Mr. Unavailable #111: It's Not Him, It's Me

See Mr. Unavailable #111 for the background on this one.

Date #2: Cafe el Portal, Elizabeth Street in Soho. A Thursday in June, 2010.

Update: There's something wrong with me. After a fantastic first date, the moment I saw #111, my excitement disappeared. He seemed less attractive, shorter, more balding and less engaging than before. And the things I didn't like about him on the first date became magnified--his devil's advocacy and funny ways of talking.

I always knew that my enthusiasm for the guys I'm dating wanes on the even-numbered dates (i.e., after a great first date, I tend to build them up in my head and then am disappointed on the second date when they're not what I "remembered"), but this was somehow more severe. And I think he could tell because he seemed a lot less sure of things at the end of this one than at the end of the last one (and emailed me as soon as he got home instead of waiting until the next day).

Signs of Hope: I'm not sure what to make of my sudden change of heart unless I really am subconsciously terrified of available men, but he's doing almost everything right--picking the places, coming to my neighborhood, paying, walking me home, emailing me soon afterward. He is also very easy to talk to in that if he says something that bothers me, I can tell him. He also says that he's pretty self-aware, which is an attractive feature, I suppose...

Red Flags: ...Except that he's the one who keeps saying he's self-aware. He also has a habit of bringing up past girlfriends. He even told me a story about one of them when they were "in bed."

Diagnosis: It's looking like there will be a third date and I will go on it. Here's hoping some enthusiasm returns.