Mr. Man #35

There is a man. He lives in a small city in California. This man also takes up a small space on an internet dating site where I frequently browse for men. One day in April he “liked” one of my photos. After a quick glance at his profile, I decided he was worthy of a “hello” from me. So, I said “hi” and introduced myself with my name. He replied with a little bit longer response and it turned out that we had a few former cities of residence in common. I teased him that he was following me around. Our emails continued for a short time until he gave me his number. We started to both text and talk on the phone. We have been talking ever since. 

It’s been several weeks and things have gotten better and better with him.  A few weeks ago he was planning a trip to Vegas for a family event. His niece was getting baptized actually. Since it is between us, he wanted to fly me down there. I was busy that Friday night with a date so I wouldn’t have been able to come until Saturday. He looked for flights but nothing seemed to work out. I thought it was very nice of him to offer to fly me there so he could meet me though. Most guys are like, “hey, when are you gonna come visit me?” and they never offer to help pay or anything. And mostly, they probably just want a make out. This guy seemed different though. He has seemed really good and kind and genuine. And he is the only one that I actually talk to on the phone. He is not afraid to call me frequently and I LOVE that!! In fact, on his trips to Vegas a couple weekends in a row, he talked to me while he drove there and back. It was good times. 

After he invited me down to Vegas, I had gotten pretty excited about the thought. Some of our next few conversations were my favorite. I decided I really kinda liked the guy and that I would REALLY like to meet him! Well, it turns out that he is in training for his job. He flies airplanes for a living. He does this for the government and that’s all I know. There is a lot he can’t tell me. Still, it’s kind of weird that he is a pilot. At first I resisted him for this reason but I am totally over it now….and the other pilot! Anyway, he told me some time ago that he would be coming to Utah toward the end of May of the beginning of June to finish his training for a few weeks. Last week, he finally got the go ahead to come this way! He came up last weekend, arriving Sunday afternoon. Yay!!!

I was so excited to meet him! Also though, I was so nervous! He is staying at a hotel not too far from my house. It’s an easy drive anyway. So, Sunday evening I headed out there with a bag full of food. I picked him up and we set out on a little picnic. He brought a blanket and we found some grass and a pond with ducks really close by. It was perfect! We ate the food I brought and chatted a little. He said that I was cute in person too! He complimented me a lot actually and I like that! He has told me several times before that I was beautiful but I was always just waiting until he saw me in person. He didn’t change his mind thank goodness! 

So, dinner went well, and then he kissed me. :) I didn’t feel bad at all because we have been getting to know each other for awhile. It wasn’t like meeting up with a stranger for a make out. It was nice and it was also short. He had to get up super early in the morning for work so I dropped him off an hour after I arrived. He was sad to have to go but said that we could continue later. When I was going he said, “tomorrow?” And so it was set. 

When Monday came around, we went to dinner, went shopping at Walmart, and hung out at his place for awhile. It was cute in the store shopping with him because he snuck in a couple of really quick little kisses. It was so cute!! He told me a lot of times that he really likes me and such. He also says lots of chessy things to me but I really like it! He is easy to be with and I really like him too. So far, so good. Last night I was busy so tonight we went to the library so he could get some books on tape to listen to on the way to work and back. It’s a long drive! He was fun there. Then we went to his house for a few and I left early again so he could get some sleep! Don’t want him falling asleep while flying...or driving! 

So yeah, things are great there! I have no idea how this will pan out and if it works out, I’m freakin out a little cause he lives in Cali…and I live in Utah! I don’t know. I’m just trying to enjoy the moment and we will see what happens later right? Meanwhile, I have a few more guys chatting with me still. I’m not ready to just drop them all because who knows what will happen with Mr. Man. It’s at that point when dating that I always screw things up so I’m gonna not screw things up this time and I am going to continue to date other guys. It’s hard though. When I am seeing him every day and kissing him…how am I supposed to just casually go out with other guys? I don’t know. I’ll make it happen though…..I guess.

Surprise # 34

Remember all of my crazy fun adventures this year? I’ve met a lot of new friends and had some good times. I went to a party in St. George, one in Idaho, and one in Park City. At the last two locations, I was with some of the same people. These are friends of my visiting teacher who is a good friend. Anyway, there have been several fun guys but no potentials in my eyes. This particular group however takes many trips to Lake Powell in the summer time. I was hoping to get in enough to get invited. 

Last week one of those new guy friends emailed me on facebook. He said, “Hey kid, My buddy and I are gonna take his boat out on Friday for the first run of the season. We were thinking of cool people and your name was at the top of the list. Wanna roll, or float on Friday night?” I was like, “heck yeah I want to go!” So, I gave him my number and we worked out the details throughout the week. I was excited to hang with all my new friends again at this fun boating adventure/party. When I arrived at his house the only people there were him, his buddy, and another girl. Hmm…I thought this rather suspicious but really didn’t read too much into it. It was a nice boat with plenty of room for more though! We headed out to Jordanelle just past Park City. Just before arriving, we stopped to get some food which the boys bought for us. The friend that asked me got mine. We set out on the lake and cruised out. Ahhh…it was great to be out on the open water, the wind in my hair, with the mountains surrounding and creating quite the scene. Freedom! It was great! After cruising for a few, the boys asked if we were hungry. I was! So, we killed the engine and let the boat float while we enjoyed our Blimpie subs and chips. 

Soon after eating, I made my way out to the bow of the boat…my favorite spot. I stretched out to enjoy the beautiful sunset! It was amazing!! Mr. Surprise soon followed with a blanket and we lazily chatted and slowly watched the sun go down and the stars appear. We got along really well and he was easy to talk to. I shared my love of astronomy and we guessed what the planets and constellations were that we viewed. He checked on his high tech phone app that speaks when you point it at an object in the sky. Mine wasn’t quite as good as his. It was pretty dang sweet! 

While we chatted in the front of the boat, the other two hung back in the back and talked. They finally joined us up front and whipped out the key lime pie. It was delish! And what better place to enjoy it? We all talked and laughed till my cheeks hurt pretty bad. Nobody wanted to call it a night but alas my bladder finally couldn’t take anymore and we slowly made our way back ashore. It was after midnight before we reached the dock. It took quite some time to re-hook up and get on our way but that was fine. When we got back to the boys’ house, Mr. Surprise walked me to my car and gave me a hug. It was then that it hit me…”Was this a date????” “I think it was a date!!!” haha…silly, oblivious girl. I am pretty positive at this point that it was and I feel a little bad for my phone usage while I was out there but I didn’t know! He texted me a couple of days later to tell me he had fun and to chat it up again a little. Yikes…he is so nice and everything, I am just not interested in him that way. I’m not attracted to him. It was a great way to spend a Friday night though…that is for sure!!

Mr. Awkward # 33

Some activities are just more fun when you are with people you enjoy being around. Or if you are by yourself. Friday night was one of those moments where the activities themselves weren’t wholly unenjoyable or bad, they were just made that way by the present company. So, I met this guy online a few weeks ago. He is divorced and recently moved back to Utah from another state. At first he seemed nice. Last week he gave me his number but it was kind of weird because he said he doesn’t give it out often and he specified when he would be around so I could text him. I took my time. Once I got around to it however, he became Mr. Clingy real fast. He texted often and it was kind of annoying. I don’t know how to describe it exactly, it was just slightly overbearing. Also, he started to seem a little ghetto to me. I don’t know how else to say that. His English was poor which is a real turn off for me. He told me that all through school he was picked on but now he lifts weights so he can fight back. He mentioned this on the date too….but by then I could see why he was picked on. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though.

So, he continued to text over the next couple of days and set up a date for Thursday night when he would have some time off work. He lives kind of far away but offered to come in to the city. He is actually from the part of town that I am from. At the same time, while he grew up here and graduated from high school here, he couldn’t seem to figure out just where in town I was. He refused to meet me in the middle and I refused to let him come pick me up. He finally settled on a night of fun at….wait for it….Boondocks!! Don’t get me wrong, the activities there can be fun, but it took me right back to teenage dating and actually my first date which was at a similar establishment I believe. He has apparently been out of the dating loop awhile anyway so that was fine. It ended up being a bit of a drive for both of us but we set up a time to meet and waited for its arrival.

When I arrived and saw him, he was not what I expected. For some reason I was picturing some white guy tryin to be gangsta and all hard core. Turns out, he was just a nerd! Shallow of me I know, but I could just tell he was a little on the awkward side. At the same time, he seemed to embrace his awkward so good for him. This is where the daily beatings throughout his school days comes in. Speaking of awkward though, when he bought our tickets, he went right for the “unlimited fun” passes. Yikes, they were $25 a piece which meant he spent a total of $55 after tax. That’s kind of a lot of money!! I felt very pressured to have fun and make sure he was having fun. He had driven a long way and then paid a lot of money. Right away though, I could tell I just did not want to be there. 

Since we had unlimited passes, it seemed like we should try just about everything. So, we started off with a favorite activity of mine, the Go Karts! I was excited cause it was something I could kind of do on my own. I know, horrible of me. But I knew I wouldn’t have to talk to him. He ended up going out quite a bit ahead of me so I just stayed back at a nice pace, far away from him. I enjoyed my slowish ride. I didn’t want him to catch up to me so I tried to pace it just right and I guess I did. When it was over I said, “you were just too fast for me!” Hahaha. He said he almost caught up to me. Whew! Next we played mini golf. I kicked his trash but I think he thought he was winning the whole time. He was pretty surprised at the end and refused to tell me his score, only that I had won. Yeah, I got a hole in one and several in two. It wasn’t that great of a course but the playing of it was okay. Nothing too horrible that I remember. Next we headed inside and played laser tag. This was obviously his element. He couldn’t wait to shoot guns! I had brought my purse in with me though and he kept commenting on how I should have left it in the car. I didn’t want to though. There was some girl stuff I needed and other things, ya know what I mean? Wow, his nosiness about it was getting a little annoying when we went into the laser tag room and he said that afterward we were going out to my car to put my purse in there. Umm no. I refused. He said he’d stop bugging me about it. Thank goodness!

While we waited in line for laser tag we were forced to talk some more. He asked me how I liked the online dating site where we met. I was pretty positive about it because I have had some good experiences. He asked how often I date and I told him 3 or 4 times a week. I didn't want to lie! He told me that I was the first person he met off of there. Yikes! More pressure! Anyway, laser tag. I just did my best to stay away from him honestly. Ugh! I let him go do his thing. He obviously likes shooting people which is fine. I usually like the activity but he was like a kid at Christmas! It was no surprise that when we went to use our 20 tokens in the arcade afterward he was excited about the shooting games. They do nothing for me but I did a couple to make him happy. He is kind of competitive but in an annoying way. We played this basketball thing and I made him get his own little booth cause I didn’t want him near me. He made fun of me afterward because I only made two shots. Lame! I had fun trying and I wasn’t worried about that but I thought it was kind of rude of him!

Once the tokens were finally used up he asked if I wanted to do anything again. I chose the Go Karts. On the way out he was giving me a hard time about not wanting to do the water ride thing. I think he was trying to be flirty but it was really obnoxious. I told him he could do it and I would watch. He didn’t. On the Go Karts he wouldn’t let me stay away this time. He went super slow so that I would catch up. When I passed him he ran me into the side. Ugh! I was definitely not in the mood. Then he wondered why I stayed WAY back. I told him I didn’t want him to run me off the track. Afterward I told him I was tired and that I should probably go. He walked me to my car, gave me an awkward hug and told me he had fun. Later that night he texted and said that he had fun and hoped to do it again. I did not respond. I haven’t heard from him since. Whew! Let’s hope it stays that way.

Mellow 31 and Flirty 32

I have two more dates to report my friends! That means I am two men closer to finding my EC! Quite a few weeks ago I was invited on a date by another man I met online. To be honest, that’s where they are all coming from. Men don’t ask me out in person. They are apparently intimidated by my beauty because I am told daily how beautiful I am. So that must be it right? Anyway, this guy seemed pretty nice online. We emailed a little and then he got my number. When he called me, I wasn’t super impressed. I don’t mean that he was bad in any way…just that he seemed pretty serious. Still, we planned a date for maybe a week or a week and a half later. When the time came, we ended up cancelling for one, because the weather seemed ominous for a hike, and for two, because I had other plans for afterward so it needed to be short. It’s just that it was my very good friend’s birthday and I had forgotten that it was going to be the same day as my date. I didn’t want to shaft her just because I had a date. So, I shafted him instead.

He was very nice and accommodating and the day after I cancelled, I texted to apologize again. He said we could do it the next week. And so we did. We met up at the mouth of Big Cottonwood canyon Friday night. I felt a little bad because on the way there, I was talking to another man who had called (I will tell you about him later… :)) and I didn’t want to get off the phone. I didn’t notice my date drive in and park like right behind me for a few minutes. Oops…he probably saw me on the phone. He was just standing outside his car waiting for me. I finally got off and went out to meet him. He was nice, if not a little awkward.

We drove up the canyon to the trailhead for Dog Lake and set out on our adventure. I’ve been feeling a little out of shape lately so I was kind of out of breath but kept up okay. It was also pretty humid so I was sweating like crazy! It made me realize that maybe hiking isn’t the best first date…unless he really wants to see me at my worst! By the time we made it to the top, I was a mess! I knew I didn’t look cute at all! I was kind of okay with that though. At the same time, he was actually easy to talk to and I enjoyed it, just didn’t find myself at all attracted to him….and I don’t necessarily mean that physically either. 

We enjoyed a few moments alone at the top and were soon joined by a middle aged couple who wanted us to take their picture. Mr. Mellow took care of that and we chatted it up with them for a few minutes. My date surprised me with a little subtle humor…but it made me laugh! The couple asked how long we had been up there because they had apparently seen us at the bottom. He told them we had just been there about an hour. Haha…it had been maybe 10-15 minutes but the woman kind of believed him. It was fun talking to them for a few minutes, then we headed down. 

At the bottom of the trail, we found several police, and ambulance vehicles, along with a Life Flight helicopter. We couldn’t leave the canyon until Life Flight took off. It was kinda cool to see. We didn’t have to wait long because they were ready to go. I don’t know what happened but that kind of thing always freaks me out a little. At the parking lot where he dropped me off minutes later, Mr. Mellow gave me the most awkward hug while I was still in his car. I had no hands to hug back and yeah, it was just altogether awkward….and he mentioned that it was as well. :) Overall, the date was nice…we hiked 5 miles and the scenery was absolutely amazing! The company wasn’t so bad either. I don’t expect a call from him…haven’t received one yet. That is okay.

The next day was Saturday. I had planned a hike with a friend (Okay, it was Mr. Keeper from last year. We’ve been hanging out a lot but I am completely NOT interested in that way…no worries.) for early Saturday morning. We ended up starting the hike around 7:30 am and headed up Mt. Olympus. Wow…it was brutal! I’m not sure if it was my lack of sleep or the hike the night before, but it was seriously tough. We climbed 4300 feet in 4 miles. The top part was basically rock climbing with no ropes which freaked me out considerably! He encouraged me along though and I made it….thankfully to enjoy the most spectacular view ever! It’s a must hike if you’ve never been! 

That evening I met up with Mr. Flirty numba 32. This was a random date in a way. He had started talking to me basically the day before. He was from out of town but came into town to visit a sister and to run the dirty dash. He let me know he was in town for the weekend and wondered if we could get together. So, we texted most of Friday and then met up Saturday evening at City Creek. We had some dinner at the Blue Lemon…always delish…and then decided to head to a bookstore since we both enjoy reading. Oh no…another man who reads…you know I am a sucker for those guys! It gets me every time! There was no such store at City Creek so we took the Trax down to the Gateway and headed for Barnes and Noble.

On the way there he was a lot more flirty, just poking me and such. As soon as we entered the store, I saw the book, “The 5 Love Languages,” and I showed it to him. He asked me what mine were and I told him: number one, words of affirmation; number two, physical touch. His he assumed were the same only the other way around. This was pretty obvious soon enough. :) He kept finding little ways to touch me or poke me or whatever the whole time. It was cute and fun and flirty. He bought my favorite book so that he can read it. How cute right? Anyway, it was a good time. Then we headed over to the Planetarium for a super awesome laser show! We looked around a bit first and as we walked he held my hand a little and stuff. I kinda liked it. We walked on the moon and mars and he commented later that I took him out of this world, haha. It was purposely cheesy! Throughout the night he randomly added in things like, “I like your eyes” or “you are really pretty,” etc.. What girl doesn’t like to be told that?

The show was great but there was that whole huge arm rest thing in between us. Still, he found his way around it and held my hand and such. Actually, it wasn’t long before he kissed me. I know…first date…but he was from out of town and I knew I wouldn’t be able to see him again anytime soon. So, whenever it got dark, he would just kiss me a little. And I kinda liked it. So, afterward, we took the Trax back over to the other mall and then took his car up to the Capitol building. We just hung out on the grass and made out a little and then went home. He was super fun…a little too forward/handsy…but I had a good time. The next day he left for his home far away. I’ve heard from him a little since so we will see if anything else comes of it I guess. Generally I don’t expect to hear from guys who make out on the first date… I probably shouldn’t want to either. I don’t think this one is going to go anywhere, mostly as a result, but I guess you never know. I like a lot of things about him. I’ll keep you posted…

Meanwhile, there is another guy that I am kind of liking but haven’t met yet. Did I tell you that? He also lives far away but will be here soon for work training. He will be here for a few weeks to a month. We talk on the phone all the time and he is super sweet and seems like a good guy! I hope he is! I hope he doesn’t want to make out on the first date! I might see him this weekend…I will let you know.