GSD

Some of you have been asking whatever happened on my date with Grocery Store Dude. Well, it did turn out to be a date, of sorts. I showed up with every intention of telling him I couldn't stay, but he offered to buy me a beer right away, and I figured one couldn't hurt. (It never does, right? . . . ) Well, three beers and three hours later, I had come to the following conclusion: GSD is even more of a hippie than Hippie Neighbors, if that's possible. (Apparently, I am giving off some subconscious hippie-attraction vibe. I should get that checked out.) Here's why I believe this:

1. He used the following words and phrases, unironically, sometimes multiple times: Goddess, spiritual journey, The Man.
2. He apparently didn't brush his hair before our date.
3. He was obviously stoned for our date.
4. He doesn't own a car, and he talked extensively about how people who own cars "don't SEE things, man."
5. He works as a roofer and a canvasser, all under the table.
6. He took a 4 1/2-month backpacking trip through India last year.
7. He is involved in an ongoing investigation resulting from said trip, in which he got caught at the airport with some sort of large bowie knife in his backpack, which he "forgot" was there. (Although I put "forgot" in quotes, it is quite possible that he did, in fact, forget. I just think the security people had a tough time swallowing that one.) I am unclear on the details of this investigation, but he did mention a court date coming up. They still let him take his trip, however. I don't know, I'm pretty confused about that one.
8. His name is Spring.

O.K., so obviously, I will not be dating this person. He was interesting to talk to for a few hours, though. He was very intrigued about my stint in Africa--no surprise there--so we talked mostly about travel and other cultures and the way the U.S. is perceived in the world, etc. So all in all, I enjoyed myself and met an interesting new person, albeit one I will probably never see again. Or maybe I will, but in a platonic way only. In the end, we split the tab and said goodnight, and when he asked if he could see me again, I kind of talked around the issue . . . I'm really busy, I'm not really ready to date again, etc. Which, in retrospect, kind of sounds like a blow-off, doesn't it? We'll see how it's perceived in hippie-speak.