Monday, November 08, 2004
The Girl, The Gold Watch And Everything
So it has been an interesting two weeks. Actually, it’s been an interesting month, but the second week didn’t count. I’ll try to explain. On Friday, I get this IM popup… “Can I ask you a personal question?” It was W. We’d always been very businesslike toward each other. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to”, was the next line in her message. “Sure. What’s up?” I typed back. At first, I thought it was going to be the “are you gay?” thing. Since I’m single now and talk with my hands a lot, people seem to think I’m gay. Actually, that’s probably not the reason, but I can’t be far off.
Anyway, after my “sure” response, she sent me, “What to you think about G as someone to go out with? I’m playing matchmaker.” Now, G is a nice person from what I know, but I don’t really know her well enough to vouch for her character. That’s what this is all about though isn’t it? That’s why people date; to see if they’re compatible and see what kind of person the other is.
O.K., I panicked. Although I’m sure she’s a nice person and all, I’m really not ready to open my chest cavity and expose my inner workings again. In reality (if I lived there) it was probably just dinner and a movie, but as I mentioned, I panicked.
“I don’t date”, I clicked back. Disbelief would be the most descriptive word for her response. How could anyone simply not date? Well, that brings me back to why this has been an interesting month.
So far in the past 4 weeks, including this, I’ve been asked out 3 times be women who have somehow mustered the courage to ask. Sometimes I wonder if I will ever get to the point (or remain in the state) where even the most compatible woman will get passed over because I don’t think dating is a worthwhile venture.
After all, what’s the point of dating? Well, I’m sure it depends who you ask. Someone later answered saying, “ummm… sex?” Well, I guess that’s true for the rest of the people. Not me though. If I were to date, they would have to understand that I’m not dating because I think they might be “the one”. I’d just be dating to have a dance partner or to not feel awkward at a social event.
Oops! That’s the reason why one of the others asked me out recently. There was a social event, a fundraiser for something. I got an instant message, “Hi. What are you doing Saturday?” I responded with, “Nothing. Why?” At first, I thought since I had a truck, she needed something moved. That has historically been the reason why women talk to me. “There’s a gala or something on Saturday night that I want you to go with me to”, she typed. “Really?” I responded. I was trying my best at stalling. She began to pour out the details, “It’s a formal. Do you have a tux?” Well, I didn’t have a tux, and there was no way I could have gotten one on such short notice. She continued, but it started sounding like... like... she was asking me out. “Are you asking me out?” I asked. “Yes, is that so bad?” was her immediate response.
I couldn’t believe it. In this modern age, I’d heard of women asking men out, but I’d never experienced it for myself – firsthand. And to have it happen so frequently in such a short period of time, well, that was noteworthy.
-The Gold Watch-
A while ago I decided to take some of my award money and get a nice watch. You see, I'm planning on going on a lot of cruises and dining in some nice restaurants in the near future. I've been wearing the same model of Timex Ironman since - since - high school I think. That's 20 years. To be blunt, the old paint stained sports watch and plastic band does not go well with a tuxedo (the required dress of cruises).
I spent a month doing exhaustive Internet research, but always ended up in a dead end. Apparently, the watch I want doesn't exist. It needed to be as thin as possible since I have a hard time getting my sleeves over it. It needed a dial face of less than 40mm without looking like a woman's watch because my wrist is skinny. It would need to be water resistant because I didn't want to have to take it off for showers, etc.. It would also be nice to have a chronograph and alarm since I use these functions quite often on my existing watch. Understandably, there needed to be a balance between thinkness, size and functionality though. Oh, and price, but the further I dove, price seemed to matter less and less.
I had gone up as high as $3000 and still didn't see anything that I liked. [snobish, eh?] I was about to settle for a Concord Saratoga, but couldn't justify spending three grand on a watch that doesn't meet my specifications.
I wandered around the mall for about 2 hours looking in every jewelery store I could find. In the end, I settled. Since this will not be the last watch I'll ever own, I didn't spend as much as I was willing to spend, but my new Seiko is now the most expensive thing I own besides my truck. The photo on the Seiko site is horrible. It really doesn't look black and gold. It's more of a gunmetal with a hint of bronze. It looks more like this one.
-Everything-
Everything else is going pretty well. Busy at work. Busy with NaNoWriMo. Busy with family. Busy, busy, busy. Oh, and even though I can't take any credit for it, 35 people got saved in the past 5 weeks at my church. It's amazing what's going. Really. On a sadder note, my "salvation project", M, said that she only wants to visit a Christian church. She has no intention of becoming a Christian. She asks a lot of questions when she feels it's safe to do so at work. On the one side it's encouraging that she's even thinking about it, but on the other side, it's frustrating to know that there's a person drowning and I have the means of bringing her aboard, but she just wants me to describe the boat.
Anyway, after my “sure” response, she sent me, “What to you think about G as someone to go out with? I’m playing matchmaker.” Now, G is a nice person from what I know, but I don’t really know her well enough to vouch for her character. That’s what this is all about though isn’t it? That’s why people date; to see if they’re compatible and see what kind of person the other is.
O.K., I panicked. Although I’m sure she’s a nice person and all, I’m really not ready to open my chest cavity and expose my inner workings again. In reality (if I lived there) it was probably just dinner and a movie, but as I mentioned, I panicked.
“I don’t date”, I clicked back. Disbelief would be the most descriptive word for her response. How could anyone simply not date? Well, that brings me back to why this has been an interesting month.
So far in the past 4 weeks, including this, I’ve been asked out 3 times be women who have somehow mustered the courage to ask. Sometimes I wonder if I will ever get to the point (or remain in the state) where even the most compatible woman will get passed over because I don’t think dating is a worthwhile venture.
After all, what’s the point of dating? Well, I’m sure it depends who you ask. Someone later answered saying, “ummm… sex?” Well, I guess that’s true for the rest of the people. Not me though. If I were to date, they would have to understand that I’m not dating because I think they might be “the one”. I’d just be dating to have a dance partner or to not feel awkward at a social event.
Oops! That’s the reason why one of the others asked me out recently. There was a social event, a fundraiser for something. I got an instant message, “Hi. What are you doing Saturday?” I responded with, “Nothing. Why?” At first, I thought since I had a truck, she needed something moved. That has historically been the reason why women talk to me. “There’s a gala or something on Saturday night that I want you to go with me to”, she typed. “Really?” I responded. I was trying my best at stalling. She began to pour out the details, “It’s a formal. Do you have a tux?” Well, I didn’t have a tux, and there was no way I could have gotten one on such short notice. She continued, but it started sounding like... like... she was asking me out. “Are you asking me out?” I asked. “Yes, is that so bad?” was her immediate response.
I couldn’t believe it. In this modern age, I’d heard of women asking men out, but I’d never experienced it for myself – firsthand. And to have it happen so frequently in such a short period of time, well, that was noteworthy.
-The Gold Watch-
A while ago I decided to take some of my award money and get a nice watch. You see, I'm planning on going on a lot of cruises and dining in some nice restaurants in the near future. I've been wearing the same model of Timex Ironman since - since - high school I think. That's 20 years. To be blunt, the old paint stained sports watch and plastic band does not go well with a tuxedo (the required dress of cruises).
I spent a month doing exhaustive Internet research, but always ended up in a dead end. Apparently, the watch I want doesn't exist. It needed to be as thin as possible since I have a hard time getting my sleeves over it. It needed a dial face of less than 40mm without looking like a woman's watch because my wrist is skinny. It would need to be water resistant because I didn't want to have to take it off for showers, etc.. It would also be nice to have a chronograph and alarm since I use these functions quite often on my existing watch. Understandably, there needed to be a balance between thinkness, size and functionality though. Oh, and price, but the further I dove, price seemed to matter less and less.
I had gone up as high as $3000 and still didn't see anything that I liked. [snobish, eh?] I was about to settle for a Concord Saratoga, but couldn't justify spending three grand on a watch that doesn't meet my specifications.
I wandered around the mall for about 2 hours looking in every jewelery store I could find. In the end, I settled. Since this will not be the last watch I'll ever own, I didn't spend as much as I was willing to spend, but my new Seiko is now the most expensive thing I own besides my truck. The photo on the Seiko site is horrible. It really doesn't look black and gold. It's more of a gunmetal with a hint of bronze. It looks more like this one.
-Everything-
Everything else is going pretty well. Busy at work. Busy with NaNoWriMo. Busy with family. Busy, busy, busy. Oh, and even though I can't take any credit for it, 35 people got saved in the past 5 weeks at my church. It's amazing what's going. Really. On a sadder note, my "salvation project", M, said that she only wants to visit a Christian church. She has no intention of becoming a Christian. She asks a lot of questions when she feels it's safe to do so at work. On the one side it's encouraging that she's even thinking about it, but on the other side, it's frustrating to know that there's a person drowning and I have the means of bringing her aboard, but she just wants me to describe the boat.
