Thursday, April 19, 2007

Some Handy Tips

My beauteous roommate, with only the best of intentions, has decided I "need a man." Forget that I've only been broken up with my former fiance for six months - apparently, I need to be moving on. So she did the only reasonable thing: She went looking through the Craigslist ads, sending emails saying, in effect, "Hey, I have this roommate and she's cute and single - come meet her!" And really, what's not completely normal about that?

Surprisingly - well, surprising to me - she found someone cool. Someone non-psychotic. Someone I was actually interested to meet. We exchanged some emails for a few days, eventually deciding to get together and go to Dave and Buster's with a bunch of my friends last Friday. From this evening together, I have comprised tonight's Thursday Thirteen (#12):



Thirteen Tips for a First Date
(in classic Good Idea/Bad Idea form)

1.
Good Idea: Having a cute Australian accent.
Bad Idea: Faking a bad Australian accent.

2.
Good Idea: Not stressing about financial issues - you get the first round, she gets the next, etc.
Bad Idea: Completely ignoring financial issues - she picks up the tab for everything because you're always "in the loo" when the bill comes.

3.
Good Idea: Asking "getting-to-know-you" questions throughout the evening.
Bad Idea: Asking "getting-in-your-pants" questions throughout the evening.

4.
Good Idea: Winning a plastic back scratcher and then using it to jokingly poke your date.
Bad Idea: Winning a plastic back scratcher and then using it to "jokingly" look up your date's skirt.

5.
Good Idea: Making your date laugh by posing Elmo in funny positions through the arcade.


Bad Idea: Making your date uncomfortable by being found with Elmo in compromising positions through the arcade.

6.
Good Idea: Giving all your tickets to your date.
Bad Idea: Intimidating small children into giving all their tickets to your date.

7.
Good Idea: Battling wits with your date while playing skeeball.
Bad Idea: Brawling with your date by throwing skeeballs.

8.
Good Idea: Making friendly conversation with your date's friends.
Bad Idea: Making sketchy passes at your date's friends.

9.
Good Idea: Helping your date win at Super Trivia, even when it breaks and the lasting trivia question is whether or not to send an error report to Microsoft.


Bad Idea: Sabotaging your date in Super Trivia by making sh*t up about Irish political factions.

10.
Good Idea: Accepting an invitation in for strawberry pie and conversation before going home.
Bad Idea: Inviting yourself in for strawberry pie and conversation while refusing to go home.

11.
Good Idea: Asking her to meet your friends when they come to America for a visit.
Bad Idea: Asking her to marry your friends when they come to America for a green card.

12.
Good Idea: Sending an email as your date drives home to thank her for the evening.
Bad Idea: Stalking your date as she drives home to make sure she can't escape.

13.
Good Idea: Giving your date a gentlemanly kiss on the cheek at the evening's end.
Bad Idea: Giving your date an ungentlemanly grope on the boob at the evening's end.


Fortunately for me, Aussie Boy had a 100% success rate with the Good Ideas. Which is why I'm going out with him and his friends tomorrow night. ;)

Any others that should make the list?


Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

1. NancyPearlWannabe
2. Mercy's Maid
3. Sunny Ellis
4. Amy
5. Stone Girl
6. ancsweetnsassygal
7. AlisonWonderland
8. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)


Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!


25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Reading that was truly painful, I was so hoping he was not a bad idea kind of guy! Accents are sexy!

shelleycoughlin said...

Phew! I'm glad craig's list boy turned up on the 100% good idea list- those were some scary options. And I've heard some CL dating horror stories!

Mercy's Maid said...

Very fun list! Congratulations on your good date. I hope it all works out for you.

Amanda said...

Yeah for the unexpected arriving in the form of a cute, well mannered Aussie boy. Congrats!

Sunny Ellis said...

great post! Good luck with this new adventure.

Sunny

Kilgore Trout said...

No wonder I never get second dates.

Seriously though that was funny, thanks. Now I can see inappropriate Elmo positions all night being bad things, but what about one or two genuinely funny ones?

Anonymous said...

Yay!

I'm glad he was as nice to you as he seemed to those of us meeting him more peripherally.

D&B was really fun, thanks for inviting us to come along!

BTW, we should go to the Saddle Rack again at some point... want to really test Aussie boy? =P

Aimee said...

I was hoping that you were going to tell us more since I knew about him on MOnday! I was dying over here! lol

I met my last boyfriend (the one before Mark) on craigslist. That turned out pretty well (obviously not perfect) but he was normal and we had fun. lol

Have fun tonight!! :D

Unknown said...

That was well done! Sorry about some of those experiences



Dont forget Amys Random Thoughts is having a blogging Scavenger Hunt starting May 1st. Prizes and details were announced yesterday. The more who play, the better! Hope to see you there!

Anonymous said...

Wow, sounds like a good date! I fell for an Aussie accent once. Bad boyfriend, but at least he was not the guy who said "I'm damaged goods" on the first date. That definitely falls in the BAD list. Good luck on your next date!

Anonymous said...

If only I had this list when I was dating. Now I know why I didn't get many second dates.

Anonymous said...

Very TT list. You had me laughing out loud! Happy Friday.

Wolf Lover Girl said...

That was great! I thought the Elmo was funny, but then you had to trump it with the MicroSoft error message. As I always say, "gotta love technology".

Good luck with your future date! mmmm... and the accent, I can only imagine! ;-)

~ Wolf Lover Girl

Angela said...

I read that whole thing thinking you poor thing, your date was just awful. Glad to hear he was the good idea kinda guy though and not the bad. What a relief!

alisonwonderland said...

great list! i'm so happy for you that it was a nice evening!

Anonymous said...

You're freakin' clever!

Amanda said...

Niiiice! I'm glad you had a fabulous date. Me? No, I am stuck with men who are currently acting like 12 year olds. Yes, so tempting I know.

Nicholas said...

What about if you can fake a GOOD Australian accent? I can do that!

Anonymous said...

Yeah!! 'Aussie Boy' sounds cool!! So why didn't you think of 'Craigslist' LOL!! Who would? But it looks like you found someone who isn't a freak!

Hope things work out and you are happy.

Loved your tips!! lol

jittacatgirl said...

I WIN I WIN I WIN!

Molecular Turtle said...

First days are usually tons of fun. Good luck with the new boy!

Caffeinated Librarian said...

Hmmmm, don't know how feel about this Craig's List thing stealing my initials. ;-)

Glad it went well. When you first mentioned it I was a little leery, but part of that is no doubt the fact that may friend's attempts to play matchmaker for me...*UH*...haven't gone very well. But it sounds like you guys had a fab-O time and I couldn't be more thrilled.

Lara said...

nutmeg - accents are totally sexy. when i went out with him and his friends, i was surrounded by THREE sexy accents. i just about died.

nancy pearl wannabe - yeah, the whole craigslist thing freaked me out at first, but it seems to be working out okay.

mercy's maid - thanks! i'm hoping so, too. :)

amanda - yes, definitely unexpected. but yay indeed!

sunny ellis - thank you! adventure is a good word for it. ;)

kilgore trout - i think one or two genuinely funny elmo positions is okay, but they have to be obviously intended for humor. it's when you "catch" them in the act that it becomes a problem.

kevin - i totally already thought of that, about the saddlerack. yes, we should definitely go again. aussie boy wouldn't know what he was in for!

aimee - i know, i know, and i totally flaked on giving you details. but now you have them!

amy - ooh, i'll have to check this scavenger hunt out...

stone girl - i had a guy refer to ME as "damaged goods" once. yuck...

pistol pete - well, you're married now, otherwise i'd suggest you print it out and keep it for future reference. ;)

ancsweetnsassygal - glad i could give you a laugh. :)

wolf lover girl - yeah, the error message was absolutely hilarious. mid-game, it just crashed. we were all joking about which one to choose: "send error report!" "click here!" etc.

angela - yeah, i liked the suspenseful aspect of it. but no, he was 100% good. :)

alison wonderland - that makes two of us!

seeser - it's true, i am. must be a family trait. :-P

amanda - hrm, that's no good. have you tried craigslist? ;)

nicholas - hey, fake it 'til you make it, that's what i say. if you can do it well, by all means. :)

r u serious? - surprisingly, i am pretty happy. wonder how long that'll last...

jitta - you do. you TOTALLY win.

molecular turtle - thanks! all three dates so far have been tons of fun. :)

CL - i had the exact same thought. i was like, "did CL talk about dating horror stories and i missed it?" but then i figured out it was CraigsList. :-P and i was definitely leery at first too, but it looks to be working out well. :) so far...

aMom2E said...

I was reading those going, "Oh my God, I hope Aussie boy didn't do that... Or THAT!"

You make me laugh out loud! Thanks! (even though laughing out loud right now leads to unstopable coughing fits... you're worth it)

Lara said...

ffbgirl - oh no! save the laughing for when you're better, dear! i'll still be here! and probably still be funny! :-P