BlastFromThePast

Last night, I began preparing for a presentation I'm scheduled to give on Wednesday. Because I had no idea what to talk about, I decided to do a little research and start some talking points.

Ho hum. Just like the days when I was in college. UGH.

Doing a little research and chatting online with a few buds, I get a strange IM request.

I never accept these requests unless I think I recognize the name. This name looked vaguely familiar so I went with it.

Unknown IMer: "Hey there!"
Sandra Dee: "Do I know you?"
Unknown IMer: "I hope you do. It's Xxxxx. You know. The guy from Andy's birthday party in college."

I just about peed all over myself. This guy will from here on be known as my BlastFromThePast - because he was. We met at a friend's birthday party about a year ago and couldn't get enough of one another. Hands all over me, constant flirting, hot as hell, musician and athlete. We exchanged phone numbers and called one another quite a bit, but never could get our schedules to mesh together for a date.

We quickly caught up. He's working at a small Division II school, which is about two hours away from me, as a football coach. I told him how much I love football - I really do - and he asked about me. He said he's always in my city and wanted to know if we could get together next time he's in town.

Hell. The. Eff. Yeah.

I playfully told him that us getting together would rock my socks off.

"Is that an inuendo?!" he asked.

You bet it is, kiddo. Okay - so I'm not placing any bets on us getting together. But just when I thought I'd hit a dead end with my dates, out comes BlastFromThePast. And hopefully a future makeout session. Just what I need.

Hell. The. Eff. Yeah.

Dear John

Don't call the next day for crying out loud. Especially after the first date.

SummaCumeLaude called yesterday - less than 19 hours after he dropped me off and we embraced in an awkward goodbye hug.

I sent him to voicemail because, quite frankly, I was on another date. With McDreamy. (Okay, fine! A girl can dream!) Later I listened to his message:

"Hey Saaaaaandra Deeeeeee," he said in his very Southern accent. "I had a good tiiiiiime on Saaaaturday and hope we can dooooo it agaaaaaain. I was just wuuuuuunderin' if youuuuuuu'd like to grab some luuuuuunch on Tuuuuuuesday. Let me knooooow. Byyyyye."

Poor kid. I felt sorry for the skinny minnie. But I did the best thing a sane girl in my situation could do.

Sent a Dear John letter.

"Hi SummaCumeLaude!

Thanks for the very fun evening on Saturday. I enjoyed meeting you - and the bull riding event was so cool! Unfortunately, I don't think this was a match. I hate saying that because you are such a nice guy! Best of luck with your search! Thanks again for the great evening. It was so nice to meet you!

Sandra Dee"

Ugh. I hate doing that!

Close But No Cigar

There wasn't anything wrong with him.

Okay. Yes there was.

SummaCumeLaude was short. Like the 5'9" variety.

I just have a thing about being with a short guy, which by itself wouldn't be so bad, but did I mention he was very very skinny? Ugh.

The rodeo was great great fun. And the boy was nothing but nice, polite and very very smart.

But damn. I gotta have some meat on my men.

He was close, but no cigar.

P.S. Anchorman has requested my presense for a second date. I think I'm going. Hell. I'm so horned up even the 40-year-old men at the grocery store were looking good.

I just wanna good old-fashioned makeout session people! Is that too much to ask?

Sixth Sense

Tonight brought phone calls from boys.

First was SummaCumeLaude. He is quickly earning points. I don't care if he's 5'11. This guy has already purchased our tickets for the rodeo, figured out what time we should get there, and asked if I would rather we meet in a public place or if I had "any reservations about" him picking me up. How nice! I think this one will be fun.

And it's a rodeo people. Too cool. We meet Saturday.

Oh. Did I mention his dad's a preacher?

His dad's a preacher.

(Hold your laughter on that one, please. It wasn't my finest.)

Ahem. Then got a missed phone call from EngineeringPilot a.k.a. big-dork-who-didn't-turn-off-the-tv-when-I-called-him-back. I think I'm writing this dude off. He actually said it was pretty late for me to be calling him at ten o'clock.

And for my finale...

Drum roll please....

I heard from Anchorman.

What the heck? I know it has only been about four days since we went out - not that I'm counting or anything - but I was expecting him to drop off the face of the earth. He just seemed the type.

Will I go out with him? I dunno. He was lookin' pretty hot and could be a good maker-outer, if nothing else. I can look past his being rude. Maybe. Perhaps he'll redeem himself. Like Jamy said: Everyone gets to make at least a second impression.

GuitarPlayer = a goner. He's probably taken by some blonde bimbo.

But I'm predicting a fun time had by all with SummaCumeLaude.

I have a weird sixth sense about these things.

Taking Matters into My Own Hands

Breaking news from the homefront.

Tuesday morning I get an e-mail from SummeCumeLaude wanting to know if I would like to get together this weekend - for a rodeo. How fun! I'm totally game and have been wanting to go to this event anyway. I was ready to respond on the spot, but I've reaaaaally been holding out for GuitarPlayer! What is this guys problem?

So I, very uncharateristically, took matters into my own hands. I broke down and called him tonight. Come on, people. It'd been a week since we spoke and he initiated that call anyway. I figured it was cool.

I totally was prepared with some lively conversation topics. Even ready to flirt a little. Right up until I got his voicemail. Gosh I HATE leaving messages. I never know what to say. I bet he thought I was a babbling idiot. Whatever.

So because GuitarPlayer didn't pick up - guess who moved to the front of the line.

SummaCumeLaude. I sent my response to Summa: "I'd love to meet you! Give me a call and we'll chat about the rodeo."

Wham bam, thank ya, ma'am.

Balancing Act

This whole balancing four guys thing is getting complicated.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. I've just never gotten to know more than a couple guys at one time, so I'm hoping I don't confuse them all.

Maybe distiguishing them all for you guys will help the situation:

1. EngineeringPilot: We've talked a little via e-mail, and he wants to move things to the phone. Okie dokie with me because so far he looks good on paper. Good job, young, working on his pilot's license. Sent me a picture of him on Halloween - and he's dressed up as a member of KISS. I rolled with laughter. He could be funny.

Bottom line? I'm procrastinating calling him because his e-mails have been rather dull. I mean duuuuull. A few lines here and there about himself and that's it. Blah.

2. SummaCumeLaude: This guy's seems hilarious. Peppy, energetic, preacher's son, solid Baptist. And yes - graduated Summa Cume Laude. Nothing wrong with the kid.

Except he's like 5'11". I'm 5'9", which ordinarily wouldn't be a problem, except we all know guys lie about their height. So he could really be more like 5'7".

Oh. And he's skinny. God knows I gotta have some meat on my men.

3. GuitarPlayer: I'm holding out for this kid. Seriously. He's adorable on the phone and on paper. Plays guitar, writes his own music, firefighter, degree in public relations, Christian, but still likes his beer.

So why haven't we gone out yet?

He hasn't asked me yet. I wish he'd just hurry up instead of stringing this along. He could end up like Anchorman - cute on paper and bad in person.

Speaking of Anchorman - haven't heard from him. And we all know the rule - 3 days. Well it's been three days people. And no word from him. I'll just go right along with my business and assume things went sour for him as well. If he asks me out, I'll go.

But right now, it's looking like I'd rather save my time with one of the other three boys.

Any particulars you're pulling for? Or how about suggestions for balancing all these dudes?

Beyond Three Strikes

Okay. The date. Drumroll please....

I've been on Match.com for about three weeks now. I'm corresponding with several guys, but only a few of them have caught my interest. Anchorman being one of them.

We're going to call him that because of his love for the movie of the same name. He seemed fun and personable from his e-mails. Master's and bachelor's degrees from a good university. Worked as a project manager for a construction company. A bit older - at 29. We decided on a hockey game then maybe downtown afterward. That would be safe and something else to talk about besides ourselves.

I opened the door at 7 o'clock and was pleasantly surprised at how cute he was. "Come on in, Anchorman!" I said.

We got in the car, chatted about work, and how he'd only been to the city one other time. Seemed like a nice guy. We got there, parked, and walked.

And looked in awe at the line of nearly 200 people waiting for tickets.

"Oh my gosh! This is ridiculous. Do we even want to go?" I asked.

Just about that time, a man turned around and said, "Do you guys want tickets?" and handed us free tickets for the game! These were $9 tickets people - for FREE!

Well. They were in the nosebleed section, but still.

I crawled into my seat (without any help from Anchorman - ahem - strike one) , got settled in, and Anchorman said: "Let's see if we can't get down closer to the front." So we moved to the front section. And no one told us to move either! Woohoo!

Conversation and the like was going well, we were winning, but somewhere during the middle of the second period, he hops up and says, "I'm going to get me some Dippin' Dots," gets up, and leaves. Doesn't ask me for anything while he's up. Okay. Strike two. Whatever.

He gets back and dives into his ice cream. Now, he's quite athletic, and talked about how he ran and cycled and trained for dualathalons all the time. Okay. That's cool. But when I asked him if he was hungry - because I was starrrrrrrrrrrrving and hoping to grab some dinner after the game - he said: "Well kinda - but I don't wanna eat too much because I'll have to work it off tomorrow. We could just go somewhere and get an appetizer."

Are you KIDDING me? You're eating ICE CREAM and you're worried that a MEAL might throw your WORKOUT REGIMEN off?! What an effing girl. Strike three. And not only that, I could see if he was worried about money by paying for a meal instead of an appetizer, but he didn't have to pay for the game!

We won, and decided upon grabbing an appeitzer. While waiting for our food, I asked him what made him decide to get his MBA.

"I don't have my MBA," he said in a very condecending manner. "I have my masters, but not my MBA."

Fine buddy. Whatever. You're past three strikes anyway.

One more complaint: he lives about two hours away. Which is far, but get what he said to me: "So why aren't you able to go out with guys from your own town? This is a pretty big city - you should be able to find people in your area to date."

I really wanted to say, "What makes you think I'm not going out with other guys, too, dumbass?" Instead, I just laughed. I'm too nice.

So the outcome?: If he calls, I'll talk to him, but I'm not going out of my way to go out with him again. He was nice, but there were some of these things that just royally upset me.

Onward and upward.

Welcome to the Jungle

I've decided to begin a blog about dating.

Well. Let's get real. It won't necessarily be about dating - because God knows I'm certainly not an expert - but more about my dates.

And you'll get everything. The good. The bad. The ugly.

But you won't have to wait long for a fresh post on the new blog. Tonight brings a first date.

I hate first dates, but this one is the worst. It's an online date. Eeek. This guy could be a complete loser or a complete dreamboat or something in between. You just never know until you meet them.

Sigh. Here's hopin'.

And with that, I leave you in eager anticipation of tomorrow's post on the new blog!