So, I had been getting a little bored of the talent that was spreading across the pages of match.com. I either kept seeing faces of guys I have already winked at, emailed with or even dated...and then a bunch of other guys that just aren't even worth a second look (sorry if that's mean, but it's true). My eye's have it down to a science, where I can quickly scan through the thumbnail pictures on my iphone and pick out the most decent ones. It only fails me about 20%, which can come back to bite me since everyone can tell when you look at their profile and it may seem like you're interested. Anyway, my eyes were doing their job when they came across and stopped on this one profile. His big smile shined, even through the tiny thumbnail. Immediately I clicked on his profile to scan the rest of his 20 pictures he had up. Everything checked out nicely...hair-brown, eyes-brown, height - 6 ft, good body, good clothes. Since the pictures checked out it was time to read about him, aka Phase 2 of "matching". He had a college degree (always a must), he was interested in the same things I was and he seemed to be looking for a girl like me so of course I winked.
The concept of "winking" is so ridiculous but at the same time I am completely on board with it. When you send a message right away you are really putting yourself out there. I find it less demoralizing to not get a wink back then to not get a message back...HOWEVER..getting the "Thanks, but No Thanks" response is pretty bad, gets ya right in the heart. I mean, really? Is it necessary? I am more a fan of the "just don't do anything and usually they get the hint" approach. I say usually becuase I have had a couple guys wink/email me mulitiple times. One guy emailed me on three separate occasions, with the same email..as in he obviously was too stupid to realize it was the same person just because I had changed my profile picture.
Anyway - to get back on track, I started emailing with this guy, back and forth for about a week. Our little cyber relationship was going well so naturally, as match.com protocol usually goes, we decided to meet.
However, let me take you back about a week before I started emailing with, we'll call him Mr.Baggage (you'll know why later). Back in college (all of 2 years ago), there was a guy that I met through a friend whom I was very attracted to, however I had a boyfriend at the time so he was off limits (for the most part). He played basketball for another college and a few of my volleyball teammates and his teammates often hung out. We obviously liked eachother but throughout the years either I had a boyfriend or he had a girlfriend - basically, the timing was just never right. I got a Facebook message from him letting me know he was going to be moving back to California soon and wanted to see what I was up to. We began talking/texting, virtually creating a relationship that was based on the past. I hadn't seen him in a year so all I really had were the memories from college. It was still another 4 months before he was actually moving home and to be honest, this cyber relationhsip was not cutting it. While we seemed to have the same connection, I did not want to wait 4 whole months to figure out whether that was true or not. So, what did I do? I flew back to Hawaii to find out.
Fast forward...so if you're able to follow along I was talking to both of them at once. Since Mr. Baggage wanted to meet, I figured we should meet before I headed to Hawaii to see this other guy, Mr. Hawaii "5 No". Mr. Baggage and I decided to meet on a Sunday night. He said he would be at The Grove working on some stuff for work the next day but we should meet for some coffee. This was perfect, very low key and no pressure. I walked into The Grove and figured the only guy by himself with big head phones and lap top must be him. When I saw his face in person I thought to myself, "Well done Jackie." His smile was just as good in person as it was in his photos. We talked for a few hours and took a stroll through the Marina, eventually leading to my apartment. Since we seemed to have hit it off, and because I was leaving that coming Thursday, we both agreed to see each other Wednesday. That didn't exactlty go as planned.
Sunday - First meeting
Monday - Got from from the gym, about to have dinner when he calls and asks if I want to get dinner...yes.
Tuesday... Tuesday deserves it's own little story. All around, Tuesdays are often known as "Taco Tuesdays". My Taco Tuesdays are usually at a place called Nick's Crispy Tacos (If you haven't been, GO!!). Mr.Baggage called Tuesday informing me that he was at Blue Light for Taco Tuesday and I should join. I figured "what the hell, why not." I was too late for taco's but I was not too late for beer - a lot of cheap beer. We started to get a little tipsy and ended up kissing the bar. He proceeded to tell me that he would love it if I came home with him. Me being A) a little drunk and b)A little curious decided to say "yes". Mistake? Maybe...Willing to take the chance? Apparantly........
to be continued...
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
"Bad Romance.."
You know the song "It's a small world after all" (and the worlds most boring ride ever invented to go with it...) - well that song has some merit. I am constantly amazed at the many run-in's I have with people either at the most random times or in the most random places. Sometimes I have to think to myself, "What are the odds of this??"'; usually they're pretty slim if not downright astronomical. I had this experience a few weeks after my dud filled dates
For a brief moment I began chatting with a guy who, on paper, seemed to be exactly the kind of guy I would set myself up with - (since clearly I have impeccable taste in men..). In a nutshell he was tall, (not so) dark, and handsome; played baseball AND graduated from Columbia University; grew up and had just arrived from the East Coast....ya this sounded like it could end quite nicely (and by nicely I mean me in a white dress walking down the isle in a church in, oh I don't know, Rhode Island somewhere..). Things progressed in the usual manner of match.com-ing and within a week or so we had exchanged phone numbers and decided to meet up for some drinks.
Whilst texting on the day of our date, we were trying to figure out where to go. I always feel as though I am the one to choose - for once it would be nice for the guy to say "Were going to ______" (but that's really irrelevant and more of just a common theme running in my dating life). However, I will give this guy a break because even though we were both new to the city he literally had physically moved here less than two weeks prior - so sure, I'll pick the place. For convenience reasons I decided to figure out where he lived and based on that I would choose a middle point for our date. The conversation went little like this...
Texting
Me - "so where should we go?"
Name not worth mentioning : "I don't know, you know the area better so you pick"
Me - "Ok, what area do you live in so I can figure out where would be good for both of us"
Him: "I live in the Marina"
Me: "Oh good, me too...where at?"
Him: " "Franklin and Lombard"
(For those of you who know me, now you can see why this conversation was worth mentioning........for everyone else, well, just read on)
Me: "I LIVE AT FRANKLIN AND LOMBARD..."
Naturally at this part I had dialed his phone number to talk about this amazing coincidence. I mean seriously...what are the odds that the guy lives TWO apartments down from me?? After the discussion about the odds went on for a couple minutes we settled on heading up a couple streets to Polk Street where we would settle on a little bar (which I always forget the name of and have only gone that one time). It wasn't a bad bar or anything just not the social scene I am usually in (older crowd really.) Anyway, even though I was starving he had already eaten and the last thing any girl would want to do on her first date is be the piggy eating all by herself while he just watches...um, no thank you. So I sucked it up and agreed to grabbing a couple beers. While at the bar we went over our college pasts, our current presents and hopes for our upcoming futures. Each of us seemed to be pretty driven and I felt like we had a least a little bit of a connection. Like, (yes I am actually using the word like in this literary piece, deal with it...) if I were to grade our date I would have given it a solid B. It wasn't the knock your socks off kind of date but it was definitely above average (at least in my eyes). He walked me home/walked himself home and we parted ways. After that first date we texted each other the next day bit but since I didn't want to be the one making all the first moves I was going to leave the ball in his court...unfortunately it's still there. For whatever reasons (and his loss may I add) he would have graded this date below average. While in almost all of my previous dates, I was the one dismissing the guy, this really felt like the first time I was being dismissed. And for my FRIENDS fans out there, to quote Phoebe, "I have tasted my own medicine and it is bitter." Although, while I was a bit bummed to be rejected from this super cute guy who seemed to have everything I wanted, this was part of the match.com life. You win some, you lose some, but you always get a story - hense this entire blog concept ....
Neighbor and I never spoke again, but one night when I was walking myself home from the bars I happen to pass a guy. A guy that only when we actually passed each other did it register...it was him. It quickly ran through my head "was that him??" and I turned around only to find him turned around as well. However, each of us turned right back around and probably thought the same thing..."awkward!"
And - while I am touching on the subject of awkwardness and random encounters here is another one of those "what are the odd's moments." Ready, set, go...
To be honest I am not sure when this actually happened but I want to say it was before my date with Neighbor. I was visiting my parents for the weekend and on that Sunday my dad and decided to Costco. Now, I don't have a Costco card so if I ever want to go I go to the one in Danville with the 'rents. So, there we were, making our way up and down the crowded, fully stocked with of everything you could possibly think of isle when I happened to veer off into the wine section. While doing so I saw this extremely tall guy handing out wine samples and talking to customers about each kind. All I saw was the back of him, and to confirm my notions I moved myself in to a position where I could see him but he couldn't see me. Then it was confirmed...IT WAS ONE OF MY OLD DATES... remember the super tall guy I went to the Giants game with?...YA. The reason this is so random is that he lives in the South San Francisco area and this wine business that he works for (that I totally forgot he did so) is in Santa Cruz and here I was in Danville. None of these places are near each other and the fact that I hardly ever go to Costco made the encounter even weirder. I ran up to my Dad and made him aware of the situation. Of course he says "Did you go say hi?" Yea Dad, just as I was ducking out of the wine section at ultra high speed I was thinking how nice it would be to catch up with a guy that I blew off...NO THANKS!
Words of the wise (by wise I mean me) - Never underestimate the world and it's mistakingly large size, for in fact just when you think the odds couldn't get any smaller - those odds show up on your door step.
For a brief moment I began chatting with a guy who, on paper, seemed to be exactly the kind of guy I would set myself up with - (since clearly I have impeccable taste in men..). In a nutshell he was tall, (not so) dark, and handsome; played baseball AND graduated from Columbia University; grew up and had just arrived from the East Coast....ya this sounded like it could end quite nicely (and by nicely I mean me in a white dress walking down the isle in a church in, oh I don't know, Rhode Island somewhere..). Things progressed in the usual manner of match.com-ing and within a week or so we had exchanged phone numbers and decided to meet up for some drinks.
Whilst texting on the day of our date, we were trying to figure out where to go. I always feel as though I am the one to choose - for once it would be nice for the guy to say "Were going to ______" (but that's really irrelevant and more of just a common theme running in my dating life). However, I will give this guy a break because even though we were both new to the city he literally had physically moved here less than two weeks prior - so sure, I'll pick the place. For convenience reasons I decided to figure out where he lived and based on that I would choose a middle point for our date. The conversation went little like this...
Texting
Me - "so where should we go?"
Name not worth mentioning : "I don't know, you know the area better so you pick"
Me - "Ok, what area do you live in so I can figure out where would be good for both of us"
Him: "I live in the Marina"
Me: "Oh good, me too...where at?"
Him: " "Franklin and Lombard"
(For those of you who know me, now you can see why this conversation was worth mentioning........for everyone else, well, just read on)
Me: "I LIVE AT FRANKLIN AND LOMBARD..."
Naturally at this part I had dialed his phone number to talk about this amazing coincidence. I mean seriously...what are the odds that the guy lives TWO apartments down from me?? After the discussion about the odds went on for a couple minutes we settled on heading up a couple streets to Polk Street where we would settle on a little bar (which I always forget the name of and have only gone that one time). It wasn't a bad bar or anything just not the social scene I am usually in (older crowd really.) Anyway, even though I was starving he had already eaten and the last thing any girl would want to do on her first date is be the piggy eating all by herself while he just watches...um, no thank you. So I sucked it up and agreed to grabbing a couple beers. While at the bar we went over our college pasts, our current presents and hopes for our upcoming futures. Each of us seemed to be pretty driven and I felt like we had a least a little bit of a connection. Like, (yes I am actually using the word like in this literary piece, deal with it...) if I were to grade our date I would have given it a solid B. It wasn't the knock your socks off kind of date but it was definitely above average (at least in my eyes). He walked me home/walked himself home and we parted ways. After that first date we texted each other the next day bit but since I didn't want to be the one making all the first moves I was going to leave the ball in his court...unfortunately it's still there. For whatever reasons (and his loss may I add) he would have graded this date below average. While in almost all of my previous dates, I was the one dismissing the guy, this really felt like the first time I was being dismissed. And for my FRIENDS fans out there, to quote Phoebe, "I have tasted my own medicine and it is bitter." Although, while I was a bit bummed to be rejected from this super cute guy who seemed to have everything I wanted, this was part of the match.com life. You win some, you lose some, but you always get a story - hense this entire blog concept ....
Neighbor and I never spoke again, but one night when I was walking myself home from the bars I happen to pass a guy. A guy that only when we actually passed each other did it register...it was him. It quickly ran through my head "was that him??" and I turned around only to find him turned around as well. However, each of us turned right back around and probably thought the same thing..."awkward!"
And - while I am touching on the subject of awkwardness and random encounters here is another one of those "what are the odd's moments." Ready, set, go...
To be honest I am not sure when this actually happened but I want to say it was before my date with Neighbor. I was visiting my parents for the weekend and on that Sunday my dad and decided to Costco. Now, I don't have a Costco card so if I ever want to go I go to the one in Danville with the 'rents. So, there we were, making our way up and down the crowded, fully stocked with of everything you could possibly think of isle when I happened to veer off into the wine section. While doing so I saw this extremely tall guy handing out wine samples and talking to customers about each kind. All I saw was the back of him, and to confirm my notions I moved myself in to a position where I could see him but he couldn't see me. Then it was confirmed...IT WAS ONE OF MY OLD DATES... remember the super tall guy I went to the Giants game with?...YA. The reason this is so random is that he lives in the South San Francisco area and this wine business that he works for (that I totally forgot he did so) is in Santa Cruz and here I was in Danville. None of these places are near each other and the fact that I hardly ever go to Costco made the encounter even weirder. I ran up to my Dad and made him aware of the situation. Of course he says "Did you go say hi?" Yea Dad, just as I was ducking out of the wine section at ultra high speed I was thinking how nice it would be to catch up with a guy that I blew off...NO THANKS!
Words of the wise (by wise I mean me) - Never underestimate the world and it's mistakingly large size, for in fact just when you think the odds couldn't get any smaller - those odds show up on your door step.
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