Bad Apologies

Last night I had a second date with the professor. [He's not actually a professor, but on his way to being one, so we'll just give him that moniker.] The first date was a bit awkward (for me), because while we went to the same college, when we were set up by mutual friends and started chatting over Friendster, I didn't realize that he actually knew me, whereas I didn't remember him. At the end of the night I got his last name, and that hit me as familiar, but I still can't recall how I know him from college.

Regardless, a second date was offered and accepted. The professor is the fifth (and last) guy I've been on a second date with this season, each of which I don't have a strong attraction to (that spark, you know), but are interesting people whom I want to give a second chance. Besides, I suggested we go see Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic, a movie I have really wanted to see, and he eagerly concurred.

I was supposed to be at his place last night at 8:30. He called at 8:00 to confirm, so I quickly went to shave and get changed. He called back about 10 minutes later, hoping that I hadn't left yet. Now, I can't seem to put together what happened, exactly, but the short of it was that he had left his truck in Georgetown, then forgot about an appointment across town and grabbed a bus to it. He called me at 8:00 on his way home, but had forgotten about his truck, which was still across town. So when he called, he stated that he needed to "postpone," and explained what he was doing. I asked if we couldn't still make the movie, which was 2 hours off, but he replied that his truck might be towed. Oh the joys of car ownership! So I chuckled, and asked him to call me when he worked it out.

When he called back at 8:45, I asked how it had turned out. Not towed, but a $100 ticket. Sucks. He then proceeded to express dissapointment in me for laughing when he said it might be towed and not being sympathetic enough. WHAT?! This is clearly not the man for me. If someone was overly remorseful for me every time I lost my wallet/keys/car/Hindenburg/job, it would be a dreary world. I prefer people leave that for medical ailments and injury. Just last week, Grace and I were at the DMV, where she realized she had previously unknown $400 worth of hidden camera tickets. All we could do was laugh. And last night, while waiting for the professor to call back, my roommate and I discovered, for the 5th time, rotten vegetables in our refrigerator's "crisper," and again laughed. What else could you do in such a situation?

So I explained this to him, and he laughed at those stories. I also did my best Bad Apology that sounded like an actual one. I went on to share my disappointment in his postponing our date with no apology. This was, after all, the gentleman who picked me up 25 minutes late for our first date, with no apology or explanation. I had taken him 20 minutes to alert me to the fact that he was even late, and that was by text message. So I wasn't very impressed with this pattern of behavior. He apologized, and I thought we were heading to some reconciliation, but then he said he wasn't really interested in seeing the movie that night. I said "ok" and waited. After a pause, he ended with a "talk to you later."

Again, I say: WHAT!? I imagine it was his combined distress over the truck and then my reaction. But mind you, we were headed to see Sarah Silverman's movie, a woman who is crass, offensive, irreverent, and foul. And he really wanted to see it! How could he want to see this, but not be able to laugh off leaving his truck in a two hour parking space for the bulk of the day?

He called back at 9:00, but I missed the call, and since he didn't leave a message, I wasn't interested in calling back.

By this morning, I have realized that this got me off the hook, and it was a happy ending. I still hate when people don't like me, especially when I don't like them FIRST! Oh god, I am definitely back in the 7th grade.

The biggest tragedy? I once again didn't get to see Sarah Silverman.