Rob

Rob and I agreed to meet around 9 oclock, after dinner with my friends. He seemed cute enough from his profile. 5' 11" (my expert dating has taught me that that usually means more like 5' 9"), in a band (nothing hotter than a guy who can sing and/or play guitar!), and not too into Judeism.

A word about that: I am Jewish. I went to Hebrew School for years, got Bat Mitvahed, and celebrate Chanukah. Celebrate is a term I use loosely, however, because I haven't been around a menorah since I was living at home. My parents want nothing more than for me to marry a Jewish man. However, I just can't seem to get down with that. I am generally attracted to Catholic boys, especially Irish Catholic ones. But, hey, everyone deserves a chance, so here I was, agreeing to meet Rob, straight from the world of JDate.

As I finished up my chicken and eggplant, I texted Rob that I was just about ready. We agreed to meet at 10 oclock at a bar in West Village. When I wrote that I would see him there, he responded "It's a plan, Stan! Stan is your name, right? ;)" Now there is nothing I love more than a man who is not afraid to use emoticons. However, the whole "Stan" joke seemed like a joke my dad would make (I adore my dad more than any man in the world, but I don't want to DATE him). It was a little too dorky even for me, and so I was already having doubts.

"I have a great idea," my friend Liz said. "Let's go have a drink at the bar you guys are gonna meet at. Then at about 5 minutes to 10 we will run to the other side of the bar, so we can spy on you!"

"And we can throw popcorn at his head!" Maria added enthusiastically. I'm not going to bother getting in to the popcorn story, but let's just say I had a passion for dating even in my earlier years, and there may or may not have been an unfortunate spying situation that involved my date getting hit with popcorn...

I love my friends, and the whole dating thing has gotten pretty boring, so I figured it might be fun to spice things up. I agreed, and off we went.

As we finished up our drink, at exactly 5 minutes to 10, I scooted to the other side of the bar, where I appeared to be alone, and waiting for my date. My friends and I texted across the bar (yeah, we're dorks), until the second he walked in.

Rob. I don't quite know how to describe him. He was cute, kind of feminine, which is not really my thing. After an awkward hug hello, he sat down across from me. Rob turned out to be a really bright guy, in graduate school for something art related (I'm not that great of a listener), and had witty banter and responses to everything. For example, I commented that his 30th birthday was coming up in a few weeks (JDate tells you people's birthdays, I'm not a stalker, I swear). His response was "I feel like I've already accomplished so much and come so far, that 30 is not even a landmark for me." To this I had no response. Just an awkward smile and a sip of my wine.

2 glasses of wine and 2 hours later, Rob suggested that we take a walk. Two things about me: I am lazy, and I hate the cold. However, being that Rob didn't know either of these important facts, I put on a smile, and said "sure."

We walked a few blocks, and I noticed that the street numbers were going up. Rob lived downtown. "Wow," I thought. "This guy genuinely wants to take a walk." I had figured his goal was to walk in the direction of his apartment, and then suggest we warm up inside or something. Maybe I should be a man...

After walking for about 15 minutes, we were at a crosswalk, when Rob grabbed the collar of my coat and pulled me in for a kiss. It was a nice kiss. I didn't have very high expectations, and I was pleasantly surprised. We made out on that corner for at least 15 minutes. While I wouldn't call it a perfect date, I definitely can't complain...