Where To Find "Old" Dates

Im talking to one of my 20-something friends last night. He was running down his date of the week and this one "will last forever". I have to pretend to be happy for him because, in fact, I am his friend. Of course all of his dates start and end the same way and I know there will be a different one next week. He will go through this eternal yo-yo happy-sad see-saw until he figures out that being drunk and meeting other drunk people isn't really the best way to establish something of importance (certainly not important enough to call me about!). Will I be the one to tell him? Hell no, I've got enough on my plate already! Plus at 24, what he really needs is experience, which he seems to get plenty of, its unfortunate that it seems to be exactly the same experience every week. He could no more participate in an actual relationship than I could be 6'4".

After giddy boy settles down he asks me about my dating life, since this seems to be front ans center to a 24 yo life. I told him I went on two this week; one coffee, one dinner. I loved his response "TWO, but, but you're OLD!" LOL. Well, I had to laugh and really from his perspective I am old. "Old" is always 10 or so years older that you. I remember being 18 and feeling sorry for 25 year olds thinking they were too old to get dates. Then I turned 25 and discovered that assumption was incorrect. Then at 25 I felt sorry for 30 year olds for the same reason, then I hit 30, wrong again. Now I know better than to make anymore of those assumptions.

So giddy boy gets sarcastic "Where do old people like you meet other old people?" LOL, yeah, I'll definitely smack him later. So lets call the them date1, date2 since there is no way I'm about to tell a loose mouthed 24 year old any information. date1 I met at Pei Wei in Plano. date2 I met at Home Depot.

Giddy boy gets inquisitive. "So how exactly do you approach someone in Pei Wei?" I didnt. I stopped there before going to campus to get something cheap, good and fast. It also gave me a little time to look at my Portuguese. I'm reading my book and listening to Lesson 10 on my iPod when date1, who was sitting next to me, taps me on the shoulder. "You're studying Potuguese?" Nice, I like people who have eyes. "Yes, I am, just started last week". Date1 still curious, "Why?" I can understand, Portuguese isn't terribly popular since its only spoken in 2 countries. "Oh, I'm going to Brazil this summer". Turns out Date1 did and exchange program in high school and lived in Sao Paulo for a year, obviously with very fond memories since for the next 30 minutes I listened to them non-stop. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the dissertation and I did get a chance to finish my Korean Tofu but man, what a talker! "Wow, what a great experience!" I finally managed to wedge in, looking at my watch, the international sign for I have to get the hell out of here. Date1 falling into the beautiful but not to quick on the uptake category starts the familiar questioning pattern when out of context. "Where do you live?" Oaklawn area. "Cool, I love that area" "Where do you hang out" I throw out a few places, not that I actually go to any of them. "Cool, I love those places". More confident now Date1 presses - "Hey, why dont we get together for coffee sometime, I can tell you more about Brazil". Why sure that would be nice so I write down my email and say drop me a line sometime and we'll do that.

I'm used to this sort of courting dance, its familiar territory in the dense area where I live but I never expect anything to come of it. Wrong again, I had an email waiting when I got home.

Giddy boy seems miffed, "How come I never meet anyone at Pei Wei, its only at bars?" Gee, I dont know ... because you only go to bars? Of course I cant say this out loud even though its true. I just say, "It isnt your kind of environment". Then he remembers "Right, thats for old people! hahaha". I didnt have the heart to tell him Date1 is 27, smirking was good enough for me :)

More on where to find your old dates later. Gotta hot date with an art museum :)