Nerd Dating: Dating on a budget pt 6
Here is another idea for a cheap date. If you live in any kind of a metropolitan area check you local paper or community site. Odds are somewhere in your city is going to be some kind of outdoor theater in some park during the summer. A few months ago in San Francisco I went with a couple friends to see Grease. It was totally fun, and had I been on a date with a girl instead of being the third wheel with my friend John and his girlfriend it could have been great.
This is a perfect date for a number of great reasons. First of all, it makes you look totally cultural and/or hip. It is totally fun, and for the most part totally free. You will need a few things. Here is a short list.
1. A clean (<–important) blanket or three. Even if the weather is nice you will want something to sit on. A couple pillows are not a bad idea, but don’t have a ton of stuff to carry. DO NOT bring folding chairs. You want to create the intimacy of being on the same blanket together. Note that if the weather is chilly that is even better, as you can then cuddle up under one of the blankets and get comfortable, if you know what I mean (by the way, if that sounds sleazy or duplicitous get over it. There is no way any girl on the planet is dumb enough to get tricked by something like that. I can guarantee if she is cuddling up under a blanket with you that was her intention all along. Girls are freakishly smart when it comes to something like that. You aren’t fooling anyone).
2. Warm clothes, unless you absolutely, positively, 110% know it is going to be hot. Remember that girls tend to get colder than guys and you can gain gallantry points by offering her your extra jacket.
3. Something to eat and drink. This can be as simple as some water or soda and a bag of popcorn or candy, or it can be a full on picnic basket with china plates and a wine bottle, glasses, and a corkscrew. By the way, if you plan to indulge in adult libations be sure to have something to hide it with from the police who will surely be patrolling the event. In most cases the cops won’t really care if you have a couple beers or a glass of wine as long as you don’t 
rub it in their face, but there is always the chance you could run into a total jerk who wants to make your life hell. I do recommend this, as the actual breaking of the law in such a juvenile way will likely make you look like a bad boy to your date as well as flash her back to high school (in my opinion, this is such a minor thing that it doesn’t even register on my bad boy radar, but odds are likely most of you don’t have the breadth of destructive and outright illegal experiences that comprises my childhood. I Drink Beer image courtesy of the funny t shirt category, by the way).
4. A ready means to and from the event. This can be your car, a public transit system, or taxi money, but don’t ruin a great date by tromping miles across the city carrying blankets, pillows, and a picnic basket. Kind of a mood killer.
5. A modest amount of information about the movie or performance going on. This is again where ten minutes of research will really pay off in increased chances of scoring. If you end up talking about he movie before or after the performance you will look more worldly and smarter if you can drop a couple factoids that were not obviously gleaned directly from the performance. Don’t overdo it, but two or three tidbits that she can feign interest in will make you look modestly better.
That’s it. Next dating post I will try to come up with something to take the place of this activity if you are a hayseed living in a cowtown, but I think next post I will review a couple movies I saw over the weekend while at the Firefly show. I feel the need to show my ability to talk about things other than dating once in a while.
