I need a new sign

The hell? Was I so evil in a past life that I'm doomed to suffer here on earth, at least when it comes to dating?

Christ on a stick, I have been corresponding with a guy I met on PoF. He seemed nice and we decided to meet. I invited him over for Indian food for our first meeting (and in doing so probably threw out every dating advice ever written). He accepted and we planned for tonight. I had my evening mapped out - I would order the food from work, pick it up on my way home, and do a quick clean before he arrived.

Like the taking-the-cats-to-the-vet episode, everything started out well: I was able to leave work on time, I picked up all the food (tons and tons because I'm having a girls' night on Friday and picked up all the food for that at the same time), and got home and was able to clean my place enough so that it looked good. All that was ready was for me to set the table and I was good to go.

The whole time I kept checking my email to see if he'd confirmed when he was arriving. It was odd - I had received an email from him this morning and he stated that he would check his email throughout the day for my response. I had responded, but hadn't heard again from him. Not a big deal though - this guy is highly reliable. Calls when he says he will, etc.

Then I thought back a little about the email. This guy works shift work and has to pick up shifts from time to time. I had assured him last night that if he picked up a shift that he wasn't to worry - we would just reschedule. The email this morning mentioned that first thing in the morning he had picked up a shift and was heading into work. But as it ended with 'see you soon', I thought we were still on for tonight.

In retrospect, I realize that he was being nice and meaning he would reschedule with me. I realized this only at 7pm [when he had been due to arrive] as I remembered that his shifts were 12 hours each. Duh!!!!! This would be bad enough, except that I had sent him an email earlier in the day saying, "Okay, see you after your shift", letting him know that I am obtuse.

This email was followed by a text message at 7:00 correcting my error. I texted him because I'm weirdly shy about phoning people I don't know well. That would be fine except the number I had is apparently his home phone and not a cell phone. I realized this when I got a text message from my phone company mentioning that they had read the message to his machine. Oh good grief. Now I seem like a freak.

I hope he sees the humour in it all and does reschedule. If not, I'll live. In the interim, I have double orders of lamb curry and dahl in the fridge, not to mention single orders of rice, eggplant, matar paneer, butter chicken, and chicken tikka. I called my landlady and invited her round for dinner when she gets home from work. No point in wasting good take-out!