunk ass found this to be funniest thing I’d ever heard. Yup, I sat and laughed as this poor guy poured his heart out to me. I tried to lessen the blow by explaining that I was picturing him struggling on a chair to reach a plate in his kitchen, but for some odd reason he acted insulted and changed the subject. Looking back, I probably would have left if the tables had been turned-he was much more patient with me than I deserved.

We decided to go back down to the bar to finish our drinks. The entire time at the bar Kyrie and one of the regulars, Elliott  made faces at me, thus making me laugh even harder. At this point Jeremy had clearly had enough and announced that it was late and he should really be getting home. It was midnight, so I guess it was teetering on the late side. He'd put up with me for almost four hours! I began to look up the muni schedule but he insisted on driving me home, something about me being way too drunk to be on public transit alone. I lived about 8 blocks away and stood contemplating for way too long whether I should let a stranger drive me home or try my luck with muni. After getting two public drinking tickets in Santa Barbara I decided to try my luck with this small stranger. Kyrie made me text her every time we stopped at a light and the second I walked through my door.

Jeremy was actually a really good guy. I had him drop me a block from my apartment, because I didn't want him to know where I lived-in case he changed his mind and wanted to come back and kill me. I hugged him goodbye, thanked him for a fun night. He sped away the second my feet touched the sidewalk.

Needless to say, I did not go on a second date with Jeremy; but every year on March 17th I’m reminded of that incredibly awkward date.