Well, not me specifically, more like you. Maybe. But if it really is killing you, then I'm flattered and all, but you really need some professional help, dude. Seriously.
The date went extremely well. I even impressed myself with how relaxed and personable I was. Normally on dates, especially first dates, I am very tense, and I'm not talking normal anxiety about a stressful situation, I'm talking a full-blown fight or flight adrenaline response for most of the evening. I'm a decent conversationalist and all, but put me in a pressure cooker and I just crack. But as I was saying, that was not the case this evening. I was very relaxed, still somewhat nervous, but simply the first date jitters, nothing more.
I even went so far as to do a few things that I had never attempted on a first date. First was the hand-hold which came during the movie.
Now, I know what you're saying. Dude, you're 21 years old and holding someone's freakin' hand is something you've never even tried on a first date. "Ha!" I would respond. "Don't you see, I'm...well...um...it's more like...uh...how should I put this?...hmmm...I'm a prude and an extremely shy one at that." So yes, this was my first attempted hand-hold on a first date and, since I know that you are all so curious, it was reciprocated. I may have had to psych myself up for that since about Tuesday or so, but when the time came, I went for it. Booyah!!
On a side note, Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star is really, really funny. I enjoyed it immensely. Perhaps not a typical date movie, but it worked out well.
(If you are still reading this entry, the story continues, somewhat anyway.)
The goodnight, though was more than a little awkward. We got back to her house, and not only were her roommates home (which itself was a bit of a surprise), but several of their friends were over as well. She did not seem to be expecting that. So, as it turns out, my Casanova self turned into a walking pile of fear. No amount of pre-psyching up could have prepared me for that scenario, so alas, I returned to the world of awkward goodnights.
On the plus side, I did see her again today (in the music building, surprise), and she was very amiable. (+10 points for using the word amiable in a sentence. Rock!) She even went so far as to say, "Hey, if you aren't busy later this evening, give me a call." Unfortunately, I am quite busy, as being out of town, the date, and several meetings today has left me little free time. Plus, I haven't slept well and I am sick, so I've got to get to bed early.
Oh, but there's a great reason why I'm tired. (No, had nothing to do with the date, fellas.) I get back to my room after the date and the phone rings. A girl asks me, "Hey, is Mike there?" Now I live by myself, but just to make sure I did a quick scan of my 14'6" x 11'8" room to confirm that, no, Mike was not there. She seemed surprised that this was the wrong number. Well, apparently she didn't quite get the message, because she called back a few minutes later with the same question. Now, that is actually somewhat understandable. She probably thought that she misdialed the first time around. Well, what followed later that evening made no sense whatsoever.
I get a phone call at two in the morning. Normally, on a Saturday night, that wouldn't be that late, and the caller may even find me up. But after a few weeks of little sleep, I was ready to get lots of it. So, needless to say (but I'm going to say it anyway), I was far away in dream land with the phone started to ring. My first thought was that it was the same confused girl, but a call that late can also be extremely important news. In my state of semi-consciousness, I then devised a plan to figure out which it was. I'd let my voice mail pick up, that way, if they wanted to talk to Mike, they'd realize that there was no Mike mentioned on the message. If it was urgent news, they'd call back to wake me up. Well, they called back, twice. I jumped out of bed (well, not jump, since it took me two more times phone calls to get me out of bed) and answered the phone.
"Hi, is Mike there?"
I was livid. I couldn't believe it. The same person, to whom I had already explained Mike's absence, was calling at two in the freakin' morning. Unbelievable. My response was curt, and I dare say even angry-sounding, "No." "Are you sure he doesn't live there?" Gee, let me look around, oh hey Mike. Sorry, that's actually my computer, looked a lot like Mike though, is what I wanted to say. Although, what I came up with wasn't that bad, "No, he doesn't, and I have no idea who it is that you are talking about." "But, he called and left a message with this number." "I'm sure he did, but I am still absolutely certain that Mike does not live here."
To her credit, she at least apologized.
Poor Mike.
The sleep that followed was plagued by a bizarre nightmare. I dreamed that all kinds of people were coming up to me and saying, "Hey Mike," but no matter how much identification I showed them, they remained convinced that I was Mike. Only later did I discover that I had a split-personality disorder, and Mike was my evil side. Unfortunately, whatever I did as "Mike" I had no recollection of. Weird huh?
Well, that about wraps it up for me. I hope that you were not disappointed. And if you were, take it up with Mike.
Thought for the Day
What if the world you lived in, everything you experienced wasn't really real? Yeah, kinda like the matrix, but instead of being controlled by some creepy robots your body is instead actually locked in a padded room, and you are unable to free your mind from your imaginary world? That no matter how much the doctors try, they cannot bring you back to the real world. Right at this very moment, your spouse is filing for divorce after waiting several years for your recovery, and your kids have grown up and gotten married. But you can't be bothered with that right now, you're reading this silly blog. Interesting to think about isn't it? That sort of ended up being the end of my dream.
I was able to convince myself that such was not actually the case with one simple fact: If I was imagining this whole world, I would definitely make my life a whole lot cooler.
Oh, one last thing, I need to give a shout out (I think that's what they're called, I'm not that sure being as white as I am) to some peeps who visited from Germany and Finland. Hope your native lands are treating you well. A thousand blessing on you and your household? I don't know where I was going with that. Really all I care about is expanding the list of countries out of my own vanity. If you were wondering.
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