Boys boys boys boys

Boys I do adooooooore!

I started writing this e-mail to my girlfriends and then realized after I finished the entry on B that it got super-long. So... instead, I'm going to serialize it. Leave you wanting more. (Or wanting me to stop writing them, whatever.)

I know it's been a while since I have spoken to some of you on the phone, but I wanted to try and fill you in on what's been going on in my life as of late. Well, more like who. Work's fine. I'm heatlhy. Mom and Dad are great, and Dan's doing well, too. He's excited about getting the hell out of South Carolina, even if it means that he's going to be going to Iraq to do it.

The most interesting developments, perhaps, have been in the romance department. Let's start with the old. You all know how I feel about C. C is my non-boyfriend. We still talk at least a few times a week, we make plans to see each other at every opportunity (though those are few and far between), and we talk about marriage and child-rearing, though not ever about our marriage or our children. I don't think I have all that much more to add, except that I've pretty much told him at least twice that I would be willing to forego dating other men if he could promise me he wouldn't date other girls. Which actually means I want him to be my boyfriend. We had this discussion about how he feels like the title is overrated and puts too much pressure on the relationship, and with the two of us being 3,000 miles apart and God only knows where he'll end up for his residency, there's no point in trying. I think there is, but there is no way in hell that a long distance relationship will work when one person is less than totally committed to trying to make it work. So there went that idea. I am disappointed, but whatever. So I decided to start dating again. But I told C I wouldn't let them see my boobies. So far, so good.

After the conversation where I put my ego on the line and told him I'd like to see him exclusively (and after his brutal rejection), I decided I deserve better than to pine after some guy who isn't sure he wants to be with me. Now, don't get me wrong, I haven't written him off completely. He and I have this weird chemistry. We just click. I believe that actions speak more loudly than words, especially for men of few words like C. Might I remind you all, even as you're shaking your heads in disapproval, that C came to visit me in LA for his Thanksgiving break, even though he was supposed to hang with the guys in NYC. And that he also came and stayed with me in NoVa over Christmas break when he could've been kickin' it with his boys. I appreciate that, and I know that for him, it's a big deal, even though he'd never admit that.

At the same time, I don't want to put my life on pause, so I'm going to date other guys. C's right; there's no telling where either of us will be a year from now. But it's been hard for me to be completely open to any male advances bc in the back of my mind, I still hope things with C somehow come together. In the meantime, I'm half-heartedly attempting to find a guy in LA who might change my mind for me. If I like a guy enough, I'll alert him in to my non-boyfriend
situation. If I start liking a guy, I'll let C know. I want a man who will fight for me. But he has no incentive to fight right now bc I am so apparently smitten with him.



Ugh. I can't even write about it any more. Let's talk about the new boys.

B and I met back in September over Labor Day weekend. You remember unidentified penis man? When Natalia was visiting me, we went to Cabo Cantina and got smashed there, neither of us remembers much from that night. When I woke up the next morning and started looking
through my pictures, I found a picture of a penis. Yeah, that was B. He is the kind of guy who has a very juvenile sense of humor. He's 30 and he still thinks stuff like that is funny. And I'm not gonna lie; I think it's funny, too. It's just that I'm not entirely sure I'd appreciate a guy I was dating to randomly whip his wang out and leave evidence of it on strangers' cameras. Hmm. That was probably not the best way to introduce you guys to B. Let me start over.

B's 6 foot something and 200 lbs. Big guy, but not fat. Just meaty.



B intrigues me. He's unlike anyone I've ever met. He's a party-loving frat boy and a perfect gentleman all at once. He never finished college, twice, but he strikes me as an incredibly
intelligent guy. He's opinionated on social and political issues (and he doesn't always agree with me and stands by his opinions) but he has an unfortunate tendency to mix up "you're" and "your" in his e-mails to me. You guys know how much I hate it when people forget basic grammatical rules. Some rules are ok to break when writing e-mails, but "your" and "you're" are not interchangeable under any circumstances. That is like, a hair away from being a dealbreaker for me. But I was delighted to discover that he's a big big BIG dork. Like... in college, he used to play that card game "Magic: the Gathering" and he was actually a nationally ranked player, playing in Magic tournaments and stuff. He likes books about dragons and shows like Battlestar Galactica. And he loves computer games. He's kind of a nerd, but he hated school. He tried to do the college thing twice: once at the University of Colorado, and then at University of Illinois- Urbana Champaign. He feels like he has to prove himself to people bc he never graduated from college. He quit school, decided he hated the cold weather in Chicago, and moved to the Caribbean to teach sailing and be the fun guy for Club Med resorts. After a couple years out there, he moved to LA and made ends meet by bartending. Now, he owns his own business "screwing shit into walls," as he puts it. Basically, he sells used needle disposal bins to hospitals and also installs them. He travels constantly bc he's a people person kind of guy and he knows that in order to win contracts, he has to put in the face time to build relationships. He's an insta-friend. You meet him, and while he's a little over the top for some people, most people take an immediate liking to him bc he's funny and witty and makes you laugh. He once won $47,000 on the Wheel of Fortune. And he loves the Vegas. Once, he wore a tux out and told everyone he was supposed to get married and got left at the altar. Got free drinks all night long and thought it was the funniest joke in the whole world.

He got my number at Cabo and never called me. I didn't think anything of it. We had had a very good conversation which ended with me giving him my number and him promising to call and take me out on a date. When he never called, I figured it was just meaningless drunk talk.
Well, a few weeks ago, I got a MySpace message from him, and it went something like this:

Hey-
This is probably the most random message you will get today. I hope
you remember me. I am B and we met at Cabo about 3 months ago. I
used to work there but I had quit when we met. We had had a pretty
good conversation that concluded with me asking you out. Now, if you
don't remember me, then this message probably just got a little
awkward. I'm not making this up. You can ask anyone who works at Cabo.
You probably can't ask them if we met or anything but they will vouch
that I worked there. At any rate, not long after, I destroyed my phone
in a terrible accident (I sat on it while it was open). My work has me
out of town at least 4 days a week for the next month or so but I
would still like to at least chat again sometime. I would say grab a
drink but I have sworn off booze for the near future and it looks like
you might have done the same. You can MSG me if you are interested or
you can call me. (phone number here). I fly out to the Bay area
tonight until Sunday and on Sunday I fly to Akron, OH (which I hear is
a happening place this time of year). I'll be back Wed morning until
Sat when I head off to Harrisburg, PA. Way too much info but I'll have
my phone and should have computer access most of the time. I hope to
hear from you.
-B

I was curious as to how he found me on MySpace bc it's not as though we have any mutual friends. So I asked him how he found me on MySpace. I wanted to know if he had randomly browsed and somehow landed on my page or if he had actively searched for me to try and contact me. He didn't really answer the question properly.

My ex-girlfriend Lindsey(you can see her on my friend list) invited
me. She said it would be a great way to keep in touch since she no
longer lives in LA. At first I resisted prefering to talk to people in
person. As a poor second choice, sometimes I talk to people on a
phone. I don't like e-mail and I can't stand IMing people. I type to
slow.
Now that I am on Myspace, I realize my ex invited me as revenge for
dumping her 2 years ago. This thing is horribly addictive and I now
spend two hours a day writing messages to people and searching for
long lost friends. 2 hours a day I could actually go out and talk to
people who are actually there, you know, in person. This shit is more
addictive than crack. As evidence, I site the fact that I have never
been addicted to crack, yet now I am somewhat addicted to Myspace.
Oh well.
I am glad you responded and I'll call you when I get back to town. No,
really this time.
-B

"Preferring" has two r's. "To" is not the same as "too" or "two." But I'm willing to overlook that because his messages made me laugh. Plus, he sought me out. He remembered my name and he looked for me. I thought that was kinda cute.

He did take me out to the long-awaited dinner, and it was great. I was pretty nervous before hand. I don't know about you guys, but this was the first proper "first date" I've ever been on. You know, that thing where you meet a guy, he gets your number, you talk, and then he takes you to dinner. In my case, it's a little more convoluted. He got my number, we didn't talk, he found me on MySpace and suckered me into a long-delayed date with his little jokes, and then finally took me to dinner three months later. He took me to this really cute steak and seafood restaurant in Santa Monica called Chez Jay's. It's this tiny, hole-in-the-wall place by the beach with great food, a Santa Monica staple. Neither of us drank any alcohol. We had lots and lots of diet Coke, and sat talking for three hours. Yeah. Sober. He is laying off the booze until he gets below 200 lbs and well, as for me, I had just come out of a terrifying New Year's Eve. Do you know how weird it is to not drink alcohol when you're with a guy you barely know? Surprisingly, though, the conversation flowed well and perhaps more importantly, I remembered all of it the next morning. Why? Because I was sober. I've gotta try this sober thing more often. =) He dropped me off at my house and walked me to my door, and gave me a kiss on the cheek good night.

He's hilarious. But he's so funny that I don't know if I could take him seriously. He seems like the kind of guy who would hide behind jokes when it came to discussing things like feelings. Like if I got mad at him, he'd turn it into a big joke, which could potentially be more frustrating than a man who'd just get made right back at me. And I wouldn't want my boyfriend getting drunk and leaving pictures of his penis for everyone to see. But I don't feel like I should go into seeing someone hoping to change him, even if the change is in asking him not to take pictures of his penis, no matter how big a kick he gets out of it. That said, I had a great time with him and he came out to see me the next day when I was out at a bar, though he only stopped by briefly. This Tuesday night, we're doing dinner and playing Scrabble. We argued about which dictionary to use. He insists the Scrabble dictionary contains fake words. I can't really argue with him, bc I don't believe "et" or "qaid" or "qat" are words, but the Scrabble dictionary is so useful with all of its two-letter words and "q" words that don't need a "u" and the phonetic spelling of letters of the alphabet like "zee." "Zee" is not in Webster's, I'll tell you that much. So we're using Encarta instead. If he can beat me, I will definitely go on a third date with him bc he'll score some major points.

Aside: C can beat me in Scrabble, fair and square.

OKAY. B and I had a great date tonight where we went to get ghetto Mexican and then played Scrabble with the Klein. He beat me at Scrabble, fair and square. In fact, he beat me more than fair and square since Klein and I were ganging up on him. He had 200 and I ended up with 199. He gets a third date.

He also kissed me on the lips. After asking if it was okay. Is that a new thing? When guys ask if it's all right that they kiss you? Dude, I'm all puckered up and ready to go, get on with it already!