FYI

When your doctor tells you to get the staples in your head removed in 7 to 10 days, don't wait longer. If you wait 12 days, it will be wildly painful, and you'll curse at the clinic nurse taking them out.

Also, when you switch jobs, you need to sign up/pay for COBRA extended insurance, or you'll have to pay as if you never had insurance.

That is all

This Job Seems Way Better

So I've had this new job for two days now, and it seems a lot better than my previous job. I'm pretty nerdy, so that just means I get to do cooler finance stuff.

Also, I'm dating Mary now. I haven't really had a girlfriend in a while, so I'm not sure what feelings are normal. Mary's a great girl, and I like her, but I don't know if I could say that I'm crazily out of control for her. Is that weird? Or do people grow to become even more attracted to one another after time? For the time being, I think I should be all right, though.

New Year, New Job

Wow, I've got to start posting again. For both myself and you 5 to 7 people out there. Haha.


I've been lightly looking for a job since early November, but hadn't had much luck with Monster.com. It's a good site, but there are just a ton of people looking (as if you needed anyone to tell you that). In mid December I got a call about a company in the suburbs, so I went to interview. Within a week, I had an offer. It should be a good opportunity, so I'm pretty excited about that.

Coffee with Kayla went generally well, but I didn't really feel like our personalities matched. We've randomly chatted since then, but I'd be happier just being friends with her.

Instead, I've been seeing a lot more of Mary from Match. We have a similar sense of humor, and so far it's working out pretty well.

My match.com subscription is now over, so I figure I'll give a short review.
-If you're in match (or another dating site), it's a safe assumption you're not going on a ton of dates. So in this case (either if you're a guy or girl), just try to go on a bunch of them.
-Don't expect every person you email to email you back. Maybe about 10 to 20% will, in which case, you (again, guy or girl) should ask them out. It's online dating. No one cares about gender roles.
-The numbers are much more slanted toward females, but that shouldn't be a big deal.
-I think you get more comfortable "in real life" around people you're interested in.

So if you followed my other posts about match, I guess I kind of take them back. I think I went on about 6 or 7 dates over those 3 months. So for $60, it was worth it. Would I do it again? I don't think so.

It's 2010! Do you do resolutions (or keep them)? What did you do for New Years Eve? I went to Girl Talk and it was wild.

Updates Galore

It's been a while since my last post, but I've been keeping busy.

A Recap:

-The date with Heidi seemed to go well. We met at a not too pretentious wine bar and talked for a while before stopping at a diner for some food. When we parted, I didn't go for a kiss, but instead did one of those one-armed hugs. I thought the date went well, but that's debatable.

-Later that weekend, I figured I'd ask both Heidi and Dana on dates for the week. I got voicemail each time, which wasn't a big deal. I just asked if they wanted to get dinner/drink/etc on said night and to call back. At least one will call back in response to a date, right? Wrong. I still haven't heard back from either.

-Just before Thanksgiving, a coworker asked how online dating was going. I explained to her my lack of dates, so she posited that I'm not asking out enough girls. So given access to my account, my friend proceeded to send the same two sentence email to about 20 girls asking to meet for coffee

-Oddly enough, following a Flosstrodamus show on Black Wednesday (my favorite drinking holiday), I made out with a friend's friend at Debonair. Yes, we were all that drunk, and it's been quite a while since I've done that. The girl, Kayla, is pretty good looking, but we both don't know each other at all. So I'm reserving judgment until we go on a date.



Of the girls my friend asked out for me, I've gone on dates with three so far. One was pretty nice, but I wasn't really feeling it. The other, Mary, seems pretty cool. Our date lasted over 3 hrs, but was good conversation the whole time. I hope she didn't get bored, though. She seemed to have a good time, though, so we switched numbers and I asked her to get dinner Friday. So we're going to do that, which I look forward to.

The third girl was pretty cool, but I think I'd rather just be friends with her.

So that's where I'm sitting now. Tonight I'm getting coffee with Kayla. I'm avoiding drinking, because the last time we drank I ended up staying over. The main thing I'm worried about is if she doesn't realize that we might not be attracted to each other.

Am I Making a Mistake?

"I immediately regret this decision." or Do I?


Today I called Heidi. It had been over a week since I last called, and I'm attracted to her enough that I wanted to see what would happen.

Now in reference to my last post, you may think "I thought you deleted her number." Well, kind of. I deleted the contact, but there were still some text messages lingering around. So like the sap I am, I dug through the history to find her number.

Heidi answered, and after I gave an awkward sounding "So...How've you been?" she said that she got in a fight with a friend; Hence, no volunteering appearance. I think she was trying to insinuate that's why she didn't call back for 10 days also. Heidi threw in a quick "I was actually thinking about you today, and about calling to get a drink." I'm not sure how true this is. Could she just be asking me because she knew that's exactly what I was calling for?

So we're going to grab a drink on Thursday. I'm hoping that I'm wrong about her, and Heidi had a good reason not to call back. I won't find out until then, I guess. I just know that I definitely won't be trying to kiss her this time.

What do you think? Should I just meet up with her this once, but try to forget about her because she should have gotten back to me? Or should I give it a chance with a girl I have feelings for?

Compatibility

Lately, I've been having a hard time meeting a girl who I'm compatible with. Concerning the girls I've taken on dates, either there wasn't much chemistry, or I was blindsided by their non-interest (Heidi).

I've probably gone on more dates in the last month than I have for my entire life (quick check: True). So this is a bit more rejection than I'm used to. Now I get the feeling that no matter how much I may have in common with someone, I'll still just be viewed as their Platonic friend.

For instance, my roommate had a good female friend visit for the weekend. Coincidentally, she has the same name as Heidi, so she'll be Heidi2. I didn't end up going out at night with them, but the three of us did some hanging out in the apartment. I understand that there's no formula for true compatibility, but our common interests ranged from the broad (surfing & photography) to the obscure (fans of Le Tigre and the Modern Lovers). No matter what, I can't picture Heidi2 thinking of me more than some goofy friend. Granted, this is a broad generalization, but it gets difficult when it's not question of compatibility, but it's something I'm doing.

In addition to the recent complaining, I decided to start deleting all the numbers of girls who've stopped calling me back. There went Sevilla, Heidi, Dana, and others. At least I won't send any embarrassing late night texts.
I was hoping Dana would come through, but it doesn't look like it'll happen. After calling twice with no response, she sent over a text message asking my weekend plans. I mentioned that my friend Rob was having a party and said she and her sister could come if they wanted. She said, "Sure," and that she would call. Didn't happen, though the party was still a good time. So now that I don't have her number, I can't appear too pathetic by bothering her. She has mine, so if she wants, she can make the call.

In other news, I watched the move The Brothers Bloom this weekend (on DVD). It stars Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, and Rachel Weisz. It's about two brothers who are con men, and Weisz is the latest/last mark. I don't think the movie got a lot of press this last year because it's another indie flick, but it was really enjoyable. If you're bored roaming around the video store or on Netflix, check that one out.


So what do you think about this whole business of deleting numbers from your phone? Do you think it's necessary or juvenile? I'm not sure at times, and I think I've had to get people's phone numbers a second time. Usually I make up some excuse like I got a new phone. Holding back on contacting people can be hard.


Oh yeah, I saw the Walkmen (a sweet rock band) at Lincoln Hall on Friday. Easily the best sounding venue I've been to so far. The show was great, as I went with Kumar and Jay. Too bad it's located in the cesspool that is Lincoln Park...

2 Days?

Over the weekend, I didn't hear from Heidi at all even though I called her on both days. Usually I would think that would be too much, but she typically returned my calls on the same day. I had just asked a friend how long she thought I should let a phone call go unreturned. She said two days. That's it? Is that the general concensus? It just seems so short. I was just beginning to like this girl and now I get to find out that she's not interested in me. Is this how dating is supposed to be? I've gone one two dates with the last few girls I've met and now they've fallen off the radar.

That leaves one left.
I don't think I ever wrote about it, but a few months ago I went to a friend's birthday party/drinkathon. Near the end of the party I chatted up a short girl with big bangs. I'll call her Dana. Unfortunately I drank too much and forgot to ask for her number, or so I thought.
Over the weekend, I added her on Facebook (yeah, I know), and asked if she'd want to meet up some time. No response. Not a huge deal, just another pretty cute girl.
Then comes last weekend when I got a call from the birthday friend (Kyle) telling me to go to a party in my neighborhood.
Well what do you know? It's Dana's apartment. And it's a Tom Selleck party, moustaches everywhere.
After saying hello, I kept the chatter to a minimum since I was still embarrassed about being the drunk guy hitting on her last time.
Near the end of the party, people were starting to get to some bars. Kyle went home with his girlfriend, so I thought it'd be a good idea to go home also.
As I was leaving, I decided to ask for Dana's number. I said "Dana, I'm just going to say it: I think you're really cute. Could I give you a call some time?" To which she replied "Um...you already have my number. And I have yours. See? I'll call you right now." What??? Is this for real? I was that drunk?

10 seconds later, my phone is ringing. Phone number's tagged as "[Someone not named Dana] Kyle's Friend." So apparently I've been sitting on Dana's phone number for two months without knowing it.

So that's the scenario. I'll try calling tomorrow to see if she wants to grab a drink. If not (meaning she lets the phone go to voicemail and doesn't call back), then I'm back to nothing.

What do you think about the Two Days guideline? Is that a reasonable amount of time to give someone to call back? Personally, I return calls that day if I'm interested and it's not too late. What about you?