RE: Bad Date Olympics

So, yeah....I know. I promised to be more regular about this blogging thing this time and as you can see. It just didn't happen that way. But still. I'm trying, I really am.

One of my favorite things about blogging is that it has allowed me to catch up and get reacquainted with Ei. Ei and I were both deeply ingrained in the theater department in college and lived in the same dorm our last year of school. At the time we both dated men who were....I'm not really sure how to say this...not good for us. How's that for diplomatic? I could say a WHOLE lot more, but I think that covers it pretty nicely.

So now, Ei's latest challenge to her readers is to share a bad dating experience, as she herself is now back into the dating world. (Go girl!!) Considering much of my family reads my blog, I'm wasn't completely sure I wanted to share kind of information here, but what the heck! It's really nothing bad, but still...you know.

So, here goes....

The majority of my dating experience was in college, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that my worst date happened there. I was a Junior and as part of my work-study program, I put in 6 hours a week working the front desk at High Rise (my dorm at the time). My hours were usually midnight to 2am or 2am to 4am, and mostly on weekends. It was really quite entertaining watching girls stumble in trying to act sober as they attempted to locate the Up button on the elevator (they usually got it after 3 or 4 unsteady pokes at it). Then, about 10 minutes later, I'd get to bust their boyfriends as they tried to sneak up the back steps. (No boys after midnight!)

(A quick aside here, that this is probably a long set up for a totally pointless story, but Ei asked!)

During my shifts, there was a young man who would invariably stop by chat (read: flirt). He'd never stay long, but he would always end his visit by asking me if I'd go out with him. He started doing it in kind of a joking way so it took awhile for me to realize that he was serious. I always refused. Over the weeks, he continued to stop, chat, and ask me out...and over time, his requests for a date became more desperate, almost like he was begging.

Now, don't get me wrong, he was a nice enough guy. Very normal, not a stalkerish type (I never saw him other than when I was working the front desk) but he was just so not my type. We had very little in common and I really just couldn't imagine myself going out with him. He was, however, persistent. After probably 3 or 4 months of him asking, I finally said I'd go out with him. (Of course, then I spent the next several days trying to figure out how I could break the date, but that's another story entirely.)

The evening of the date, he took me to dinner....at Pizza Hut. Yes, I realize we were in college and both pretty broke, but even on a budget there were better places in Chadron for a first date dinner than Pizza Hut. Conversation over dinner was stiff and stilted. He tried, I tried, we really tried, but like I said, we had so little in common that there just wasn't much to talk about. His major was something really brainy like chemistry or advanced mathematics, something like that...and well, mine was music. I could really care less about the formulaic calculation of the mathematical center of the universe or some other junk like that.

We were only at Pizza Hut for like 45 minutes but it felt like 4 hours...and it was still light outside when we were finished. The only movie playing in town was something neither one of us wanted to see, it was too early to show up at Hermans or the South 40 (two local bars that were popular hangouts for college kids) and WAYYY too early for any house parties to have started. He asked if we could hang out in my room until later when the bar crowd started to go out. I soooooo did not want this guy in my room, but I reluctantly agreed. (STOP thinking that!!! I told you, this is NOTHING bad!)

Back at my room as soon as we walked in the door, he immediately plops himself down on my bed.

Hmmm....OK, that's how he wants to play it. Nothin's happenin' bud...forget it already.

I walked over and sat on my desk chair on the other side of the room.

We talked a little more, and the conversation was equally as torturous as it had been at Chez Pizza Hut. He kept trying to get me to come sit next to him, and just couldn't get it through his thick skull that it just wasn't gonna go anywhere. He got up and started wandering around my room, examining my personal possessions, and pretty soon, he came over by the desk (where I was still sitting) under the ruse of wanting to look at some of the books on my shelf.

He leaned back against my desk and was grinning down at me....obviously trying to be romantic. I stood up and he reached out....as I ducked under his arm and excused myself to the restroom.

I stayed in there for about 10 minutes and when I came out, he was gone. Thankfully, I was done with that date plenty early enough to call my friends and find out what the plans were for the evening.

And guess what? He never stopped by the front desk again when I was working. Heh.

There ya go, Ei. My entry into the Bad Date Olympics! And you know what? I WILL still get to that meme one of these days!