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.

Mr. Stupid

I started this blog as an angry retaliation towards Mr. Stupid. Along the way it has become something else, but I began writing the blog because I had all this anger towards this one person and no real way of channeling it.

Anyway, it started because I thought Mr. Stupid had wronged me in some way. Led me on and then blew me off. We were so close emotionally and physically, but when it finally came down to making a decision about us, I felt he made the wrong one. I was so mad.

The thing is, he was no 'great' love of mine. We were never in a 'real' relationship. We never called each other cute names. But we did spend enourmous amounts of time with each other. We talked to each other every day. Sometimes for hours. Most important, we laughed together. He was my friend.. and so much more. A friend with benefits of sorts. I thought we were so in tune with each other, we should definitely take this to the next level. He thought not. I couldn't understand why and behaved like a child who did not get that candy she wanted. I threw tantrums. I got petulant. And when all that failed I used guilt. But it was like hitting myself against the wall, because my outbursts never got me the responses I wanted. On hindsight, of course, I realise I took the worst approach possible.

And because I had done all I could to anger him in real life and because on some level I realised what I was doing wasn't just hurting him, but me too, I took my angry venting online. Hence, this blog. Along the way, the anger dissipated, of course, and I moved on. And we're civil now, at least most of the time minus a couple of slip ups. I still care about him, not in the crazy way before, thank god and I'm pretty sure he genuinely cares about me too.

The only problem is as much as I still want him in my life, I am afraid of history repeating itself. The danger is I feel so comfortable with him and we know each other so well, that we sort of fall into a false pattern of ease, using each other to fill up the gap of not having a significant other in our lives. And then slowly and sneakily, without really any conscious decision on my part, I end up wanting more. And that's square one for you.

Its dangerous. And its stupid. Because, by doing this, we're not really allowing each other to grow or move on in the real sense of the word. So as much as I'm enjoying his tentative re-entrance into my life under the guise of a platonic friend, I'm not sure how long that's going to last until the truth about how I really feel about our situation comes to the surface.

Looks like I'll have to wait and see.

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?

Tingly, warm sensations

I was at the pharmacy the other day to pick up some condoms before heading over to Mr. P’s place. The last time I was at his place, we were going at it but had to stop because he didn’t have condoms. So I wanted to be prepared this time, just in case. I picked up a colourful red box which said tingling, warm sensations, thinking that must feel very nice. How very creative of them to think up such condoms. I walked to the counter, paid for it and headed off.

At his place, after the 2nd glass of wine, we were all over each other and rushed to his room to finally have great, fantastic sex. He said he still didn’t have condoms and even in my horny state, I wondered how come I thought about it but he hadn’t. But no matter, luckily I was prepared, I thought. It was dark in his room and I had to scramble for the box in my purse. It was killing the moment a little. He had gotten up to search his underwear drawer to see if he had a spare packet he had forgotten about. Both of us scrambling in the dark and I was the first to find it. Giving a triumphant squeal, I peeled the box and waved the tiny packet in his face.

He took it from me, ripped it and said.. “What the fuck?”

“Why?” I asked.

Somehow, noticing the look on his face in the dark, I grabbed the packet from his hand and felt something soft and squishy in my hands. I said out loud.. “The condom melted.”

“Its lube, idiot!”

How in the world had I gotten mixed up with lube and condoms? I blame the packaging. They looked exactly the same.

Mr. P was sweet about it though. Teased me about it the next morning when in the bright, still in bed, I picked up the box and read the label where it was unmistakably stated.. tingling, warm sensation lubricant.

I turned and looked at him, purple in the face. He laughed and hugged me saying, "Don’t worry, we’ll find some use for that too.”

I shut my eyes, pretending not to hear, snuggled up closer to him smiling.

Beers and mojito

R, a close male friend of mine of many years sent me a text around 11pm yesterday asking me what I was doing. My friendship with R is pretty strange. Mostly, he's someone I can talk to, share things with, get a guy's input on matters which are beyond my female comprehension. I wanted to maintain things to be platonic, but since I've already established I'm bad at that, we've crossed that line (kissing only though) once or twice, okay, maybe three times, all thanks to him and alcohol. Things get weird for a while, then we pick up and pretend it never happened and all is good. Plus, he has a girlfriend. But their relationship is even weirder, I'm not going to get into that today. Not enough time..I'm at the airport - I've got fifteen minutes to try trash this out.

Anyway, after he sent me the text, I called him cause I wanted to ask him what he thought about my on again, off again, on again relationship with Mr. P.

R knows that I suck at the whole friend's with benefits deal and was skeptical when I mentioned I was giving it a shot with Mr. P. But he listened anyway. So I told him about how I overdosed with Mr P two weeks ago, and how he asked me to meet his friends and I did. And how we took his dog out for walks at night holding hands and stopping to kiss at corners. How we just sat and talked in the German bar, me sipping a mojito and him having beer.

As I was telling him all this, I knew at the back of my head what R was going to say already. And he did.. "get out while you still have your heart intact".

But, that's the thing, I said. I don't really have to worry about my heart. After all that two weeks ago, I haven't heard from him since. His dissapearing acts are exactly whats keep me from falling for this guy. So maybe, maybe this could actually work?

R's response.."you're so fucking delusional!"

Who am I kidding

I’ve never been able to handle a no strings attached relationship. Friend with benefits, fuck buddies, whatever, I’ve tried them but my emotions get in the way. Almost always. Even when I try to keep it casual, if there’s sex, and if it’s just sex, I just can’t handle it.

The other things I’ve not been able to handle is strictly platonic relationship with guys that I’m really close with or end up getting close to. I’m not talking casual friends you hang out having a beer with once week. I’m talking about the guy that at some point in your life you start depending on for boy advise, for a shoulder to cry on or for getting you home safe after a night of drunken clubbing. He is not your boyfriend (for whatever reasons), but the one you’d call if you got into any car trouble or any trouble at all really.

So, despite knowing all this, I find myself trying to manage a no strings attached, friend with benefit, fuck buddy kinda relationship with Mr. P…..

and against my better judgment, I’ve recently rekindled a kind of tentative friendship with Mr Stupid, someone I’ve failed appallingly at maintaining a strictly platonic relationship with so many, many times before.

Ah well.

Holiday Sex

A, my ex, before we started our relationship, invited me for a holiday with him to Europe. We were chatting online, and he casually mentioned it. He did not really come right out and ask me. More like 'If I asked you to come here for a holiday.. would you?'. He was in Dusseldorf, I was in KL. Me thinking, he was not serious, said 'yeah, sounds like fun' (insert smiley). But he was serious. And I went. At that point, I did not go expecting to begin a relationship with him. I just wanted to get some action going and of course doing that in Europe didn't hurt. I'd not been with someone for a while and I knew with him, the sex was great, so I thought why the hell not. As it turned out, the sex was great and we ended well wanting to marry each other. Wanting of course. It didn't happen. Obviously. Long distance is bloody stupid. Why I decided to go ahead and be stupid is a story for another day.

But yes. It all started with an invitation for me to go on a holiday with him.

Recently, one of my closest friends Miss X, who is so totally into this guy whom she very recently got to know was put on a spot when he asked her if she would go on a holiday with him. She really likes the guy, so she obviously said yes. But she wasn't sure if by saying yes he automatically assumes they were going to sleep with each other.

When A asked me, I knew I was going to most definitely sleep with him. I'd slept with him before. I knew the sex was gonna be great. But Ms X, as much as she likes him, she's just getting know him, and is not sure if she's ready to jump that far. Yet.

So, being who she is, she set him straight about the sex bit (or at least tried to..)

Ms X: Can I ask you something about our holiday?
Him: What is it?
Ms X: If I go with you, would you be expecting me to sleep with you?
Him: Why would you ask that?
Ms X: I'd like to know
(Giving the obvious answer..)
Him: Of course not!
Ms X: But of course you're going to say that. Would it be a problem with you if we didn't have sex?
Him: Why are you asking these questions? Are you saying you won't go on this holiday with me if that's what I was expecting?
Ms X: I just don't want to lead you on..
Him: So are you saying yes to the holiday, but with a clause?
Ms X: Ha ha. Yea. Something like that.

Anyway, all that talk with her has led me to wonder if an invitation for a holiday is code for an invitation for sex. Is it a given?

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.

My one true love story...

I was amazed at how much emotion reading this old mail brought up. Its been so bloody long since I felt this way and this much..sometimes I wonder if I ever will again..

April 4, 2006
Hi,
I'm not sure you want to hear from me. I do wish there was an easier way to deal with this. But that's wishful thinking. I guess we have our ways of dealing with all the things that happen to us... three weeks. Its been three weeks since we parted and I'm alternating between sadness and relieve. I haven't heard from you since.. haven't spoken to you at all except that brief YM encounter when you told me about how you still couldn't find an apartment. I tried calling you twice but you didn’t answer. Not sure if it was on purpose or you just missed it. Don't really care right now cause honestly what difference is it going to make?

Sadness, I'm sure you can grasp. But relieve..? That night when you told me you were so tired with this whole thing.. I couldn't really understand. I was a little drunk that night but I remember most of what you said. The next day however, though I was crying most of the day, I felt this incredible weight lifted off my shoulders. Is that a bad thing? I mean I didn't realize how much I was pushing myself for us.. didn't realize how tired I was also. I didn't want to loose you.... but I was weirdly grateful for the breather. The time to re-think my priorities. What was it I really wanted?

A, I do love you. Always will I think. Not the kind of love to move mountains obviously...and lately, I'm not sure if I'm capable of such love. Perhaps not. Perhaps, I am also selfish. I gave up as soon as you did. But I've learnt from the past, that holding on to something.. and being the only one to hold on to it..is incredibly stupid. And lets not even get into the heartache that comes from that. I can't. I can't let my heart break for you again. It barely survived before.

I don't have all the answers. When it comes to you I wonder if I'll ever get any answers. Why my heartcraves for you? Why it refuses to listen to logic? So I'm with you on this... I'm also tired of all the damn questions.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss you. I miss you incredibly. The beautiful mornings we woke up to Frank Sinatra in the background and the sleepy nights we slept to Norah Jones's songs playing on your phone...the holding hands and kissing and love making... At times I think I want to just let you go. But then some memory of our time together creeps into my head. The time we spent walking in the art museum in Amsterdam..or that cold night we walked the streets of Paris with your arms around my shoulders. You standing among the crowd in the airport...waiting for me with a smile on your face. The taste of your lips when we kiss for the first time after months being apart. The look on your face when we said goodbye as I boarded the train. You muttered the words 'I'll miss you...' with a helpless look on your face...and tears were streaming down mine. Our walks by the river...in the park...at night. Sitting close and talking to you in that crowded, cramped American restaurant...with their lamp dangling so close to our heads and the very loud music...but I felt so close to you then. And all our other kisses, sometimes not really caring who saw us. Those passionate kisses. God.

So yes, I do miss you. I miss sharing with you my day. How classes went..or how work was or how your day passed. What you had for dinner or how you cooked yourself a meal. As mundane as they were.. I felt close to you. I felt that no matter what happened around me, I had you on my side and because of that I would be okay. I fell asleep everynight with a smile on my face knowing you were mine. I swear I don’t know how reminiscing is going to help either one of us. But I wanted you to know that I have many beautiful memories. You still bring a smile to my face. Aaargh! Can you imagine that?

You have been wonderful and you let me in. I felt it A... Don't write it off. Don't reduce us to just something of the past that you want to get over as soon as possible. I know how you can shut off. You told me and I've seen you do it. I could probably do something about that if I were there. But then we might not be facing this, if that were the case.

I'm not asking you back but I want you to remember me. Remember us. Don't forget how good it was, cause right now, only knowing that will I be able to feel a little better.

I'm fine really...coincidence had it that the very week you decided you wanted out, someone else walked into my life. So I have my distractions as I'm sure you have yours. I don't want any details... and I'll spare you mine.

Just take care my dearest dearest A. Fate, as it turned out gave us a chance to meet again. And what a meeting it was. Too bad we couldn't make it work....

I'm not ready to wish you happiness and love yet :) But one day I will.

Yours. Always.
Me

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.

Phuket

I was running up a flight of stairways, he was right behind me. A cool breeze blew, swishing the green ultra flare skirt I was wearing up as I ran up the stairs. The breeze tasted salty.

When I reached the top of the staircase, I turned around and looked at him. He gave me a sheepish grin. Both of us knew what we wanted, what was going to come next and the anticipation was killing us. Only, we had to pretend that nothing was happening. For the benefit of our colleagues. It was a company trip afterall and to avoid being the topic of the office grapevine, it was best to keep things...keep this thing under wraps. Whatever this was.

I looked at him standing one step below me, still smiling, his eyes crinkling at the sides, the way it always does when he smiles. I leaned across and kissed him lightly on the lips. I couldn't help it.

He put his hands on my waist and twirled me around trying to push me forward. I moved reluctantly, my feet dragging. "We're late... move it" he said.

"Don't want" I said laughingly, still dragging my feet as he tried to push me harder.

"Move it... lazy girl" he said giving me a hard smack on my behind and a cause to start a pretend fight.

And before I could do anything and as if he read my mind, he grabbed both my hands and said "Not now... we have plenty of time for this later".

I wanted to say something to retaliate but caught myself nodding instead. And smiling both of us walked across the hotel lobby towards the grand ballroom where our company dinner had already started.