Date

Well the last post was about a perfect day. After I wrote the post I was at Woody's for a beer. My friend had some women's issues (The Change) She did not want to stay at the Commercial. I didn't feel like being there alone.

So I went to Woody's for one, before I headed back home. It was 6 o'clock. I was in no rush to go home as I did nothing on Friday night and there did not appear to be anything to do on Saturday night. May as well do nothing where there is people.

I was sitting by myself, I kind of saw this guy sitting at computers. Could not make eye contact though - kind of like a guy on a slot machine. Warning, bars in Vegas are kind of useless for cruising.

Anyway, cards fell into place and I wound up talking to him. We talked for a long time. He basically said he was tired of one nighters and wanted to date a guy. Coo, this is sort of what I want. Anyway, he said he was Bi, which I take to be closeted. He lives in Athabasca, which is a Northern Community. He drives a TNT truck and also trains horses. Literally a cowboy, the driving is because there is not enough work in horse training. He made it sound like he was really closeted and inexperienced though. It's ok - he appeared to be sincere about meeting someone. His living arrangements will change come break up - when he doesn't have to drive TNT to the oil patch. He was going to work construction in Edmonton.

The guy is from Western Ontario, just North of Minnesota and East of Manitoba. He is staying at his sister's moved out West as there was no work.

I was working overtime Sunday so I was not going to stay out late. He had to do stuff on Sunday too. Anyway, he left something in his pickup, I walked him to it and then we went in an alley. He kissed me. Like really kissed me. I thought I definitely have to meet up with him again.

During the week I called him on Monday and we talked. He told me about a trip to West Edmonton Mall where he got conned into buying some Dead Sea products. I laughed at him, I said they work on guys like you. Anyway, he bought $150 worth of stuff. He liked the salesperson as she was nice and pretty. After she was done with him, she spoke a foreign language (I'll bet you can guess which one), then the guy at the next kiosk was trying to sell him something.

On Thursday he called me. Things were looking good for a date :)
He has a pay as you go cell phone, he was going to buy minutes and call me on Friday.

On Friday, I left for the city right after work. I went to Starbucks after getting a haircut. I am really happy with the haircut, I managed to get a different person and I finally got a cut that I wanted.

I was at Starbucks for 2 hours and no call. Now we never said where we would meet up on the phone. So I went to Woodys. I sat down at the bar, a really loud drag queen announced I was there - loudly. I looked around, did not see him. I sat down and ordered a beer.

I was playing Words with Friends when he walked by headed out of the bar. I ran to the top of stairs and called him. He turned around and came back.

He was obviously pre-occupied with something and in a bad mood. Apparently his sister was asking him to meet up with some financial guy in the city. He had called and the guy said he would call back. The place was closed now. I think he was nervous about what sister would say.

This was not the same guy as last week and on the phone. Anyway I asked if he still wanted to go out, he said yeah. He sounded like he really wanted to.

We left Woodys and went to Original Joe's to eat, it was crowded, he drove his pickup. I didn't think he would want to sit in a small car. Besides he's a professional driver.

At the restaurant the signs of the bad date started. We were standing as there was a line up, they had a long bench seat which was occupied. Soon some people were seated in the Restaurant, I i went and grabbed a seat, there was enough room for him (more than enough).

I tried to talk about various things, he didn't seem to want to talk. He was staring at how the place was built and asking questions. I said I thought it was a farmer's market before. It was an old building, it could have been a garage before that. He seemed upset that I took him to a tavern. I said there was a bar here, but it was not a tavern.

Some people to his left got up as they were being seated and he actually moved further away from me. Anyone who knows me knows I don't scream gay. I was just about to ask if he wanted to leave.

We get seated. We looked at the menu, it had a lot of sandwich type things. I decided on a Cajun Chicken sandwich, when I told him he said that was way too spicy. He stared at the menu for another 20 minutes, he got coffee to drink by the way. The coffee was well cooked, I asked if he wanted them to make some fresh stuff. He said no.

Finally he said he'd just get a Taco. They only had one taco on the menu, a fish one. Not my choice, when I read the full name he said. No I don't want fish. Another 10 minutes go buy.

The waitress came and I ordered then he said he'd have a BLT. I looked on the menu and did not see one. She said they didn't have BLT's. Then he said, just a burger. She started to ask questions about stuff and he said just a burger and fries.

We started to talk, I really had to fish for stuff to talk about. He didn't watch news as it was always the same, somebody got shot or stuff like that. Then he told me about his driving skills. We talked about Northern Ontario.

This is when the conversation started to get ugly. He thought Albertans were silly for settling on Perch for fish. Of course Northern Ontario is great for fishing, I acknowledged this. He talked about gay bars in Thunder Bay. He whipped out his first "All" statement, apparently all gays in the Bay have AIDS. I asked how he knew that. He told me about the bars being closed down because of this (the Bullshit Meter in my head spiked Red). But I have been reading lots of romance books lately, learn to accept differences.

His "ALL" statements progressed. He was not your average redneck though, he liked Natives and people from Central Africa. He seemed to hate everyone else.

I mentioned fishing in Quebec, I don't think he heard where as later on he went on a little tirade against French Canadians - actually it got pretty major. Apparently they were the reason he is unemployed in Ontario.

I wanted out, bad. I tried to ask about TV, he said he didn't watch it. I asked about books. He told me he read a book about a young Mormon guy who was gay....basically he told me the whole Latter Days movie, I didn't recall a book. But maybe there is one.

He told me about this guy he dated, who was married to a woman, they lived 500 miles apart. I told him i didn't do that anymore.

Anyway, in dating you are supposed to find out what you have in common. Lets see, he hates motorbikes, small cars, music, he had two cameras stolen so he doesn't appreciate art, no spicy food, no French people whatsoever. It was terminal.

Then the best started he started with Fox News stories as if they were true. I couldn't shoot them down fast enough.

I paid the bill, When we got back to where my car was parked I wanted gone. He said lets go back Woodys for a beer.

I thought maybe the little show was his internal homophobia, so I said yes. He sat far away from me. He got me a beer though :). When I saw he got a hair cut (he wears a baseball hat 24/7) I asked if he did it himself, he is bald on top - oh, he is 50. He just about freaked when I lifted his hat. Was looking around (in a gay bar) to see who was starring.

Oh he told me there his family, including the sister he lives with know he is into guys.

He walked me out, and we hugged. I don't know if I am going to hear from him again, but he better have a good explanation. He has honour in that he didn't stand me up...well not completely, he did try to sneak out. So he followed the cowboy code, if you say you are going to do something, do it. But he forgot all the other cowboy rules.

I can profile too, this is the second person I have gone out with from Northern Ontario. This is the second one that is so homophobic that they hate themselves. I know it is pretty hard there, the communities are few and far between and mainly blue collar families and hunters. I get it.

When I hear Easterners go on about how redneck Alberta is, I just chuckle, I have lived in both places and I can say they are about the same. But it is politically correct in Canada to say Alberta is redneck, not so about anywhere else, well maybe Saskatchewan.