Sweater feathers?: Not so much to say

The background

 Some people enter the Blind Date Challenge offering a virtual autobiography to help Matchmaker do her magic. "I have an argyle sock fetish, and once, when I was three, I fell off my tryke and bumped by head," they might write. "Oh, and I like my hamburgers well done."

This was not the case for this week's contenders, Justine and Robert. They each provided Matchmaker with scant information: 42-year-old Justine described herself only as a "single career woman looking to meet a man." Equally tight-lipped was 37-year-old Robert, who said he was a vegetarian artist interested in travel.

Sometimes less is more. Matchmaker decided to take a chance and threw these two to the wind. Did fate push them together, or was there a good reason neither had much to say? Hmm.....

The date:

 Justine and Robert went to Blue Bird Café on West Main Street.

Did you do anything out of the ordinary before the date?

Justine: Nothing out of the ordinary. I could not decide what to wear, but that's normal.

Robert: I showered, but I might have done that anyway because it was Friday.

Were you first or second to arrive?

 Justine: Second.

Robert: First.

What did you do while you were waiting?

 Robert: Filled my pockets full of the "complementary" sugar packets.

Were you nervous?

 Justine: A little bit. I think it was the typical feeling you get when you're having dinner with a stranger.

Robert: Yep.

First impression:

 Justine: Sexy, sweet. He was a pleasure to look at.

Robert: She was a bipedal hominid, so that was good.

Would you say this person was your type?

 Justine: I found him to be very intelligent. I like smart men.

Robert: I'd say that we weren't well paired.

Describe what your date was wearing...

 Justine: Blue shirt, jeans, boots.

Robert: Pants and a sweater with feathers sticking out.

Blue Bird Cafe

 What did you order?

 Justine: I had the pork and vegetable egg rolls, and linguine with shrimp, snow peas, feta cheese, and garlic. He had bread and a mixed vegetable dish.

How was it?

 Justine: The Blue Bird Café is one of my favorite restaurants. I always take friends and family there when they come into town. They have excellent food and many choices on the menu.

Did you share?

Robert: I reached for a salt shaker, and she, thinking I was going for her plate, stabbed me in the hand with her steak knife. Since there are no police reports of knifings on Main Street that night, it's possible Robert is trying to be funny. –MM

What did you talk about?

 Justine: Everything you can imagine. Travel, cultures, body art, education, family, genealogy, history. It flowed very naturally.

Robert: We talked about travel mostly. She knows a lot about her family tree, which was interesting.

Did you have a lot in common?

 Justine: We seemed to have a similar way of looking at the world. I felt we were both open to other ways of thinking.

Robert: I don't think we had too much in common, except for the bipedal thing.

What did you find out that was interesting about this person?

Justine: He has traveled to places I haven't been yet: Southeast Asia, Japan. I enjoyed listening to him talk about his travels. He didn't seem to be limited by too many borders.

Robert: She can trace her genealogy way, way back.

Was there anything you really disliked?

 Justine: I don't know him well enough to dislike anything.

Robert: She was really nice (except for the steak knife incident).

Was there "chemistry" between you?

Justine: I think there was some attraction, but I'm not sure it was physical.

Robert: In my recollection, we had no chemistry.

Did you decide to go somewhere after dinner?

 Justine: We didn't go anywhere afterwards.

Robert: Didn't even discuss it.

What was the very end like?

 Justine: We said goodbye. No definite end. It was more of a pause.

Robert: Weird.

Exactly who was the weird one, Robert?–MM

A kiss?

 Justine: Nothing physical.

Robert: No, thank you, I have a cold.

Did you have fun?

 Justine: I had a great time. I found him fascinating.

Robert: I'm glad I did it, but wouldn't do the BDC again.

Would you see this person again?

 Justine: Yes. I would like to.

Robert: We're way too different.

Overall date experience?

 Justine: The evening went better than I expected. I thought I would be bored. Many men talk about the same things. I find them pre-programmed and not very real sometimes. You could never in a hundred years find Robert boring. Our conversation was all over the board.

Robert: She was really swell, and I was really uptight.

Now we learn Robert is a master of understatement! –MM.

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate the date?

 Justine: 8

Robert: 5