The Getaway

Gamer peppered me throughout the weekend with texts. I really didn't want to hang out with her so I made it seem like I was super busy with work and just too tired to hang out. Instead, I went to a Mormon Aristocracy party with Sugarloaf, TheCaptain and littlebrother. I have been to this exact same party approximately 47 times in my life. It may be at a different setting and there may be a slightly different group of people there but essentially it is always the same party. I guess it is better than nothing but I always find myself leaving these parties saying to myself "I am never going to another one of those parties again." It's not that there aren't cute girls there. Aussie was there (although I doubt she recognized me). It's just that most of the people don't seem to go to these things to meet people. They go to hang out with people they already know. Halfway through the party, someone cranked up the volume on some obnoxious music just to ensure that anyone attempting to have a conversation would be discouraged. For the upcoming generation, dancing and physical interaction always seem to have a higher priority and come before real social interaction.

On Sunday, while avoiding texts from Gamer, I called up House and suggested we go on a walk. I drove over to her place and we just walked for awhile. It was great. The conversation with House is always lively and interesting. Throughout the night, my mind kept running into the dead end of "why can't I date this girl?"

On Monday, I even sat down with one of the partners at my law firm to discuss it. His advice was actually quite astonishing to me. He said that if he were single, physical attraction would not even be close to the top priority when looking for a wife. He said that no matter what, all of that will mean basically nothing in five years. To be honest, I still have a hard time wrapping my head around that. If I were marrying for personality, House would be great. And House isn't an ugly girl. As I have thought about it over the past few days, I have concluded that I have an ego. On my mission, an elder that was fairly popular sent out engagement photos. My friends and I were shocked when we saw the announcement. This guy was marrying a girl that seemed obviously less attractive than him and was slightly overweight. To be honest, we all threw in a few jabs about them. Maybe I do have a bit more of an ego than I would like to admit.

When I dated Mindy many many years ago, it felt so great to go out in public with her. I was a superstar. Is it wrong for me to want that again? Should I just take my dad's advice "Tripp, you are never going to find a better girl for you than House."

Last night, I went to dinner with Gamer. I kinda felt obligated to. Gamer seemed even more clingy. I walked her back to her car and I know that a) she really wanted me to kiss her and b) she really wanted me to invite her back to my place (we met near where I work). I just wasn't having it. I felt bad about it too. I have always been terrified about dumping a girl (even when we aren't really dating). But I gotta do something about Gamer. She wants things to progress and I am really not feeling it.

Is it for me?

So one of my friends Foot was doing her visiting teaching. Good mormon girl type activity. Now, I am not sure how it came up but she starts telling the girl she is visiting teaching about my date with SouthernBelle. Sometime along the way, the girl she is visiting teaching stops her and says "I went on that date! I am SouthernBelle." Yeah, pretty embarrassing. She didn't see the blog but I am sure that my level of dorkiness in her book went way up. I mean, what guy blogs about his dates? I had serious thoughts of ending A Date with Tripp Hazard because of this incident. Foot also informed me that SouthernBelle thinks I am kinda old. Now that really hurt my feelings. Anyone who has met me knows that I have a young spirit. I neither look nor act my age. I called SouthernBelle on it and she said that she hates gossip and that it wasn't what she said. Who knows?

On Sunday at ward prayer, I hardly said a word to SouthernBelle. The whole activity was literally crawling with 19 year old girls. I talked to two different girls for most of the time. Both were 19. Then I met MathCheerCoach. MathCheerCoach is a math teacher at a local high school. She also is the cheer coach. We talked a little but she didn't seem that interested in talking with me. Plus, she doesn't want to stay here. She wants to move someplace warm. That's great, except my house, my career, my family and my life are here. So it's two strikes against her already.

SouthernBelle and I agreed to go out this Saturday but she texted me last night and had to cancel. I am sort of up a river without a paddle right now. My first thought was to call TheWriter. She and I met online but haven't met yet. Thing is, I have seen lots of pictures of her (there are almost 1000 on facebook) and I am only attracted to her in about 10% of those. I know, what a weird number. TheWriter is goofy and fun and outgoing, but if I am not attracted to her, I certainly won't start dating her. My next thought was Aussie. I messaged her on facebook but she said her parents were in town and she had to spend time with them. I am still considering other girls, including MathCheerCoach, Virginia, and TheFlake. Virginia is a girl I have never met that added me as a friend on facebook. We have several mutual friends. Looking at her pictures, I am very attracted to her. TheFlake is a girl I have had a crush on in the past. She works at a dry cleaning place and is quite flaky. But gorgeous and spunky and fun and cute and just so attractive.

Last night I went and hung out with FormerLesbian. I found it a bit disturbing. First, I met her mother. Overweight but nice. Second, I found out FormerLesbian has lost 80 pounds. She used to weigh 225. Now, that's great that she lost all of that weight but I still see that as a negative. Finally, FormerLesbian acts like she is in love with me already. I may be handsome and charming, but I am not THAT handsome or THAT charming. So it makes me awfully suspicious when a girl starts having feelings for me that early on that are that strong. Plus, when I feel lukewarm and they come on strong, it's definitely a turnoff.

A Dessert Party

Last night my buddy Sugarloaf called me and invited me to a desert party up north. I had nothing else going on so I said sure. We drove out to some really nice neighborhood. We only knew one guy who had been invited to the party. If you have ever seen the movie Swingers, it kinda reminds me of my life. We show up to some party at some house hosted by some person we don't know and probably won't even meet while we are there. We talk to a few people, down some cake and a bottle of water and hit the road. Last night was just as frustrating. We were about ready to go but I didn't want the night to be a total loss. My picking up girls lines mirror my soccer playing abilities. I am not horrible but nobody would ever describe me as good.

But then once in awhile, the stars align, the atmosphere around one of the moons of Saturn is at the right temperature, and a butterfly bats its wings off the coast of South America. Like last week at my soccer game. I had scored one goal all season and didn't feel any different going into the game. But somehow, I managed to score two goals and sort of just play like a champion. Relatively speaking.

Last night was kind of one of those times. I didn't just start walking up to girls, throwing out great lines. But, this girl was next to me and I sort of made my move. She was Australian. Now, I loves me some accents and Australian is near the top of my list. If you haven't heard me say it, the Australian accent is an automatic plus two. A girl with that accent automatically goes up two points on my 1-10 scale. On my new four tiered scale, an Australian accent would automatically bump a girl up from the second tier to the third tier or from the third tier to the fourth tier. Well, Aussie was a solid third tier girl. Perhaps even a fourth tier girl (which is the highest). Super pretty, in shape, and just fun. We talked for a little while and I just really enjoyed it. She is divorced. I didn't get her number. It was hard cause one of my buddies Tweak came along and sort of sideswiped the conversation. And then, she ended up in a different conversation with two dudes I didn't know and I ended up in a conversation with her friend Boutique. It was still fun. Even if nothing comes of it, last night recharged my batteries. As it turns out, all I need to keep pushing through each day is hope. And lately, hope has been in short supply for me. But when I meet a couple of cute girls that seem decent, it gives me hope. Which made last night just as great as scoring the two goals in the soccer game. Even though we only tied the game and even though all my teammates are bound to be let down when I don't score goals in our next game, I was hopeful that somewhere inside of me was the ability to play soccer. Last night, I was hopeful that somewhere inside of me was the ability to attract a girl.