They Always Come Back

For some reason, guys that I've gone on dates with in the past couple of months keep coming back. They just pop up randomly at weird times like a cracked out version of Whack-a-Mole. Case in point:

I met this guy D when I was out at Sweet and Vicious, which you might remember. We met, we hit off, I think he was tall, dark and handsome (it was a rough night). I gave him my number and he never called. Honestly I wasn't offended, I had spent the entire evening basically tell him that I thought all men were liars and there was no reason to ever get into a relationship with any of them (you can tell I was being exceptionally charming that night). Anyway, he was the only guy during that period who never called. To make myself feel better I thought that he had lost my number or maybe had to be deployed (he wasn't enlisted but it's funny the lies we'll tell ourselves).

Anyway, fast forward three months and I get this strange text. Here's the conversation that followed (all typos are intentional):

D: Hey sweety whats up. I havent heard from you. I thought you were going to call (this is a total lie because I never got his phone number)

Me: Hey...sorry super busy. What's up? (at this point I actually don't know who's texting me, but I had a funny feeling it was him)

D: Just thinking abiout what you were doing. i'm surprised you remember me

Me: Ha, funny you say that...I actually don't know who this is...

D: Lol you picked me up at sweet and viscous

Me: Which one? Jk, hey D. I actually didn't have your number

D: I'm glad you haven't lost your sense of humor. Let's meet up

Me: So we can make out and then not talk for 3 months?

D: Absolutely...jk.am I not worth the wait. Actually it took me this long to recuperate.

Me: lame

D: No but seriously i thought you were going to call me. you said no attachments. I figured this was long enough not to give you the wrong idea. lets meet up.

(I don't respond)

Truth be told, I only responded because I was at dinner with my friend L and it was HIGHLY amusing. I'm clearly not interested in him anymore, but what is it with guys making the rotation and checking in to see whether or not I'm single or if I want to meet up? Are they really all that predictable and simple?

Another example, P, one of my first dates (he's Monday) off of match.com, emailed me about 2 months later with this gem of an email:

"Hey! What have you been up to? Are you still single?"

At least he's direct. I mean, I didn't find him that interesting 4 months ago. Maybe he thought that time would dull my initial impression of him? Not likely, but you have to give the guy some credit. I personally think that he just scrolls through his phone and randomly texts/emails girls and plays the odds. If any guys can shed some light on what the conversion rate is, I'd be extremely grateful.

Lesson Learned: "Let's meet up" generally means "let's get nekkid" unless otherwise dictated.

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Would've Been Good to Know

Last week one of my friends from high school, K, came to visit (I was at brunch with him and his wife when this happened). He was in town for work and we decided to meet up on Thursday night to catch up at Brass Monkey in the Meatpacking District.  I brought the NB (new beau) along to meet the pal and to get vetted of course.

NB and K got along great, which wasn't really a surprise to me. What stunned me was what transpired next:

K: Yeah, I really like NB. He seems like a really great guy, not at all like your ex who was kind of a douche.

Me: What? You thought he was a douche? How come you never told me? That would have been GREAT to know before I spent 4 years with him.

K: I couldn't tell you that. You can't ever tell someone you don't like their significant other until AFTER they break up.

I wasn't shocked that K thought my ex was a douche. Actually, many of my friends thought that and many of those same friends told me all-too-late that the ex and I had nothing in common. So that brings up the question, do you tell your friends the truth if they're making a bad dating decision?

As much as I would like to think that I would be completely honest with a friend, it's hard to tell them that their significant other sucks...especially if your friend really likes him/her. Seriously, what would you say if you went out to dinner with your friend and his new girlfriend and she is boring/unattractive/stupid/insert bad characteristic here. And at the end of the night, your friend turns to you with his big hopeful eyes and asks, "so what do you think?". Here are your options:

A. Stabbing my eyes out would be a more entertaining option than talking to her all night.

B. I'm stupider for having listened to her talk.

C. She's great! I'm so happy for you.

D. Yeah....hey! What's that over there?

So Option C might be flat out lying and therefore a little despicable. But what's going to happen when you tell the truth? Your friend is going to either think you're jealous (women do this a lot), think you're crazy or want to stop being your friend. What your friend WON'T do is actually listen to what you have to say.

On the other hand, what if you're wrong? Your friend and the succubus end up being soul mates and get married, then you just look like a giant asshole. I guess K was right, you can't really tell your friend that his/her significant other sucks, all you can do is be there when it doesn't work out.

Lesson Learned: There's nothing hotter than drinking too much after your friend tells you that your ex is a douche and then curling up around your NB's toilet and refusing to get up off the ground....not that I would know...

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Just a Little Bit

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Typecasting

I used to be adamant about having a "type". More specifically over 6'2", dark hair, blue eyes, 32-37. Essentially, a taller, manlier version of Jake Gyllenhaal.  Deep down, I knew that it was silly, that I was limiting myself to the men out there. Plenty of amazing, smart, funny, handsome guys exist outside of the boundaries I had set myself. The bottom line was, I really wasn't looking very hard for someone to connect with. I would discount guys immediately if they didn't fit my "type". Looking back, it was all pretty ridiculous.

Now I'm not saying that there aren't specific traits that I find more attractive than others. Brunettes are generally more appealing to me than blonds. Hard to say where that proclivity came from, but it's there. However, I shouldn't write off someone who's blond just because of hair color, it's shallow and nonsensical and I'm probably missing out on someone who I'd otherwise really enjoy.

So why do we set these boundaries for ourselves? Probably to serve as a defense mechanism. This way, after you've whittled down potential suitors to those fitting your "type", if it doesn't work out or if you can't find someone, it's not as if you haven't tried, right? Wrong. It's often easier to play the victim and bemoan the fact that there are "no good men out there" than it is to look into yourself and search for why something isn't working. We love to be victims of circumstance and wipe our hands clean of all responsibility.

Even Sex and the City (a show that's happened to ruin an entire generation of women, more on a later post) acknowledged that Charlotte when was married to a perfect-on-paper Dr, she was miserable. Only when she got a divorce and started seeing Harry (a sweaty, short, bald divorce attorney) did she find true happiness. I'm not telling you to settle, at all. I'm just saying that if we find someone attractive, but he/she doesn't quite fit our "type", we should still try it out. What's the worst that can happen? So you have a bad date, dating experience, then you at least gave it a shot and looked outside the box.

I entirely practice what I preach. After dating several guys who fit my type to a "t" and having no luck (looked great on the outside, absolutely nothing inside), I recently started dating someone who dips a toe outside of aforementioned type. So he isn't 6'2", is under my age range, so what? He's still incredibly handsome with blue-gray eyes that I want to stupidly drown in, great style, insanely smart, etc. At the end of the day, he's someone who makes me extremely happy. He's the most selfless person that I've ever met and he's helping me trust men again.

Lesson Learned: Looks fade, dumb is forever.

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Photos: Fourth of July

Best Birthday weekend ever.

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