It’s over.  I managed to get to 17 with a little time to spare. For those of you who haven’t been keeping up,  here are the dates in chronological order.  I don’t have write ups on all of the dates.  Just the first dates.  There’s usually some sort of follow up if I went out with someone more than once.  No whining!  Be happy that one of the writers around here finished the exercise.

The dates:

1. Nature Boy ~
2. Mystery Date
3. Film Boy ~
4. The Grad Student ~
5. Speed Racer ~
6. The Artist
7. The Artist
8. Guy on Bike *
9. Napoleon Dynomite *
10. The Redhead(*)
11. The Redhead *
12. The Redhead (*)
13. Harry Potter (aka Obama guy) *
14. Speed Dating
15. The Cyclist ~
16. Eeyore ~
17. The Cyclist (*)

~denotes a coffee or beer date

*denotes a dinner date

( ) denotes a date where I didn’t pay

So what exactly did I learn?

1. Meeting people organically is difficult.  The internet has it’s downfalls (shopping for men like sweaters in catalog), but in the end it was convenient.  There was one organic date (The Grad Student).
2. My target demographic is riddled with smokers.  Why do people smoke when they are out drinking and listening to music? Not sure how to remedy this.  Wellbutrin in the water maybe?
3. It is ok to let people pay for things.  This is a hard concept for me.  I don’t like owing people.  Some friends have said that my company should be enough to merit a free meal every now and then. If you were paying attention, I got two free dinners (Redhead & Cyclist).
4. I should be dating someone a lot like M (but a boy, minus the crazy, and much taller).  A bit like Peter Pan, but with goals and responsibility. A combination of dorky and artsty.  I would like to find someone who compliments me not completes me.
5. I have much to learn about the world of dating.  Thanks to all of my peeps for the wealth of knowledge they shared on this quest.  Thanks to the RJ, M, Meg (+husband), and Keely for the email counseling.
6. It’s ok to let people in.  There are some people out there that will stomp on your heart but there are plenty more who will be there to help pick up the pieces (a life lived in fear is a life half lived).
7. Out of 17 dates, there were 3 guys that stood out.  Guys that I really wanted to spend more time with.  Guys that my friends might actually get along with.  I went out with 2 of them more than once.
8. I would like to try and date someone for more than just a few dates. Maybe someone who gets the title of boyfriend.  I haven’t had one of those in about 4 years. It’s time I learned how to share.
9. There is no formula for dodging an awkward first date.  It just happens.  I can say that 2 of the first dates were not awkward at all.  Some were definitely more awkward for the guy (am I that scary?)  Awkward first date endings are equally hard to avoid.
10. I made first contact with most of these guys. They asked me out as a result.  Not sure what to think of this.
11. I am still carrying some emotional baggage.  I don’t think that this exercise made it worse.  I still have the train case.  I found some stuff hidden in the pockets though.
12. I was a good idea to blog my way though this.  It has forced me to pay attention and I spent a lot of time reflecting on things while I transferred the contents of my journal to the internet.

Now here is the part where you come in readers.  Feel free to ask questions. Maybe I will post a recap interview in the near future.