Nice Guy, But My Children Will Not Speak Icelandic

Or so I thought, as I was walking home last night. We had a good time yesterday, Björn and I. We kept up a steady conversation for over four hours, on the way to the museum, at the museum, and over dinner—but I didn't feel any sparks or butterflies. Then, less than half an hour after I got home, I received a text from him saying how much he'd enjoyed the evening and hoped we could go out again.

The thing is, I don't dislike him, I just don't know if there's anything there worth pursuing. Yet the thought of saying no makes me feel really bad, so I think I'll give him another chance. That said, I also plan to send out a few messages to a few other guys on the site and see where those take me.

Middle of February

This is an awkward time for most single folks, but slightly more awkward for me: if Henry and I hadn't broken up, today would have been our first anniversary. I battled bouts of general loneliness all last week, but then with the approach of Valentine's Day and the non-anniversary, I was particularly out of sorts.

Enter Jake. I found his profile Friday night, looked at it, determined I should message him, left the window open, and then turned away from my computer screen to watch the Olympics. When I looked back at the screen a little while later, I found a message from him. I messaged him back and after a few more messages over the next 24 hours, he decided to ask if I might be free on Sunday. He acknowledged that it was VD and that we didn't have to go out that day if it would be weird, but I had nothing better to do, so I said yes.

I'm not going to go into the details of the date—we took a long walk through many neighborhoods of the city he'd not been to before—because ultimately, it wasn't that exciting. We managed to keep a conversation going throughout the three or so hours, but by the end of that time we were really out of things to say. However, it was nice to get out yesterday, meet someone new, (eat some ice cream), and not be at home moping about how everyone seems to have a Valentine except me—which, of course, I realize is not true, but it sometimes feels that way.

On a related note, did anyone see the commercials for Walgreens' Valentine's Day gift help? I can't find a video of it online, but Walgreens still has the promotional website up. Check it out here. It's a bit ridiculous, no?

A First For Me

This week I will do what I've never done before: go on three dates with three different guys. I'm not quite sure how this happened, but I'll enjoy the popularity while I have it.

I've already mentioned Aiden, the one who seems really great but lives a fair distance from me. We've plans to go out tomorrow night. Then there's Tom, who IMed me on Friday night while I was waiting to hear from Aiden. I was bored and he seemed nice enough, so we started chatting. After three hours—yeah, I know that's a long time—we had decided to go out the next day. We had lunch and went for a hike out on the coast and had a pretty good time. I liked him well enough, but I think he'd be a much better friend for me than a boyfriend. More on that another time.

I finally got an e-mail from Aiden saying that he'd call last night, only I missed his call. When I called him back, I had to leave a message. While I waited for him to call me again, I logged on to the dating site and looked at one new profile. That guy, Paul, looked at mine and IMed. Two hours go by and we're set to go out on Friday. Meanwhile, Aiden hasn't called.

The thing is that of the three, Aiden is definitely the one in whom I'm most interested. He's smart, charming, funny, and into world affairs (something Henry was not). Oh, and he's pretty good-looking to boot. The distance is the biggest obstacle, and I guess the one that makes me feel OK about going out with these other guys.

First Date with Alex

A few weeks ago, I started regularly attending a Meetup.com group for people, like me, who are unemployed. We do free or fairly cheap things during the day on weekdays and generally have a great time. When I went to sign up for my second meetup, I noticed that a guy (I'll call him Alex) from the dating site had also signed up (same picture, same guy). Deciding to play it cool, I said nothing on either site and went to the meetup—a walk around the zoo—with the expectation we might talk a bit, but that I wouldn't mention the dating site unless he did.

To make a long story shorter, we had a good time talking at the meetup, he eventually found me on the dating site, we exchanged a few messages and IMs, he came to another meetup (one that I was in charge of), but then there was silence. However, it was Thanksgiving week. Then on Monday I got a message from him asking me on a date—for milkshakes. My favorite. So I said yes and we set the milkshake date for today.

I had no idea how the date would go, but I shouldn't have worried. Alex is a really nice guy, quite different (and much better dressed) than Henry, and we had a pretty darn good time. We tentatively set another date for next week. I'll keep you posted.

Recap

The date the other night went really well. I met Richard at a nifty Ethiopian bar across the street from the concert hall and we hung out there for a couple of hours. We spent a little bit of time talking to his friend and her date, but mostly the two of us just talked about all sorts of things. Interesting things, I should add (given that most of my dates this year have been rather lacking in the interesting conversation department).

The concert was also fun. It was a crazy British band that plays J-pop-esque music. It wasn't something I ever would have found on my own, but I'd definitely listen to them again. We went back to the bar after the show and talked for another hour before I begged my leave. Given that I had to be up for work in six hours, I had to tear myself away. Richard walked me a ways to my bus stop, but as soon as I got to the stop I had to hop right on a bus, which led to a bit of an awkward goodbye. That said, it spared me from what might have been an even more awkward, first-date goodbye.

The best part of this whole saga is that I think we're going to see each other again. I sent him a message the day after to apologize for running away, tell him I had a really good time, and give him a link to some music we'd discussed. After waiting on tenterhooks for a day and a half, I heard back from him. He told me he'd burned me a copy of the album by the band we'd seen but had forgotten it at his friend's house and that he'd like to give it to me. So now the stage is set for a second date. Hmmm… Sunday?