Picture and a Coffee

So, my friend wants to set me up with a colleague of his. He sent me two pictures. Yes, she is very pretty and looks amazing in a bikini. Supposedly, she is a great person.  

I'm glad that he sent full body shots. A picture of only the face scares me. I tried Match.com once. After some largely underwhelming dates, I came up with the iceberg theory. In the future, I would make it a point to first see what was below the neckline. Airplanes have seat belt extenders. There are no such things for arms.  

Yet, I am also leery of these set ups. There is possible trauma from a previous blind date setup. Some months ago, I accepted one via his wife. This girl was kind of a friend of a friend of her's. She was not too close but still within a larger circle of friends.  

The evening came. I drove to her house, picked her up and we went for dinner. She was very pretty in person as well and within acceptable size limits. For the first hour, I could not find much to criticize. Then, she got drunk.   At some point, she either had to pee or puke. I didn't ask which. So, she got up and in a sort of horizontal leapfrog, went from table to table, using the seat-backs as substitutes for a cane to keep herself upright on her way to the ladies room. Upon her return to the disappointment filled table, she told me in not so many words her plan for our future. She mentioned that if things were to work out, we could get married and have kids. Certainly, I wouldn't want a child born an alcoholic. Or marry one.

I do not remember how I reacted to her drunken plan. Today, some months hence, I cannot conceive of how I dodged, escaped or detoured away from her comment. Of course, the next day, my phone buzzed with the obligatory apologetic texts from her. I never responded. The irony was that she then told everyone that I never responded to her and therefore, I got the typical male asshole tag.  

I know my friend would not betray me like Match. He would also be a better filter.  But, this time, I'll also make sure to just go for coffee on the first date.