Monday, August 31, 2009

The Good Continues.......

and I'm trying to just enjoy it instead of worrying about the getting-kicked-in-the-face part. Nice Guy continues to be nice. More than nice, really, he's super sweet.
We went out with one of his coworkers and her husband on Friday night, courtesy of the company. Very nice dinner and the musical version of The Color Purple. The coworker was very nice, her husband seemed to struggle to put words together, so the company wasn't so fun. Being with NG made up for it, though. We always have something to talk about and really enjoy being together.
Saturday we went to South Carolina to a locally famous (apparently) peach stand. We had peach ice cream and bought various peach products to enjoy together later. On the way back we stopped for a beer at the US National Whitewater Center (www.usnwc.org). He had never been there and wanted to see what I talk about all the time, plus they have a REALLY good beer list. We had a few beers, then headed back to his house for dinner. We made venison chili for dinner and he seemed surprised that I will eat venison. I told him I won't kill it, won't dress it, but if you'll bring it to me in plastic I'll cook it! He liked that plan just fine. :-)
Sunday we just hung out. NG is in the midst of a kitchen renovation, so we went to Lowe's to look for paint and pulls for his kitchen cabinets. He is color blind, so picking out paint is clearly not a strong suit. It's fun to do that kind of stuff, and we had a ball wandering around Lowe's and making plans for his house. He talks about us being together in the future, and while that's kinda scary this early, it also isn't. We are very compatible, in both important and unimportant ways. We both lost our mothers at young ages, both grew up on farms and don't want to raise kids in a city, both want kids (or more kids for him), both pretty much stick to traditional gender roles. We also have random things in common-- taste in music, strong coffee, food preferences, and similar taste in beer. There are a lot of things that are very good about this that are hard to enumerate, as I think about the words, I'll update. Bottom line is that at this point it looks like if this doesn't stick, I don't know what will.

Friday, August 21, 2009

*sigh*

Nice Guy is still nice. Seriously. Really nice. Texts, IMs, calls. Offers to come here to see me, instead of me going there, and not just so I'll cook for him! He says sweet things, he's devoted to his daughter, enjoys his career, I'm not quite sure what to do with all of that.
Last night we met at PF Changs at 5:30p. The earlier the better, says Nice Guy, because he wants to spend as much time together as we can. He has his daughter this weekend and Katie's coming to see me, so it worked out well. He was so excited about our date that he would send me countdowns. Started a few days before, cute as can be. So we had dinner, split dishes, drank saki (yum!), and just talked. He keeps telling me how happy he is that we found each other. *sigh*
Neither of us had given the first thought to what we wanted to do after dinner, we were just so excited to get together again. This occurred to us about half way through dinner when we realized we were, well, half way through dinner and it was only 6:30p! So we kicked around a few ideas, but we both have had really really a long week at work, so we decided to go back to his house and watch a movie. Quiet was what we both needed. I picked Stepbrothers with Will Farrell, needed humor, not drama. Terrible movie, funny, but terrible. It took Nice Guy almost the whole movie to kiss me.
We have good chemistry. He's very sweet, but in a masculine way. I love his house. He's shorter than most guys I've dated, and it's unexpectedly nice. He is very open about how compatible he believes we are, and how excited he is about us. He thinks about the future and is putting me in those thoughts. I like that and it makes me wary, the guy who inspired this blog was the same way at first. I really hope this guy is for real, I don't think I can get my face kicked in again. The good news is that Nice Guy knows I'm wary and is willing to roll with it.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Just Nice

I can't find a funny name for the new guy!!! No facial hair, no odd coversations about the end of the world, just a nice guy and a great date. Technically, I could call him New York since he's from there, but he's from upstate and has almost no accent, so that's not really a defining characteristic. He has spiky hair (shockingly isn't bald), but its not a mohawk or anything, so it's not particularly defining either. I guess I'll just go with Nice Guy for now, until I come up with something else.
Of course, in my world being a Nice Guy is a pretty defining characteristic! Soul Patch disappeared with some ramblings about his back. Bizarre, and definitely not nice behavior. Self-involved is a good description.
So Nice Guy and I met at Birkdale, had a glass of wine at the Corkscrew then dinner at the Fox and Hound next door. We were going to see a movie, that was the original plan, but we just got wrapped up in talking and never got around to it. We have a ridiculous amount of things in common. Big stuff like growing up on farms and losing our moms at a young age, and little stuff like being allergic to bees and needing to be fed frequently to avoid crankiness. Our date was Sunday night and we've talked every night since. I'm trying very hard to avoid the too-much-too-soon trap.
He's divorced and has an 8 year old daughter. He says the relationship with his ex-wife is amicable, no fighting over custody/visitation or any shenanigans like that. His daughter is excited for him to date, so that's good. He was unsure how I would feel about her, but I told him as long as everyone gets along and acts like grown ups enough to work out problems, I'm on board. I'm not interested in getting in the middle of drama, but it doesn't sound like there is any, or if there is it isn't much. Obviously I won't be meeting her anytime soon, but its good to know that the ground work seems to be there.
So our next date is tomorrow, Thursday, then probably Sunday. He has his daughter tonight and this weekend and I have company this weekend anyway, so it works out well. Stay tuned!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Shhhhh.....


......if you're really quiet, you can hear my ovaries drying up. At least I can.

Soul Patch, despite his impressively intense attention while together, seems completely unable and/or unwilling to initiate communication outside of that time. Persona non grata. He eventually responds to email or texts if I send them, but does not do anything unprompted. I decided yesterday to venture an invitation to the Whitewater Center on Thursday. He hasn't responded yet, and it always takes him a while when he does. IF we go out again, and that's (literally and figuratively) a big IF, I'm going to let him know he's going to have to step up if he wants to pursue this. I refuse to chase him. Ridiculous.

I'm exchanging emails with another guy. He doesn't have a fun nickname yet because we haven't been out. He's going to be out of town this weekend, so an actual date is going to have to wait. He's supposed to call at some point, we'll see. Has potential.....seems to have an actual career, forms full sentences, 39yo, and of course bald. I still don't know what that's about, I don't do it on purpose!

I had an email from another guy...........is it bad that I don't want to talk to him because he has a weird name?????? He has a little kid name, and I think that's weird for a grown man.

So that's the update. Not really an update more than a notification that nothing is happening. In this case, no news is bad news. Seriously, I can hear my eggs dying.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Hmmm.....


Later the same night of my last post, Soul Patch emailed. "Wanna do something sat?" Hmmm.....
On the one hand I'm thinking ok, he's a guy and guys (as I'm told repeatedly by my married friends) are weird. This one, apparently, is communication weird. On the other hand I think this man is an editor, he writes and fixes peoples' writing for a living, and the best he can come up with after a week and a half is "wanna do something sat?" Are you kidding me????? But we had fun on our last date, so ok off we go.
As a side note, I think sometimes that the most amusing thing about all this dating mess is the advice I get from my friends. Almost simultaneously I will get the exact opposite information. "Let him come to you." says one friend. "If you want to go out with him, ask him out." says another. Given the technological age we live in, I can and have received these two conflicting pieces of advice within 10 minutes of each other. It's enough to make a girl's head spin.
So the odd thing about Soul Patch is the sporadic nature of his communication. Its very spotty and often leaves me hanging. Didn't plan our date until about noon on Saturday, then I didn't get confirmation of where/when we were meeting until about 5p. I'm a planner, so I don't do well with that. Upon reflection, the underlying message here is that I need to unclench!! Seriously. I've been told this before, I've known this for a long time, and Mr. SoulPatch is showing it to me in living color.
We met at Boudreaux at 7 and then went to see The New Familiars at The Neighborhood Theatre next door. Dinner was yummy, good Cajun food (a little spice is nice) and my favorite beer (Chimay) on tap, which is very rare. Conversation took a minute to warm up, but once it did we were all set. We hopped next door and ended up having to hang out for quite a while before the music really got started. That was fun, we got to talk more and people watch. Ended up running into two good friends of mine, so that made the night even more fun. It was also a good opportunity to get some opinions on my date. Sarah really liked him, Scott withheld judgement since he didn't get to talk to him as much as Sarah, but did ask what my issue is with bald men. Leave it to Scott to ask the question to which I have no answer.
SoulPatch is very affectionate and snuggly. I'm all for that most of the time, I think I'm more shy about public affection than he is, but he takes hints really well. There was some dancing, and I haven't danced with a man in years, and some kissing and just general goodness. Attacked me like a starving man again when he walked me to my car, and I'm really starting to look forward to that now that I'm not so surprised. It's very clear that the attraction and chemistry are there, now its time to find out if there's any meat on the bone, so to speak.