Update 30-39

30 - We never went out after our frozen yogurt date, however, we've seen each other several times and are all good on the friend level.

31 - Sadly the hyper Motown DJ never called me because I'm pretty sure he would have given me a run for my money on the dance floor and added some major entertainment to my life.

32 - This guy wasn't even interested in me enough to trade numbers - he must be allergic to confidence and humor.

33 - Procrastination in Ireland made me fail with this one.

34 - This guy ignored fate introducing us to each other in Nashville and never responded to any of my date invitations.  To avoid a restraining order, I gave up after three times.

35 - Sometimes I know instantly that a guy isn't interested in me, but this wasn't one of those times.  

36 - I haven't seen him, so obviously he moved out of state.

37 - This one has taken an odd turn.  The last communication I've had with Thirty-seven is when I texted him asking how the rest of his weekend was and his response was, "Great.  How about yours?  How was Indie Slash?"  Indie Slash was where Rob and I met up with him and his friends, so I found his text confusing.  I replied, "It would have been much better if you hadn't vanished." So far I haven't heard back anything from him, so I have no idea what's happening.  I'm going to do my best to get things back on track with him.

38 - Double fail because I never did hear back from him or the girl in his group, so no date or new friend.

39 - I'm going with the theory that Thirty-nine didn't get my number from his friend, which is a shame because let me remind you he had a DOUBLE BRAID RAT TAIL!

Two out of ten. Upward and onward!

Thirty-nine

The night started out with Laura, Rob, and I joking about who could get the most numbers; Laura was rooting for me so as soon as her boyfriend's buddy came in she made him give me his number.  Then his friend Thirty-nine walked in, and I was smitten.  Tall and goofy with a double braid rat-tail off of the right side, a genuine smile, and a soul full of dancing to the band we were watching made me want his number regardless of any friendly competition.  We danced throughout the night, laughed, and had silly conversations.  At the end of the evening I told him we should go out sometime and celebrate life (I have no idea why I said that; as soon as it came out of my mouth I thought it sounded odd.  Such is my life - odd).  Thirty-nine chuckled and then I will never be sure what he would have said because our mutual and ridiculously drunken friend appeared out of nowhere.  While I handled her he wandered away to the rest of his friends, and then we all went our separate ways before I could follow up with him and exchange numbers.

On my bus ride home I remembered that I had gotten his friend's number at the beginning of the night.  I felt comfortable texting this guy about Thirty-nine since he had been hitting on one of my friend's the whole night.  I sent him a message asking him to pass my number on to Thirty-nine, and he replied okay.  He also sent me another text at 2:42am asking if he could crash at my place.  Weird.  Luckily I was asleep and missed that text until the next day.  Unfortunately Thirty-nine hasn't contacted me yet, so if you see a guy with a double braid rat-tail please get his number for me.

Date 37.2

Thirty-seven earned some bonus points by cleaning up hay bales at a church event I organized and sending his roommate to my salon for a haircut, so I told him I owed him a couple of drinks.  We made dinner plans, and I chose a restaurant based on the location and food (soul food home cooking, yes please!).  I bought his drink at the bar while we waited for our table and we admired everything that this restaurant had happening - funky music, great furniture, random 80s dance movies playing on the back wall, and a jazz band (seriously this place won me over in 5 seconds).  When we were seated and got our menus, I started backpedaling in my head about the place because the average meal was $20; seriously if a meal is over $12 I better have leftovers for a couple of meals.

The evening was filled with a balance of easy conversation, which is saying a lot since I tend to take over the talking sometimes. I gave myself a mental high five for avoiding the friend zone when he mentioned that he had gotten out of a 5-year relationship several months ago.  Typically my reaction would have been to ask concerned questions (in my head I was repeating, "Do not ask, do not ask." because a lifetime of romantic books and movies have educated me not to talk about exes on a date, and things always work out in those stories.  I also thought about saying, "I'm the perfect rebound girl because I don't think I'm looking for a relationship" but I decided that wasn't the best response.), but I side-stepped that urge and the conversation transitioned elsewhere. When it was time to pay the bill he insisted on paying and pointed out that I had bought his drink; in my head I was thinking, "Eeesh, this is so expensive!" but I let him pay.  I really am trying to avoid friend zone territory with this guy.

At the end of the evening we parted ways at our respective bus stops, and he asked if he would see me that weekend at Amnesia (the bar where we first met and where mutual friends were DJing), and I told him there was a strong possibility.  We hugged goodbye, and I stepped on the bus feeling great about everything.

Friday came and I decided dancing and flirting at Amnesia were definitely in order, so I invited my friend Raul who lives nearby and is always up for dancing and being my wing man.  Thirty-seven was there surrounded by a swarm of people, some of which I knew.  I made room for myself and Raul and made introductions.  I was having a great night dancing around and not worrying about Thirty-seven.  Don't get me wrong, I would have loved to talk to him the whole night, but it was nice to see him having fun with his friends.  However, when I was ready to go I didn't see him.  Raul took my coat and waited outside and told me to go find him, so I took my coach's orders but couldn't find Thirty-seven in the crowded bar.  Fail.  When I was on the bus I texted him "Hey, you disappeared before I could say goodbye.  I hope the rest of your night is great!" He quickly replied, "Thanks!  You, too!"  So I'm not sure what happened there, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can make another date happen.

Missed Opportunities & Standards

There have been several times in life when there may have been an open door for me to ask out a guy but I didn't; maybe I was a chicken, maybe my brain just wasn't working, or maybe they opened their mouth and reminded me that I have standards.  Here are a few recent examples from my life.

As I approached the bus stop, the drunk guy on the bench complimented me by saying, "I bet your farts smell nice."  I think I could have won him over completely, but I was tired and chose to ignore him.  Will I regret that decision?  Probably.

At a friend's BBQ I was hitting it off with one of the guys there.  He told me that I was so easy to talk to, and a few minutes later he said that his boyfriend was just going to adore me.  That's always nice to hear, but makes me realize I will have no luck with dating you.

I met an absolutely hilarious guy; talking with him was as good as a pilates class because we laughed so much.  Then the attraction was lost when he disappeared for a bit, and someone mentioned something about drugs.

Hiking in Yosemite my friend and I came upon two guys who were doing some work on the trail.  One of the guys (aka my soulmate) looked up and asked, "Do you like my goggles?" We said yes and then I asked if they were using dynamite to which he replied, "This is the only dynamite we're using...BAM! BAM! BAM!" as he proceeded to jump up and flex all of his muscles with each "BAM!" I'm going to use the excuse of lack of oxygen from the hike because all I could do was swoon with laughter and walk away.  Finally I came to my senses and knew that I would ask that guy to marry me or at least for dinner on the way back, but they were gone by the time we finished our hike.  This example hurts my heart the most.

Thirty-eight

I went out dancing by myself on a Friday night; yeah, I'm that girl.  The evening was filled with a great cast of characters on the dance floor: the girl there by herself smiling and dancing, the dude wearing a leather vest without a shirt who was feeling the music and would sporadically call out "oooooooooooooweeeeee" and was completely unaware of his surroundings, the friendly drunk guy who smelled a tad bit like vomit, the two extremely intoxicated girls one of which was wearing the tiniest strapless dress ever and wanted to dance with everyone, and finally the guy who seemed pretty normal but was also there by himself and would repeatedly come up to me and say things like "you really know how to dance" in a borderline polite/creepy way.  On the outskirts of the main ensemble was Thirty-eight, who was also alone but really seemed to be there for the music and was just minding his own business.

In the beginning he and I would just exchange looks of understanding when one of the other people got a little too close to our personal space.  In reality we probably didn't talk because we were afraid that the other one would be a weirdo.  He eventually broke the ice by saying, "You should try that move," as he demonstrated and pointed to the itty-bitty dress girl repeatedly trying to keep her her chest covered.  Finally two of his friends arrived, and they asked how we knew each other and then we all became dance floor buddies.  When it was time for me to leave, Jolene asked if she could get my number so we can all go out sometime.  I gave it to her and said bye to her and her boyfriend.  Then I turned to tell Thirty-eight bye, and he said he was sad I was leaving.  I told him to cheer up because Jolene had my number and that he should call me so we could go out; he said okay and gave me a hug.

It's been two weeks, and so far I haven't heard from Jolene or Thirty-eight.  Double whammy.