Table For One
My friend and I were meeting for dinner the other night. In true Annie (name has been changed) fashion, she was late. Why didn’t I plan accordingly? Because I wasn’t thinking. As if cued to humiliate me, the maitr;d showed me to the bar and for the first oh, 15 minutes or so, I was fussing around my iPhone just to look like I had a trace of a social life. But, after the first 15 minutes and one drink, I began to revel in being at the bar by myself. For one thing, I was looking cute.
Sure, there were times when I thought other people were looking at me, pitying me, or judging me that I must be so unpleasant not to even have ONE friend to dine with. Then I realized a lot of people were too into themselves to notice me and my party of one. My fear of dining alone was unfound.
Anyhow, basically I used to think that dining alone was embarrassing. A giveaway sign that I had no friends. But it’s quite liberating and frankly, relaxing to eat by myself. I could order whatever I wanted without worrying about how to split the bill or more importantly, that I could eat like a football jock.
To highlight how eating alone is not a detriment to your social life but, maybe even a blessing in disguise for your romantic life is the story of my friend’s mother. She was a widow and worked as a nurse. After her daughter left for college, she didn’t care to cook for herself at home. Instead, she dined at the local restaurant after work every day. After a while, a gentleman approached her and asked “Hi, I’m xxx. You eat alone here everyday, I eat alone here everyday. Would you mind if I join you and we eat together”? Just like that, they found a companion in each other and have been together ever since.
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pillowchats 
I would have figured some “opportunist” would have swooped in to ask you why you are by yourself but then again, people can be very self-absorbed.
I remember travelling alone to Singapore for a holiday and every lunch time I would eat by myself. Like you said, people are too into themselves to notice anything else. I was hoping some girl would approach me and keep me company but that rarely happens anyway. Haha.
haha, you would imagine that would make it easier for someone to approach you, but I think everyone also just assumed that you are there to “meet up” with someone so they don’t want to intrude on a possible date. Who knows.
As for a girl approaching a random guy…I think rare is an over statement.
you had commented on my blog sometime ago. i appreciate it. i have a post up-i knowi haven’t written in ages…
i have no shame, i’ll eat by myself with or without my people…haha.
a lot of my friends say they won’t eat by themselves though…i always wonder why.
it’s been quite some time since i’ve visited the site, forgot about it actually..keep up the good work!