Sabotage

Now that radio.blog is back up and running, I can't help but take advantage of the fact that I can score my blog entries. So, keeping with our Boston theme and green for a late celebration of St Patty's Day....



My date. Oh, boy. Where do I begin? Do I mention that I'm not sure I can keep up with the life my new hair is living ~ a much more exciting one than my own!! I spent an hour driving around downtown Austin at the height of SxSW looking for a parking space during which an enormous SUV full of guys pulled up next to me and the driver yelled out "You're beautiful!" I, of course, looked back at him like he was a potential serial killer.

So I got in line with the lowly people who didn't have tickets and waited for my date to call me on my cell so we could catch up with one another. I, of course, forgot to bring his phone number with me (idiotic move #1). I couldn't find him and they started letting people into the theater and I didn't know if I should buy a ticket or not. I knew the guy I was meeting wasn't leaving work until 5:45pm, more than an hour after I got there, so I wasn't even sure he was going to find a parking space and still my phone wasn't ringing. I had been chatting with the people in front of me in line and they offered to save me a seat with them if I couldn't find my date. So, I bought my ticket and went into the theater and there he was!

Once in the theater I found out that he was trying to call but kept getting a disconnection message. So, I called his cell from my cell and that's when we figured out I had given him the wrong number. (idiotic move #2) The movie, The Unforeseen, a documentary about the suburban sprawl of Austin and the work to protect Barton Springs. It was a great movie, but it did make me feel rather guilty for having purchased a new home and for being a new resident.

After the movie we went out to dinner at a Middle Eastern restaurant. There was a belly dancer and we had the most gorgeous waitress, but my date earned serious point by not paying attention to them over me. We shared a great meal and a glass of wine and had a really wonderful conversation and he made me laugh and he made me blush and he thought that was endearing. He asked to split the bill, which lost him major points with my sister, my brother in law and Joanna. He said that he had been on too many bad first dates and that he treated on the second date. I asked if that were some sort of incentive program and bugged him for details about this second date. I told him that I had been on a number of bad first dates too, but I always looked at it like "at least I got a good meal out of it." Which was exactly his point. Chris was all set to call him this morning and explain to him the difference between an "outing" and a "date" and how a guy pays for a "date" but not an "outing." (Apparently this was an issue early in his relationship with my sister and the calculation of when their first "date" actually was...) And then, of course, my sister was concerned that he might have "expectations" when he actually footed the bill. Go big sister!! It was at that point that I decided to not mention the part of the conversation about strippers and prostitution...

Seriously, I have no idea how I get into conversations about these topics on the first date. My last first date, we discussed campaign finance reform. Seriously. And we completely disagreed about whether Congress would ever pass it. I won't leave you in suspense on that one ~ no second date. He voted for Bush. Deal. Breaker.

So after dinner, he walked me to my car and we held hands (I don't think I've actually held hands with someone in YEARS.) That was when I misplaced my parking garage. (idiotic move #3) It was 11pm and I'd been up since 6am and I was just so tired and disoriented. When we finally found the garage, we took the elevator up to the 5th floor (the number floor identified in the stairs when I left my car) and that was when I lost my car. (idiotic move #4) Imagine if you will, spending twenty minutes wandering around a parking garage, stopping periodically on one side of a floor to hit the panic button on your key chain and hear you car honking somewhere nearby, maybe a level up, maybe a level down, but just not being able to find it. We kept getting back on the elevator.

And I kept thinking that it was an awfully big waste of a private public space... and considered commenting something to that effect, but I just couldn't bring myself to. Instead I just leaned up against him, holding him against the wall, which, by the way, was seriously fake marble. Why? I have no idea. I wanted to see how he felt. I wanted to know what he smelled like. I wanted to see if he'd make a move given the obvious opportunity. He asked me what I was doing with more than a little bit of amusement in his voice. I said, nothing. Then the elevator doors opened, we stepped around to the other side of the garage and there was my car.

I drove him back to his car and he kissed me good night, on the lips, little tongue. Then I kissed him again. No plans were made for another date.

Now what? I hang out wondering if and when he's going to call. At least I know now that he does have my correct phone number.

Have I mentioned how much I hate waiting and what an impatient person I am????