Monday, August 3, 2009

Dennis's Matchmaking Service

Are you a foreigner coming to the U.S for an extended period of time in the near future, and would like a girlfriend? Look no further than Dennis's Matchmaking Service. He has a female coworker who is single and is right for just about anyone, after all aren't all single people the same?

Last week I was confronted with the idea of being matched up with a colleague I've never heard of, from India. My friend/coworker evidently was talking to this guy over IM, who thought he may be coming to the U.S soon for training. He was looking to get a girlfriend, and my name was given or something. I'm not completely sure. Dennis began talking to me about him and how nice he was, and how different he is compared to the other guys I've gone out with, hilighting a few major points as being jerks, stupid and being gay. Okay, so my very first boyfriend ever, turned out to be gay. I was six at the time, how was I to know?

Anyway, he kept talking about how nice this guy was and how quickly he'd learned English and could use slang and shorthand. He then sent me a picture of the guy, stating that a fellow female coworker of ours said he was cute. I'm sure he would be after I pulled out my machete and hacked down the uni-brow into a pair of brows instead. Dennis also reported the guy liked Chinese food. I can imagine our first date already...first stop salon, and end at a Chinese buffet down the street.

As it turns out, he will not be coming to the U.S. Only his boss will be coming, and no one mentioned him needing a date.

My Boss's Daughter

Noo, this isn't a review of the 2003 Ashton Kutchter and Tara Reid movie. In this little scenario I am the boss's daughter, and my parents are making a second round...(or third perhaps) of matching me up with one of my dad's assistants. This is the second with "Nick". They wanted me to meet him last summer too, but then they realized he actually had girlfriend. Oops! Evidently, he doesn't always keep his boss abreast of his dating life. Please respond to this if you do.

However, I learned at a recent family dinner, that "Nick" broke up with his girlfriend, and is now available. This guy just graduated from college last summer, and I graduated from college the firsdt time, before he'd graduated high school. However, he is a year older now, and in the rebound stage...perfect for jumping into a commited relationship with your boss's daughter ;-)

I still have never met the guy since opportunities for me to stop by my dad's office, on the other end of town, no where near even shopping, to say I'm in the neighborhood. Fortunately for me, an opportunity has presented itself. I am moving and will need help with my heavy and bulky furniture pieces. Not to worry everyone! "Nick" has been contacted on my behalf ,and will be present on the important day. I will no doubt, look worse that day than any other day of the year. That's how it works right? You meet the hot guy when you look your absolute worst? Oh and considering I am somewhat of a control freak, he'll be able to see that full force that day. I tend to be very organized and focused on moving days.

The New Mexican Match Up

I have the greatest family. I really do. All they want is for their daughter/granddaughter/niece/cousin to be happi (ly married). I should not have been surprised when my dear aunt tried to match me up with a guy who lives about a thousand miles away from me. I remember her talking about my uncle's intern last summer, but neither of us did anything about it...not until this summer. I had the "good fortune" to get the opinions of my grandparents on him too, who have met "Bill" while down in NM.

Over the next few days I learned very little about him, except that he and I should really start writing each other, and what a nice guy he is. Unfortunately, they did not have pictures of the guy, despite my uncle being an amateur photographer, who takes pictures of EVERYTHING. I learned "Bill" has some facial hair, likes to cook, and is very nice. He also has recently received his Ph. D in Hydrology, which my uncle referred to as a Ph. D in Stupidty. I wasn't sure if he was referring to the usefulness of the degree or to his intern.

One evening while my family and I were sitting out by the bonfire, my aunt brought him up, in which my grandma and grandpa reassured me that the guy was a "very nice man". I then asked the question one should never ask in the presence of ones' grandparents or at least not mine, "Is he cute?" Do not ask that! All I heard for the next few minutes was how you shouldn't base your interest in person on looks, and that you should focus on their inner beauty.

I thought that would have been the wrong moment to point out to my grandma that she has unashamably bragged about grandpa's looks in the past. Obviously looks played a part for her too;-)

At the end of my vacation my aunt sat me down with a piece of paper and a pencil and had me write down my email address and phone number. She claimed he'd been asking about me and that unlike me, he'd actually seen pictures of me taken from the previous summer. She also gave me "Bill's" email address.

It's been over three weeks since then, and they've definitely had time to give him my email address. Hmmm....I wonder if he put my address where I put his. On the refrigerator, so just in case I get an email from someone I don't know, I can check it against his.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Happy Endings Are For Stories That Haven't Finished Yet

Who I thought was my knight in shining armor, turned out to be just another guy who doesn't know what he wants. Who I thought was a great guy and possible soul mate, turned out to be a guy who still isn't ready for a serious relationship. And who I thought could be a best friend, who I could hang out with, turned out to be someone who will always be more of a stranger.

If I were to give this guy a new title, changing it from The Gentleman, I would change it to "It's Not You, It's Me" guy. As it turned out he was too busy to have a girlfriend, a reality that I had to point out to him myself. Aside from the first two dates, I was the initiator of the next two times we saw each other, with him never mentioning when he wanted to see me or when he would see me next. Wait, hold that thought. He did promise to invite me over on a Sunday afternoon and when we went out last Thursday, asked to see me on Saturday, then completely forgot we even had the conversations.
The reason he never asked me out was because he spends a lot of time with his friends and mom and sporting events. So I've come realize something...if a guy would rather hang out with his friends than a woman, then he's not that interested. If a guy spends a lot of time with his mom, she'll probably hate me for taking him away from her. And if a guy is a sports fanatic, unless I become one too I'll never see him anyway.

Adding onto the male bonding, oedipus complex and sports fixation he also has decent number of gay tendencies. Each one alone means nothing, but them all added together could look suspicious to a blind man. He likes to clothes shop so he dresses well. He not only likes to decorate, but is good at it. He likes to dance. He keeps his living space neat and tidy and likes to keep things organized. He has a gay best friend who he has frequented gay bars with and participiated in few drag shows, in which he was runner up both times.

So as you can see, in this case the cliche of "it's not you, it's me" really does apply. Although I am hurt that it didn't work out, and believe beyond a reasonable doubt that if he wasn't so busy, it wouldn't have worked out anyway. I now know that I'll never go back, because I never go back. It's a rule I made for myself years ago, and I've never broken it.

We have now agreed to be friends, but that is all up to him.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

The True Gentleman

This is not a story of a dating disaster. This is a story of how quite possibly there is a point to all the disappointment, suffering, heart-ache and lonely nights I have endured this year. Perhaps the reason why I had to "kiss" so many "frogs" was so that I would truly appreciate and know when someone worthy of my attention and affection, came along. I believe I may have found such a person.

This story began two weeks ago. I decided to sign in to a popular online dating site, which I had neglected for the past two months. I had found myself reading enormous amounts of romance novels, wishing I could find someone who would have that much passion for me like the men in the novels had for their women. On Sunday night, May 30th I began searching through profiles of local men. I found two that sparked my interest and sent "winks" to both them. Within the evening I had received "winks" back from both, showing interest. I then emailed both of them. I heard back from Jay first, with a short message telling me to add him on IM. I did the next day, or thought I had, but a few days later I had a request to be added from him. We talked in the afternoon on Friday over IM, and when I was about to leave work, was surprised when he asked to meet me that evening for a drink. I agreed and we quickly arranged when and where to meet.

I didn't have high hopes going into the date. Obviously I hadn't had great luck so far this year so what was going to make this night any different? The odds were stacked against me, also his picture wasn't as impressive as the other guy's and so far all I'd talked to him about was his job...and remembering a comment he'd made that made me think he was a little cocky by saying perhaps he was the one I'd been looking for. Maybe someone else would have found it romantic but my cyncism got the best of me and the only thing I could think of was, "Probably not", although I didn't say it.

Since I hadn't been on a date since the snow had melted I decided to wear a dress. It was a black cotton v-neck dress, that I knew I'd not only impress with, but I would also feel completely comfortable in, even if the date turned out to be a dud. And unlike all my previous dates this year where I showed up about 10 min early, wearing a sweater and jeans, I decided to let the guy wait for me this time, after all waiting to see Mr Right walk into the room hadn't worked so far, may as well change it up.

I walked into the restaurant and was directed towards the bar area, where we had agreed to meet. I looked around the bar in a swift glance and saw mostly couples...except for one lonely guy in the button down white shirt and jeans, at the end of the bar, who looked like he could resemble my date. I took a deep breath and started walking towards him, hoping he'd look better than his picture, but preparing for him to look worse, as most of them do.

He turned towards me as I walked in his direction, and he questionably called my name. As I walked closer I was delighted to find he looked better than his picture. He got off his stool and came over to greet me, and then led me out to the patio to sit (I knew people were supposed to wait to be seated at any other place than the bar, but after a brief question of whether we should be seating ourselves, I decided to go with it).

From the first moment we sat down we hit it off. My other dates that I thought had gone well, but turned out to be one-sided, were not half as good as this date turned out to be. Conversation flowed and before we knew it we'd been there a few hours. We'd ordered a shrimp appetizer after realizing we both loved seafood and talked about a wide variety of topics. When it became chilly we decided to go hang out as his new house, and kept things platonic while we watched a DVD of stand-up comedian Dane Cook and sang the theme song to "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air" together.

He acted like a gentleman, opening doors for me and actually sounding interestd in what I had to say. He was funny, yet kind...and when I went over to hang out with him the next night to watch a movie...he continued to show what a great person he was. I found that unlike the other guys who maybe had a house, great job, a dog, lots of friends...etc, they didn't have what I really liked about this guy, whichw as character. He displayed the characteristics he reported to have on his profile such as romantic, trustworthy, dependable, loyal, honest...all things the others desperately lacked.

So, although I have only had two dates with him, talked with him over IM sparingly throughout the week and then saw for a little bit on Friday, I feel like I've known him longer, and that if he continues to do what he says he'll do and expresses himself as he's done...this could turn out to be something wonderful.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Ego-Maniac Guy

Granted, ego-maniac could potentially describe just about any guy, but this one is in a class by himself. I met the guy on an online dating site. He looked cute, but had almost nothing on his profile, however the little he did include, I thought might show compatibility.

I started by sending him an email to the account he listed on the website. We emailed back and forth a little and then started IMing. I talked with him mostly at work, because I don't sit online once I get home.

Within the first conversation or two I realized I had no desire to meet the guy. First of all he didn't show any interest in me. He started by asking what I wanted to know about him, as if he was some wonderful mystery I was dying to learn about.

I started by asking him questions, thinking he'd then turn around and either ask me the same ones or at least ask different questions....but no. After talking for only 5 minutes on IM, he asked what I thought about him. I told him I really didn't know much yet. We talked a little more and then he went offline.

I thought our conversations might develop as he perhaps developed interest in me, and wanting to know about me. I may have a complete profile filled out, but it's not everything about me. I do have depth, which I quickly learned he had no interest in learning.

I felt like I had to fight with him to ask me anything. At one point I believe I wrote in all caps, demanding that he ask me anything. I couldn't believe the guy was so inept at basic socializing skills. Hadn't he ever had a relationship before? Did only talking about himself work in the past?

I would never find out those answers, because the only question he wanted to know was what I thought about him. It reminded me of the phrase "Enough talk about me; What do you think of me?" This guy should be on the poster for it. He even point blank asked me when I was going to get around to asking him out! I couldn't believe it! Was he joking? If he was, I thought one rude joke deserved another, so I asked "Would you like me to bring flowers and candy when I pick you up?". He replied, "No candy. It doesn't fit in my diet." Okay, now who was joking? Did he realize I was making fun of him or was he now making fun of me?

I told him I didn't think I knew him well enough yet, and then we started arguing over the fact that he really hadn't shown any interest in me. He defended himself by saying he was better in person. I doubt that. If you can't come up with few basic questions over a 30 min period of time over the internet, how are you going to come up with anything better in person? Conversation usually moves along quicker in person, buddy. I'm not sure you could handle it.

By the next week he'd stopped writing me and I eventually took him off my contact list and blocked him. Maybe there's a perfect mirror out there he could buy, and then he wouldn't have to hassle with conversation. Good luck, Pickupman (That better be what kind of vehicle you own and not a reference to your womanizing skills)!

Matchmaker Mom

Out of all the family and friends who have ventured to give me relationship advice, or who have tried to match me up, my parents have the worst ideas. They, like so many others, are well-intentioned and it might even start out sounding like a good idea, but as I've found it probably isn't.
Recently my mom attempted to set me up with one of my dad's employees. I have never met the guy, but from time to time my mom will talk about him, so I have some idea of what the guy looks like and where he's from. This particular evening, when we were having supper she became more insistent that I really did need to find some excuse to go to my dad's office to meet not only my "match" but Justin, who also is incredibly attractive, I'm told.

My mom begins to give more details about "Jon". Jon is an intern with my dad. He's from Holland and plans on returning when he's done with his internship in a few months. According to mom, he has the cutest Dutch accent. He's tall, is in good shape because he works out with Justin, very nice, dresses well and is just incredibly cute.

Okay, I'm seeing a few things here. First of all, he's my dad's employee! Is no one else noticing the potential disaster here? Second, he's moving to another continent soon. Who doesn't love a long, long distance relationship? Third, in order to meet him I'd practically have to stalk the guy. And fourth, although not a big deal, he's like five years younger than me...where in this is mom thinking "great idea"!?

My mom continues to insist that she or I will have to come up with a plan to get me over there. Then she goes on to tell me that Jon's only friend in town is Justin, and when Justin's out of town he has no one to keep him company...he has a fully furnished apartment and wouldn't it be nice if he had "someone" to go out with or stay in and watch movies with?

It now dawns on me that my mom isn't so much looking for my soulmate, she's just looking for me to hook up with someone!? My mother is trying to pimp me out to my dad's intern? Am I the only one that sees the wrong in this? I am not the "hooking up" type of girl, although this guy is evidently so hot that lowering my morals and my priorities just this once would be worth it...? And here I thought parents were supposed to look out for their children.

Side Note: Last summer both of my parents tried setting me up with Justin until they found out he was actually in a relationship. Oops! I guess employees don't always share their personal lives with their bosses and their spouses. Who knew?:-P

The conversation went on for a few minutes, and then finished with my mom and I brainstorming ideas on how I can meet Jon without it looking obvious, although I'd doubt that me showing up at my dad's office would cause everyone to think, "She's here to meet men." My guess is most people wouldn't care.