So I talked this girl up like a champ on POF. I was funny, time and again, and I also said some things that she said were so sweet, that I "made her day" (she said that a couple days ago.) Today we went out. My thoughts to myself were: "I'm just glad to be going out on my first date in 2 years. If nothing happens beyond the date, I'm okay with that."
We met at a coffee place. I have no car so I waited 20 minutes for her to arrive. It was crazy busy. I wasn't sure what I should do, whether to grab and hold a table, or to wait for her outside. I wanted to hug her when she arrived so I waited outside. So after the hug and hello we came in and there are no damn seats. But we proceed to order and she manages to grab a seat from some people who are leaving.
Was waiting outside a good idea?
So we sit down and we start talking. Back and forth about various topics, all over the place. She told me prior to the date that she was going to drink lots of coffee at the date. As well, when we first sat down we joked about how long we were going to stay there, so I figured we'd be there for hours. But she didn't want any more coffee when she was nearly finished the first one.
Why didn't she want more coffee? Was she hoping I'd try to take things to a higher level?
After awhile I started getting hungry so I had a bite to eat (I paid for both coffees, she wasn't hungry.) Then as I'm talking with her, after I was done eating, my brain just starts zoning out. She's literally talking to me and I'm not processing a damn word that she's saying. I felt bad because I don't just want to pretend I'm listening when I know I'm not. So I told her: "My brain is just zoning out. Give me a couple seconds. Then I'm just kind of looking around the cafe for a few seconds like a zombie, then we start talking a little and then I'm like: "Let's go outside and get some fresh air." Well, I really would have enjoyed going for a walk with her, but it just happened to be snowing very wet snow today, so we couldn't go walking without getting soaked. She wasn't dressed for it either.
We stood outside for a few minutes while she had a smoke. My brain was still blah. Then she's like: "I should get going." I apologized to her for my brain going to mush, gave her a hug and sent her on her way.
Good Points:
-My condoms don't expire until 2016, so I still have a chance to use them, LoL.
-I hugged her twice, held her hands and told her that I thought she was pretty. She replied by saying: "You're not bad yourself."
-I felt confident. I wasn't nervous or shy.
-On the way home I approached a woman on the bus. It didn't go well, but that's the first time I have approached a woman in person, in years, so I'm quite proud of myself for trying. I also realize that although she didn't respond positively, and people around me undoubtedly noticed my fail, it didn't scar me.
Areas To Improve:
-I am disappointed that the night didn't end with us getting intimate. The bottom line though is that it didn't happen because I didn't try to make it happen. I didn't have a game plan. It's good that I could hang out spontaneously without rehearsing everything beforehand, but I realize that I do need to set goals for next time. She was very pretty, so I lost out big time. It's my job to steer the interaction in that direction and I didn't do it, and she may be just as disappointed as I am.
-I wasn't as "cool" and "in control" in person as I am online. I wasn't as funny, either. I'm sure this will come with practice.
-I need to be better rested next time. Either that or maybe my brain just can't handle talking for 1.5 hours straight. In that case, I need to know just how long I can stand to talk before I need to take action to move things forward.
-Again, I just wasn't in charge of the interactions once we met up in person. We were on an equal level. Chatting on POF gave me the opportunity to be selective on what information I shared and to control the flow. In person, I just wasn't man enough.
-I also was applying expressions to my face on purpose at times, to show that I understood or that I'm following along. Maybe I didn't feel something was as funny as she did, but I pretend to laugh despite. This, I think, is probably a huge problem. I need to be 100% real.