Date #1: The Great Mentioner

So my first date was going to be with The Great Mentioner, who's name will quickly become obvious in a moment.

My brother, being the protective being that he is, requested information of the young lad such as license plate number (as I was riding in his car), name, and e-mail address. And luckily, The Great Mentioner provided all of this without the low rate of $19.99. And didn't even question that I was asking for it. I guess that in this day and age, if the guy is worth his spit, he'll provide all the information needed to go out with a girl. We girls can't be too safe or overly cautious. In fact, any guy going out with a girl (in her car, to her house, etc.) should probably take the same precautions.

I meet The Great Mentioner at a public location to make the "car swap". Mind you, it's pouring down rain outside. So I get to the location, and quickly make the swap of cars (after discussing in great detail the location of his car. Luckily, I knew the license plate number!). That's when I realized that people do actually lie on their profiles, or rather slightly fudge the information. Not that this was a problem, and I will choose now to not explain exactly what was different from his profile, so that he can remain anonymous. I will point out that I must be taller then I thought.

So, not taking ANYONE'S advice for the first date, off we go to part one of our date. It's to the Exploritorium we go. The drive, surprisingly, was not awkward at all. We just chatted about things we had talked about before, and what not. However, while in the car, I hear this strange buzzing noise. At first, I think it must be his phone, as mine is securely in my hand (just in case. And thank you, Nicole, for willing to be my "emergency" call. I'm glad I didn't need it.) So I look around his car, and that's when I realize he has a seat massager in his car. A SEAT MASSAGER! Who has that in their car?!?!? So I calmly ask him, "Do you really have a seat massager in your car?" And he proceeds to explain to me that he drives to Sacramento a lot. Let us take a moment to realize that Sacramento is only an hour and half from my area. You can't drive an hour and half without it? It was weird. Oh. And I think we were in the car for all of 5 minutes before his ex-girlfriend is mentioned. FIVE MINUTES! I should have known...

We go to the Exploritorium, where he had already purchased tickets, and enjoyed acting like seven year olds again. He pointed out that we were probably the only people there that did not have kids with them, but I don't think that was true. I definitely saw at least 5 other people there that didn't have kids. My favorite part (in case you were wondering) was Daisy the Computer. Daisy was supposedly smart and could respond to human sentences. Really, Daisy just took random words and rearranged them probably based on some random algorithm her creator came up with.

Fast forward to part 2 when we were leaving the Exploritorium. We decided to go through with dinner. (As if there was any choice. I was ridiculously hungry.) Altho we did joke about him just dropping me off at a BART station. We had dinner at this restaurant called "Home". I think he chose it solely because they had mac n cheese. (Yes, I had been craving it since we had first started talking weeks ago.) The food was great, the conversation was great. However, there was that moment when he once again mentioned his ex-girlfriend. I asked, "Do you realize that you've mentioned your ex-girlfriend at least four times now?" Him, "Yes... Does that bother you?" Me, "No..." In my head I was thinking "It doesn't bother me because we have absolutely no chemistry... But if we were dating... Yes, yes it would.... Do you realize you aren't over her?" This simple mention of her spun into a whole conversation as to why they broke up and ended with me asking if he knew that it was a lame reason. (She wanted kids and to get married. He's not ready. There were no other problems in the relationship. Compromise anyone?) And no, ladies and gentlemen, I do not have a filter on my mouth. Besides, he was playing devil's advocate ALL night. All in all it was a good meal. The bummer was that we had to park in metered parking and were on a tight schedule.

When we got back to the car we had to navigate ourselves back to the freeway which is nothing to write home about. On the way back to the public location where my car sat, there was this awkward air in the car as though each of us were trying to decide if we should keep the date going or just end it as is. While I would have had no problem stopping for drinks or catching a movie (as cliched as it sounds), I wasn't about to suggest it and he didn't either. So the night ended with me saying, "Thanks for the Exploritorium and dinner. It was fun." And him saying, "It was." Or something lame like that. And as Jose asked, no there wasn't even an attempt of a kiss. Which I was okay with. However, it should be noted that he reached for his BlackBerry as soon as I opened the door. But it's okay, I had my phone out all ready to call Nicole. It was about 7 pm.

So what does the future hold for me and The Great Mentioner? Well, I think we could be friends. I know. The kiss of death. I think we might catch a movie next week, but I'm under the assumption it's as friends... I hope he is too.