It's the reason why I'm here

I ended up having a lot of fun on my date with Cabinet. Cabinet is one of those really cool girls that every guy gets along with instantly. But from talking to mutual friends, she is the kind of girl that is really good at keeping guys at arms length. In other words, there may be walls she has built that I can't possibly tear down unless she lets them down. So we will see.

I picked up Cabinet and decided that I wanted to eat some place decent. So I took her to the Melting Pot. She had never been. Cabinet is so good at carrying conversation. I think I was a bit surprised at how able she was to hold a conversation through the entire dinner. I guess I don't actually anticipate that a girl will be able to do that. After dinner, since it was too late to do an activity but too early to take her home, I took Cabinet over to my house. Milo and Steve-O were there and they were definitely impressed with Cabinet. We just talked about politics and it was super chill. Of course, one of my main concerns about dating is that I let things become too chill way too soon. I guess I have more baggage now than I did a few months ago with the Jewel debacle. Now I am going to enter every potential relationship with a fear that things will be too relaxed early on and that I will be unable to jump start them when I decide I want to move to the next level.

Cabinet and I have texted a few times since the date. I would be very interested in going out with her again. I can't really say if she has any interest.

A beautiful drink for beautiful people - TAB

On Friday night, Lebron and I went on our third date. Well, sorta. She texted me to say that her little brother was playing in a basketball game that evening and she really needed to go watch him play. So Steve-O and Milo and I bought some steaks and grilled them up. The plan was for Lebron and I to meet up later that night and go see a movie but it ended up being much later. Lebron came over and we watched a few episodes of The Office. We cuddled and she fell asleep. Since we both had early mornings, Lebron took off fairly early.

On Saturday, I flew out to meet up with TheCaptain and go to the football game. We met up with TheCaptain's girlfriend MrsTheCaptain on Sunday night. MrsTheCaptain is much cuter in person than she was in any of the pictures I had seen of her. Not sure if TheCaptain reads my blog anymore but way to go man. They are totally going to get married soon. I enjoyed hanging out with MrsTheCaptain, although at times she seemed a little bit aloof. And she definitely reminded me of Belle from a year and a half ago in both looks and the way she acted.

On Monday, I woke up at 4:45 to catch an early flight home. I rushed through security only to find that my flight had been canceled. Thus, I spent most of the day laying on the floor of the airport waiting for the new flight. Disastrous.

On Wednesday, I had my first date with TAB. The moment I picked her up, I knew it was going to be a good date. One, TAB is a touchy person. I hate being touched by people that I don't want touching me. But an attractive girl that I am interested in touching me? Yes please. We immediately hugged and TAB had to show me her room (I guess she had just cleaned it). We had dinner at my favorite Bosnian place and TAB handled herself quite well. She made jokes and asked interesting questions and laughed at all the right times. It was definitely a fun first date. Without much else to do, I took TAB back to my house to eat some dessert. Milo and Steve-O were there and they decided to give TAB a bit of a hard time. TAB seemed to handle it pretty well, laughing and acting like one of the guys. I am sure when their language became fouler, it bugged TAB a little but she handled it like a champ. When we got back to her house, TAB invited me in for a minute. I met her roommates and she showed me her gingerbread house that she had made. We sat on the couch and she whispered some secrets to me about her roommates. It was really fun. I left feeling that I really wanted to see TAB again soon.

Tonight I am going out with House. Tomorrow I am going out during the day with Lebron and then with Dee and Dum in the evening. Should be a busy weekend.

Updates

Last week, I met Dee and Dum for dinner. They are such a strange couple. If I text one too much, the other one will get mad at me. At this point, I am pretty sure that Dee likes me more than Dum does. Dee randomly texted me on Sunday night and asked if I was attracted to Dum. I waffled a bit and then said yes and she said she figured that was the case and it was to settle an argument. It kinda felt like unnecessary drama to me.

On Sunday, I invited House over for dinner. I made pork chops (since I have my pig skittles in the freezer), rice a roni and brownies. I don't know if House liked any of the food but at least she pretended to. Then I played my guitar for her. I think House was impressed but she is so nice that she probably would have said it sounded great even if it sounded awful. We watched Groundhog Day with Milo and RunsWithScissors. Then we watched House's new commercial. Yeah, that's right, House filmed a commercial last week. Both Milo and RunsWithScissors couldn't stop complimenting House for how hot she looked in the commercial. After House left, Milo and RunsWithScissors and Steve-O all told me that I need to marry House. I can just add them to the list.

Tonight I am meeting Lebron for dinner. Lebron is a girl I met online. This is our first date. It should just be a short dinner to minimize the awkwardness. I wonder if I should get my haircut before I go...

Week in review

I had a really busy week last week and wasn't able to write at all. On Wednesday, I had a date planned with BFD. I ended up working late (til 10:30) and had to cancel on her. BFD seemed ok with it. On Thursday, I went out with Pulse. It was really fun. We ate at IHOP, went to the bookstore and then watched Taken at my house. She hadn't seen it and was totally freaking out throughout the whole movie. Pulse is just really cool. Everytime I talk to Steve-O, he totally thinks that I need to date Pulse.

On Friday night, I had a date with Fiesta. I met Fiesta last summer at a cabin trip and we became facebook friends. We chat from time to time and I just felt like asking her out. We had dinner and went to a movie. Nothing too exciting. Fiesta is pretty cool but I already know that I don't have any interest in dating her. She is pretty and fun but she lives far away, is not LDS and there are just too many moments where the conversation sort of dies between us and I have to struggle to revive it.

On Saturday, I had a date with Spinster. She met me at my house and we drove out to my friend Crack's place for dinner and games. Crack and I have been friends for many many years. As we were driving out there, I decided to ask Spinster a few questions. I was just fishing a little about what she had done with her life thus far and Spinster dropped a bomb on me. She was married. Ok, it isn't that big of a bombshell. When she was 20, she was married for about a year. The whole thing just intimidates me though. Why? Well, for one, it makes me wonder if she is really not interested in a relationship (because maybe she has trust issues). It also makes me wonder if everything I do is somehow compared to some guy from many years ago (even though he failed, he initially succeeded). I felt a bit of a disconnect with Spinster.

We drove back to my house and although it was early, it was probably too late to start a movie (and maybe attempt to cuddle or initiate some kind of physical contact) but early enough that we had to do something. Spinster and I played a few round of MarioKart on my Super Nintendo. It was way fun. She wasn't horrible at it. Then she took off. There was a short hug. Knowing that Spinster was married kinda makes me way more nervous to try anything with her. I am not ready to kiss her anyway.

I was a little bummed (cause it was Saturday night, it was like 10:00 and I was sitting at home playing video games). Steve-O came home and said he was going to this western bar to meet some girl. He invited me along. We got all dressed up in our cowboy gear (well, my cowboy gear, I let Steve-O borrow a belt buckle and a cowboy shirt and a cowboy hat) and headed out in my truck. The place looked empty from the outside but was bustling on the inside. Tons of cowboys, a mechanical bull and cowgirls. I have always had a special place in my heart for cowgirls. Lilo was kinda a cowgirl and the way she spoke drove me crazy (in both the positive and negative aspects).

A good friend of me and Steve-O named Feldman met us there. Feldman has no fear. A few years ago, Feldman was engaged to be married. He showed up at the temple with all his friends and family on the day of the wedding. They waited. And waited some more. He called his fiance and finally got a hold of her. She was not coming. Nor was her family. Nor did they ever intend to come. The receptionhouse had not been booked. Announcements had not been sent. After going through a day like that, Feldman is the kind of guy who has no fear. No matter what happens, it won't ever be as bad as that day. While Steve-O was cuddling with some chick in the corner, Feldman and I country-danced it up with a couple of girls. It was a lot of fun. I just felt so rejuvenated by it. The girls probably weren't Mormon and one of them told Feldman she had a boyfriend but it was a good night for me. I think Mormon girls play this game with dating that non-Mormon girls do not play. It's like all Mormon girls are naturally suspicious of everything I do. Sometimes I get really tired of it. At the end of most dates with Mormon girls, I feel like a bit of a limp noodle. But after dancing with those girls, I felt like such a stud. I had my truck. I had my belt buckle. I had my Wrangler jeans. I had my cowboy hat. I had my cowboy shirt. I felt pretty good.

Single Mom Date or The Problem with Movies on a Date

Tonight I have my first real date with a single mom. It's a blind date. I have no idea what she looks like so I am struggling with a nickname for her. How about Charlie (as in Ray Charles, cause he was blind! ha ha ha... ok I thought it was funny). Steve-O is setting me up with Charlie even though he has never met her. Apparently she is in the same ward as the older sister of one of Steve-O's good friends that met me once. Well, a few years ago I went on a sort-of date with my good friend Rockabilly and she had two kids then (she still has two kids, I believe). Actually, Rockabilly and I have been on quite a few sort-of dates. We have gone to several concerts together, eaten out many a time, and fussed about our love lives. I keep trying to encourage her to read this blog but having two children, a job, and a boyfriend (sort-of) that is just starting his own law firm doesn't leave much time for reading blogs...

Anyway, so I am a bit nervous. What questions can I ask? What questions can I not ask? I mean, is it ok for me to ask why she got divorced? Her kid's name? How long she has been divorced? Where the father is in the whole scheme of things? Also, I don't know what sort of activity to plan with a single mom? I know Charlie really enjoys bowling but I think she might be tons better at it than me and I know she goes bowling a lot so it might not be all that fun for her. To be honest, I would like to just have dinner with her and if it seems like it is going well, maybe go see a movie. There are a bunch of movies in theaters that I haven't seen yet and I never have anyone to go see them with me.

The problem is, there is a lot of pressure on a guy to come up with something creative for dates. Especially first dates. With a girlfriend, it's way easy to settle on a movie. With a first date, I am expected to plan something that is new, interesting, fun, doable by most people, not overly expensive, original, and memorable. Otherwise, she will immediately associate me with the words boring, lame, unoriginal, unfun (probably not a world, but maybe in Newspeak from 1984 it would be), and just not date worthy. Besides all that, I may not even be attracted to her. I know zero about her other than the fact that someone else knocked her up (so she was desirable at one time to at least one person...). I don't know what color her hair is, what her body style is like, if she has straight teeth, etc. I would hate to waste too much creativity on a girl that I am not going to take out again.

Side notes: I called Spinster two nights ago and left a message telling her to call me back. I haven't received anything back. Because of a few incidents from the past, I am really hestitant to try much harder to call her. How often can I try and call a girl? According to GetErDone, she wants to go out with me. But why wouldn't she return my phone call after two days? I mean, it only takes like 1 second to send a text saying "hey, got your call, super busy, call next week?"

Hey Jealousy

On Friday night, FarFarAway texted me a number of times wanting to hang out. It was at this precise moment that I realized I have zero interest in her. My roommates all think she is very pretty. I think she is very pretty. But she isn't for me. Nevertheless, I met up with FarFarAway, TheCaptain, Tweak, Sugarloaf, an old guy friend Barrel, and a new friend; I am going to nickname her HappyEnding. HappyEnding is one of FarFarAway's good friends. As is typical, there were five guys in that hottub and three girls. Honestly though, it was a lot of fun. It was mostly just us guys talking and having a blast.

On Saturday, GetErDone, LittleBrother, and my cousin RunsWithScissors met up with BFF and some of her friends at a piano bar. BFF brought along one cute friend Bynes. I met Bynes several years ago at a party with BFF. She has definitely gotten prettier.

On Sunday, in Sunday School, I sat in front of a couple of cute girls. They weren't in my ward; they were ward hopping. I talked to them a little but the one I thought was cutest spent most of the time texting on her phone. She had blue eyelashes. Sometimes when a girl has blue eyelashes, it just looks funny. Other times, it makes a girl look so pretty. I couldn't stop staring at her eyes.

That night at Ward Prayer, I met this girl Cooch. I don't think I have ever seen Cooch before but she is my type. I mean, I don't really have a type but a tall slender blonde girl with her complexion comes pretty darn close. I talked to Cooch for just a little bit. She graduated from high school in 09. I talked about her with my roommate Steve-O last night. I was complaining about how I must be screwed up cause I always fall for really young girls. Steve-O was of the opinion that it was just years of evolution shaping what I found attractive. Healthy looking young women are more likely to reproduce healthy offspring, at least from a genetic standpoint. It made me feel a little less frustrated. I am just doing what my DNA tells me to do. Anyway, I became very jealous of whatever guy gets to date her. There are guys out there who date girls like that all the time. Why can't I be one of those guys? Who are they jealous of? While blog surfing, I came upon a blog of a gorgeous blonde girl who dreams of being a writer. I am very jealous of whatever guy gets to go on a date with her. She doesn't seem mean in her posts. I wonder if she is mean?