R-E-S-P-E-C-T find out what it means to me...

This is one is still fresh from my memory and I don't want to lose any moment of it for writing's sake. I must say, I have never had a horrible date, but, this one is my current champion. I suppose, things are bound to go south one way or another. I can't just meet fabulous people all the time. This is one will be remembered for a while if not forever. It definitely made me appreciate the great people I have in my life and made me think of spring cleaning. Clean out the bad and keep the good. Which makes me think? Why do people keep unnecessary things/people in their life and continue to complain about it year after year? Shouldn't we take a more proactive stance and rid ourselves of things that do not serve us? Like this guy that I went on a date with the other night. He is cut off. So - here is my version. If you know him I am sure he has his own. I promise to be as (un)biased as possible. We were set up by my friend and she thought this would be a good match. I was excited because this is not an offspring of my little dating website adventure. It's an actual set up. We decided to meet on my side of town and he was fine with it. I gave him a time and a restaurant and we decided to meet at 7. So, here I was excited and anxious over this date. I had to do a little shopping prior to our rendezvous and was hurrying to make it home in time to shower and get ready, but then he called and told me he was running late and asked if we can change it to 8 to which I obliged. No big deal. So, I went home and took my time, took a nice long, hot shower and got ready slowly. I was up and ready at 755 and was out the door headed to the restaurant. I get there at 8 and there was no sign of him, so I was debating whether I should wait inside or not, but I opted to wait in my car. At around 810pm, I text him and ask how far he is, to which he text back, I'm 15 minutes away. BING! BING! BING! That was red flag number 1. There were many things going through my head as a woman: a. You couldn't call me or text me to tell me you were running more than 5 minutes late to a date that you've already postponed an hour later? b. Do you care to make a good impression at all or do you just want to be your usual deadbeat, scummy self? c. You did not give yourself extra time for things that are unexpected such as this? Those were the few things and some expletives that I need not mention, but you get the idea. So, I summoned myself to be patient and plus I was listening to NPR and was getting into it. After 15 minutes, I get a call from Mr. Perfect and he is asking me directions to this place and so I tried the best I can to help him and he said ok, I'll be there soon. We hang up and I waited some more - 15 more minutes pass and at this point it's 830ish, I call him to check and see where he is and he said he's at this Safeway and is it suppose to be near a tree with lights?! I knew exactly where he was so I told him not to move and I am coming to get him, I drove to where he was and then had him follow me to the restaurant. So, FINALLY! We were seated and menus were handed and everything is cool. Right? WRONG! Mr. Perfect had to decompress from the very traumatic experience of being outside his comfort zone. So, I gave him a few minutes, enough for most normal people with no anger issues. We ordered food and had an OK conversation, not only was he talented with navigation he was also an eloquent conversationalist. This was the most boring exchange I have ever had on a first date. There were a few glimmers of his cheery self in there but they were all under this negative energy that he is projecting my way. He kept looking out the window and sighing and breathing deep, like he just can't seem to get over the fact that he got lost. The date was over before it even began, I thought to myself. Just stay pleasant and be quick with it. There were tons of food left because I was the only one who ate, Mr. Perfect, seemed to upset to eat. We ask to wrap up the rest of the food. The check came and I was chatting with the waitress - whom should have been my date since I had a livelier conversation with her than my actual date because eventhough she had a thick thai accent and it was sometimes hard to decipher what she was saying - her pleasant demeanor and her great zest for life really cheered me up. While this conversation was going on, I saw from the corner of my eye that Mr. Perfect was paying...so, as an etiquette, I reached for my purse and offered to pay some of it, by this time he had already given the server his cash, so I asked him how much to which he responded, 65 dollars -- HOLY SHIT!! I can NOT believe my eyes and my ears that he actually told me the total. So, collect myself and reach for my purse, I reach for two 20 dollar bills and starts handing it to him and then he opens his mouth to tell me, oh, it's actually 45 dollars - at this point of the date, I wanted to pay him all the money I have in my wallet just to get the hell ouf of my site. So, I still hand him the two 20 dollar bills and he looks at me and then looks at the money and then says: 20 is enough and took one of the 20 dollar bill. I almost slapped myself because I thought I was in a nightmare. After, I forced myself into a short shock recovery, I again collected myself and just wanted to go home and wash my face and hang my clothes back up because this was surely a waste of make up and a good outfit. We said goodbye and he headed to his truck and as a last kind thing - directed him to the cliff where he drove himself and died. Oh wait, that isn't what happened in real life, I was thinking that though. I told him to follow my car since I am headed to the same freeway that he would utilize to get home. Oh, did I tell you he took all the left over food with him? What a perfect gentleman.
So, as a conclussion to this, I will say this, Thank you very much, Mr. Perfect for letting me appreciate my friends more, for opening my eyes and helping me see that my exes were not as bad as I thought they were and also, for giving me something to laugh at with my friends. Just for that, the 20 dollars was well worth it. Thank you for such an enlightening night. I hope to never again see your face and never again experience your weird-dumb-as-a-door-knob-angry-douche-bag energy. Because of you, I know that perhaps, people who are not surrendered about the fact that shitty things happen is not for me. I want someone who can let things go and not be so attached to a feeling and let things roll of their back. Because of you I am not the same. I am better than ever.