J: January: CHECK!

Lunch with Mr. January (yes, he’s officially earned the name!) was actually quite nice. While he would not have been someone that I would have necessarily chosen for myself, my friend actually did a pretty good job picking him out. The worst blind dates are born out of: “You’re single and female…he’s single and male…you'll be PERFECT for each other!” Luckily, this friend dug a little deeper. This guy is a biker (of the yellow jersey variety) I’m a biker (also yellow jersey-although I'm not opposed to taking a spin with bikers of the black leather variety every now and then!) This guy listens to live music. I listen to live music. This guy has a job. I have a job. This guy likes Mexican food. I like Mexican food. See how much we have in common already? We must be PERFECT for each other.

I met Mr January (the First) at one of my favorite restaurants and we started off our late lunch with a quick drink in the bar. On this sunny Sunday afternoon, the bartender happened to be a bit heavy handed with the tequila. Usually that’s a quality to be admired in a bartender however this time, it was a strong drink on a very small amount of food and I was quickly quite tipsy. On top of that, the meds that I’ve been taking lately added to the general fuzziness of my brain. I was…shall we say…less than “sparkling” company.

Now that I’m safely ensconced at my favorite local coffee house with no one but my computer and cup of coffee for company, I can look back and admit that honestly, the date was a little bit cloudy. I’m just hoping that I held up my side of the conversation passably well…but really…I couldn’t completely say.

Time for a bit of post-date analysis: As I implied earlier...physically, Mr. January (the First) wasn’t my type at all. But, he was a good conversationalist and made me feel very comfortable right from the start. He had his card ready to go before the ticket was presented, both for the drink & dinner. I liked that a lot since it meant that there wasn’t the little awkward dance of reaching for my purse even though I know and he knows that he’s going to be picking it up. I also liked that he was the height of chivalry: opening doors, letting me choose the table, placing his hand on the small of my back to escort me through all crowd, etc. All those small gestures made me feel very ladylike and...well...appreciated.

The entire drink/meal took almost 2 hours and as we were leaving he suggested getting together again sometime. I said that that would be nice. I’m actually curious to see if he’ll call. If he does, I’d go out with him again. But quite honestly, post-date, I’m not wearing a big goofy grin. I’m not planning our wedding. I’m not trying to come up with some excuse (any excuse) to txt or call him—just to be in contact again. And really…I don’t think that he is either. We shall see, I guess.

What's next? Do I text him to say "thanks for lunch, I had a good time"? Would that be saying that I MUST see him again? Or, is it just the polite thing to do? Help me out, here! This is the "stupid at dating" stuff that I was talking about. I just don't really want to lead him on when I'm not feeling one way or the other about a 2nd date. But, I did appreciate the dinner & drink and despite my general fuzziness...I think had a good time.

In other news...unfortunately, I’m not going to get the elusive “Two dates in 24 hours” bragging rights afterall. Sigh… I just got a call from January (the Second) letting me know that his child was still sick and that he didn’t expect to be going in to work tomorrow…and therefore, would also not be available to meet for lunch. We’ve rescheduled for Friday, this week. If only it wasn’t so middle-of-the-month…I’d try to put him off and let him be February. Aaah well…