Greetings to All!

I know we need the rain, but overcast, wet days in NYC are abit depressing. You guessed it, today is one of them. Plus this weather messes up my sinus. Oh well ... can't win for losin.

Anyhow ... interesting news ... went out last evening on a dinner date with a new chap. Jorge is from South America, recently divorced, a successful business man, charming and about five years older than I. We met via Yahoo Personals, exchanged several emails and a phone call or two before going on a date. We arranged to met at 6:30pm outside a very chic French bistro [La Goulue] on Madison Avenue and 65th Street. Many of the restaurants on Madison Avenue [upper eastside of Manhattan] are very nice, good food/service, as well as abit pricey. A gal with my salary really cannot afford to frequent them, but maybe once or twice a year for special occasions. The Maitre'd escorted us to a cozy little corner table with views outside the open windows, a few other tables and front entrance activities. It was still early in the evening and the bistro was only half full. Jorge has excellent manners, intelligent, considerate and as I said before ... charming. That jerk I had lunch with in August cannot compare.

We ordered wine [I had white & Jorge had red] and listened to what our waiter had to say about the days "specials". The selections sounded very agreeable, but we still wanted to check out the menu. While looking it over we engaged in delightful conversation on numerous topics and it stayed like that throughout evening. For our appetizer I picked a delicious mixed green salad with truffle dressing and Jorge had a fois gras. Our main meal consisted of lobster/crab cakes on veggies [me] and a roasted pheasant with spinach/mushrooms [Jorge]. We shared a yummy dessert of French apple tart with lemon sorbet.

All the while we were eating and conversing the restaurant was filling up with customers. Let me tell you ... these people have that "rich/snobby" look stamped all over them. Even Jorge said that most of them are big ass snobs. Most of the men [obviously of successful business dealings] wore expensive looking suits with confidence. But it was the women that surprised me the most. Most of them ranged in age from 30 to early 60s. All of them wearing expensive clothing, jewelry, elegant hair-do's and tons of makeup. Many of the older women you could tell had one or several facelifts. Two older women sitting two tables away from us [with two older men] were a sight to see. I was like ... OH MY GOD! Freaky! It was like looking at an older, female version of Michael Jackson. I'm sorry all, but that dude is freaky looking these days with his thin white face, makeup and breathless Marilyn Monroe voice. I even brought to Jorge's attention the one elderly dame with dark hair-do. Jorge glanced and then laughed. He said, thats not her hair, she's wearing a hat. I looked again and we both laughed. During that last half hour at the restaurant I felt frigid glances from several of the women. It was very strange. Even tho my manners et al were just like theirs or even better, I felt abit like a country bumpkin. Afterwards we strolled around the neighborhood talking. At 9:45pm Jorge drove me to Citicorp on East 51st Street so that I could catch the subway home. He's a charming, delightful chap and I wouldn't mind seeing him again. Stay tuned........................