One-Date Quota: Filled

And way ahead of schedule, I might add!

Earlier this month, I mentioned that one of my friends sent me a proposition via e-mail: would I be interested in going on a blind date?

In the past, I would have emphatically said, "No!" outright. Nope. Not in a million years.

But considering my dating life the last decade and a half has resembled a dry desert with parched, cracked earth and the occasional tumbleweed ... I agreed. 'Cause even a desperado wants a change of scenery once in a while.

My friend fed me the odd detail. He works fairly near to where I live (and lives relatively close to me, as it turns out). And she couldn't stress enough how hot he is. I admit, that's where I felt a bit of uneasy pressure. I mean, meeting a complete stranger being hyped by your friends is one thing. But while I appreciate her not starting the sentence with, "He's got a really good personality", it kinda makes me nervous. 'Cause everyone's standards are different. What if I think he's good-looking but he doesn't consider ME attractive?

And then the other things: How to make good, witty conversation? What if I think he's dumb? What if he thinks I'M dumb? And so on.

But then the wheels really set themselves in motion. My friend gave Mystery Man my number. He called me the day after that. I didn't return his call until the day after that (due to work-related business). He left it in my hands to decide where to meet. I finally decided on a place to meet and then called him back.

Finally after all the to-and-fro-ing, yesterday was the big evening. As it was, I was exhausted from the night before, having only gone to bed earlier that morning. I was practically asleep for most of my hair appointment that afternoon. I managed to get home in time to eat dinner, putter around for way too long, and then had to race to get ready.

And when I opened the door, I managed to be dressed and not covered in deodorant and toothpaste stains. My make-up was minimal - I think I had enough time to smear some lip balm on. And off we went.

Looking back on it, I thought it went fairly well, a lot LESS painful than I expected. We made really good conversation (for two strangers, anyway). He seemed really nice, told me a bit about his family, what he does for a living, what he does outside of work, etc. We talked about movies, music, just stuff in general.

And I'm going to e-mail him tomorrow to thank him for the evening and say that I hope we'd maybe meet up sometime in the near future.

But I'm not going to be putting my eggs in one basket (like some of my friends, who are ALREADY asking if they're going to meet him ... a bit much!).

This was definitely a start, though. I'm hoping maybe this will give me the confidence to make this the first of many coffee dates, and other types of dates, too.

We'll see if I actually come out of my shell and take another dip in the big pond.

UPDATE: I ended up e-mailing him Monday; he e-mailed me tonight (Tuesday) to say, although I was a nice woman, he didn't really feel enough of a spark to carry it forward. At least he was honest. And truthfully, I didn't feel much there, either. But hey - that's the world of dating, right? Next.