Book 'em, Anne-o

So last night, I went out on a date with a cop. It's been set up for quite a while, but it also marks the last of the dates that I'll be going on from chemistry.

He was very nice. Really.

I was a little concerned about the whole cop thing. I think I've seen too many Lifetime movies (starring Meredith Baxter Birney) where a woman marries a cop and then he beats her and she can't move away because he knows where she is. Which is also the reason why I pretend I can't swim and am afraid of the water...so that if I need to escape from my abusive husband and our ocean-side house I can (think "Sleeping with the Enemy").

We met downtown to go to what looked like a really cool place. It was a wine bar that had live jazz music - and that is something that I really wanted to try. We walked in the place and it became apparent that they were having a private party wine tasting.

So we walked many blocks away to another place he liked and walked in to find that everyone was wearing nametags. I'm not sure if it was speed dating or a private party, but people were definitely there for a reason.

I then decided to look at the meters around us and realized that those said you should pay until 10 PM. And I started to get worried...because I could've sworn that the one that I parked by said parking until 5. So he was cool about it and we walked all the way back to the first place to check. Sure enough I was right and although it had 50 thousand signs on the meter, it did say "2 Hour Meter Parking 8 AM - 5 PM" so I felt pretty good. There was a meter maid marking my tire, which I didn't get. He said it was because parking really was only 2 hours even after 5. I didn't get that (and I swear, I'm smart!), but decided because he is a cop he would know.

We tried another place only to find out that it was closed. I was laughing so hard as I thought this was pretty funny! Not to be mean to him or anything, but just - what are the chances?

He finally suggested the coffee bar that we had walked by several times and at this point, I just didn't care.

The conversation was okay - I'm not sure if he's shy, doesn't like telling stories, or if he just likes to keep things a mystery, but he didn't really expound on answers. The result? I felt like 'The Riddler' because I kept pummeling him with questions. I didn't know what else to do!

We decided to end the date so that I could get back before the 2 hours was up. After an awkward hug and a friendly goodbye, I went to get into my car.

Only to find that I got a ticket.

While on my date.

WITH A COP!

(sigh)

Apparently one of the signs that I didn't read fully stated that between 5 PM and 2:15 AM it is passenger loading zone only. DOH!

Sometimes I feel bad about guys paying on my date. I didn't mind him paying for my chai tea because I figured with all the tickets I've had in Denver (ahem...a few) I was due for a little something back from the government.

Now I owe them again.