Tara liked Rick and was attracted to him. Except as they sat in her kitchen and he told her about himself, she was having trouble focussed on his language. She was accepted this wisdom about the open urn in the fridge and how she really, really wanted a wineglass of joy. It was, after all, a first date - a demanding condition at the greatest of era. But she wasn't sure she should build that progress. Rick, as a mutual friend had informed her, was a recovering alcoholic. In the end, Tara strong-willed to forgo the libation, and broken up having, as she said, "great sex for 10 hours!" But let's face it: Dating is tough enough without greasing the wheels with a little public lubricant. Alcohol can help, or seem to, in a number of ways. It can loosen you up, relieve tension, allow you to focus, warm you up and permit you to go down your guard long sufficient to let the person get to know more about you and vice versa. Not to talk about, a couple of snacks can make the other person seem (for better or worse) infinitely more attractive. But what happens when you take alcohol out of the equation? For those in revival, an already demanding skill can be magnified, while the more moderate boozer, faced with a date on his third Shirley Temple, force find herself wondering if she shouldn't ordered that Rusty Nail.