Goodbye!

Thanks for all the love and chats I got from this.
Thanks for reading and for putting up with my stories!
Thanks thanks thanks.

I’m killing this blog because life has taken a different turn and I no longer have the time to keep it here.
I loved meeting like minded people, who were thrown in the dating life and made (and are making) the best of it, and sharing it with the world.

I remain a dater, my relationship status hasn’t changed. I wish all of you out there the best of luck and leave you with this thought: love is not the answer to everything, but it sure makes the answer more interesting.

I’ll be reading and commenting as always, just don’t expect new posts 😉

Keep an open mind, but always be thinking

Quite an interesting text on “Croppable Relationships”, Ferret Atheism: http://croppable.com/faith/

 

On a related note, yesterday I was reading a presentation on how we decide things depending on the amount of time we’re given to analyze the decision. You can’t rush into things and decide without information, and you can’t just ignore facts and keep your mind closed. Both attitudes will be detrimental to you, in the end. 

And I’m saying this because I see myself doing this every now and then. I noticed I was fighting off having a serious relationship not because I’m not interested in a guy, but because I still have these memories of my last one, which tanked fabulously, and they made me close my mind to any new possibilities.

Fact: I do like James enough that I miss him, and that having gone away for a weekend with Lars made me wish James was there instead.

Fact: I keep pushing him away because I believe I shouldn’t be having another relationship, after how the last one ended.

I was having a brief conversation with a friend and told her I didn’t think I should be jumping in another relationship, after her asking me if I was dating James seriously. 

“One thing has nothing to do with the other. Don’t date him because you don’t want to, but not because it didn’t work with someone else. He’s not the same guy you dated before, it’s unfair to James.”, she said.

And she is right. I’m not thinking, I’m keeping my mind closed for any possibilities because of something that happened in the past. 

If it’s just the past knocking at my window, I should close the curtains and open the door to the new possibilities. Embrace the possibility as much as I embrace him when we meet.

A good read for a lonely Friday night

I decided to stay home today because I didn’t feel particularly special and thought watching a movie by myself was long overdue. Then I read this cute post, and my eyes only watered a bit. Maybe it’s all the mentions to Ireland, maybe it’s that sometimes we realize we are hiding ourselves from the people we share our daily lives with.

http://www.lauraprado.net/the-gift-of-gab/

Oh, life, you heartless bitch.

Goatta like it!

I don’t feel like writing today, so I’ll just leave this right here…

 

I am loving this meme.

FWB, but I don’t get any of the benefits!

I meant to write sooner, but I was immersed in huge plans for the future (which include no men whatsoever, thankfully).

I received a gem of a proposition on okcupid that I must share… it clearly was sent in bulk to any woman in the region.

It doesn’t piss me off, sir, don’t worry about it. “Hey, I’m looking to have meaningless sex with you, but I’ve got no picture and I’m describing myself as amazing. I’m sure your dry spell has lasted long enough that you would accept my proposition without even seeing a picture of me.”

Yes, that works every time.

Plus, a guy who is dying to get the hell out of a place I claim to love on my profile? At least do your homework, buddy.

Messy

Not having a boyfriend is harder work than I expected. Juggling schedules and keeping each on their corner is not exactly fun.

I thought being single meant I see guys when I see them and I have fun when I do. But that’s not what’s been happening. They ask too many questions.

Today James sent a message inquiring about my weekend plans. The retarded here goes and tells him “I’m going to Galway!”. He replies with “nice, maybe I should come along ;)”.

Oh joy.

It’s my fault, I could just not mention anything and say I have plans with friends or what not. Wouldn’t be lying. I consider Lars more a friend than anything. He’s the one I’m certain I don’twant anything serious with. He’s a nice guy that reminds too much of my ex-bf. James, on the other hand, is a nice guy I could see myself getting serious with, in the future, if nothing else happens, and I have a complete and total mental breakdown and decide to get serious with anyone.

I replied to him that we were joining a tour to Connemara, and it was all set, so no time to meet in Galway or anything. That’s actually true, except that we’ll clearly have some free time at nights.

This is gonna end in tears

He then proceeds to ask who “we” was. And I say right out “me and a friend”. Thank you, English, for being a gender-free language.

In the end I already know what’s going to happen. I don’t feel comfortable with this story anymore. I’ll keep Lars as a friend and James for the weekends.

I should know that it would never be as easy as it seemed. I think to pull something like this you to either go all out and let them know what you’re up to (which I have no guts to do whatsoever), or be able to juggle people and hide all your steps (something at which I apparently suck).

The birthday party debacle made me aware of how not ready I am to play this thing. I’m trying to put a very “I’m wild and mature and I’ll do what I want” type of face, but in the end, I’m just a silly kid, who couldn’t possibly eat two desserts without making a mess of herself.

But at least I can be mature enough to know this is not for me. I don’t even like dessert anyway. I always preferred savoury stuff.

Bored to death on a Monday night

Walking back from the restaurant today I couldn’t think of anything but how boring this guy was. Capital B boring. Two hours of my life I’ll never get back.

I had gone out with him before. He was the guy that showed up in company attire for our date. He was my first date out of OkCupid, and the first person I ever EVER went on a proper date with in my life. I knew he was boring, but I just didn’t remember how much.

I think there are two things a man should never do if he intends to land a next date (or just plain get laid) with me: try to impress me with money and talk about himself the whole time. He got it wrong on both counts.

I think the first one may not be a deal breaker for everyone, but for me it’s annoying. I don’t care at all how much money someone’s got, or how well paid they are. Go tell your mom, she’ll be proud. Rubbing that on my face isn’t really gonna help. If I cared about money I wouldn’t have graduated in Journalism.

The second one is where I believe most people will agree with me: if the person sitting across from you is talking non-stop about all the amazing things they do or did, and how incredibly generous, funny, adventurous, [put your own adjective here] they are, then it’s certain that I’ll lose interest in no time. I have a bit of an ego, I want someone to be interested in what I’m saying. Even among friends, I want to be heard and be asked about things. This guy was so consumed by his own amazingness that he probably could have gone on and on even if I decided to leave. On a second thought, I should have left.

I actually enjoy listening to other people, but I like that to be mutual, that’s the natural way. I listen to you, ask questions, and then you ask me something and that’s called chatting. What I had today was a monologue. 

I only went out again with him because he wouldn’t stop asking. I honestly thought that maybe I misjudged him and at the first date he was nervous and talking nonstop to cover for it. But no. That’s his normal self. Gotta admire how much confidence and pride for himself he’s god. But not something for me. 

A sad contrast with my last Monday date, which was quite adorable, simple and plain fun. Random guy of last week was just wonderful, in comparison to car wreck guy of today.

When worlds collide

I’m by the bar with a few friends and one of the guys I’ve been seeing. We are all waiting for our drinks. It’s my birthday, so I’m paying. I’m waiting for my friend’s Cosmo and then, pay and go back to the area reserved for the party.

I’m too old for this shit

I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn to look. It’s James. I look at my friend, who’s aware of all the dealings. I look at James. I look at the other guy I’m going out with. I look at James again. I finally get out of my stupor and say hi.

My birthday started uneventful, with me working like crazy, and just running details of what was happening at night with a few friends. Nothing big, just going to a bar, dancing, listening to good music. 

I did invite one of the two guys I’m currently going out with. Let’s call him Lars (he sort of kinda looks like Lars Ulrich). And by going out I mean just having sex and fun. It’s nothing serious with either, I’ve made no promises. Still, I only invited Lars because I didn’t want any trouble. I told James I was going out to a club, even said what was the name, but since he lives far from me (another city), I didn’t bother inviting. Plus, it was the middle of the week.

So I was quite surprised when I got a message from James saying he was on his way to Dublin to say happy birthday to me. One hour before the party.

Nothing I could do, couldn’t tell him to turn back. I said “ok, meet us at the Workmans”. 

And then I say hi. And he hugs me and says happy birthday. Then the obligatory round of introductions commences. Introduce one friend, introduce the other friend, introduce Lars, the other guy I’ve been sleeping with… you could cut the tension with a butter knife. I looked at my friend and say “help me” with my eyes.

We all went to dance and talk. Talked to James a bit, talked to Lars a bit, and I could feel both trying to inquire who the other was. How they caught up on the situation is beyond me. I wasn’t cuddly with neither. I was trying to remain neutral, because I like them both and don’t want to cause any heartache. I’m pretty sure they have other people going on and I wouldn’t like it if they flaunted them in front of me. Manners, people.

My friend was able to keep Lars at bay for most of the time. I paid high in drinks for that, and I don’t regret it. And everything was ok, until James noticed Lars coming and dancing very close to me. Just being flirty in general with his dancing. He doesn’t have good moves, but you know, it’s cute anyway.

James gave him such a dirty look I thought he’d punch the guy right there, in the middle of the dance floor. He then pulled me towards him to dance. What the heck was I supposed to do? I tore away from him. It was a bit caveman-like, protecting his woman from other predators. And although I did feel valued, I don’t think he has any rights towards me, so I just took some distance and kept dancing, near both, trying to maintain a positive attitude. After all, it was my birthday.

After a while Lars left and went to talk to another group of people. Nothing I could have said or done. I figured a guy that drives all the way to Dublin to be with me middle of the week  deserves some praise. Lars is lovely, but I can see him anytime. 

Night ended with James at my house, telling me stories about his family and explaining why he stood me up those two times (after I called him a bastard to his face for doing so). Turns out reasons were far more serious than I imagined. And he had even bought me a birthday present. He was treating me like a princess, I’ll tell you. Realizing there was competition made him step up his game. For a solid ten minutes, I wished he was my boyfriend.

Oh, and did I mention I’m travelling with Lars next week? 

James is laughing because he won this round.

Being free is so incredibly good

After reading Deb’s post yesterday, I realized a couple of things that made me smile.

First, I never celebrated Valentine’s before, but I know too well the loneliness of not having someone to celebrate a romantic holiday, especially when there is someone you’d want to spend it with. Even if misplaced in time, I’ve felt that. But then I realized that, for the first time in my life, I’m alone (but certainly not lonely) and happy. 

I feel free, just completely and utterly free. I go out when I want, I go out with whomever I wish, or by myself if I feel like it, and I don’t care much what anyone thinks about it, or if I’m fulfilling some sort of social expectation. 

For a long time (well, pretty much my whole adult life to this point), I always had this anxiety related to doing my part in what people consider to be a regular life: study, find a job, find love, get married, have kids, get old, die. All these things are nice if you want them – except the dying part. But if you don’t, they can be toxic. And sometimes you’re not aware of not really wanting them, because you’ve been bombarded your whole life with needing to do exact the same thing that everyone does. And then you’re unhappy because you’re doing things you don’t care about.

It’s like having a job you only keep because you need to. You don’t like it, but you were told that you need to work to earn a living and that work isn’t play, so it will probably suck. Not completely true. You can actually have fun working. And you can be happy without being in love, marrying and having kids.

I don’t want to be cynical and say that this is something I’ll never want: marriage, kids, etc. Right now, it’s not, but never say never, right? To anything. But Valentine’s day is a glorification of exactly this: love that’ll lead to these things. It doesn’t celebrate having fun with a handsome stranger you’ve met in a bar/online (thought that happens quite often in Valentine’s day 🙂 ).

Love can take many formats, and can have different lengths. I fall in love for a short while with someone and maybe next week I don’t want them anymore. Is it not “love” love? That really just depends on how you look at it. There are too many kinds of love and none is more important than the other. The most important one is the one that matters to you.

Right now, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been, and I’m not romantically involved or platonically in love with anyone, and that’s a first. I said that to a friend of mine and complained “how come no one told me I’d be happy like this?”, and she replied “we probably knew that, but the message was drowned among all the happy-lovy ones”. 

Now I can hear the message loud and clear: being happy doesn’t require a second person. If you need someone else to make you happy, you probably will fail in the long run, because you need to be able to live with yourself happily. You’re not attached to anyone 24h a day. There will be times when you’ll be on your own, and you have to have fun in those times too, not just suffer through it until someone new comes along.

Valentine’s day is a cute thing, but not my cup of tea. I’d rather celebrate that I’m finally content with the life I have.

Pancakes, anyone?

For those in other areas of the world and who may have never heard of this (as I had never), Tuesday, Feb. 12th was Pancake Day. While some people are celebrating the beginning of Lent, others are eating pancakes until they feel sick. That’s my kind of celebration. Where I come from, Lent is supposed to be about fasting until Easter, so it’s the total opposite and I love it.

I couldn’t eat pancakes, because every single pancake place was brimming with clients, obviously. But that’s alright, I celebrated in my mind, dreaming of a stack of wonderful pancakes covered in Nutella and banana. And then of the beef pancakes my mom used to make, covered in cheese and tomato sauce… yum…

Pancakes are better than sex. At least better than bad sex.

I’m going somewhere with this pancake business, bear with me.

 

After the whole canceling-twice-then-wanting-to-show-up-when-it-was-convenient, I didn’t contact James anymore. Didn’t send any messages and was hoping the whole thing would die out. For the first time in my life I was actually going to let a man go without desperately trying to keep him. The men pipeline in my life right now is that good, yes. There’s a first time for everything, I suppose!

To my surprise, I woke up this morning to a text from James. He said, and I quote: “Had any pancakes yesterday???”

IF I HAD PANCAKES YESTERDAY? THAT’S WHAT YOU FREAKING ASK ME AFTER BEING AN ASSHOLE?

I may be blowing this a bit out of proportion,  but that was my first reaction.

And I really wanted to be pissed, but after a few seconds I just started laughing. I couldn’t hold myself. I keep imagining that he thinks I wasn’t mad or anything about what he did, and that inquiring about pancakes after Pancake Day was just moving on with business as usual. You have to laugh.

It is funny how we take things in a certain way and people take it in a completely different one. People will endlessly surprise me.

I ended up replying and being nice to him, I didn’t see the point in ignoring or being jerkish. I like being a nice person, and I have to say, he’s quite hot. He replied right back to me, which is something that doesn’t happen very often. He often takes his time. And he replied with “what are your plans this weekend?” That has long been his way of asking if I wanted to get together. Maybe he wants to make amends, but my dance card for this weekend is full anyway. And I don’t intend to make any concessions to him, since he is clearly making none for me.

I don’t know when this became a game, but it has, and I am playing. Now, what should I reply to him? Any ideas? I wonder if I should just say “I’ll let you know when I’m free” or just be clear that “I’m coming back tomorrow, but I have other plans”…