They comes and they goes...

And once again, they goes.

One of these days I'm going to learn how NOT to get excited over meeting a supposed "nice guy." Because as of late, it appears that I am not the good judge of character that I thought I was. So as you might have guessed by now, the dude I was recently seeing is now...gone. Seriously, like pulled a disappearing act this weekend, after which I learned that basically everything out of his mouth for the past couple of weeks has been nothing but lies. Bummer too, because I had just come up with a great blog nickname for him. He doesn't deserve it though. You can call him..."The Lying Cheating Bastard." That'll work.

But you know, props to him for being a good actor. Not so much to me for being a sucker though. Damn it.

I know you probably want the full story, but to be terribly honest, I don't want to talk about it. I want to pretend like it never happened. Shouldn't be too hard to do, because he apparently went completely off his rocker and deleted his entire Facebook page. I just think that's weird.

                                  

Many many MANY thanks are due to my wingwoman and a couple of our awesome neighbors for dragging me out of my "woe is me" moment on Saturday night though. Nothing cures a sad soul like friends and liquor. And pizza.

Soooo I've decided to go back to paying a little more attention to my Match account. Why not? You never know.

Aside from this weekend's drama, I spent the rest of it getting my poor little bruised and battered heart completely broken by my beloved Cincinnati sports teams. (Not you, Bearcats, you get a pass this week.) But ohhh the Reds and Bengals. Yesterday was not a good day to be a Cincinnati sports fan. But I guess in a way, I'm actually relieved that the Reds season is over, because the last couple of weeks have been stressful! And I mean, no one expects much out of the Bengals this season, so the heartbreak is a little easier to stomach. It's hard to be disappointed when you don't expect much to begin with. (Hey, maybe that should be my dating mantra too!)

So there ya go. Another dating saga ends. A new week begins. Okay, I'm ready now.

BTW....direct your mouse to the right of your screen and follow me. Do it. Do it now. Great, thanks.

Playoff Growing Pains

Oh, Reds. Why must you hurt me like this? To say the least, last night's performance in Philly was less than playoff-worthy. Granted, Halladay probably would have pitched the same, regardless of the 4 runs given up by the second inning, but I still think without that unfortunate series of events, the guys might have had a better outlook and a little higher morale for the remainder of the game.

Let's just pretend it didn't happen. Everything's fine. Game 2 tomorrow, and I'll be at Game 3 when the boys come home on Sunday. I still love my Reds, but a repeat of last night is definitely not necessary.

As for watching the game last night...I hit up my fave bar, as usual, with my fave wingwoman, and we had plenty of fun. In fact, she had LOTS of fun. What's not to like when the guy across the bar making eyes at you leaves, then texts his buddy to hit on you in his absence. AND she has a date with him tonight! Good going sister, I'm proud of ya. *tear*

And finally, just to keep you in the loop, I haven't seen the latest addition to my life since Sunday. Sad face.

See you suckers later. :)

Short & Sweet...The Latest Updates!

Hello my dear blog world friends! I would apologize for not writing for so long, but the thing is...it's my blog, and if I don't feel like posting, I won't! :) (That's just a joke...the truth is that I missed you all and I feel bad for not writing. Plus I like writing, and I like making people laugh, and I like that you live vicariously through my sweet blog.)

So where we last left off...I had been out with Mr. Big Talker. In my ever mature way of handling the one-date relationship, I decided that he was weird enough that I didn't feel like responding to his phone calls and text messages, and eventually he gave up. Or so I thought. This past Friday, on my way to the grocery after work (yeah, grocery on a Friday, I'm awesome), my phone rang with a number I didn't recognize, so I let it go to voicemail. Good decision, because it was Mr. Big Talker "just calling to see what I was up to and if I still wanted to hang out."

Really? Did he seriously not get my Chandler Bing-esque response? "This was great, let's do it again sometime!" doesn't actually mean anything if the person NEVER ANSWERS YOU AGAIN. Oh also...did I mention that when I gave him a half-hug goodbye that he made some creepy gutteral noise that pretty much made me throw up in my mouth a little? Ewww.

Moving on.

In a strange and unexpected turn of events...I actually met a guy who I kinda like a little bit. Of course, you're thinking to yourself, "Online dating finally paid off! She met someone!"

You would be wrong. In fact, I've all but given up on the online nonsense. Even though it did make for some interesting date scenarios.

Soooo, the guy is a friend of a friend. And the one thing I can promise you is that he is nothing like the guy that you probably picture me with. For that matter, he's not what I've always pictured myself with. But guess what? I don't care! He's smart, handsome, and he makes me laugh. He also is dad to a nine-year-old chica, DJs once in a while, has arms full of tattoos, and works at a job that is anything but "typical." (His job is way more fun that the "Office Space" world I live in...where did I put those damn TPS reports?!)

It's too new and too soon to make futuristic predictions...buuuuuuuut so far so good. We hit up Kings Island this weekend with the mutual friends, stood in the cold rain, and laughed our asses off on some roller coasters. Then we all went out, had some drinks, and the two of us girls decided that since we missed midget wrestling at KI earlier in the day, that we should probably try to reenact it in my living room. Brilliant.

Now he just needs a blog nickname...

And finally, it wouldn't be right of me to post a blog without giving some love to my Cincinnati Reds! Post season play starts in just a couple of days and this coming Sunday, I'll be in the stands cheering my heart out as they play their first playoff game in Cincy in 15 years. Reds fans, do ya hear me?! Good luck to the boys!

                   

I'm baaaaaaaaaaack!

Greetings, friends! I know I've been incommunicado for the last couple of weeks, but I have been busy with life. Unfortunately (for who, I'm not sure...), the dating scene has been relatively quiet. I have a few irons in the fire, but not much has panned out lately.

Match is a little strange. It was almost overwhelming for the first couple of weeks, then it kind of died off. In the transition, I had a few stragglers from eHarmony who I met.

You may remember the Real Estate guy...we actually went out several times, but the guy just never really seemed that excited to see me. I would hope that if he took the time to see me more than once, maybe it meant he kinda liked me and would show a teeny bit of excitement when we got together. Nope. Nothing. Not an iota of joy at the sight of me. Needless to say, it kind of fizzled on its own, and I don't feel too bad about it.

Mr. Big Talker
Next up, Mr. Big Talker, the last holdout from eH. Wow, this guy was a piece of WORK. We met last Friday for a couple drinks at a dive bar in downtown Cincinnati. I don't mind dive bars, just wanted to set the scene. I recalled from his profile that he said he was a non-smoker. Now, where I come from, chain smoking Marlboro lights for 90 minutes straight generally doesn't fit into the "non-smoker" category. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Big Talker clearly fancied himself to be far more charming and debonair than he actually was. I felt that he was trying to make a point of how much money he has without being TOO obvious. (Rayban sunglasses, talk about how much he tips the bar staff, that's my sweet expensive convertible over there across the street...)

But about the Big Talking...So the guy pretty much talks about himself the entire time we sat there and had drinks. (He did squeak out a few compliments to throw in my direction...a weird way of saying "you're pretty"...He told me I was "rockin' beautiful." Compliment, yes. Weird, yes.) Anyway, this guy was a bit sketchy when I asked what he did for a living. From what I can gather, he lived in Dubai for a while and talked about how dangerous it was to be an American over there. He does some kind of "consulting" for companies overseas, but I wasn't clear on what that meant exactly. He also told me lots of stories about the women over there and how they love American men. In fact, he told me, he is an "expert at women." I also got plenty of stories about how these women talk in some kind of weird code when it comes to sexual desires. For example, "Do you like the fruit in my basket?" To which the man would answer something like, "I very much enjoy your fruit."

Um. Okay. Ew.

I know you probably think I'm making this up. I'm not. OH! I also forgot to mention that he seems to think he's being watched by Big Brother all the time, because he keeps his hotel keycards anytime he stays anywhere and puts them in a plastic bag with all of his receipts from the trip to shred later. I'm sure if he told me anything, he'd have to kill me. (I don't think I want to find out.)

After telling me how rockin' beautiful I was about 17 more times, I politely excused myself for dinner with friends. As usual, I had given this date a heads up that I had other plans, but would be able to fit in some time beforehand to meet up. Thank God I use this tactic, because I totally needed it this time around.

In other news...
Last weekend I went to St. Louis to catch the Reds and Cardinals at Busch Stadium. It was an awesome trip, and we had a great time at the game. The folks in STL are super nice and the city is very pretty. Since the Reds lost the game, I would have to say the highlight of my day was when the person to my left stuck a piece of paper in my face that had been passed down the row. It looked like this:

                     

This is an actual photo of the note that Will from Cincinnati sent down the row to me. Yes, my thumb is strategically placed to block out the phone number. The guy was next to me in line at the concession stand, and I guess he was compelled to write me a note. The only thing that would have made it better was if it said "Do you like me? Check yes or no."

Will MAY have gotten a call if I hadn't seen him on the way out with about 9 children climbing on him. Fail.

So now I'm back into my regular groove and still playing the match.com game, and still not winning. The fact that I keep running into people I know keeps it somewhat interesting, at least. I came across the profile of Shy Techie Guy, a dude I know through work (not a fellow employee or anything), and finally decided to email him, just to see what his response would be. Over a week later, he emailed me back. I guess it took him a while to figure out if I was as scary as he thought. Could be interesting. Or boring. I'm not sure. Ten days is a loooooooong time to take before sending back an email...especially with Match tells you how recently the other person has been active online...

Okay, so that's about it for now. My apologies again for going dark for the last two weeks. I'll try to be better. I know you can't live without me! :)

Kisses.

The Dating Experiment Continues...What a Weekend!

Ohhhh what a weekend. I'm so tired right now, but it was so worth it. I mean, I have to say, this went down as one of the better weekends I have had in quite some time. This dating experiment is pretty fun...

        

A Question of "Ethics"
I just have to address this one thing before I continue. I've gotten a bit of flack for my adventures, from one person in particular who basically called me "unethical" the other day. I don't see how dating a handful of guys is unethical. Let me make this clear: I AM NOT sleeping around, and I'm not doing anything wrong. They are just dates, and I am just putting myself out there to see what happens. If I go on some nice dates with some nice guys and it doesn't work out...what's the problem? People date all the time, and it doesn't always work out, but no one says you're "unethical" for meeting people in "real life." I don't get it. Like I said...you don't have to agree with me, but CHASTISING me is not okay.

That's all I have to say about that.

The Weekend
So let's talk about this weekend. It was so much fun, but I am sooooo paying the price right now. On Friday, I did indeed have two separate dates. They were strategically spaced apart enough that I could easily leave the first one in time enough to meet the second one. What I didn't expect was to have my expectations backwards. What I mean by that is, I was actually more excited to meet the first guy, but it turned out that my connection with the second guy was much stronger. (Resulted in a second date on Sunday. WHAT? I know. Hang on. We still have to get through Saturday.)

Friday Guy #1 was a genuinely awesome dude. No doubt about it. We had a good time sitting at a bar and chatting. It wasn't at all awkward and I really enjoyed my time with him. I'm not opposed to a second date with him to see if there could be some chemistry there. I'm just not sure yet. You know that I kind of like to be smacked upside the head with the spark, so we'll see. Physically, there's no chance in hell that I could squash this guy like a bug. He's built like a football player! But I think he's more of a teddy bear, which could be difficult for me, because I like a little banter to keep me on my toes.

Friday Guy #2, we'll call the Real Estate Agent (REA). This was one of the stragglers from eHarmony, who I started chatting with initially because his pictures made me think he had a good sense of humor. He does. Initially though, I expected him to be kinda skinny, but he really wasn't. I thought I'd get a lame-o "nice to meet you hug" but it was solid and I was pleasantly surprised. He's super laid back, which is a switch for me, because I am go-go-go all the time. At first I thought he was sleepy or that I was boring him. After a couple beers, he perked up and we had so much fun talking. I won't lie, I don't remember all of the details of the conversation, but I know that I laughed a lot and totally wanted to lay a big smooch on him. So I did. Who says you shouldn't kiss on the first date? That's a dumb rule. It's just a kiss. (Chemistry, people. The spark. That's what it's all about.)

SATURDAY! Best day ever, I swear. I attended my very first Ale Fest--a four-hour event where you can pretty much drink all the beer you can handle...and it's GOOD beer. Hundreds of beers. Hundreds of people. Beautiful weather. This event is already on my calendar for next year. I went with a group of friends and new friends and had a fabulous time. Everyone at the festival was so friendly, which made standing in line for beers a lot more fun. "Have you tried the creme brulee stout? No? Here, try mine!" Perfect stranger sipping out of my glass? Eh, whatever. Let's all share our germs. Drink and be merry.

While at the event, I ran into an old coworker from a previous job. He's from Brazil, and so as I'm sure you can imagine, super sexy. It's true that American women are suckers for foreign men. The Brazilian is four years younger than me, but I still kinda wanted to hang out with him. Plus he was totally doting on me, and let's be honest, it's fun to be told you're pretty. I'm also quite sure that I'm not the only one at whom he batted his big brown eyes, but I had his attention pretty much all night...so score one for me. And yes, I would go out on a date with him if he asked.

And so that takes us to Sunday, which after my busy weekend, would normally have been a day to rest. Luckily, my GBF (gay best friend) made me go home at a decent hour on Saturday night, or I might have been incapcitated entirely on Sunday. (Of course, on the ride home I had to drunk dial my BFF in Vegas, as well as my favorite person in Orlando. Wubble.) I did some laundry, then decided to meet up with REA from Friday night. That's right, he earned a second date just 2 days after the first one. Crap, does this mean I LIKE him?! Oh dear.

Seriously though, it was fun. We went to trivia night, and while both of us kind of suck at trivia, we somehow ended up coming in third out of six teams playing. Not a bad showing and it earned us a free bucket of beer. I am having a hell of a time figuring out what exactly is drawing me to this guy, but I guess maybe I don't need to know for sure just yet. I do like his company though, and he will certainly get a third date.

            

Friends, I am tired. But I am really having fun with this dating thing. For one of the first times in my life, I actually feel desireable and sexy. And yes, I do anticipate that sooner or later, one of these will turn into a real relationship, and the experiment will end. I still have a few boys I want to meet though, so for now, onward! I plan on lining up a few before the week is over. I know you're excited for me! :)

Match + eHarmony = Double Booked

                                       

It's true. I'm double booked tonight. That's right, I have TWO dates scheduled for this evening. (Not at the same time, come on people, I'm smarter than that.)

6:30pm -- Drinks, and maybe a bite to eat, with a Match guy. Tall, dark, and handsome. Age, 36. Occupation, gainfully employed at a local college. Potential, yes. I'm very excited to meet this one.

9:30pm -- Meet suitor #2 at another local establishment. This guy is left over from eHarmony, 30-something, a former real estate agent who now owns rental properties and is pursuing an MBA. I like his sense of humor, which is why I talked to him in the first place. Seems to be a chameleon with his look though...facial hair, or no facial hair? Glasses or no glasses? I'm not sure which one will be meeting me tonight.

Now, my task at hand is to fight off the headache I have left over from salsa dancing and drinking last night! Must remember that I am NOT 22 anymore and it's not as easy to bounce back. Why do I always forget about this until the next day?

The Big Switch...

                      

Ok, so, I did it. I cancelled eHarmony and switched to Match.com...or as I like to call it, the Meat Market. I guess it hasn't been so bad, but I've only been on it for like 2 days, and my profile has only been viewed 274 times. (HA! I'm so not kidding.) I like that you can browse profiles on Match, but I wish that I could specify what kinds of men could locate my profile in their browsing. By this I mean, I can't specify that my profile be excluded from the searches of men who are 50+. Nor can I stop them from attempting to contact me. Even though I say in my profile that I'm seeking men ages 29-38, anyone can set their search criteria to anything they want.

And by the way, there's apparently no need for me to do any browsing. I just sit back and let them come to me. Yeah, tell me it's not a meat market! Eeeks.

So, when I get "winked at" by men who are 54, or even 60, I just find that weird. Here's the thing, if you are closer to my mom's age (or older) than my own, then it's a little creepy for me. (No wait, it's actually really strange and kind of pervy.) That means my real top age limit is 40. On the low end, anyone under 28-29-ish is most likely simply in a different lifespace than I am. There becomes a fundamental difference in maturity. Annnnnd, again, I don't want to date people who I liken to my younger brothers.

So my Match profile pretty much lays it all out there, and says exactly what I want, followed by exactly what I don't want.

Now, we wait. I've been in contact with a couple Match guys who seem pretty decent and relatively genuine, so we'll see what happens. (Got one on the hook...soooo cute in his pictures...hopefully they are an accurate representation.) I also have two stragglers from eHarmony who might have some potential. Now I just have to secure some dates and give you something worth reading...

Stay tuned!