January 5, 2004

On New Year’s Eve, after seeing Big Fish, E.S. and I went to dinner at Ollie’s, a Chinese restaurant that, though it offers mediocre food and bad ambience, had the virtue of being across the street from the movie theater on a cold night. On my right and E.S.’s left sat an enthusiastic heterosexual couple in town from Westchester to ring in the New Year. On my left and E.S.’s right sat an old heterosexual couple. (I am almost as bad at guessing people’s ages as I am at answering the Sports and Leisure questions in Trivial Pursuit, but I’d say they were probably in their late 60s or early to mid-70s.)

In any case, E.S. and I tried to make appropriately romantic conversation, but we were defeated first by the utter lack of ambience and then by the increasingly fascinating conversation of the old couple on my left and his right. He was saying things like, “But don’t you want somebody to come home to?” and she was saying things like, “I had that for forty years, I don’t need it anymore.” Then they went on to Viagra.

Then it hit us: they were on their first date.

They were on their first date and they had met online.

God bless the internet.

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14 Responses to On New Year's Eve, after

  1. Convivia says:

    If, heaven forfend, I wind up single in my sixties or after, please remind me that I have given you permission to sedate me, restrain me, or take any measures necessary to keep me from dating again. Your restaurant neighbors = my worst nightmare.

    Not to mention the Viagra. I think Viagra is God’s cruel joke on middle-aged and older women.

    Before my marriage, you may recall, I used to say “I’ve been dating for twenty years–you could kill someone and not get a sentence that long!”

    Reply
  2. Anonymous #7 says:

    Good old Ollie’s. I had a weird date there once. I kept flirting with our company’s maintenance man over e-mail for months (after locking eyes at my HR orientation meeting the first day on the job) and finally landed lunch with him. It was magical. He kept leading me on for a while after until he announced one day he was already in a relationship. Case closed. Good old Ollie’s. 😉

    Reply
  3. Paul says:

    So is Big Fish worth seeing?

    Reply
  4. jon collins says:

    next time try going the other direction to Columbus ave… many high quality restaurants there, particularly Hunan Park.

    Reply
  5. Jalal says:

    Oh dear! That is what I will be like.

    Reply
  6. Oh. My. God.

    That’s better than the conversation I overheard once where it sounded like the man and woman were plotting to kill someone.

    Reply
  7. Jeff says:

    Apart from the fact that she sounds bitter and he sounds impotent, I think that’s all rather sweet.

    Reply
  8. orbicon says:

    I *always* talk about Viagra with my first dates. Ok. I wouldn’t really call them dates. They’re tricks.
    Allright, no, talking about pharmaceuticals isn’t a good first impression, in hindsight.
    Is this where I go wrong?

    Reply
  9. Wayne says:

    I think they met each other at the Viagra online discussion board. Who knows, maybe they tried some Viagra that night as well.

    Internet, Yep. Amazing.

    Reply
  10. The internet helped create many relationships but also ended many too!

    Reply
  11. Angelo says:

    Hopefully, I’ll still be sexually active and roaming M4M San Francisco well into my sixties.

    Reply
  12. Wayne says:

    Yeah, I agree with ruggerjohnnyd. Da’s very true.

    Reply
  13. zenchick says:

    There’s a lid for every pot…

    Reply
  14. WaltDe says:

    Very good reading. Peace until next time.

    WaltDe

    Reply

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