She's just not that into you!

Fine, I'm not that into you...

a) when I don't pick up my phone when you call. And no, I am not playing hard to get.

b) when I don't return your texts. Its mostly because I don't think it's necessary for me to report to you on my day and also probably because I don't have an appropriate response when you text me 'hey, how you doing?' when I'm in the midst of a meeting or I'm pulling my hair out trying to meet a deadline. But it could also be because I just forgot. Yes, that's how little you cross my mind.

c) and when I do return one text after your three incessant ones, it is only because I'm being polite and hate to see you be so pathetic. And if my text says 'hey, been busy. talk later' I don't really want to talk later, I'm just procastinating, and I'm hoping you're not so thick to not take a hint.

d) but if you are that thick and take my 'talk later' text as an invitation to call me later, please refer to (a) above.

e) when I tell you I'm not looking for anything random or otherwise right now, I'm basically telling you to back off. Leave me alone. I'm just not into you. Of course I'm looking for a relationship with the man of my dreams, it's just that I don't think you're cute enough or funny enough for me to want to date you and yes, I can make up my mind on that in the first five minutes from when I meet you.

f) and no I don't want to be 'just' friends. I have enough friends. Please don't pretend that you want to be 'just' friends, when it's so darn obvious you want to get into my pants.

Ladies, feel free to add on to this list :)

 

First winter

His smile. His eyes. His hair falling over his eyes. He needed a haircut. Or maybe not. He carried the straggly look pretty well.

She knew he was waiting at the train station for her. He said he'd bring an extra jacket. It was her first time anywhere in winter. She'd never experienced it before and didn't know how thick a jacket she should get. That's what she told him. The truth was she couldn't afford a nice winter jacket and didn't want to show up in something cheap.

Ridiculously hot women...

...should not be allowed to roam the streets freely, making the rest of us look and feel bad.

Why can't they just confine themselves to the fantasy world of movies, magazines, reality shows or whatever, where you can have at least a little window for skeptism i.e. she's been photoshopped, it's a body double, ahh.. definitely plastic surgery!

But, when one of these women escape the fantasy world and wonder into your reality, it just makes you question all of god's fairness. See, why on earth was she created with such flawless skin, smooth as alabaster, when your own breaks out every month close to your period. Why does she get hair that is so long and thick and luscious when your own only grows to a certain length and then starts splitting at the end. To top it, you think you might be suffering from premature balding because everytime you wash your hair, the amount of hair that drops from your head after you've applied your conditioner is so not funny and ends up clogging your drain.

You've always thought you have pretty eyes. Received a nice compliment or two on them. But they're nothing compared to her middle-eastern, kohl-rimmed, cat eyed perfection. Her nose is small, straight and perfect whereas yours has a little bump on it because clumsy you ran straight into a tree when you were eleven when you thought a dog was chasing you.

Generally, you like your body. Never had much issues with it except maybe your boobs may be shrinking because the strapless bra that fit you just nice last month feels as though they're dropping off when you wear them now. But she. Oh my god she... has a body that is made for men to drool, salivate, slobber over. She's not the skinny, model-ly type. Instead she has an impeccable ass that seems to defy gravity, boobs which are big and perky enough to fill out a tube dress without looking as though they require a bra to help hold them up and then tops that with a ridiculously tiny waist.

Your wardrobe is a decent mix of work and party clothes which you like but nothing jaw dropping, nothing that would make a man stop and stare on the street. Your clothes make you feel comfortable and look nice enough to maybe fetch an admiring glance or two. Her's on the other hand is downright show-stopping, doesn't seem to matter whether she's just hanging out with her friends on what looks like a casual saturday or hitting the club. And she wears them with this fiesty arrogance that screams 'I know I'm hot. And I know you bloody well think so too!'.

Aah. Its disgusting how insecure and jealous she makes you feel. But you can't help it, especially since you find out the guy you went on this really nice date with, whom you actually liked, is now dating her instead. So, you do the only thing you can do to make yourself feel a little better...

...you console yourself by telling yourself she probably is stupid, has bad English and he is only dating her for her looks!

Should a guy pay...

...on a first date?

I’ve been asking myself this since I went on a date with another guy from Match.com. I really liked his profile and he had a nice smile (yes, yes I'm a sucker for a cute smile). I’ll call him… Mr. Maybe.

When we exchanged numbers, he called almost immediately. The first time we spoke for about 15 minutes. The next day he called again and we spoke for an hour and half – which was not usual for me. But he was able to converse on a variety of subjects, he was funny and he kinda 'got' me. I was pleasantly surprised. He didn’t ask me out right away which was good – not desperate I thought. And when he did finally ask me out 2 days later, it was very casual and I agreed immediately.

The date itself wasn’t too bad... so much as first dates go. The chemistry wasn’t fantastic but it was enjoyable in a light-hearted kind of way.

He was 25 minutes late, but very apologetic about it. Apparently he had to work at the last minute. There was a que at the restaurant we went to and the only available section was the smoking side so we sat there, next to the bar. He lit a cigarette as soon as we sat but not before asking ‘do you mind’? I didn’t know how to say ‘yes, I do mind’ so instead I smiled and shook my head.

We ordered drinks. And chatted a bit about our travelling adventures. Well, his travelling adventures mostly. He asked me if I’d been to the US…I said no. He then ventured to tell me what a great place it was and gave me a very detailed account of one of his camping trips where he’d almost encountered a bear. The bear story continued for quite a bit, but it was alright..like I said, he was amusing enough. But I couldn’t help thinking that perhaps if he stopped talking for a bit and asked a little more questions, he’d find that I’ve been to some pretty cool places too. Only he didn’t.

We talked some more trivial stuff. Ordered our food. Exchanged jokes. Drank some more. It was 10.30pm, about 2 and a half hours into our date when my phone buzzed. I was supposed to meet some friends for drinks after. I was told that if the date went well, I should bring him along. After a tiny mental battle whether I should or should not, I decided to ask him. I wasn’t having too bad a date and it might be a good time to see if he was cool to hang out with at a club. But he said he couldn’t - apparently needing to take his parents to church early the next morning. I teased him about being a mummy’s boy. He laughed it off saying no, he isn’t... normally.

Then the weirdest thing happened. The bill came. Out of habit, I pulled my wallet out and took out a couple of notes. Usually (in fact, on all of my previous first dates) what happens next is the guy will tell me to put my wallet away and pay. And I allow it because really, as strange is this sounds, I like it when a man takes charge at the end of a date by footing the bill. It isn’t about the money. It is about being a gentleman… and knowing how to treat a lady. Same as opening the door for her or pulling out the chair for her. And no, I don’t expect the guy to foot all the bills for all our dates.. just the first ones, especially when it is the guy who asks me out. If ever we did go out on a second date, I’d insist on paying. If he didn’t let me, then there are things to consider like perhaps he's a chauvinist, which is a whole other can of worms and a topic for another day.

Anyway, what happened here, is that when I took my wallet out, he took the money I offered, added a couple of notes of his own to it and paid the waiter. When the change came, we split the change in half. I was left thinking, that maybe this wasn’t a romantic date after all.. perhaps he just wants to be friends?

After that he walked me to my car. When we reached the car, he turned to me, looked me in the eye, leaned forward and gave me a hug which lingered slightly longer than a 'just friends' hug should. Then he said that he would really, really like to see me again. Hmmm. Definitely more than friends vibe now. It was pretty confusing.

When I reached the club, I threw the question to all the guys who were at my table.. ‘when you take a girl out on a first date.. do you pay for the date?’. Every one of them gave a very emphatic and resounding ‘YES!’.

So, here are my musings...

Should the guy foot the bill on first dates?

And the big question - should I give Mr. Maybe another chance? (He's asked me out already... I'm stalling)

And the men get bitchy...

I have been ignoring calls and texts from Mr. Cricket and Mr.Texter, both of whom I met on Match.com.

Cricket
Cricket and I went on one date which lasted over one margarita before I excused myself to go home to have dinner… alone. He wanted to meet me the next day but I told him I couldn’t.. making up a really far fetched excuse about having to bathe my aunts dogs. He messaged me the following day ‘So, forgotten about me already? ;)’. I didn’t reply. And I never realised how lame and needy that line sounded, even as a joke - I've used it before on Mr.P, when I hadn't heard from him as soon as I wanted..and this after sleeping with him. Damnit.

Anyway, Cricket called me that night… I just didn’t feel like answering and I didn't. Two days later he messaged asking if something was wrong. I guess I could have told him I wasn’t interested (though I felt I’d given him enough hints.. I mean seriously how thick can you be?). But I wasn’t in the mood to go into discussions of 'whys' and 'why nots', so I told him ‘I’m kinda going through some personal stuff right now. Can’t deal with anything else. I’ll call you.’ Which wasn’t exactly a lie. I had an uncle in the hospital and I was busy chauffeuring my aunts and relatives around. But mostly I was putting off dealing with him, hoping that he’d get it finally when I don’t call him again...ever.

Texter
Texter and I never even got to our first date because his messages were so random and weird and difficult to understand that I just stopped replying. His last message to me despite the fact that I’d ignored 5 of his previous texts… ‘gd mrng gorgeous. hp u hv a wonderful dy..otw 2 wrk?’. I wasn’t even out of bed yet when my phone beeped with this message. It annoyed the hell out of me. I have no clue what runs through someone's mind when they send texts like these..

Anyway, thanks to these two, I hadn’t logged on to Match for a while.. until last weekend.

Apparently, my sessions on Match have been tracked. Both Cricket and Texter who remained mostly silent as long as I wasn’t logged on to Match, once they realized I was still on it, responded in ways I never thought men ever would…

The first was an email from Cricket…

“Guess I won't be hearing from you again. I had already expected it but it would have been nice if you had at least been honest with me.”

Huh???

Dude, we’ve only been on one date…what’s with the drama?

And then, as I was still trying to wrap my head around that email…I realised Texter had deleted me from his Facebook account.


Well, I guess I deserved that.

Date # 2...not!

Date Number Two from Match.com was supposed to be with a guy I’m going to call Mr. Texter. He had a decent profile picture, a cute smile and was nicely skinny. He seemed normal enough in his profile and we had almost identical matches.

But the date never happened. And here’s why…

Mr. Texter and I exchange a couple of emails before I pass him my number. The 1st text I receive,

‘hy gorgeous, tx 4 passin me ya no. hv a nc day’

I’m put off with his texting style. But decide to give him a chance. So I reply him ‘Sure. And thanks, you too’

That night he texts me again asking me if I was free to talk. I don’t see the text till very late and don’t bother replying till the next morning. I say ‘Hey, good morning. Sorry, but I fell asleep pretty early last night.’

I get this reply ‘gd mrng princess. na wriez. conv 2 talk nw?’

Firstly, why on earth was he calling me princess? And, what the hell was ‘na wriez’??

After I took a moment to decipher this, I realize he meant ‘no worries’. Despite the sirens going off in my head, I replied ‘Hey, I’m at work now. Best if you call me after work, say after 7pm?’

He says OK. I just said a silent prayer that he spoke better than he typed and soon was too consumed with work to think about him.

About lunch time, I get a text from him saying ‘hy gal, hws ya dy so far? al gd I hope. js hd lunch. hd urs? ’

Now. Why did he need to know that? We haven’t had a proper conversation so far and he’s asking me about my lunch? I don’t reply.

Anyway, that’s not the worst of it.

Since I’d told him to call me after 7, I was expecting him to just pick up the phone and call. But no, I get another text from him at 10.40pm ‘hy gal, hw ya doin? al gd? conv 2 talk nw?’

I stare at the text. Why was he doing this to me?

Irritated but also curious whether he'd finally call me I replied at 10.48pm, ‘Sure’.

I wait for the phone to ring. It doesn’t.

I get this text from him at 11.10pm... ‘hy gal, u aslp? conv 2 talk nw?’


I am really starting to have second thoughts about this whole internet dating thing….

Date # 1

After subscribing to Match.com, I had two dates planned over the weekend but one got rescheduled to this Thursday. So this is the story of how my date numero uno went with... (introducing) Mr. Cricket.


A good start...
Mr. Cricket sends me a message that is funny enough to make me respond although he isn't that much of a looker in his photos. He’s 39 and supposedly fit so hey, what the hell I thought. Fast forward a few emails, he gives me his number and says 'call me or message me if you're brave enough'. Before I can respond, he sends me this email...

'By the way...if you prefer that I call you, please give me your number and let me make the 1st move. After thinking about it, I thought that it was unfair of me to expect you to call when I really should be the one to call you. Until then, take care and have a great week ahead Miss Angry.'

Not bad I think, so I text him and we set the time and date for our little date. He doesn't mind meeting for lunch, coffee or dinner and asks me to choose. I pick coffee (duh!).

I get lazy…
I'd nothing much to do on Saturday, so I pop in a dvd and start on some housework. Before long, I abandon all attempts to clean my apartment and sit glued in front of the TV because the dvd I popped was Spartacus - Blood and Sand, a glorious galore of gorgeous men with the most beautiful bodies and as little cloth to cover it as possible.

So when the time comes for me to get ready for the date, I'm actually reluctant to switch off the dvd player. I start coming up with excuses to cancel in my head…then catch myself and scold myself into getting ready.

The descent…
I arrive on time for the date. Its really hot outside, so I'd chosen to wear a yellow, sleeveless, floral top paired with capri pants and sandals. I wait under some shade in front of Starbucks and check the time. He's eight minutes late. Slightly annoyed, I start typing him a text when my phone rings. Its him. I tell him I'm at Starbucks and he says he’ll meet me there. I wait and soon I see a guy walking purposefully toward me.

The first thing that strikes me as he reaches me: he's dressed all wrong. At temperatures of 36 degrees no less, he's wearing something that looks like a cross between a sweater and a long sleeve shirt tucked into jeans. Uh-oh.

He shakes my hand. Its sweaty and sticky. I notice he looks rounder than his profile pictures. Also, he's bald and I can see the sweat glistening on his shiny, bald head. I'm glad he doesn't move to hug me.

It gets worse…
I decide I need some alcohol to get through this although its only 5pm on a Saturday. So, we go to this little air-conditioned bar and I order margaritas and he has himself a long island iced tea.

I notice he is staring at me a lot. And I think I may have snot in my nose or something. I self-consciously look away and wonder if I should dash to the washroom to check.

Then he says ‘You’re gorgeous. Just like in your pictures’.

‘Why, thank you’ I say. But I really can’t bring myself to return the compliment because honestly, he looked better in the pictures.

The drinks come, and we talk about each others work, always a great conversation starter and I can see he loves what he does for a living as he delves into the details. I’m spacing out when we switch to family and some general stuff like what we love doing in our past time. He talks about cricket with a passion and tells me how he loves the game. I can’t relate. But you can see why he got the name.

Finally, the deal breaker…
I generally don’t talk about exes or past loves on a first date (even on 2nd or 3rds) because seriously, its just bad dating etiquette. Vague remarks or funny one-liners are okay but nothing more than that. But this guy, wow, this guy had no qualms telling me all about his love history starting from the first girl he dated whom his parents did not want to let him marry, to the girl he finally married. And subsequently divorced. And how he was so bitter and angry after the divorce. And how he met this girl from China soon after the divorce and he dated her for 6 months although the girl did not speak any English and he did not speak any Chinese.

I'm like what the fuck?

So, I ask him how he managed 6 months with someone without any verbal communication? He says with a glint in his eye, that they communicated physically and then adds… also with their hands.

Okay. Gross.

He probably catches the look of disbelieve (or disgust) on my face and moves to back track. Saying that she was really wonderful and that she really knew how to treat a man. Cook for him and clean for him. In fact, after a long days work when he came to pick her up, she would give him gentle massages in the car, rubbing his shoulders and ahem certain other parts. I don't ask for details.

The poor man doesn’t realize he's making it worse with every additional sentence he continues talking about this relationship. When I, as casually as I can, ask him, why they broke up?

His response... ‘I wasn’t ready for a commitment…’

I look at him incredulously. That was the reason? Not the fact that they could not talk to each other?

I keep all thought to myself and just smile at him.

Seriously, I think he’s free to enjoy whatever relationship he wishes. BUT my mind had shut off at this point from this date…AND worse was drifting back to Spartacus. I’d rather (in fact couldn’t wait to) get back and watch my TV show than sit with this guy and talk somemore.

The End…
I make a move to leave after our first (and only) drink finishes. He actually looks disappointed and says he was hoping this would turn to dinner. I politely decline. When I get home I receive this text from him…

‘Hi Miss Angry, tat was one of the nicest dates I hav been on. I like that u can meet my gaze ;)’


Sigh. Really?

I finally succumbed...

...to internet dating.

After some consideration and given the current state of my love life or rather lack of it, I decided to subscribe to Match.com two days ago. And I must say I have been pleasantly surprised.

In the last 48 hours, my profile has apparently been viewed 149 times and I have received 11 emails and countless winks including a wink from a 90 year-old man.

I was curious about the 90 year-old so I viewed his profile and I noticed he had put up around 10 pictures and had a very long write-up about himself and what he was looking for. He stressed on how fit he was and how he exercised regularly. His profile seemed so eager and hopeful that it struck a cord in me. Here is a guy at 90 who is still out there looking for love like the rest of us.

Then I thought, it bloody doesn’t get easier does it?

Dear god, if that was me at 90, I’d want to kill myself. I’d probably want to kill myself if that was me at 40.

Depressed suddenly, I decided to read through all the emails I’d received. Out of the 11, 3 looked promising. Their pictures were alright and the emails funny. So, I replied to all 3 and now I have 2 dates set for this weekend. Which isn’t bad I guess (?)

Then I went to check out the guys who had viewed me. As I perused through the pages, I saw one guy who looked familiar. I clicked on his profile and realized he was a guy I’d been on a date with a while back, whom I thought was incredibly cute but who hadn’t made a move to ask me out after the date. Since I had found him oh-so-cute, I asked him out instead, to which he politely declined claiming some work commitments. So I wrote him off thinking he wasn’t interested. Later my friend who had set us up told me he had met another girl very soon after he went on that date with me and they had hooked up almost immediately.

So, what then was he doing here? And he’d been active in the last 24 hours!

Remembering how cute I’d found him, I asked my friend of his status but she didn’t know. I did the next thing I could think of. I stalked him on FB. His relationship status was back to single (yes, yes I stalked him before too) and the pictures of him tagged with the girl he’d been seeing had been removed. So, was he single again?

Saying a silent whoppee I decided to message him on FB and not on Match though perhaps I should have done it the other way around…

My message to him (when it seemed like a good idea) said…

“Hey. Didn't we meet once through that thing that Miss S set-up a while back? I can't remember when but I know we met at Chilis. Anyway, you popped up in the people you may know thingy and I thought you looked familiar, decided to say hi. So hows life and the dating going? ;)”

He hasn’t replied.

Crap.

I actually wish now I hadn’t sent the message at all. Why did I message him so impulsively without thinking it through? I’m pretty sure now he knows that I’ve viewed him on Match AND that I’ve stalked him on FB (no matter how blasé I tried to make my message sound). Nobody wants a stalker....!

Okay, so tell me what you think… how lame was it of me to message him that way? And should I even be expecting a response?

The dating game

One of my closest friend Miss X called me up the other day, depressed. Her mum and aunt are trying to set her up with a guy, basically get her to go on blind date with him. Her aunt mailed her a picture of him. He's 37 which is not a bad age for a guy but when I asked Miss X what she thought of how he looked.

"You know how some guys who are about that age..say like Mr. Stupid (who btw is 36 this year) but don't look it? Well, he's not one of them. He actually looks 37, " she said.

"But how is a 37 year-old supposed to look like?" I asked.

"I don't know! But we go after men who look like guys not men who look like MEN," she said. "And this one looks scarily like a MAN! He's got glasses, wearing one of those silky shirts and looks serious. Basically he looks like a 37 year-old man not a 37 year-old guy."

"But that's not all" she continued "The date on the photo was 2004, which means he looked like this when he was freaking 31!"

I had to laugh but I didn't know what to say to that. Thinking about it now however, I'd day how do you trust someone who shares a picture of himself (and I'm sure to their best interest they would want to share the best picture they've got) which is 6 years old? So what, he hasn't taken a decent picture of himself since? That's a huge flapping red flag if you ask me.

But anyway, I digress. The point I'm trying to make is... 3 maybe even 2 years ago, Miss X and me, we would not have been so obliging to our mums setting us up this way. In fact, we would have been downright hostile. But here we were, a bunch of 30 year olds, actually succumbing to the pressures of society or rather pressures of family, specifically, our terrified mums.

Not to mention certain aunts who, despite their best intentions, make us feel like total crap when they tell us how small the pool is for girls over the age of 30.

But is it just about the age? Is there really a stigma attached to someone like me, who's touched the big 30 with no man in sight? Or are our mums and aunts over-dramatising their concern? And when they convey their concerns, it seems to me, everything is so black and white. You meet a guy. You like him. He likes you. You get married. Happily ever after.

But most of the time, I'm stuck in grey. For example...

Scenario 1
I meet guy. I like guy. Guy seems to like me but guy is commitment phobic and runs the 100m dash (in the opposite direction) when I tell him I like him.

Scenario 2
I meet guy. I like guy. Guy likes me. We kiss and make-out a couple of times. Find out guy also likes 5 other girls.

Scenario 3
I meet guy. I like guy. Guy seems to like me. We go on a date. Then guy never calls.

Scenario 4
I meet guy. I don't like guy. But guy likes me. Guy calls me everyday. And when I don't answer guy texts incessantly till I call guy a psycho and ask him to bugger off.

And so on and so on.

Okay, I'm going way off tangent here. What I'm trying to say, I think, is, "Mum, I know I've turned 30 way faster than you wanted me to. And as much as you want me married and start making babies.. it does look rather bleak right now, and you may have to wait a while before it even remotely starts looking possible.."

Right. If only I could gather the nerve to tell my mum that to her face.

Fools in love

I was talking to my friend last night. She’s with a guy who appears not ready to be in a committed relationship. His excuse is that he is focusing all of his time and energy to his work. Relationships require too much effort and he just cannot afford it right now. If that is not an indication of a guy who’s not ready to be with you, I’m not sure what is. But my friend, who despite wanting more from him, is meeting him for drinks this week. She is aware of all the facts, but she just likes him too much to refuse.

Are we all fools when it comes to love?

I’m trying to maintain a platonic relationship with a guy I thought I loved a while ago. But if all I want is to be just friends why does the idea of him being with someone else make me feel that someone has punched me in the stomach? And why is it that whenever Lady Gaga sings her bad lyrics ‘I don’t wanna be friends…want your bad romance’ I find myself bopping my head, nodding and agreeing and thinking of only one person in particular.

Sometimes I wonder, is love really so complicated or am I just making it so. Do I only want what I cannot have? Am I only after the chase? Why is it that almost always the anticipation of my time together with someone feels better than the reality of it? And then why does it again seem better on hindsight? Is it nostalgia - making it more romantic than it really was? Every time we put pen to paper, we are writing on hindsight, riding on something that has already happened, something in the past. And when we write it, do we embellish, making what was only mediocre seem more special than it truly was?

Love should be experienced and not just felt, I read that somewhere. But in most of my past relationships I feel I’ve only felt it, either anticipating something that is going to happen and then thinking about it fondly on hindsight. Was it because the experience in itself was so fleeting? In all honestly I can only think of one time when I truly felt I was experiencing love. My then boyfriend was sitting at the computer trying to get some work done and I was sitting on the couch next to him trying to read. I looked up to find him frowning, deep in concentration. Wanting some attention myself, I went up to him and sat on his lap facing him. I remember him smiling then gently pushing my head to rest on his chest where I could hear his heartbeat. I closed my eyes and allowed him to continue working. The love I felt for him at that point was so overpowering that I made a mental note to never forget it. And I never did.

Is it sad that I can only recall one such incredible moment of love? I’m sure I have experienced others, it’s just that I can’t recall them. Fleeting moments passed by, never to be relived or felt again the same way.

And we keep putting ourselves out there, going on dates, meeting new people trying to make a connection, trying to recapture the feeling of being in love with someone who could possibly make us feel those moments...again.

And therein lies one of my biggest fears - what if I don't?

These moments are so rare, so few and so fleeting – it just does not seem enough. I feel I’m missing out on something bigger. There must be more to love than these rare, few, fleeting moments. Otherwise, I’m thinking.. love is overrated.

I'm being set-up

My mum is setting me up on a date.

I cannot believe I've reached a point in my life where my mum thinks she needs to interfere with her daughters dating life for fear of having her daughter become a middle aged woman without a man in tow. She's obviously fearing the fact that having touched the big 30, I'm still without a husband prospect in sight. 30 is ancient in her books to be without a man and to top that she's gone beyond hinting that she'd like to be a grandmother.... soon.

I love my mum. But I am glad I live a whole 2 hour distance away from her, thus limiting our face to face confrontations about my love life. She manages to get her messages across over the phone though. Its maddening when I've had a perfect Saturday all to myself, lazing in bed with the nicest book and even nicer music in the background, only to have the magic broken with a call from my mum exclaiming "What? You've been in bed the whole day?" like its the worst sin in the world before adding "How are you expecting to meet men if you lie in bed all day like this?".

Anyway, I got a call from her yesterday telling me that she got a call from an aunt of mine about a 'nice' and 'handsome' boy who is a son of a friend of hers who just started working around my area. He's apparently looking to meet new 'friends' and my mum and my aunt have decided that I should do lunch or dinner with him. I retorted saying if he was so 'nice' and 'handsome' why did he need help making 'friends'. My mum told me to not be rude.

Firstly, I don't trust this particular aunt's judgement in men. Secondly and more importantly, why would a grown up man need help from his mum to set him up? Is he so lazy that he couldn't be bothered to make his own efforts to finding a date and would rather rely on his mum to get him one? That or he is really ugly.

I'm not in the least bit intrigued. But you try saying no to my mum. Suffice to say, I've agreed to meet him... but only for coffee next week. I'm not going to suffer through a meal on a date set up by conspiring aunts and mums. My mum agreed reluctantly saying dinner would be much nicer though. But I stood my ground - its coffee or nothing at all- and the tiny win did placate me a little bit. Anyway, I'm thinking, if anything, this might give me some material to blog about.

Bad behaviour?

Miss X has been hitting it off with the object of her interest these last couple of weeks. And although they don't meet as often as she'd like to due to their busy and conflicting work schedules, they flirt with sexy texts and conversations almost daily.

Then, this one night, they were supposed to meet up for dinner. It gets cancelled at the last minute. And of course, she's expecting him to reschedule, he doesn't. She sends him a text which goes unreplied. She calls him, he doesn't answer. By now, she's obviously totally pissed. And asking me what the fuck just happened?

And the thing is. I honestly don't know.

You're into someone. Things are looking good. The chemistry is there. Its not a full blown relationship. Sure. He's under no obligations to report to you. Definitely.

But, there was a certain expectation set in motion already. You don't disappear on someone after creating that expectation. Or you shouldn't. Right? Right??

Once, Mr. P didn't reply my text, for a whole day, and it drove me up the wall. The next day, he claimed he left his phone in a friends place. At that time, I felt a little foolish over how it had affected me.

This guy, has since apologised to my friend, claiming some work disasters which took up all his time... he seems genuine enough in his apology.

But what does all these non-reply, non-calls mean?

In my books, generally, not replying to my texts or calls is just bad behaviour.

But being fed shit on tv which would proclaim this might be him not being into you doesn't help either. Because, just when you're thinking, okay, maybe he's not into me, he goes and does something completely contrary to show you that he maybe, perhaps is. And come on, just how annoying is that?

First kiss

Wikipedia:A kiss is the touching of one person's lips to another place, which is used as an expression of affection, respect, greeting, farewell, good luck, romantic affection or sexual desire. Anthropologists have not reached a conclusion as to whether kissing is learned or a behavior from instinct.

Interesting.

What's in a kiss.

Personally, I’ve not experienced a terrible kiss, uncomfortable yes, forgetable definitely. But not terrible…though my last kiss over the weekend, I believe is going to make me regret it. He was coughing apparently from some bug, but I kissed him anyway. And then I woke up this morning with a scratchy throat. Fucking caught the bug.. stupid me.

But anyway, I digress.

What's interesting is it isn't clear if kissing was learned or from instinct. I mean if I didn’t watch all those people french kissing on tv or reading about it on those romance novels, would I ever have indulged in it?
I remember being sixteen and wondering when on earth was I going to experience my 1st real kiss. A good proper french kiss. The ones that curled your toes. Like in the romance novels.

Some of my friends at school were already making out with boys but not me… being a late bloomer and all that. One time, I remember being asked by a classmate (I forget who) about whether I’ve kissed a boy. I lied and said yes.. though I hadn’t and desperately wanted to.

Anyway, my time came the following year, when all the major exams were behind me (this was the result of my typical strict asian upbringing.. my life those days basically centered around all the major exams in school). Also I didn’t meet that many boys as I was in an all girls school, but with the exams behind me and an almost urgent need to be kissed, I somehow stumbled upon the opportunity.

I was in Mc Donalds having lunch one day with my girlfrriends and we noticed this bunch of boys a few tables away..so anyway, yadayadayada.. long story short.. I’m suddenly in love with this guy who was 4 years older than me. At 17 that was a lot of years and he was a bad boy of sorts..tall dark and handsome with a big bike.

He kissed me for the 1st time in the cinema. We were seated right at the back and the place was pretty empty.. I remember my heart beating furiously and I was so nervous. Somehow I knew that was the day he was going to kiss me although we’d been to the cinema so many times before and nothing ever happened. Instinct I guess. Or the fact that he was sitting so close almost breathing into the side of my face and he kept looking at me instead of watching the movie. Next thing I know, I turned and his lips were on mine. And it tasted… of cigarettes! And it was very wet. My toes didn’t curl or anything. Then he started kissing my ears and my neck which I liked it better cause I couldn’t smell the foul smelling cigarette odour when he kissed those places..

Didn't love my first kiss but at least I wasn't the only 17 year old who’d never been kissed.

Why dating hiatuses are bad for you...

I’d been on a dating hiatus mostly cause the last few dates I’d had were crap. Nothing special, no connection, no chemistry. Just plain downright crap.

Hence, without consciously deciding to do so, I took a break from it all – the dating scene. Did it feel good? No, not really. I just had a lot more time for work, got buried in it. And I basically hid myself away from the world. No boys for 2 whole months.

2 weeks ago Mr. Photographer (we’ll call him Mr. P) texted me. Mr. P is someone I slept with once 3 or 4 years ago when I was on a rebound from one of my relationships. We’ve not really been in touch except for a few texted messages exchanged over the span of the last 3 or 4 years. I met him once this year for drinks in February, I think, and we kissed. But I didn’t hear from him after. Nothing new.

Anyway, this last text message which came in 2 weeks ago which was the usual ‘You busy?’ message that came in at almost mid-night, I replied and we made plans to meet up which kept getting cancelled till we finally met for drinks at a German bar last week. There was something different about this meet-up cause we ended up talking, like really, really talking. I don’t know if it was because of the hiatus, or the long-string of bad dates or my feeling lonely, but we ended up talking about why we never dated and why shouldn’t we date (maybe?). He’s cute. With a very nice body, with a pierced nipple – but hey, who am I to judge. And he found me sexy. So, we kissed again (more passionately I thought somehow than I remembered from before) and he said he’ll call. And when the idea was put into my head (about why we shouldn’t date – maybe?), all I could think about for the next few days was just that!

Why not? I asked myself. Of course there were a hundred and one reasons including the fact that he’s 40, a bit of a hobo, lived in a house that screamed I could up and leave anytime I wish. It came with a yellow patched up sofa. Nice photos on the wall though thanks to the artist in him.

But did all of that stop me from wondering if this might not be the best idea.

A big fucking NO!

My mind just turned oblivious to all of the facts and started entertaining romantic notions of how nice it’d be to date a ‘free-willed’ person such as he. Sounded better in my head than hobo.

I was so pre-occupied with these thoughts for 2 whole days that it slipped me that he hadn’t call. And when he did get in touch again, it was another text close to midnight asking me to ‘come over if I wasn’t busy’. I went. We watched a movie, made out and I left.

The next day (you’d think I’d have gotten some sense by now) but no I was still stuck in my god-knows-what bubble; I texted him asking him to come to my office to meet me for lunch. Thinking, maybe I should be the one to well, perhaps steer him away from the midnight messages. Maybe if he sees me in daylight, he’ll notice there’s more to me than ‘midnight booty call’ (though there hadn’t been much booty between us – only that one time 3 or 4 years ago). Whatever.

He came. We had lunch in Starbucks. We talked. Laughed a bit. Then ran out of things to say to each other. I brushed it off then, thinking it was nothing - but my bubble has burst since.

He didn’t/ hasn’t called. What was I expecting really?

Lesson I learnt here (you’d think I’d know this by now): don’t mix up the 11 o’clock texts to mean anything more. Even if he might have been the one to suggest the ‘maybe there’s more’. Whatever his reasons may have been - maybe he was feeling lonely too, or he was on a rebound this time, a ‘You busy?’ text is well exactly just that. It’s so astoundingly stupid to read more into it.

So why did I? Who the fuck knows. I blame it on the lack of dating/ meeting new men. Hiatuses from dating are just bad for you. Makes you think up all sorts of stupid things.

I don’t feel any resentment towards Mr. P. Really. This was all just in my head.

Little miss cynical

I guess it has been a long time coming. Inevitable really. The cynic in me rising and rising, becoming more difficult to shut up with every passing date. Every passing guy.

'K' the guy I went out on a my 1st ever blind date

Background: He was someone with a speech disorder. He began and ended each sentence with the phrase 'you know or not'. I didn't pick it up at first because he utters it really fast but I really had to hold in my horrified laughter when he uttered it to the waiter while placing his order. It went something like "you know or not.. I'd like a glass of beer...you know or not" which of course left the waiter giving him a confused look. Anyway, despite this major impairment (in my books) I went on to entertain his calls and smses subsequent to the date.

What went wrong: He just couldn't bloody ask me out. And that is just such a big turn off. He gave me hints, called me usually around dinner time and kept asking where I was - but never came right out and asked me out. Why don't men get that hints just don't cut it. If you like her just ask her out. Seriously whats the worst that could happen? The damnest thing here is I might have met him again if he asked...speech disorder and all!

Conclusion: Boy with no guts (and no friends who cared enough to suggest speech theraphy to him)

Mr. Bangkok (my 2nd fix-up)

Background: Okay, I actually enjoyed my date with this dude. He was funny. Charming. Nice smile and all. We talked, we laughed and I was actually pretty comfortable. However, at one point as we were ordering food, I asked him if he had a preference as we wanted to share a bite, he told me "I'm easy". Uh oh. Too familiar. That is what Mr. Stupid always said to me whenever we ordered. Of course I tried to brushoff that momentary lapse into the past, but as I sat before him after that, everything started reminding me of him. And I remember thinking to myself - now you know why so comfortable. Fuck.

So what went wrong: Hmmm.. now let me see. Other than the fact that he reminded me of a certain someone else, I thought Mr. Bangkok had potential. He even had good follow up getting in touch with me the following day. But after one exchange of email back and forth (he lives in Bangkok), I haven't heard from him since. And its been about 3 weeks...

Conclusion: Long-distance is a no go.

Mr McDreamy

Background: Also another fix me up. But I was actually excited about this one (he was a neurosurgeon). Having McDreamy ideas in my head, I actually prettied myself up deciding to wear a dress instead of my usual jeans. Shallow of me to judge a guy based on his profession - of course i got bit in the ass later for this cause turns out even if you're a fucking brain doctor, you can be as clueless and dense as half the male population out there. Anyway, the date - I was pleasantly surprised that he was good looking (no McDreamy of course) and tall. With a really, really nice smile and down-to-earth feel. So down-to-earth that I felt a little overdressed. He was in a collared t-shirt and dockers. So much for dressing up for a saturday night date with a neurosurgeon. The conversation we had was decent. The flirtation wasn't too bad either. He asked for my number at the end. Walked me down the street to where my friends were at after the date and said good-bye.

What went wrong: I don't know. I initiated contact about 2 days after the date thinking that maybe this time around some effort on my part might be good especially since I liked the guy. He responded politely. And that was it. For a guy who so enthusiastically asked for my number during the date, this lack of enthusiasm after was more than a little perplexing. Which left me wondering if maybe I was bad at reading these signals.

Conclusion: He's just not that into ?

Typing out the above has exhausted me. I mean seriously, is it me or is it that these are generally the men that are left out there?

Blind date virgin

I have a date tomorrow. More specifically a blind date. And this would mark my official first blind date.

Why I actually agreed to this is a whole other story!

I don't know much about him (lets call him 'K') except that he is in his early thirties, an engineer and he goes to the gym.

I'd like to say I'm going with zero expectation but that would be a lie. I'm hoping he'd be cute enough and funny enough to keep me entertained during the night. And nice enough that I would want to go out with him again. Well, a girl can hope!

Here's keeping my fingers crossed.