Thank you Sheryl Crow

The cat is out of the bag. I was sitting by Ryan at church and he totally put his arm around me. I sit in the third row because I conduct the music in sacrament meeting so EVERYONE saw. I looked at him and I held his gaze for a moment and I made on of those 'humph' sounds that implied, alrighty then. As I sat there I could feel the eyes burning into the back of my head and the whisperings buzzing. Instantly the Sheryl Crow song "Let's Give Them Something to Talk About" started playing in my head.

And who are we kidding now, Ryan's real name is Alex. Alex Roberts Beacham. I don't feel like playing the name game.

We've seen each other almost every day since tennis Wednesday a few weeks ago. And we seem to have this time vortex thing going on. I'm thinking of applying for a grant to have scientists study us. We'll be at his place talking about whatever at 9:15pm and all of the sudden it's 1am. Like that *snap*. It felt like only an hour passed but no, it was almost 4 hours. It's just ridiculous. And it's every time we're together. The earliest we've parted ways at night is midnight. And the best part is we don't sit around watching tv and movies, we talk a lot and play games. And he is the BEST snuggler ever [Chelsea, he makes that sound that Kasey did playing foosball - love it!]

And I know this blog is really about my dating disasters but hooray for a great dating story. And it's been going for a few weeks so I feel fairly confident in posting about it. I'm sure the blog curse won't work it's evil and dark magic on this relationship, I won't let it. There are so many things I'd like to say about him and us but I'm going to refrain and just leave you with this:

*contented sigh*

I just was told that Sheryl Crow does not sing this song, it's Bonnie Raitt. How embarrassing. That song came out in 1991 and for almost 10 years I have been giving undue credit to Sheryl. I feel like I should write a letter to Bonnie about this to apologize.

A Letter

Dear Blog-gods,

Can I make you a deal? I promise won't post about Ryan and our weekend activities if you promise to not curse the relationship. My friends who read this blog will not appreciate being left in the dark, but I'd prefer to keep him around. Thank you for your consideration.

Kind regards,
Rebekah

Musical Chairs

Last week my parents told me they were having a dinner party on Thursday (tonight) and that I was invited to stay but more than welcome to head out for the evening. I'll take door number two and see who I can scrounge up to entertain me for the evening. Since this was last week, I had asked Juan to take on this challenge before disaster struck.

Wednesday morning I was chatting with the guy I asked out over lunch, whom I'm going to call Thursday Guy, and we decided to hang out that night. [So about the gift he gave me: I had made a comment how my back always hurt and love massages; he bought me a gift card to Massage Envy...for $100. I called him saying, "are you trying to buy my love or friendship", I was a little ____(insert your own adjective). But he's just a generous guy who likes me, that I'd appreciate it, and thought it'd be nice. Well yes, yes it was nice. A little unorthodox but nice all the same]

Not an hour later I get a text from the one guy that I super interested in, whom we will call Ryan [because for some reason I see a similarity between him and my cousin Ryan] saying "it's beautiful weather for tennis" to which I say yeah huh, except it's going to go back down to the 40s after today, can you play this evening? Yup, see you at 5:30.

In case you missed it, I already had plans last night with Thursday Guy.

So I email Thursday Guy and say, Oh dear I'm so sorry but can we play Thursday instead? [the two times we go out were Thursday, hence the name] He says yes it's fine; I offer to bring dinner to make up for it having to reschedule.

Now I have Ryan on Wednesday, and Thursday Guy and Juan scheduled for Thursday. I'd rather drop Juan because, let's face it, he ain't worth keeping. So I sent Juan a text saying I don't need you to take me out on tomorrow, I found someone else who likes me to do it.


Tennis was fun last night, I totally creamed him but he's only played a handful of times was a good sport. We got dinner and went to his place to watch a movie and talked for hours after. He's a funny guy - we kept each other in stitches the whole time. We'll see how tonight goes with Thursday Guy. Fingers crossed X

In Hot Water

This weekend I took a long trip with Juan to the Lava Hot Springs. This is a 2 hour drive up, plus an hour or more in the hot springs, then another 2 hours drive home. We've hung out a lot and gone out so I thought this was a good test run to see how we do alone... for a long time.

DISASTER

His car is fancy - it has a DVD player in the console. Halfway through the drive up he puts in season 4 of the Office. So much for conversation. We watch until the light hurts his eyes and then turn it off to make small talk. Very small talk.

When we get there he wanted to go in the hottest pool first. I thought that was stupid; start with the coolest [a balmy 102 degrees] then work our way up to the hottest [112 degrees]. He wins because he just drove us up here and I figure it's not that big of a deal.

We're in there for 3 minutes before he thinks it's too hot and we have to move to the second hottest pool. I held back a told you so.

We get in and are sitting there making quiet conversation as the mist and steam swirls around us. I wait for him to try to dunk me, splash me, pull me around by my feet - any interaction really - but no game. He just sits there. Hmmm, I decide to take a trip around the pool. I come back thinking the old adage "absence makes the heart grow fonder" would come into play. Nope, silence.

We go back to the hottest hot spring and he asks, "do you see yourself dating me in a year?"
How do you respond to that?!

The best I could think of was a sad "depends". Turns out he doesn't see himself dating me in a year. Aghast I said, "well then don't call me next time you want to go out". I mean honestly, who says that? On a date. 2 hours from home. What is with these guys?! After some discussion I realized he was putting up an emotional wall to keep me out. I recognized it after all the walls I was putting up over the last few months. Ah, making a little more sense, but really. Let's be tactful here.

In the end, we discussed how he just broke up with a girl a few months ago. He's having a hard time being with someone else, yada yada. Fine I say. Just so you know I'm just looking for a little fun. He observantly says, but you're ready for a relationship. Well duh kiddo, I've been in an emotional cocoon for the last year. I'm ready to play.

I assure him *fingers crossed* I'm just looking for a good time. I enjoy(ed) his company, the few smooches I got, and having someone to play with during the week. I am NOT however, wanting or expecting a relationship from him.

In all honesty, I couldn't care less. I am having a blast with friends in the ward. Last night we had a Pi Party. It was 3/14 and that's the rounded off number associated with pi [think back to alegra and all that math stuff you've completely repressed because it was so horrifying]. So we had pies and played games. I laughed until I cried about this video and bonded with some great people.

Juan can jump off a bridge if he's going to be a putz.

PS - the Thursday date went fairly well. He is probably the most generous guy I've ever gone out with. It's a bit ridiculous really. I don't want to tell you what he just bought me. All good things; up, down, and around. Who can name that movie?

What did you do on your lunch break?

What did I do you ask? I asked a guy out to a movie - Alice in Wonderland. This is the first time I've ever asked a guy out. In the past I've invited someone to an activity or party but never a full-on date with dinner. [He's white, by the way]

What did you do on your lunch break today?

Going Ethnic

White sheets. Silver car. Straight hair. Button up shirt and slacks. Chicken.

I am so boring! I pick the same things over and over. Adventurous is not an adjective I use to describe myself and will only participate in something new if there's a cute guy involved.

I have recently become aware that I only date white guys. My sister had a string of ethnic men in her past. There was Success from Africa [yes his name really was Success. I think his brother was Money and his sister was Fortune. I had an African friend named Yeah - what strange names they give their children]. The there was Jaime the Mexican. Danny the Panamanian. I'm sure there are more that I'm not aware of.

The most ethnic I dated was Adam who was half Norwegian.

I breaking my mold. Last weekend I went on my second date with a Mexican guy. HA how's that for crazy! I think I'll call him Juan for the blog. And when you read it you have to pronounce it like this: Hhhhck-wan. Like you're getting a big glob of throat mucus ready to spit.

Last week Juan and I went to dinner at Tres Hombres where he challenged me to order in Spanish. I almost did until our 15 year old blonde, Utah born and bred waitress arrived. She'd have no idea what I was saying. After dinner we mini-golfing. Naturally I won and he was frustrated - why do men think they'll win anything remotely related to sports?

The best part of the story is this 10 year-old kid just showed up on hole 3, cut in front of us, and tee-ed off while the people in front of us were still trying to grasp the idea of a short putt. We laugh and watch as this kid commandeers the green from this family of 4. We play and are soon found in the same situation on the next hole. In an attempt to save the family ahead of us, we start talking to the kid and the dialogue below is pretty close to the actual conversation:

Kid "I don't know where my coat is"
Me "Where did you leave it"
Kid "I know where it is"
Juan "Good, it's pretty cold tonight"
Kid "I like the color black"
Me "It's a good color. Where are your parents"
Kid "Not here"
Juan "Are you here with friends"
Kid "No, I was dropped off"
Me "Oh" Awkward silence between the three of us
Kid "I have a purple ball"

He gallops off and I say to Juan, "We should name him". We decide to name him Frederick but we never see him again. By this time it's late enough to start the Cosmic Golfing, which entails all the lights off except a few blacklights and a sad strobe light. Talk about ghetto. All in all, I had a good time on my first ethnic adventure.

On Saturday we went to the Symphony. He asked what my last fun date was [roller skating] and wanted to know what I enjoy doing. I said I really enjoyed going to the opera, symphony, museums, etc. and get this... he listened. He took me to the Symphony to hear Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto 3 [I picked the video based on the awesome hair/beard combo of the conductor], the concert was FABULOUS! Then we went back to his friend's house for ice cream and a movie. It was really nice.

I'm testing my theory of the blog curse. Usually the relationship is over after I mention it on the blog. We'll see if it ends in the next few days. I hope not, he seems thoughtful.

**3/3 Update - we had "the talk" last night and it was nearly over. In fact, I don't know how it isn't. Whatever. At least now I know for sure this thing is cursed. Post about the relationship that day, by the evening it's over.