"Like" Actually

Ok, I've started about to write about about a bajillion different topics today, and none of them seem to be coming out right, so I'm going to go ahead and break my "no personal details" rule for you guys. Rules were made to be broken, right?

I have a date tomorrow night. Now, I've had a lot of dates lately, and most of them haven't exactly gone the way I'd hoped they would. This one, on the other hand, seems to be a contender. She responded to the same ad as the "adult entertainer," which was virtually identical to my tribute to The Onion y'all read here (wow, have I used enough links in this paragraph???). She's also most likely reading this (hiya! Don't let it go to your head ;-) ), so maybe I shouldn't be saying anything. Oops. Oh well.

We've both passed the picture test (with flying colors), and seem to fit all the right demographics stuff, but the thing that really intrigues me here is the conversation. As I've mentioned before, people seem to feel at ease around me pretty quickly and easily, and I'm a flirt, so the awkward silence is pretty rare when I'm getting to know someone. That said, it's been a long time (like years) since I've had conversations that work this well with someone I barely know. People are usually good in area or another, but it's tough to find someone who "clicks" on all of them. One person's extremely intelligent and we have a lot in common, but isn't so great in the flirting department. Another can be good looking and flirty, but our goals in life are totally incompatible or the timing's off. This one seems desperate, and that one too far to the other end of the scale. It really amazes me to find a person who covers all the bases, and when the sparks are flying like it's after dusk on Independence Day... well, I'm officially intrigued.

I love the "getting to know you" game. It's such an intricate little dance. You take turns showing a little bit of interest, volunteering information about yourself, asking questions about them, flirting a bit, and so on. It's also pretty delicate -- since you don't know each other, neither of you has very much invested at first, and if one person tries to move ahead without being certain that the other is on board, it can fizzle out quickly. Conversely, if one person doesn't send out the right signals, it can be over before you know it because the other one assumes they're not interested. When everything happens in just the right balance, though, the process is almost invisible. All we tend to notice is "wow, this person's great!" That's kind of where I'm at right now.

I think I'll end this with one of the most creative and interesting compliments I've recieved in quite a while. It's also pretty darn mutual. Goes a little something like this:

"I don't get it. Something must be really wrong with you and I haven't caught it yet, because you just can't be as great as you seem."



Good Stuff:

I recently found new blog, and Jo wrote the awesomest thing ever the other day. I'm smitten. If she wasn't already taken, she'd definitely be in trouble from this direction...