I only want what I can't have

I think if I imposed the sushi criteria on Carrie she would fail that test. On our way to dinner last night, she mentioned that she didn’t like eating seafood; I didn’t press the issue beyond that, but I fear if I had I would have found my enthusiasm for raw fish unmet by her. No matter, though, as I will continue to live in ignorant bliss for the time being.

We met up after work last night and opted to go out for a bite to eat. After she shot down my suggestion for seafood, I mentioned Indian food as an alternative. This was fine with her, as long as the food wasn’t spicy. As with many other ethnic cuisines, I knew it would be possible to strip the food of its intended flavors, making it bland, and thus palatable, so I assured her we’d be fine. Dinner was good and she didn’t end up running off to the bathroom with steam coming out of her ears, so I think she came away satisfied as well. In the course of our conversation at dinner, I learned that she was actually hired on as a celebrity stand-in for Sarah-Jessica Parker by an agency up in LA. I guess they hire her out to show up at parties posing as SJP.

After dinner, we went to a little place that specializes in desserts and shared some sort of chocolate smothered, chocolate infused chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. In short, it was a chocoholic’s wet dream. It was good, but I certainly wasn’t in need of a cold shower afterwards. Following dessert, we went back to my place to hang out for a bit. We talked for a bit as well as participated in some more “adult” activities.

She also made sure that I knew that she, “really liked me!” So much for the thrill of the chase. It’s nice to hear, of course, but somehow it takes just a little too much of the mystery out of the equation. How stupid does that sound? Here is someone who’s actually being upfront with me by letting me know how she feels (something all men incessantly complain about not knowing), and it annoys me because I don’t want to know if she likes me yet. Lousy human nature…
 

--Dating Fool [4:02 PM] 0 comments

  Issues Abound

I had another date with Giggles last night; I fear her days may now be numbered. I picked her up from work around 7:00 and we went to grab a bite to eat. I suggested sushi as the fare of choice for the night and she enthusiastically agreed. I’m thinking about making sushi one of my shallower dating criteria. I want to end up with someone who is willing to try new things and is adventurous with food; I feel that sushi is a good test of these qualities.

Dinner was going well until about halfway through when this little conversation took place:

G: “There’s something I have to tell you.”

DF:Nothing good has ever followed those words. I braced myself for whatever she was about to bestow upon me. “Ok…”

G: “I was pretty nervous when we got together the other night and the reason is that I just got out of a major relationship a few months ago.”

DF: Hmm, that would explain why she was acting so standoffish the other night. Perhaps this could be a good thing; after all, it will mean taking things really slow and that’s what I’m looking for. I mean, the last thing I want right now is a relationship. “That’s ok; I actually just got out of a relationship myself not too long ago.”

G: “How long did it last?”

DF: “About a year and a half. Yours?” Crap, things were going sour rapidly. The last thing we should be talking about on a date is our past relationships. My mind started racing with possible alternative subjects to interject into the conversation.

G: “Four years.”

DF: Four years isn’t so bad, I mean, it’s not like she just got divorced or anything. “Well, there’s no sense in trying to put pressure on what’s going on here. We’ll just take things easy and whatever happens, happens.”

G: “There’s something else…”

DF: Oh, Christ. “What’s that?”

G: “We were engaged to be married.”

DF: Fantastic! Now things were really going to hell in a hand basket! “I’m sorry to hear that…”

G: “Yeah, it’s actually one of the main reasons I moved back here.” (she’d moved back into town about 2 months ago)

DF: “So, uh, do you have any pets?”

G: “I used to have a dog, but Andrew kept him.”

DF: Oh, his name’s Andrew. That’s good to know; perhaps you have some pictures you can show me so I can put a face to the name? I’d really like to solidify this whole experience. Check please! “That’s too bad…um, read any good books lately?”

Once we got off that subject, the rest of dinner was actually quite enjoyable. After eating, I suggested we go play a little miniature golf since neither of us could remember the last time we actually did so. This, unfortunately, led to another minor setback.

Because she hadn’t planned on hitting the links, she deemed her chosen footwear for the evening inappropriate and asked if it would be ok if we stopped off somewhere and picked up a pair of flip-flops. Not a problem, and conveniently enough, there happened to be a Wal-Mart across the parking lot from the restaurant. Once inside the store, it took us a couple minutes to find the flip-flop section, but after doing so, we were greeted with a very wide assortment of styles and colors. I figured we would just grab the first acceptable pair and be on our way. Wrong. It was then that I began to worry that Giggles might be a tad high maintenance. For the life of her, she could not find a style that she liked. Allow me, now, to share my interpretation of the situation; we’re in the market for a two-dollar pair of flip-flops that will be worn on a miniature golf course and then likely discarded at the end of the night—there was no need to spend 15 minutes trying to find the perfect pair of sandals. I found myself starting to get mildly annoyed. Fortunately, she soon picked up a tolerable pair of flip-flops and we were able to move forward with the evening.

On the course, things went extremely well. As with any good natured game of golf, there had to be something at stake, so we agreed that the loser would buy the winner ice cream. There was plenty of playful banter as we putted our way along and a good time was had by all. In the end, I had her beat by a few strokes and so to me went the spoils. Unfortunately, all of the providers of spoils were closed by then, so I had to take a rain check on dessert.

I drove her back to her car and we stood outside for a good 20 minutes or so, talking. Most of the time were standing there, the only thoughts running through my head were of dinner and her relationship and how it was going to affect the end of the night and the rest of my time with Giggles.

What’s really bothering me is that I actually had a great time with her. I find her very attractive and every time we hang out, we become a lot more comfortable with each other. She’s an interesting girl who’s had a lot of life experience and provides unique viewpoints. Of course, the logical side of me is telling me to get the hell out while I still can; there is probably a lot more baggage here than I care to deal with.

Ironically, I just received a call from Giggles. She told me that she is making some chocolate cookies tonight and wanted me to come over and help. Unfortunately, I have a date with Carrie tonight, so it looks as though I will have to satisfy my sweet tooth another time.
 

--Dating Fool [2:24 PM] 0 comments

  The Week in Review

By Saturday night, I was starting to feel the effects of Vegas, but I had a lot more energy than I had anticipated, so I went through with my plans to get together with my friend and the two girls. We all met up at a nearby hotel bar around 10:00PM for a few drinks. My friend's co-worker's sister (who I'll call Giggles, from this point forward, because the first couple times I talked to her, she would nervously giggle after saying something) looked as I remembered her; cute, and well put together.

Overall, the night went quite well and I was able to talk to Giggles for an extended period of time. I could tell that she was a little nervous talking to me, but I found it kind of charming. Meanwhile, her sister was acting a tad off; dancing by herself in the middle of the bar, hanging around for a few minutes and then mysteriously disappearing for lengthy stretches of time, going outside to smoke and then claiming that she didn't smoke.

Last call came rather quickly and soon we found ourselves back on the street. The girls had parked at a friend's house a few miles away, so my friend and I offered them rides back to their car. Giggles rode with me and my friend took care of the sister. We pulled up to the front of the house and the two of us sat in the car, talking, for another 20 minutes or so. Finally, the sister came over and told Giggles that it was time to go home. I was sure to get her number this time and promised that I would be in touch.

On Wednesday, I got together with Carrie for the ol' dating staple, dinner and a movie. We had dinner at a local pizza/brewery themed restaurant and then went to see the film, Super-Size Me (an excellent film, by the way). Dinner was great, there was nary an awkward moment and I found my time with Carrie to pass very painlessly (so much so, that we almost missed the start of the movie). After the movie, I invited her back to my place for a bit and we ended up talking for hours. Things went well enough that she invited to join her and her friends on her birthday in two weeks. If that's not a tell-tale sign of interest, I don't know what is. We ended the night with a good-bye kiss and tentative plans to see each other the following week.

Thursday, I had set up a lunch date with Giggles. I got to the restaurant, as scheduled, just before noon and awaited her arrival. At around :10 after, there was still no sign of my date and a flurry of concerns started to circle my head; was I in the right place? We did say, 12:00, right? Is it too much to call if you're going to be late? I hope my boss doesn't notice how long I'm gone, etc. As though she'd heard my thoughts, Giggles called my phone right on cue to let me know she was running a few minutes late. I relaxed a bit and started people watching to kill time.

I wasn't paying too much attention to the people entering and exiting the restaurant, but I happened to glance to my side at one point and saw a very attractive woman walking towards the door. Damn, I wish I was having lunch with her, I thought to myself as I turned my attention back to the other people in the waiting area. Seconds later, the same woman I saw walking up to the restaurant was suddenly at my side. She then greeted me with a, "Sorry I'm so late."

I was dumbfounded; I couldn't believe this was the same girl I had met before. When I'd met her the two previous times, she had been in fairly casual clothes and wasn’t too done up. This time, she was dressed for work, was wearing makeup and looked very, very good. Our lunch went quite well, albeit a bit short (since I had to get back to work). Our interactions were fairly smooth, however there were a few notable lulls in the conversation.

We got together again last night (Sunday) to hang out and watch a movie at my place. She got there around 7:30 or so and, after some idle chit-chat, I opened up a bottle of wine and we sat down to watch our movie. Throughout the entire film, I couldn't help but notice her body language. She spent most of the time leaning away from me on the armrest, with her legs and/or arms crossed. After the movie finished, we continued to sit and talk on the couch. Unfortunately, her body language didn't really improve. However, at some point, her personality switch suddenly turned to "hi" and she really warmed up, conversationally. She began telling stories of her family and growing up, past jobs, where she'd lived and traveled, and a host of other topics. Once this transition was made, the night began to fly by and suddenly it was one in the morning. I had to get up in a few short hours, so I suggested we call it a night. She too was getting tired and agreed. I walked her out to her car to say goodnight. Sadly, there were no intimate moments to speak of, but we did make plans to get together again on Tuesday.
 

--Dating Fool [3:46 PM] 0 comments