So I went out last night to meet someone for the first time. It was not a date. That said, I admit that I went not knowing what was going to happen. I couldn't get a good sense of what he looked like from his picture, and I had only a vague sense of his personality from the emails we'd exchanged. At best, I hoped for a new friend. At worst, a story to tell my girlfriends.

I think this lack of expectation is something I need to cultivate when going into new experiences, as I had one of the best evenings I've had in a long time. When I showed up, it was raining, so I wasn't wearing my glasses, and I accidentally? met someone at the door who I ended up talking to for 20 minutes before going in to find the one I'd come to meet. And then I met the one I'd arranged to meet, and we had a very nice evening. He says I'm a good listener.

Nothing romantic has come of the evening (I'm saying this for those of you who insist that I'm doing this to find a partner and that it was a date), but I had a really good time. I connected with not one, but two people, and it was nice that they seemed to find me worth talking to as well.

I managed to leave my book at the cafe where we ended the evening, and I had to go back tonight to get it. And I stayed and had a cup of tea and read my book and watched the people - customers and employees - do their thing. I've never done that before ... it is a time of beginnings, apparently.

I had a good day, how 'bout you?