Never Felt So Alive

How do you get over being stood up on Saturday?

Plan dates for Monday through Friday.

Notice I said "plan," not necessarily go through with.

And I mean "dates" very loosely.

Monday was a great start.  Monday was a guy I had been talking to on the Internet for about two months but I put off going out with him because his pictures were fuzzy or far away so that I couldn't really tell what he looked like.  All I could make out was what I thought were bushy eyebrows.  Eek! 

Well, maybe the lack of clearness in the pictures was misleading because in person, he was actually very attractive.  We met at a bar after I got off work.  He had a couple of beers (I had one), and we played several games of pool (I won most) and left.

As we were walking out, he says, "I think that guy in the white shirt likes you."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because he did this as we walked by," and he looked me up and down. 
Oh yes, love when that happens!

Major downside to this guy:  Lives with his parents.
Reason to overlook major downside:  Waiting to hear from med schools.
Will probably go out with Monday again.

Tuesday was not as successful.  Also met through the Internet, I had been talking to this guy about a month and spent a few hours on the phone with him.  I loved talking to him on the phone.  He had a good sense of humor and could carry the conversation (which I need since I'm not much of a talker).  His pictures were ok, none of them were of him smiling, unusual because it didn't fit his personality.

So, we spoke at 6:30pm before I left work and agreed to meet for dinner at 7:30pm.  I left work, arriving at the restaurant at 7:25pm.  There was a wait, so I got a pager and sat down outside.  About 7:35pm, he calls.
"Where are you?"
"Outside."
"You're at the restaurant??"
"Yeah ..."
"Oh my gosh, I thought you were going to call me before you left!" (Umm, we just talked an hour ago ...) "I'm just now leaving my house.  I'll be there in 10 minutes.  I'm sorry!"

As I was waiting, the pager went off.  I took it inside and said, "I'm sorry, he's not here yet, can you put me at the bottom of the list?"
"You ARE the bottom of the list."  Embarrassing!  I hand them their pager and go back outside.

Finally, he walks up.  Initial inspection:  bad, greasy hair!  Second observation:  bad teeth!  Mystery about the pictures solved!

We go inside and have a loud, obnoxious dinner where he complains about the people he works with through his gapped, brownish-looking teeth.  I tried not to look at or listen to him for fear of losing my appetite.  In my attempt to ignore the person across from me, I spot a guy I know carrying food to a table.
I ask the waitress, "Do you know Amish?"
"Yeah!  Oh my gosh, did you hear about him and his ex-girlfriend?!"
"No, I didn't know his girlfriend ..."  I trailed off, because I hadn't meant to get into gossip about him! haha
"Oh, it was horrible!"  She goes on to tell me the story.  Finally, she asks, "Do you want me to tell him you said hi?"
"No, that's ok.  I'll go say hi myself.  Where is he?"
She points me to the other side of the restaurant.  I leave my date in the foyer area while I stop to say hi.  I was determined that this night was not going to be a complete bust.  I was at least going to converse with something good-looking.

After I said hello, I walked out with Tuesday who expressed interest in hanging out this weekend. 
He said, "I'll call you Friday."
I said, "Ok" ... maybe we could still be friends ...
He said, "If you're lucky, I'll call you Thursday."
I thought to myself, If I'm lucky, you won't call me at all.

Well, in his eyes, I'm very lucky apparently because I did get that phone call on Thursday, and I felt so honored that I just didn't know what I would say and couldn't bring myself to answer. 

Wednesday was not so much a date in my eyes as it probably was in the eyes of the guy I was going out with.  It was Tonto who I once worked with but he has since switched companies. 

We had a relationship where everyone who didn't know us thought that we were dating although he was married with one kid and I was actively dating.  So, of course, there were several jokes about us doing it on his desk, in the phone closet, etc.  They grossed me out.  He suggested making it reality.

Naturally, when I planned dinner with him (I needed to vent my frustrations about work to someone who would understand, he needed to vent about his ongoing divorce), the jokes began. 

Never had I felt so fortunate to get sick.  I woke up Wednesday morning with a headache, called in sick and emailed Tonto to let him know I wouldn't make it.  Surely he will want to reschedule.

Thursday was a date with a guy also met through the Internet (what a surprise!) and from Ohio.  He flaked before I could.  Must be an Ohio thing.

Friday was supposed to be a night of drinking with a guy I know from the bar.  Have to be careful with this one though since he is married.  I'm definitely attracted to him and wish that circumstances were different, so I just have to remember my Catholic beliefs, even if he does walk around saying, "It's cheaper to keep 'er."  It is probably best for both of us that he didn't call.

Tonight, however, was completely unexpected!  I came home from the bar, was relaxing a bit when someone knocked at the door.  It was the neighbor's good friend/business partner. 
"Any big plans tonight?"
"None."
"Wanna come out to dinner with us?"
"Sure."
"Ok, well bring anyone who wants to come too."

So, we triple dated.  Neighbor and Wife.  Me and Neighbor's Friend.  Val and Danielle.

What a great time!  Plus, Neighbor's Friend kept leaning over and touching me at every opportunity.  Another new and interesting development ...

Tomorrow night is my 4th date with "Moose."

I met Moose through www.myspace.com. He sent me a message, was very forward, said he didn't like talking over the Internet, here was his phone number, send him a text message later.
"I can't do that. What if you are a crazy stalker?"
"What if you're annoying?"

Good point. That shut me up.

I thought about it ... and thought about it ... and decided against it. I learned my lesson. Even giving my number to people I thought I knew always seemed to end up being a bad idea.

I didn't think anything of it until my co-worker, Sharon, pulled up my online profile and was looking through my pictures.  She came to one that Moose had commented on.
"Ooohh, who's that? ... he's pretty!"

We looked at his profile together, and I realized that she was right!  He was cute!
"You need to try to hook up with him!" she said.

So I made it my mission.

A couple of emails later, we were setting up our first date.  Our initial plans didn't work out.  The only night he was free, was a night I assumed I had plans with my friend, Kristin, to go to Vision "on the list", but she never called. 

I couldn't pass up another opportunity to go out with him so when he suggested the following Friday night, I said yes, completely forgetting a co-worker's going away party!  Fortunately, I was able to make a brief appearance at the party, and then began to get ready for my date with the help of all of my female co-workers. 
One of my co-workers went a little too far in her critique, however, when she said, "And THAT'S what you're wearing??!!"

I headed to Chili's, arriving five minutes late, of course.  He was outside waiting ... and he was cute!  We had a nice dinner and a movie afterwards. 
As we were walking out of the theater, I asked him what his plans for the next day were.  It was midnight and I was worried I was keeping him out too late.
"Just going to the pool and going to the gym.  Why?  Are you implying that we should hang out tomorrow?"
"Oh, I was just curious.  I'm supposed to go out with the girls tomorrow ... but do you want to hang out if my plans fall through?"

So, we left it that I would call him as soon as I heard from the girls whether or not we were going, but sure enough, he was calling me at 12:45pm wanting to know if I had heard from them or not. 

Nothing yet.

My sis and our summer roommate went outside to wash our cars.  I got a headache from the heat and the dehydration.  I sent Moose a text message at 4pm and said that I was staying in. 
He responded, "Me too, but I have some Advil here if you're interested ..."

The roommates and I put in a movie.  He called at 8pm, wanting to know if my headache was any better.
"It is, actually!"  I said, feeling much better all of the sudden and he invited me over.

There, we watched maybe 15 minutes of Ladder 49 before the making out started.  I was surprised by this.  I was especially surprised by how far he tried to get on the second date.  We had gone from nothing to everything in a day.  Luckily, I had to work the next morning, so I had an excuse to leave somewhat early before he tried anything else.  I was a little put off.

I sought the opinion of several people about the situation and the response was generally the same, "He's a guy, and guys are going to see what they can get from a girl."  Well, this wasn't acceptable to me but it did help me to decide to try at least one more date and if it happened again, let him know that it was moving too fast. 

We made plans on Tuesday to go out to dinner on Wednesday at 7pm.  I called him when I got off work at 5pm to give him directions to my place.  No answer so I left him a voicemail.  An hour went by and Val called and asked me to go to a cookout with her but I couldn't say either way because I wasn't quite sure if I was being stood up.

Another 20 minutes went by and Val called again.  I still hadn't heard from Moose.  Val was getting impatient. 
"Just go then!"  I said.

Moose finally called at 6:45pm.  By that point, I was upset, and it probably would have been better if he had not called at all. 
"I'm on the freeway.  Can I get directions?"
"I called to give you directions ... 2 hours ago."
"I'm sorry.  I came home from work and got in the shower until 6:15pm."
"Why didn't you call me at 6:15pm?  I almost made other plans ..."
"Well, do you still want to go to dinner?"
"I already ate."
"What?!"
"I thought I was being stood up."
"Why would you think that?"
"You didn't call.  I'll go sit with you while you eat though."
"No, I don't want you to have to just sit there.  Can I stop by and see you?"

So I gave him directions and damn, he looked cute when I opened the door.  We talked briefly and he left ... but he was calling as soon as he got back to his place.  We decided it was just bad planning on both our parts and made plans for tomorrow night. 

Hopefully that will go better!

Well, not much news on the dating front unfortunately. 

My friend, Hannah, and I decided to go to a bar in Atlanta to celebrate her 23rd birthday since they were having a big ol' party for Memorial Day.  We were standing outside, listening to the band, singing, dancing, flirting shamelessly in several unsuccessful attempts to get guys to buy us drinks. 

One especially interesting attempt was our very first attempt when two older gentlemen (older as in 45-ish maybe?), very trashed, stopped to talk to us.  One of the guys was all over me, wanting to touch my abs, wanting to thumb wrestle (???).  The least he could do was buy us a drink!  It became apparent that we weren't going to sway these guys when the shot girl came by and they declined and then when they asked us why we weren't drinking and we pointed to our empty beers.  We walked away.  So wrong, I know.  But all in a night's fun.

We had drifted to the side of the stage where there was a green, polo shirt laying crumpled on the ground.  Umm, didn't anyone notice they were missing a shirt??  So, the next approaching guy's big line ...

"Is that your shirt?" (pointing to the one on the ground)  And that shirt became the "meeting point" the rest of the evening.  If Hannah and I went to the bathroom, or if this guy and his friend left to get a beer, the meeting point was The Green Shirt.

This was a very good-looking, well built guy.  He encouraged me to guess his age.  I said 24.  He said 30.
"Wow, you look better than most 24 year olds I know!"
"Well, you look better than most girls I know."

Ok, you got me with that one.  So, we made plans to go out.

Yesterday, he sent me a text message, asking me what time I wanted to meet up for dinner.  I said 8pm, I wanted to go home and get a shower and a nap first.  I called him at 7pm to see where to meet him. 
"I made reservations at an Italian restaurant for 8:30pm."  Smart guy.  He knows that when a girl says 8, she really means 8:30!

Well, 8:30 turned into 8:45 due to my complications with getting to the restaurant.  First, I realized that I had left my iron plugged in at the house and had to turn back.  On top of that, it was raining and every couple of minutes, my windshield wipers would get stuck, one inside the other!  So, I would have to pull over and pull the wipers apart ... not an easy task surprisingly.  They were REALLY stuck! 

I had a nice, normal, uneventful evening.  I told him the girls at work will be disappointed Monday when I don't have a story about the new whacko I went out with.  I was grateful for the lack of drama that evening, but I wonder if I was bored??

The shirt he wore?  A green polo shirt.  And not the one from the ground of the bar ...