Date or Die: Playing The Expectations Game

Evil


Earlier today, I watched the Yankees lose yet another baseball game. Even with the largest payroll in baseball, the Yankees are languishing in the middle of their division and most experts have already counted them out for the playoffs -- no division win; not even a wild card berth.

On the flip side, the Tampa Bay Rays are sporting the best record in baseball. Their payroll is minuscule, they finished last year in last place, and even the most generous predictions for the Rays at the start of the season were for them to have a "respectable" record.

Playing the expectations game is always tricky... in baseball, sure. But also in dating.

Yesterday was the end of what felt like a very long week, even though it was technically a short week thanks to the 4th of July holiday. That's how a long a week it was a work. I was content to spend the evening staying in and watching TV, generally hiding out and relaxing.

In the early evening, R texted me and asked if I was around and if I wanted to get drinks with her. Since she asked and since she's tall, thin, and has a pretty face, I was like, sure. We went to this place, known for their margaritas, that's no far from us. Some hotty sales rep from Patrón was there and offered us complimentary drinks. Score!

R and I chatted, though not about much. We don't seem to have much to talk about. My inability to appear engaging and funny when I'm with R is really throwing off my expectations. I should be able to do this! This is my game, baby! I guess it's like in baseball, where you're going up against a different pitcher every day. Sometimes the opposing pitcher is just lobbing softballs up there and you're crushing everything out of the park. But sometimes the pitcher is so tough, you're glad just to score a single run.

It turned out to be a nice night, so we took a slow stroll home. She lives 5 blocks away from me. I wasn't feeling that anything good was going to happen so I casually said goodbye when we reached my block. Back to chillin' alone in the apartment. It was still fairly early, so maybe I'd watch a DVD.

R texts me: "I'm restless... lol". Hmmm... interesting. We text back and forth a few times and decide to go back out for ice cream. Which eventually turned into taking a walk into Riverside Park, which is always fairly dark, fairly quiet. The fireflies were out last night. A few people and their dogs walked by, but otherwise it seemed like we had the park all to ourselves. This eventually turned into me walking R back to her place and at the corner of her block, she blurted out, "Do you want to come up?"

We had a nice time hanging out at her place. She was really hard for me to read, whereas with most girls, it's just the opposite. Me in her apartment was like a baseball team with a manager who just doesn't know what to do during the game. Bunt? Hit and run? Steal? Double switch? So I didn't push things too much. It was fun just to hang out. And I even managed to take a photo of us (above)... well, only part of her face and part of my arm. I think she has a nice smile in this pic.