#42 – Sarah E.

Posted on February 11, 2011 | 4 Comments

I’ve hit the wall. There is a stage marathon runners go through that this phrase makes reference to. It can happen around mile 21 of 26 (or date 41 of 52) and has some scientific explanation. But really it’s when you’re body doesn’t want to be there anymore. You are going through the motions. And those repetitive motions are painful. It becomes a mental battle. Mind over matter. Stay going. The end is in sight. There will be better miles than this.

Right at the start of the date, just as we about to tuck into our burritos, upstairs in a busy Chilango, Sarah stopped me in the middle of my first question and said: “We don’t have to treat this as a date”. She didn’t want me to write much about her, and so I won’t. I do have nice things to say about her, but because I am being negative in general, I don’t want to drag her into it.

Later we were in Dragon Bar in Shoreditch. It’s Social Media week in London and there was a Tweepup called Shoreditch Twit taking place in Dragon bar. Chatting over a pint, Sarah hit on another point related to the blog, that first dates don’t really work. Any halfwit can appear pleasant for a couple of hours, it’s only after a few more dates do you get to know each other, and find out whether you like each other.

During an actual marathon, the mile when I have hit the wall is about 10 minutes and it feels like the longest 10 minutes I have every run. This date was only two hours long and finished up about 9 o ‘clock, but it seemed a hell of a lot longer. We left after one drink, my body didn’t want to be there, but determination got me through it.

The marathon analogy doesn’t actually work beyond this date because miles add up to a feeling of euphoria in the end. Racking up a number of female conquests would be a similar feeling for some guys, but it’s not the point of the exercise. I thought about what Sarah said, and invite one of the previous 40 dates for a Valentines Day Burrito Date this coming Monday. You’ll remember Stacy, or number 40. She will become number 43 and give me the jolt of energy that I need!

Vote for Sarah.

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#41 – Lucy M.

Posted on February 4, 2011 | 1 Comment

Before I tell you about date 41, I want to share a video that was made last week by two talented TV MA students at City University, Caroline James and Jonross Swaby. They heard about the story when one of their classmates came on a date, and they decided to make a local news clip about it.

City News: 52 Burrito Dates from Jonross Swaby on Vimeo.

And now to another burrito date, number 41. It’s not warm at the moment in London, yet things transpired so that both the burrito and the drinks after were had outside. It made for a nice setting, but in the end it got a bit cold for us, and had me longing for warmer weather, and thinking of last summer’s dates in the sun.

Lucy writes for the reviews and listings website, Spoonfed, which I have often used for things to do on dates. Unfortunately it didn’t throw up anything interesting for us to do after the date. Burritos and drinks it was.

Lucy is from the outskirts of London, where she lives with her Gran. She studied English Lit in Norwich, and the first thing they told her when she started at Spoonfed was to forget everything she learned about English literature. That seems to be a common thing that English grads experience, as many end of in some sort of editorial capacity for mainly web-based publishers, writing in a style that isn’t particularly related to what they learned in Uni. Lucy’s dream job would be as a music journalist, she likes all sorts of music especially indie music, and that’s why she loves her job at the moment.

All the books Lucy read in Uni put her off traditional English classics as well; she has instead resorted to reading the likes of Jay Z’s and Keith Richards’s autobiographies. We spoke about books for a bit. Lucy used to be mad into Harry Potter books, which she started reading when she was about 10. She was so into them that in the summer she was to make her mind up about which secondary school to go to she delayed her decision for months waiting hopefully for a letter from Hogwarts. At the end of the summer a letter arrived, it wasn’t from Hogwarts.

Lucy’s lively and bubbly personality made for a fun date despite the cold. As Chilango was so full, we sat on the seats outside. Then when we went to the Camden Head, it was full also. The date didn’t really progress from there, we were both making an effort, but I don’t think there was much real interest from either of us. Lucy told me about how she had recently signed up for the web dating site, Cupid, and that some of the requests she was receiving were a bit strange. She has a date lined up for next week.

It dawned on me that I’m not the only one who goes on regular dates. While the search is fun, it gets a bit repetitive. Week after week, showing up, same trivial format, hoping something different will happen. It’s like learning a new skill, sure you are into it, dedicated, and through preservance you get there eventually. Making the same mistakes, before you achieve perfection. The banailty of showing up each time, doing the same thing, can be a bit of a drag. It’s being weighing on me for a while. And on this date, I realised that it’s not just me, guys and girls who don’t have a year’s worth of burrito dates to write about, often go through the same process.

I hope that Lucy has luck finding someone more compatible that I was for her.

Vote for Lucy.

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#40 Stacy S.

Posted on January 27, 2011 | 7 Comments

Date 40

A few of days before date number 40, Stacy emailed me with a couple of questions:

1. How tall are you?
2. If you could have one of these two superpowers, which would you choose and why: The power or invisibility, or the power of the flight?

Wondering what she was getting at, I thought long and hard about the second one, and gave her an answer with practical things such as the scientific development of an invisibility cloak, to the sensation felt by hang gliding. And before I pressed send I added that I am 5ft 10ins.

Stacy wrote back to say she just wanted to know what shoes to wear on our date, as she was 5ft 8ins, and she disguised the weirdness of the question with the super power question. It worked, and made me laugh. I was drawing the impression that she had a sense of humour, her original email included a photo of her with a clown nose on.

We met in Chilango, it was packed but we got a seat upstairs at the back.  The height issue didn’t come up at all, because of the correct choice of shoes. Thinking about it now though, height is quite an important part of dating in general. I think I prefer small girls, but Stacy’s height didn’t put me off. We talked about her being ‘funny’, or ‘crazy’, and she wouldn’t claim to be either. We both agreed that such self proclamations would be weird. I did find her to have a sense of humour that, added with a inquisitive shyness, made for an enjoyable date.

Stacy is from Salt Lake City in Utah; having studied acting in Birmingham she is now living in London. Her mum posted a Facebook status update to day, ‘Good luck to date number 40!’. Stacy’s Mom’s has got it going on!

We talked a lot about acting, theatre, movies. I told her the story of Catfish, a movie I saw recently. It features some pseudo-people on the Internet , and we considered the possibility that Stacy wasn’t who she said she was. Then about how she could use her acting skills to create a alternative personality online. Maybe even to help her acting career. She went for a role recently that required her to be a goth, and despite dressing up as one, her true personality was transparent. I think that says a lot about her, she is a genuine, honest person.

So when we parted at the end of the date, I was left wondering was she a nice friendly, shy, but not that adventurous girl? Thinking about it, and looking at the first questions I asked her in an email, I found something that shows and fun and spontaneous side of her, her answer to my question. So, the burrito is our first date, what would you like to do for our one year?

Well, I think it only right that we first return to the scene of the crime and celebrate the now-legendary burrito date that brought us together in the first place. And after that, I would suggest booking a last-minute flight to somewhere that neither of us have ever been, and just going. No pre-planning excursions or anything like that: just get off the plane and go wherever impulse leads us. Who knows, maybe it would give rise to a new tradition.

That’s a pretty great answer, unfortunately I think a one year anniversary is unlikely, although I would like to go to the theatre with Stacy at some point.

Vote for Stacy!

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#39 Angela N.

Posted on January 21, 2011 | 3 Comments

burrito date 37

A guy I met at the London Blog Club, Marco, suggested that I go on a date with his colleague Angela. He described her as Swedish, recently single, and an event organiser for the World Poker tour. Guys, she sounds like the kind of girl you’d like to take for a burrito, right!?

Angela works for Party Gaming, and I get the impression that she is a valued member of the team. Despite me arriving 15 minutes late to Chilango on Fleet St, Angela was still there and we enjoyed our burritos. Angela was a much tidier and eater than I, I think she was being conservative and left a bit at the end. While I just made a big mess of this one, I must have used like 30 napkins!

Angela left Sweden 13 years ago when she was 19, and has travelled around the world. She lived in Spain, Italy and France and finally settled here in London. I say settled, but this isn’t exactly true. She is always travelling with work, most recently she held an event in Madagascar, and she has lots of events coming up in Europe and well as trips to the World Poker Tour HQ in the US.

She isn’t settled in her London accommodation either. At one point she listed the places she lived in London, and there were so so many, about 7 I think in 6 years (give or take). She is currently in the process of moving apartment, because there is a mouse in her room. It was funny listening to Angela describe the mouse, but she was genuinely frightened – she’s been sleeping with the light on! The mouse have been there for 2months! And even worse, she recently found a dead mouse in her room. No wonder she is moving. With all the travelling she does, all the countries she lives in, you get the impression that she is never going to settle down.

The show we went to see was definitely the right choice for her. It was called Teatro Corsario: La Maldición de Poe, part of the South Bank mime festival. I have to say it was fantastic! It was based on Edgar’s Curse by Edgar Allan Poe. It was really dark, lots of death; the puppets both looked and preformed amazingly, and the story was told so well with classical music and Spanish utterances.

Afterwards, while drinking a bottle of Merlot, we both agreed that words were often unnecessary in visual performances. The Purcell Room bar area was crowed as people gathered for the Night Shift (The above photo is of Angela showing her Night Shift wrist tatoo/sticker). We took a table and listened to the atmospheric live music; a Marilyn Monroe doppleganger and a pianist who looked like he was wearing a wig. Some food, an entertaining show, and late night wine over looking the Thames with live music, not bad for just another burrito date. We both laughed, joked, enjoyed the surroundings, and when it was time to go, we even kissed good night!

I know lots of people, have some great friends, they are the people I am supposed to enjoy the company of, right? So isn’t it unusual that I can have so much fun with a stranger? On dates like this, I feel very lucky. I think there is a bit of magic about 52 burrito dates at the moment, and I’m going to role with it. Like last week, Ruth, who was 21, we had a super date and this week Angela, who is 33, another amazing date. Looking forward to date number 40 with Stacey next week!

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#38 Ruth B.

Posted on January 14, 2011 | 14 Comments

10:50pm
4 hours after we first met I walked Ruth to Angel tube station. We were still talking about lots of different things, and it felt like the date could have continued. We hugged good bye, and then both of us went to kiss at the same time, but we didn’t actually kiss. Ruth abruptly said ‘let’s keep in touch’, and i’m thinking, ‘let’s start to touch’. But I was like ‘ok’ and then went the other way. Awkward.

11:30pm

When I got home my brother had made this video. Whatever about his first attempt at iMovie, I think he has stumbled upon the theme tune for 52 burrito dates!! And failing that, I think Chilango should definitely play it in their restaurants!!

Around 3 months ago

Ruth was one of the girls who emailed after the article in the London Metro. At the time, I was replying to emails with the same 3 questions, about how we would celebrate our first aniversary, and questions about being a talkshow host and the favourite book she had read. Ruth’s answers were interesting, but it was more from following her on Twitter that I choose her for date. Ive stopped asking silly email questions.

7pm (back to the date)
We both were on time, and took our burritos upstairs. Ruth ordered a coke,  I got a water, and the first half an hour of the date was pretty dry too. Ruth is in the final part of a degree in Liverpool, she also does a lot with the Labour Party. We talked about politics. I was bored. And Ruth looked bored too. I was sure she had a nice smile, if only I could make her laugh. Those questions really didn’t serve their purpose of getting to know a little bit about her.

7:30pm
Surprisingly, it took the names of Kenny Daglish and Jedward to spark our date into life. We must have been talking about football and music at the same time.Burrito Date 38 Ruth loves Liverpool. I’ve always loved football too, and she also loves all sorts of music, she mentioned a few bands that I didn’t know, as I was giving her credit for music knowledge, she mentioned that she had just bought the Justin Bieber album! Not only that, she recently had her photo taken with Jedward! We both saw the funny side of it, but the joking stopped when she told me she had auditioned for X-Factor. Although she didn’t get through, she’ll probably try again. She still sings karaoke but she wouldn’t sing for me.

8:15pm
I wasn’t sure how the date was going, despite picking up a bit. I didn’t know if Ruth would like to go for a drink or not. There was a gig on in a pub near by, but I hadn’t suggested it before hand, deciding instead to see how the date was going. When I mentioned it, she didn’t seem to object, so I led the way…

Ruth is much younger than I am, and younger than many of the other burrito dates, she’s 21, I think she could be the youngest, I’m not sure? But she didn’t act it. She seemed so much more mature than some of the other dates who have recently graduated. She didn’t seem deluded about work, she didn’t seem insecure. I’ve had a few bad experiences, and I was trying to figure out if she was genuinely nice. She wants to work away in a store for the next couple of years, while writing a children’s book. I told her she should write one about Bieber and Jedward. I think she thought I was being serious.

9:30pm
We had a few drinks, and listened to what turned out to be decent music. It’s in the Lexington bar up in Angel; in the second date I went to see music there, and I’d recommend it if you’re ever in the area. I was glad we had decided to go see some music, Ruth clearly likes live music. We were getting on well. At this stage of the date, I was thinking, what woudl the Pick Up Artists do in this situation, and then I told her about the bootcamp, and all the tricks I learned. They definitely wouldn’t have done that!We were talking about all sorts of things, I can’t really remember, but I do recall enjoying myself.

Now.
Ruth wrote a blog post about the date, which I have just read. I get the feeling she had a good time. She says in her post, that she doesn’t see any romantic possibility. I’m not interested in anything serious either, I have another 14 dates to go on!! I d0 want to see her again though. There is a pub called The Birdcage on Columbia Rd, it does karaoke every Friday night, Ruth, if you’re free next Friday, I’ll see you there?

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#37 Charlie L.

Posted on January 7, 2011 | Leave a comment

Burrito Date 37

For a moment while I was sitting upstairs in Chilango, a place which has become a second home for me, with date number 37 at the table across, I felt like a character from one of my favourite movies: About A Boy. There is a scene in the movie, shown at the beginning of the below trailer, which shows girl after girl being dumped by Hugh Grant’s character.

I’m not nearly as cool as the guy int he movie, and I’m not dumping girls on these burrito dates, but there is a familiarity about it. I was munching my pork burrito with extra peppers and guacamole thinking that Charlie is a nice girl, and that it’s great to be on a date, but I don’t really fancy her. Wondering what the next date would be like, and with only 15 to go now, am I ever going to meet someone that it’s going to work out with?

After all it doesn’t really matter what happens, this is the story of 52 burrito dates, or 52 girls. So, I had to snap out of Hugh Grants shoes and back into reality…

I was excited about his date because Charlie was also interviewing me. She is currently interning for the North London Gazette, and her editor suggested she go on a date with me and do a feature on Chilango. There have been a few journalists, or aspiring writers on this blog. I think writing is a nice skill to have, epecially to be able to do so in a creative manner while making a career out of it. Charlie studied English at Warrick and now she is doing an MA in Journalism in London.

The other thing I find interesting about journalism is the new forms of media now open to journalists. Charlie is a blogger too, and we talked about some of the blogs some of her classmates write, as well as Twitter and the new buzz social questions site, Quora, which we had both recently signed up for. I liked that Charlie was open minded about the her future, she was focused on one publication, or one medium, instead knowing that she wants to write, and would consider all options. She mentioned The Times features writer Camilla Long, whom she met recently, as an inspiration.

I was keen to try out some of the tricks I learned on the Pick Up Artist (PUA) training bootcamp, but as I said, I didn’t fancy her, and just wasn’t bothered to create ‘emotional responses’ and work on ‘sexual esculation’.

Charlie is originally from London, but lived most of her life in the US near Washiongton DC. There wasn’t a hint of an accent, but the clue that gave away her American past was that she still regularly plays lacrosse. The first lacrosse player I have come across in London,  and supposedly there are quite a few!

So why didn’t it work out? The hour or so we spent chatting was enjoyable, but there wasn’t enough of an attraction for us to go on a second date. I’m glad I met Charlie though, another young media professional in London, and a new contact on Twitter!

It’s exactly one year since I moved to London from Dublin, where I lived for 7 years (give or take), and in all my time there I only went on a handful of dates. Now, I’ve been on dates with 37 different girls in London already, how mad is that!? I hope every year I spend in this City is as good as last year!

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#36 The Pick Up Artist Date

Posted on December 30, 2010 | 13 Comments

The girl on this burrito date will be referred to as G, I would like to keep her identity anonymous for reasons which will become obvious.

We were a pack of eight trainees on their first night-game Session. Prowling around the night club were four professional pick up artists, our trainers for the night. They advised on the approach to a girl: ‘smash that group over there with hi-5’s’, ‘use a direct approach with that girl in the red dress by the bar’, ‘act as a wing man and tell that girl that your friend is amazing’. We were a pack, up to something, unknown to all others in the club, like thieves in a shopping centre. We were the beginners, being told what to do. It was awkward, like learning how to ride a bike for the first time.

I was alone by the bar texting a friend. A slim African girl ordered a Bulmers Pear Cider. I used a “situational opening” by commenting that in Ireland that drink is known as Clonmel Champagne, while touching her elbow at the same time, the Kino technique. It worked, she didn’t run a mile! We chatted for a bit. She was here for a party and had to re-join her friends. I held my phone out in front on me and said ‘what’s the best way of keeping in touch’. She entered her number.

I’d like to think that what happened in that instance was all me. But that wouldn’t be the full story. It was the Saturday before Christmas, and I was on a weekend long Pick Up Artist (PUA) training Bootcamp in Central London. We had spent the entire day listening to trainers talking about opening approaches, conversational techniques, sexual escalation, day-game tactics, night-game tips etc. We had approached girls in the street during the day and got their phone numbers, and we were now putting what we had learned into practice in a night club called ONANON in Piccadilly.

I was suddenly back in the game. The trainers were interested in my ‘number close’ and encouraged me to persist the chase. It went on for a couple of hours and involved a lot of talking. The trainers would observe things from a distance – a distance seemed blatantly obvious to me. G was blissfully unaware of what was going on. The trainers would come up to us from time to time, hi-five me and whisper a tip in my ear, things like ‘use more kino Rich’, or ‘talk about her safety’.

At 2:30am we were in a cab back to mine. The guys had told me to ask about fantasies. It worked*. I didn’t have to initiate anything. Again, I would like to think it was because she liked me, but what was happening wasn’t a usual experience. At the back of my mind, I knew it was because of PUA techniques.

The next morning we hung out by Columbia Road flower market, we had coffees and read the papers. We wandered the snow covered streets, repairing a decapitated snowman which we named Gauguin. We talked art and literature, memories of Christmas and dreams for the future. I was glad that things were normal after Yesterday, and that G was a nice girl.

I was due back at Bootcamp at 12 noon for day 2, and of course G still had no idea about the PUA Bootcamp. We were on the Northern Line about to part ways and I suggested a Burrito Date during the week. We had talked about Burrito Dates the night before, G wasn’t totally adverse to the idea. To my surprise she suggested we went on our Burrito Date there and then. I knew that I wasn’t completely in control of this unusual situation but decided that I would go with the flow.

Burritos really are flexible food, and hit the spot once more that Sunday afternoon. We had a great day together, but it didn’t last. In the evening we were having coffee on Upper St., and I knew I had to tell her why I was in that night club.

Unsurprisingly she didn’t take it well. I explained that the whole thing, that she could have ended up would any of the other guys, and that if I really did care about PUA, I would have gone to day 2 of the Bootcamp instead of spending it with her.

I told her how we met was circumstantial, and that the important thing was that we met. I meant it. At that point on Sunday, I was happy to be with her. An hour later all was good, we were kissing again when we went our separate ways.

*We met again on the Tuesday. I told her that I enjoyed her company, but that I couldn’t offer anything else at this point. She understood, and thought that I should definitely continue with the 16 remaining Burrito Dates. Again we both seemed happy with that. Then there were more ‘stalkerish’ (her word) emails over the next few days which threw me a bit. It’s as if it was a manufactured relationship from the start, and despite getting on well together, it is doomed for failure. Do you think these series of event would have happened had I not used the tricks I learned on Bootcamp?

Bootcamp? I’m glad I gave it a go. It was a once off experience if nothing else! The guys were great and I learned a thing or two, but I think I’ll stick to burritos for the time being.

*Update: I have removed detail of fantasies and the poem G wrote in an effort to preserve anonymity.

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#35 m.

Posted on December 17, 2010 | 4 Comments

Update: Photo removed and name replaced with M after my date subsequently requested that she become annoymous on the blog.

Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park was the setting for burrito date 35. It had all the ingredients for a great date, Christmas lights, music, play ground rides, Christmas markets, alcohol and the essential burritos thrown in. And it did turn out to be a great date.

We met at marble arch tube and walked towards Winter Wonderland. It turned out that M was on this date as part of a dare from a friend!

M is 24 and works as a planner with a media agency in London; an agency not to unlike where I currently work. Shared a similar profession and an interest in all things marketing, we immediately had something in common . We swapped stories about what our jobs are like. I was impressed with how into it M seemed, and how she wanted to work in advertising since she was nine. She combines her role with digital comms planning as well, which is somewhat closer to what I do.

Although there are similarities in what we don’t today, our backgrounds very much differ. M was born in Yemen. Her mum is from Djibouti, and dad from Somalia. She can speak 5 languages, and has a Dutch passport. There is probably much more detail to where she has lived todate, but this is as much as I managed to digest!

As well as being a media professional, M is a writer. She has been in the UK for the past 9 years, spending 4 of those studying English post grad, and masters in Warrick University. She has already had a novel published, she told me it would dampen the mood if she told me about it, but I insisted. The book was about female circumcision. A topic not much discussed, and highly controversial in many countries. She is currently trying to find the time to complete the final 20,000 words of her second novel.

I was being particularly silly with jokes this evening. when we got to Winter Wonderland, I told her I had forgotten the burritos. She didn’t sound too impressed. I held a straight face for about 10 seconds and then we ordered some mulled wine with a shot of ammaretto for her and whiskey for me in one of the log cabins to wash down the burritos.

Fist we tried the ghost house ride, we both screamed. Then we had another mulled wine. I then persuaded M to go ice skating. She had not been before. After another drink for some dutch courage, we joined the 9pm slot. She fell immediately. I didn’t think we would be on the ice rink for long. I encouraged M to stay on. One of the assistants helped to teach her, and M admirable persisted. She was making progress despite an number of more falls, while insisting that she ‘was never doing this again’. I thought her attitude was great, as she laughed all the way through.

I really did think I was funny tonight, and continually mocked M for falling over, even did had impression of her falling backwards. Before we knew it the time was up, and as we left Hyde Park M told me that she wasn’t definitely going Ice Skating again.  We kissed on the way to a pub.  M kept on taking photos of me on her new blackberry, which she couldn’t use. She talked about the music she liked, and played me some dubstep dance music. I can’t remember what else we talked about in the pub. She was travelling towards Harrow so I said good bye to her at about 12 o clock. All in all, a really enjoyable date.

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#34 franca s.

Posted on December 14, 2010 | 10 Comments

burrito date 34

Franca and I have a lot in common. We both moved to London in January 2010. Both in our mid-twenties. Both have biggish families. Both have two sisters. Both lost a parent to cancer. Both work in the media ish. Both like burritos.

I had suggested a few shows we could go to, but nothing interested either of us and in the end we agreed to go for a drink in the Nags Head on Upper St. beforehand. I wasn’t immediately attracted to Franca, but if there is one thing I have learned, is that every girl is worth spending time to get to know, if even during one date.

Franca is from Toronto, and lives in Islington. She read about the blog on the Metro recently, and remembered that she had actually met Eric from Chilango on a night out recently. Like many of the burrito dates Franca is not originally from London, and the same adventurous personality trait that led her to this city has compelled her to try me and my blog out.

Her first job was with Goldman Sachs, and it wasn’t really for her. She was a PA for 26 analysists and they ‘didn’t even say good morning’. Her back ground is in multi-media and graphic design so she wanted to pursue a career in that. When she was offered a job with the BBC she snapped at it.

The date was moving at a fast pace, in the sense that a quick pint was followed by a brisk walk in the cold up upper st. to Chilango, where we both ate our burrito in about in about 10 minutes! We exchanged question after question about burritos, family, london, work etc. We had another drink there, but unfortunately the date wasn’t changing from ‘getting to know each other’ phase to ‘getting to like each other’ phase. We both did try, and I did enjoy her company. But when it was time to call it a night, we did just that.

This blog post is about 5 days late, excuses range from internet outage at home, busy at work, and lost Wifi password at Starbucks. But really, I was deciding what was the best way to tell you about an upcoming 52 burrito date adventure: Next weekend I am going on a ‘Pick Up Artist (PUA) training bootcamp in London. It’s basically the art of seduction, all the tricks detailed in Neill Strauss’s bestseller The Game. I’ve agreed to go on the bootcamp with the intention of picking up a girl to take on a burrito date and write about it.

This came about when an old school friend, who is now living in Australia, contacted me about the blog. He congratulated me on it and thought the idea was great, but he figured that I might need some help in the actual seduction department. He knew a few people; even people in London who might be able to give me some tutorship. He then sent a very persuasive email to The Gambler who agreed that the case of the 52 burrito date guy was an interesting assignment and decided to take me on. This might change the course of 52 burrtio dates!?

I realize that taking part in this bootcamp as part of 52 burrito dates is controversial and not completely in tune with the honest, up front nature of the blog. Also, the girls request the dates so why do I need to become a pick up artist? Another thing is that I have never read The Game, preferring to take the ‘girls will like me for who I am approach’. So why am I doing it?

  • There are people who are better than me at this that I can learn from
  • 52 burrito dates is not for ever and I will be in situations in the future where these skills will come in handy
  • I am not more confident talking with girls and going on dates, but I am still hopeless in nightclubs, bars and traditional pick-up places
  • I am sure to learn some communication skills that I can use not just for dating
  • 52 burrito dates hasn’t had any rules, and this is another case of going with the flow to see what happens

What do you think?

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#33 fernanda b.

Posted on December 3, 2010 | 9 Comments

This is the story of 52 burrito dates; 52 different dates, with burritos. No more, no less. There are no rules, it’s not a game.  Each entry is an attempt to accurately record my thoughts on the date and the girl.  Those who have been following the blog will have noticed something different about the last date. Each date brings a new audience to the blog, the girl’s friends.  The behavior in the comments section is representative of the date, and ever more reason why I am pleased to be moving swiftly on to date #33.

burrito date 33

This past Wednesday’s date,  Fernanda,  sent me a text at the last minute to say she had a boyfriend.  As I have gone on dates with ‘taken’ girls before,  some readers have asked me not to do it again on the grounds that it is a wasted date.  I asked you guys what you think, and to be fair most of you thought I shouldn’t go on the date.



A compromise was reached, I decided to go ahead with the date as it was at such short notice and we were both still keen, but I also agreed to write about the date with Halley (#9) which was to take place on Thursday, a non-burrito date.

Fernanda read about 52 burrito dates in Metro last month, and was intrigued by it; or rather she was intrigued by me.  She is a psychologist, the kind that has patients.  She is originally from Brasília in Brazil, but now has Dutch nationality because she  has spent 9  or 10 years in Holland. She has been living in London for the past 6 years. Fernanda didn’t write a review / report on our date / session, but if she did I imagine it would go something like this:

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Patient: Richard FitzGerald
Circumstance: Patient has been taking females on burrito dates and is having little success, he insists on taking me on a date so I can assess whether it is him or the dates that is the problem.
Time and Place: Old St/ Colombia Rd Christmas Market / Patient’s Apartment / Birdcage pub
Conditions: Snowy
Props: Burritos and Beers

Minutes:

7.05 PM – Meet with patient by Old St roundabout;  he has bike, burritos and some shopping including some Christmas wrapping paper. Is he going on a date, or going to visit a relative in hospital?
7:12 PM – Walk to patients flat where we consume burritos with beer;  I go along with patients normal behavior to put him as ease. His flatmate joins us, paitent does little to make this part of the ‘date’ romantic for me.
7:48 PM – Visit the arts and crafts shops on Colombia Road;  patient takes ages to notice that I am freezing and have no interest in all these shops. He is more interested in the shops than me. Finally I suggest we go for a drink.
8:02 PM – Entered the Royal Oak in pursuit of a drink and left again as it was too busy, again this was my suggestion as the patient is slow to pick up that somewhere quieter would be more suitable.
8:05 PM – Entered the Birdcage on Colombia Road for a drink,  (Aside, I think I could pick up a number of new clients in here). Patient has one eye on the football match on the TV, is he interested in it or me?
8:19 PM – I ask the patient some questions, and he talks at length about himself and his theories on life which I have absolutely no interest in. (Aside: barman Johnny circles the pub shaking everyone’s hand; maybe Johnny is already the psychologist to the customers here.
8:45 PM – I try to hint to the patient that this is a date, and ask him would he behave differently had I not mentioned I had a boyfriend. He seemed puzzled by this question, suerly he should have been absolutely clear on what his intentions were?
10.12 PM – Patient walks me to the tube station and the session ends. It was snowing and very romantic, but the patient didn’t make a ‘move’.

Doctor’s notes: A productive session with a new patient.  It was important to get to know him, and participate in his own environment to gain patient’s trust. Patient clearly has difficulties going on dates. Using an array of clever Psychology tricks I learned on a blackboard in a random classroom in Holland, I was able to stay on top of the situation and figure him out.

Doctor’s conclusion: The problem is definitely the patient, and not the burritos. The problem is greater than the burritos: removing them from the situation would only make matters worse.

Recommended treatment: This is a strange case. So interesting, that I would consider writing about it for my doctorate thesis instead of the topic I am working on about: the ‘disease’ nature of Heroin Addicts, to this curious case of the boy with the burritos. A regular session with this patient is required to ‘cure’ him and gradually wean him off the burritos and help him settle with a single female. I have my work cut out.

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As I said, Fernanda probably didn’t write a report on me. We were at ease with each other right from the start. I was great to go on a date with someone who was so attractive, interesting, and full of confidence, yet also very interested in getting to know me. We didn’t have any obvious interests in common. Sometimes opposites attract. It didn’t feel like therapy, well not really.

What about her boyfriend? He’s a guy she cares about, but I did get the sense that ours was a proper date.  She asked me not to write anymore on this, so I won’t.

My conclusion? I think that there are too many ifs and buts to overcome for Fernanda and me to work out.  It was great to meet her though, and I would be interested to meeting again.

So what about the following night’s date with Halley? You remember date number 9 right? Well, she has been rapping again. We finally got to go on a second date, and had a really good time. It wasn’t a burrito date so I won’t go into too much detail. Unfortunately the same chemistry wasn’t there this time, which I think both of us were hoping it would be. She’s a really cool girl and I hope we keep in touch.

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