Dating Bender: Episode 9 - "It Resumes"

Stats-
Name: Jack (like, Kennedy for the nostalgic types)
Age: 32
Height: 6'2"
Occupation: Movie Biz
Hometown: Houston (Texaaaas, what what!!)
Currently Resides: 2 miles from me
The Date: Drinks on Beverly Blvd.

Well, first let me say that as soon as my mom found out that there are trivia-like questions on dating sites and I read her Jack's answers to the important ones like religion, marriage-stance, kids, etc. - he is officially her new favorite.

We were supposed to meet at 8pm and for once I was running excatly on time (thank you, my new best-friend, Waze). I am pretty vehemently against Valet parking, so I was looking for a spot. But if you have ever been on Beverly Blvd. at 8pm you (and I now) know it is not easy! Then, I thought, Oh no! I don't even have any cash on me. So I kept circling, and circling - but I fired off a quick text to Jack just to let him know the situation. Then I got this:

no problem. glad to cover valet if you'd like

That was sweet. Which immediately made me desperate to find some cash so I didn't look like I was a gold-digging whore taking advantage of a nice guy. Luckily I remembered I sometimes stash a few dollars in the sunglasses holder in my car...

When I finally got there he was waiting by the valet stand. He looked just like his pictures which is always a good thing. We went inside the place and it was packed! And it was loud but very cool and hip in a low key way; I liked it. We had to stand around for a while before we were able to snag a couple seats at the bar, but Jack went and got us some menus and we ordered our first round while we stood. Something I really liked, that is kind of small, but just nice, was that he asked me what drink I wanted and then when the waiter came by to take our drink order, he ordered it for me. I don't know why that really stood out in my mind - but it did.

When we finally sat down at the bar the conversation flowed a bit more comfortably (and it was when I noticed his dimples for the first time - have I mentioned my weakness for dimples before?) I always forget that these guys must be nervous. I do not get nervous on dates. I don't know why - I think it's because I think first dates are fun - and when you are just meeting someone for the first time you have nothing to lose so why not just be relaxed about it. (I wish I could be more like that further into getting to know someone since my nerves seem to come with my feelings, but there I go digressing again...) Plus, once we sat down we had already finished one round. So we ordered up a second and started talking about our families. It was really nice. He was really nice.

He is the youngest of 3, he has two older sisters who are about 10 years older than him. Both are married with kids. He even felt comfortable enough to share that his oldest sister has a daugher who is autistic. I actually have a sister who is deaf. If you would meet her on the street, you would never know it. She has a Cochlear Implant that is seriously one of the most amazing inventions and essentially is digital hearing. (I linked the name of the device to the Wikipedia article if you are interested in learning about it). But as I was telling Jack about it, on our first date, I couldn't help but think for a brief moment that this was something I had never shared with Parker. I've thought more about it in the couple days since the date - why it was so easy for me to share this information about my family with Jack and why it never seemed to come up with Parker, and I think it was just because these are the kind of things that you respond to "in-kind," right? When someone shares something personal or deep with you, you reciprocate. And so it just reaffirmed the fact that Parker wasn't letting me in (and I guess I wasn't letting him in either, but obviously for good reason).

Back to the date - we ordered a really interesting guacamole and sea urchin snack with our third round of drinks - talked some about our specific work and the Entertainment industry in general. At the end of which he joked, "Well this has been a really good business meeting." And I laughed but said in all seriousness, "But that has always been something important to me - I need to be able to talk to someone about what I do, because that's life." He seemed to agree. We talked about some other things - he brought up that he is sometimes bad about talking about his feelings and doesn't use emoticons in text messages. Two things I am very glad to know about. Haha. And he asked for the check. I don't even think I did the obligatory wallet reach, it didn't feel necessary and I don't think he minded - I just made sure to thank him very much for the drinks.

He walked me to the valet stand and waited while they brought my car and even offered to pay again, but I told him I had found cash.  He kissed me once, and then again, and then again. It was masculine and the kind of kisses where you feel like you have known each other for a while. I don't know how else to describe them. I would have said chances I'll hear from him again 4 out of 5, but since I waited a couple days to post he already asked me out again for Sunday. We're going to brunch and the LACMA, and this time it wasn't even my idea!

Dating Bender: Episode 1 - "This is 40?"

Stats -
Name: Tommy
Age: 41
Occupation: Actor (Ugh)
Hometown: New York
Currently Resides: The Valley (Double, Ugh)
The Date: Drinks at Tom Bergin's (An Irish Pub in the Miracle Mile area)

I was really hopeful going into the date, we had a good conversation prior and my mom has been encouraging me to date older guys since, in theory, they would be more apt to settle down faster.
In his pictures he didn't look 41.

I knew immediately when I walked in it was going NOWHERE. Yikes! Honestly that has only happened to me two other times in my life and neither of those times were that fun either. I hope this is not a sign of things to come in the coming weeks...

He was nice enough, but there was NO spark and he was not nearly as cute as in his pictures. He didn't seem like he was trying at all, he looked tired, and not as "rugged" (read: a bit effeminate). Plus, he basically went out of his way to tell me that even at 41 he still wasn't sure if he was ready for a relationship, WTF?

We had moments of fine conversation, it wasn't all terrible. Then...he asked me about my siblings, which was sweet but...I mentioned that one of my sisters was dating a guy that no one in my family liked and he said, "She'll probably get pregnant in 3 months."

Admittedly, I had a bit of a crazy moment (and by "a bit of" a I mean ALOT-of-a)...I asked him, "why would you ever put something like that into the Universe?" And if that ended up happening I would kill him for having said that. I obviously didn't mean it, literally. But, I kinda did, in a figurative sense. Who says that? Your sister will probably get pregnant by the guy that no one in your family likes? (Again, admittedly, the normal reaction is probably not saying if it happens you'll kill someone, and I did apologize, but still...) The supportive options would have been along the lines of, "I'm sure it will all work out the way it's supposed to," or "maybe he'll turn out to be a great guy," or "she's probably just going through a phase, and she'll realize you're all right eventually," ya know, something to indicate he has a normal empathetic and/or supportive gene. Particularly because shortly after that he told me that two of his siblings are in bad relationships...WTF x 2! Obviously he's an idiot and there is a reason he is single at 41.

I do feel badly that I acted like a psycho, though. That has honestly NEVER happened before. It was such a weird gut reaction. I guess I have a button, a crazy button, that gets pressed when it comes to my sisters that I just found out about. You learn something new every day.

Note to self: Don't talk about not liking your sister's boyfriend on the first several dates!

Chances I'll hear from this guy again: 0 out of 5

Good thing I don't give a sh*t.