Dating Against Type

It all started a couple of Fridays ago, when my friend A and I decided to change up the routine, get dressed up, and go to the fancy cocktail bar instead of our usual beer bar. And so it came to pass that I was sitting on a leather bar stool, sipping a pink drink, and chatting with a cocktail bar man.

The cocktail bar man is a species I don't have much experience with. Most of the guys I've dated have been of the beer bar variety. Their wardrobes consisted of worn and torn jeans and slogan t-shirts and the same baseball hat they'd been wearing since freshman year of college. Their year was divided into three seasons: baseball, football, and basketball (and sometimes hockey). Often I found myself engaging in conversations with themes like, "Why a short-sleeved dress shirt is never appropriate at the office, even in summer" and, "There are more interesting things to read than the Onion, trust me". Don't get me wrong, I enjoy some lowbrow humor and sports too, but sometimes you just wish they had finer taste about something, you know?

So the cocktail bar man was intriguing. He clearly shopped for himself and dressed himself well. He could hold forth on obscure '70s music, sports, and film all in one conversation (for some reason the bar was playing "AM Radio Favorites" that night, to our amusement. Seals and Crofts, anyone?). And because he was funny, and interesting, and nice, when he gave me his card and told me that if I decided to end my strike anytime soon, I should let him know, I found myself thinking that might not be such a bad idea. I was a little uneasy about it...in addition to diving back in after the strike, I was also wondering- could I date a guy like this? One who seemed to be so definitely NOT my type? But of course it made sense to me to just let that go for a bit and see what happened...because if my usual type of guy usually didn't work out, trying out someone who seemed against type for me could be a good thing.

So after a few witty e-mails back and forth, we met for drinks and spent nearly five hours talking, eating, and...kissing. (That was a small portion of the five hours but rather a memorable one.) And it made me a little nervous when he ordered martinis with some kind of vodka I'd never heard of (Chopin, in case anyone was wondering)...but then I remembered that at the beginning of the evening he'd ordered a Miller High Life. So perhaps I won't be as out of my element as I'd feared. I'll let you know how date number two goes...