Got To Start Somewhere

Last night the apartment complex I live at had a weenie roast. It started at 5, and my friend who walks around the pond with me wanted to go and was looking for company so we went together. We were the youngest there by 30 years or more but it was a lot of fun, and we ended up leaving just under 3 hours later.

No major horror stories here. I cooked our hotdogs and they came out real good. And we walked around some more. She is incredibly busy with school right now so we sort of talk when opportunities present themselves. It's not like we have any future plans set. But once summer gets here we plan on hanging out more. I am looking forward to that. I have one friend who lives in the complex already and it's fantastic being so close to him. It's sort of like college but with our own places to go to, so we minus all the roommate drama.

In other news, tonight I'm going salsa dancing with my friend who I stood up a few weeks ago. Now I'm all for salsa dancing, but I curious to see how this will go. I find girls can be very different when it comes to dancing. Before I took lessons, it seemed like every girl wanted to dance. Now that I can dance, to some very limited degree, so few girls want to dance. They are all shy and self-conscious. I wonder what happened in the ten or fifteen years since middle school to them. I also find they lose patience quickly. Like if they can't get the basic step immediately they give up and just go do their own thing. Fortunately even if she cannot get the basic step down, the salsa moves can translate easily to something else. So doing our own groove is okay, but I find the super-easily defeated attitude worrisome in general. Overall I think girls love to dance, it's just that they want to move to rhythm as they see fit. The only problem is for us guys who have to try and guess what that rhythm is the girl is feeling. If we could just stick to a style things would be much easier and probably more fun. "Oh I don't want to be limited to one style. I want to be free to do what I want." Well fine, but don't expect the guy to be able to have clue one of that that free-bird style is or how to physically accomplish it. But since this was Lhea's idea I have good hope that she is both excited to dance and motivated to give salsa a real go.

Bag of Bunnies

Happy Easter! Yesterday was a good day. I was up at 5 and consumed only candy and Mountain Dew until around 11:30 when I bowl of frosted mini-wheats. But they were the new fruit filled ones so I got my nutrition. In a first, this year the family came to visit me.

Now I've mentioned the girl who has been walking around the pond. Since then I have ran into her a few more times. last Thursday we were walking around when I asked about her Easter plans. Saddenly she said she had none because of upcoming finals and she couldn't afford to take the time off from her studies to make it home for Easter. So I invited over for lunch with my family. When I was in grad school I had to miss some of the major holidays so I know what it's like. What surprised was that she said okay and gave me her number. Well I didn't really expect she would come but nevertheless I got a phone number out of it.

And when lunch time came around, sure enough she backed out. But on Saturday and Sunday I still wound up talking with her. Saturday really was a completely chance encounter. I was going to go feed my friend's fish while he is out of town and decided to walk there. Now on Saturday I found out that she loves Mountain Dew and is Catholic. Oh my. Then on Sunday we purposely met up for a walk, where I gave her a bag of Easter candy from my basket. Every child should get candy at Easter. Then I found out she regularly goes to Mass and wants a big family. As she put it, she only has three older siblings. So we have a devote Catholic, who is super smart, loves pop, wants a large family, is quite attractive, and will be living in the same apartment complex as me for the next 2 years.

I was told by WAM that buying a ring at this point in time would not be proper.

Nearly Chance Encounters

As the weather has been warming up, I have been getting outside more. Generally this just means me walking around the pond where I live, until summer hits when then I get to add sitting at the pool to my list of activities. But nevertheless, despite being only two activities I'm still out in public and that means I'm bound to run into some people.

What I like about walking around the pond is that you get to see all the old faces and new ones. During winter I never know who have stayed around and who have left. So when Spring rolls around I get to see the old faces of those that stayed. These people tend to be friendly and chatty. The new faces are interesting too simply because they are new.

This year as I've been walking around there's been a new girl who runs or walks around a lot. I found that I always ended up walking in the opposite direction of her, which means that since the pond is circular we have to pass each other. And every time we passed she would say "hi" or smile. Speaking of which, the pond is only about a mile in circumference. So you can pass some people several times during the course of a walk. The first time the greeting is easy enough. You just say "hi" and walk on. But the second, third, and however many times after the first start getting more difficult. I tend to always smile. So on the 2nd time I'll smile at the person, and the third time too. After that things start getting too awkward for me, so I try to lighten things up with a comment about the number of times we've passed. I always walk so a 4th time pass which I think has only ever happened twice only happens with runners. So I'll just grab my heart and pretend to be faint just watching them. Still it would be very helpful if there were some Miss. Manners guide to how to approach multiple but brief encounters.

After last Saturdays latest failure I wasn't too worried because at the very least there was this girl who runs around the pond and always smiles. So on Sunday I decided to walk around the same direction she runs. See I always walk in a different direction each time. So if I go clockwise on Monday then on Tuesday I'll go counter-clockwise. But she always runs in the same direction and it just so happened we were always out at the same time when I was going in the opposite direction. So this time I went out walking in the same direction as she typically runs. Now you may be thinking I'm a creep for waiting by my window all day until I see her running and then I know when to take my walk. Well no I don't do this. I just go out and walk a lap or two and then head in. If she's out there it is by chance. Okay, there's a little more strategy than that on my part but it's mostly chance. I do tend to time things based on when she is typically about.

I keep going on tangents. So I'm walking in the same direction and when I went out she happened to be running. I walked in the same direction because I wanted to see what she was going to do when she passed. My hope was that she would slow to a walk and join me. But I was expecting a wave as she ran on. Well for once my hope was actually granted because when she caught up to me she slowed down and walked. And for the next hour we talked as we walked around the pond.

Then yesterday I was out walking, again it just happened to be in the same direction as her at the same time she was out, and again we talked. Not for an hour, but for a decent amount of time.

So that's wonderful. Still no phone number or planned meetings but this isn't a bad start.

European Men and 1517

Cracker Barrel may be a favorite locale for old people but I like it. The food is good, that little gift store has some neat things, it is a relaxed atmosphere, and they have checkers. Nevertheless many of the people I talk to feel it's not the best place for a date. This was disappointing as it was where Suzy and I had date number two yesterday.

It was her idea go to there. I was rather excited that she thought to go there. Despite the odd first date, the last week we were still talking frequently. We were actually supposed to meet on Thursday for putt-putt dinner and a movie but I got stuck on a trip for work. So Saturday had to do. Also I noticed she deactivated her online account. That was a promising sign about how she felt about our relationship. I drove on down and met her at the restaurant. And happily, she was definitely more awake this time and much chattier. While we looked over the menu and the waitress took our drink orders we chit-chatted about each other trying to get to know one another better.

After we placed our orders, and I was enjoying my orange juice she said that she wanted to break things off now because she is Protestant and I am Catholic and she's not converting and neither am I. Well that's not the first I've heard that before, so I didn't get too upset by it, and was grateful she was up front about it from the beginning.

During this time she told me she is going to try and get back with her ex-boyfriend who is single again. He lives in Europe. Up to this point I thought I was merely competing for the attention of girls from guys in about a 200 square mile radius. But apparently I have to consider guys on the other side of the planet too. Nothing like the Atlantic is going to keep love from happening. That would also explain the deactivated account.

And this is probably where it was a good idea to come to Cracker Barrel because I ordered the Country Fried Steak and despite my now soured mood, it and the apple sauce side I ordered considerably helped the situation.

For Det Første Dato

For a couple weeks now I've been talking to someone on one of these dating sites. As usual the girl found me first, e-mailed me, and I responded. And yesterday we went on our first date.

Suzy, that's her name, lives about an hour away. For four years she lived in Europe doing missionary work. This has led her to have some interesting characteristics. For example, she can speak Norwegian. I thought this was pretty cool and so after we decided to meet I decided to go pick up a book on the subject. And I've been working at it a little bit for the past week. It's easy enough to read, but it's really hard for me to pronounce. I've never been very good with enunciation, and this language makes my tongue do somersaults trying to get these words out.

Another thing she's picked up is the attraction to European style dress for men. I'll admit they do tend to dress for success, but here in the states it's just not our way to dress really nice for day-to-day activities. I wish people would change out of their pajamas when they go out, so some sprucing up would be a good thing, but not to their extent. At some point I start to wonder where trying to look nice and professional crosses into just purely materialistic. Still it made me happy to hear that I may have found someone who will like my skinny jeans.

Our first date was at a coffee shop where she lives, and happily I arrived on time. We both got smoothies. Right away though I noticed something was wrong. All up to this point through our texts and e-mails, she seemed rather excited to meet up. But when I walked in, I got the feeling she didn't really want to be there. I was further convinced of this when every time I started talking she started yawning. Like I was literally putting her to sleep. She said she was exhausted from work, and this was possible since we met right after her shift, but still it's hard not to think that just a polite lie.

After our drinks we walked around down town, which is literally one city block. And soon enough she said she had to go. After my typical 3 - 6 hour first dates, this wasn't boding well for me. So I asked her what she thought and whether or not I'd get a second date. And she said she'd have to think about it, that she doesn't just jump into these sorts of things, but that I was nice. Well that's a nice put down if I've ever heard one.

So I felt a bit bummed because I didn't feel like we gave things a proper chance to have a go. But different strokes for different folks and all. When I got home I sent her a text saying thanks for meeting, and then surprise of surprise she wrote back and said not only that she had a good time but that she wants to come visit me and have dinner sometime. So maybe she really was just very tired from work. At any rate, at least there's another date in store.

Joyful Noises

Here are a few ways people make a joyful noise unto the Lord.



and



and this one I cannot listen to without crying



and here is a very joyful man to help dry your tears

3 Days 3 Quotes

Cousin: The weather was beautiful yesterday and while I was walking my two year old daughter around the new neighborhood we passed by a house that was freshly mulched. She asked, "who pooped?"

My co-theology student: The Pope's new book on Jesus is out.
Me: Yes I heard. I've read some reviews on Amazon and they are all very good. At least last I checked. Apparently people of all faiths are digging it.
Yeah, I saw it there too.
Did you get it?
Well I went to the bookstore and saw it is really long.
Yeah, it is really long.
Did you pick it up?
No, when I was on Amazon I got Donkey Kong Country for the Wii.

After a cell-phone conversation about the soles of dress shoes and how far they should stick out from the main shoe.
Me: Hey, this reception is really good.
Yeah, it's not bad.
Aren't you still driving home from Pennsylvania?
Yeah.
That's incredible, I don't hear a peep. Really, this is great reception.
Oh, well I'm not driving at the moment. I'm in the restroom at McDonalds.