Date #8 – It’s never as it seems on TV - 1st date with MT

As I sit down to write this blog, the TV is on and a Match.com commercial starts to play. Two singles sit a dinner table…they laugh and are surprised by all their common interests…”that’s my favorite too!”…they flirt incessantly and at the end proclaim how wonderful the date was and they can’t wait for another…tomorrow. Why do these people seem to have amazing chemistry on first dates??? Is it just me that this doesn’t happen for or is it false advertising?

Well, without further ado, on to my REAL LIFE Match.com date.

I first reached out to MT on Match.com – he was one of my “5 daily matches” – the people that the computer thinks will be good matches for you. After checking out his profile, I sent him a wink. We e-mailed back and forth a few times sharing all of our common interests and similarities:
I have a big family…Me Too!
I like football…Get out, so do I.
I have a job…Praise the Lord

See, instant connection just like the commercial!

So after a few e-mails, we decided to meet up on a Sunday night. When Sunday rolled around, I was out on a bike ride with friends and MT texted me to solidify plans for that night. He sweetly offered to come my direction for the date. You see, he lives down in Manhattan Beach, and for those of you that are not familiar with LA, it’s probably about 30-45 minutes away from me (or an hour+ in traffic). I was very grateful that he was willing to come up in my direction, so I figured I better come up with some local suggestions. Then it hit me. My church was a having a carnival/festival – whatever you want to call it – that I had been trying to go to all weekend. And this was no measly carnival – it had big rides, lots of games, and Erik Estrada...I mean, come on! I guess I’m a sucker for cheesy carnivals, what can I say? Plus it meets my requirements for a first date – activities to do plus alcohol available! I suggested the carnival to MT and he was up for it.

The bike ride I was on had stopped at a bar for some downtime and refueling. During this time, I was texting back and forth with MT working out the carnival details for that night. Just as my group was getting ready to head out, MT called me. He figured a quick conversation would be easier than the texts. So I was standing outside of the bar on the phone with him chatting, and just as were saying goodbye, a loud, rambunctious, drunk group of people come out of the bar. One of the girls in the group slapped me on the butt when she walked by. I was still on the phone and was left completely speechless. After a few moments of silence, I stuttered out the words, “Oh, uh sorry…okay, yeah, I’ll talk to you later” and hung up. It was definitely an awkward goodbye – thank you drunk girl at the bar for interrupting my conversation…

So I finish up with my friends and head home to get ready. Quick shower, and change of clothes and I’m ready to go. We agreed to meet at 6:30 – basically as soon as he could get there. The other good thing about the carnival is that it closed at 8 that night, so it was a guaranteed out if things didn’t go well! I headed on over the carnival a little after 6, I decided to walk since it was only a couple block away. When I get there, I get the lay of the land and grab a beer. MT texts me that traffic is bad and he is still a few minutes away. To pass the time, I play this color gambling game that was really fun. Eventually he calls me to say that he is parking and I go to the front entrance to meet him. From the time I had gotten there an ambulance had pulled up to the front of the entrance and they were treating someone for something…unsure if this was a bad omen, I told him that he would see the entrance when he saw the ambulance. I see MT walk in and I give him a wave. Cue uncomfortable meeting…

Side note – let’s face it, these first meetings are awkward. You are never sure if they will look like their pics, and they generally don’t. MT was shorter than I thought (a trend that seems rampant with internet dating)…but beyond the quick physical assessment, the first hello is always a bit awkward. I’m a "hugger," so I always go in for a warm welcome. Sometime it is received well, sometimes not, but I figure I just gotta be me. Back to your regularly scheduled program, the date…

So after our quick, awkward hello, I engage in some small talk – “how was your drive?” etc. He seemed pretty shy, so to ease him in I asked if he wanted to get a drink or what he wanted to do first. He agreed that a drink sounded good so I lead him over to the beer tent. After getting his drink we wander a little aimlessly, I show him the place I was gambling and we stop in to play a couple of rounds. I suggest that we get some ride tickets since the carnival wasn’t open that long. We head to the ticket book and I buy a strand of tickets.


First up, I suggest the swings – seemed like a nice harmless way to start. For those of you that are Nashville readers or those that had ever been to Opryland…remember the Kick Booty swings? Loved those! Well these swings weren’t that big, but they raised up off the ground a good bit and looked fun, so we stood in line and then boarded. I sat directly in front of MT. I looked back and gave him a smile before we took off…


We started going round and round, picking up speed and really swinging pretty far out. It was fun, but about half-way through we start going pretty fast…woo, I was a little woozy! And I love theme park rides – what was going on??! Right before it got any worse, we started slowing down and it was over. Phew.
MT and I laugh about how that was pretty fast for a carnival ride. And we look over to the gravitron ride (the one where you are pressed against the wall and it spins really fast)


We both decided we should pass. Turns out the nerves of first dates and fast spinning rides may not go well together!

That, or I’m just getting old…

So after the swings, we decide to hit up the big Ferris Wheel – I figured this would be a nice time to chat. As we make our way over, I run into people from work…”Oh...hi! How’s it going?” Now for me, I keep my life pretty compartmentalized, so when my worlds collide I can become pretty uneasy. However, I have to say I stayed pretty cool. I introduced Matt as my friend (not as my date), but I’m sure it was obvious. We small talk for a minute about how wonderful our neighborhood is and how we are suckers for carnivals :) I mentioned the carnival closing at 8, so we all decided we better get going and we went our separate ways. As we parted, MT asks “So, was that awkward for you running into your work friends?” I brush it off as if it was no big deal because I didn’t want MT to feel uncomfortable and I thought I was pretty good with it all, but “awkward” did cross my mind. So we finally make it to the Ferris Wheel line and board the ride. It was one of those bucket ones where you can sit on both sides and it rocks. As we get in, we realize it would be unsteady for us to both sit on the same side, so he sits across from me.


As we sit in out bucket, I realized the sun was about to set. How romantic! I was excited to share this moment with MT, but then…well…it was…it was just nothing…
Conversation lagged…and I’m not one that has to fill every moment of silence, but the silence was deafening. So I asked him questions…questions about his job, his family, living in LA…then I marveled at the view…but still I felt like I was getting nothing in return from him. Finally the ride was over and we got off.


It was now dusk and the carnival would be closing soon. However still having a couple tickets, we talked about doing on more ride, and we decided on the good ole Tilt A Whirl. It was nice to finally have a ride where we could sit next to each other. And besides that, I just love the Tilt A Whirl!


So we boarded the Tilt A Whirl and had a blast - probably my favorite ride of the night. I might have even yelled out in delight a couple times, but I will never tell you for sure…

After the Tilt A Whirl, the carnival was pretty much winding down. I had bought some raffle tickets, so we stuck around to hear them call out the winners (pretty much the last thing to happen at the carnival, and once we realized we were not the big winners, we called it a night.

We walked to the church intersection, where his car was parked one way and my apartment was the other way. He offered to walk me home (again, very sweet), so he then accompanied me on the 2 block walk and then gave me a hug goodbye.

After he got home, he sent me a nice text:

Hi Nicole, just wanted to say that I an home safe and sound…also I enjoyed your company a lot!! You have a sweet personality :)

It was a nice gesture and nothing went horribly wrong on the date, but nothing went incredibly great either. There were no sparks like the commercial…no "I can’t wait until he calls me" feeling…no longing for the next date.

Is this normal or do I want too much?

Darn TV advertisements. I suppose its God punishing me for producing reality TV…