Terms of Endearment

Most internet dating sites allow you certain functionalities with a free membership. In order to communicate they require you to pay. One site I have a profile on allows you to communicate openly as long as at least one of you have a paid membership.

Its on this particular site that I received an email from a guy who has paid for the benefit of being able to communicate freely. His email said, "Hi sweetie".

A couple things bug me about this email.

1. Really?!?? You paid sixty bucks to say TWO words? TWO words! You can't think of more than that to say?

Tell me your name.

Ask mine.

Tell me what you liked about my profile that prompted you enough to contact me.

Tell me something.

Tell me ANYTHING. Say more than TWO words that don't tell me a damn thing!

2. He had me at hello. Ummmm.....not!

The truth is he *lost* me at sweetie!

It isn't that I am an über feminist and don't want to ever be referred to as "sweetie" - but I don't know you from Adam. Endearing words are for and should come from people I feel endearing to.

I feel like this guy probably goes around saying this to everyone, well....that doesn't make me feel very special, now does it?

I want to feel special.

So I've put up a little poll... give me your opinion. Do I email him back and give him a chance OR do I say... NEXT?

What's in a name?

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet."

Over the last week or so I have dipped my toe back into the pool of internet dating sites. I reactivated a couple of my accounts but this time I have a different philosophy. I realized that in the past my thought was something along the lines of "who is going to pick me?" This time I am the one that is being a little more picky, my attitude is you can email me and hope that you are worthy of MY attention.

As I have been scrutinizing these profiles I have been increasingly annoyed by a couple of things. We are all familiar the above line from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. So what is in a name? Our names were given to us, and as it references, we are what we are. We are not defined by our name. But in the case of internet dating you pick your "profile name" and in many cases the rose isn't so sweet.

I find it especially interesting when their chosen profile name is a direct contradiction to what they say they are looking for. Often a profile talks about how they are wanting to find someone for a serious relationship yet their name has some reference to sex, body parts, or being a player. Why should I now believe anything they have written? Their name has told me what they are really there for.

One of my biggest pet peeves is the use of the number 69 in the profile name! UGHHH If that is tacked on to the end of a chosen profile name and you are NOT born in 1969 then you are not getting a nano second of my time.

I mean really... are we IN junior high?? Seriously?

The other tactic that will lose my interest real fast is the in-the-bathroom-with-only-a-towel-on mirror picture. Do these guys really want someone who is so shallow that their only interest comes from how they look in a towel? Or is it like the profile name and telling us what they are really looking for and who they are??

So to all the Nastyboy69's .... NEXT!!

One small step for dinner, one giant leap for Date Girl

One downside to this trip (ya know, cuz there haven't been any so far *eye roll*)... is eating alone. It's very hard for me to take myself out to a nice restaurant for dinner and ask for a table for one. I tend to get food to go and eat in my room, skip the meal altogether or eat someplace like the mall eatery with my head buried in a book or magazine.

Friday night I decided enough of that. I needed to go out for some fun, have some real food, and not feel embarrassed that I was eating alone. Earlier in the day I had spotted a Wings bar/grill. Perfect... I love wings! I figured the bar/grill atmosphere would be good so I could get a small table, mingle a little and no books or magazines allowed.

While I was eating I had to keep telling myself to sit up straight, look at people, smile, don't be a bump on a log and just have fun...even with just myself!

(Is it this hard for everyone to eat alone... or just me?)

The food was great, my waiter was nice and after awhile I noticed that even the hot manager was checking on me a lot! *Thinking to myself I kept saying... sit up straighter, smile more, make eye contact, dammit... say hi to this hottie - be brave*

After a while the hot manager stopped by to ask if it was just me dining there tonight. I explained my situation and he said he was glad I came in. In conversation I mentioned I was looking for a place to watch the UFC103 fights the next night and he told me they would be broadcasting it. He said I should definitely come back to watch, gave me the scoop on what time to be there to get in and all that.

*Sweet*

I got all cuted up to go out the next night, went back for some more awesome wings and hopefully a glimpse or two of the hot manager! After I had been there a while the hot manager walked by my table. He smiled and said he didn't think I'd actually come back but was glad I did. Once the fights got started, he had the chance to take a break. He came and sat with me.

*Look at that... I was brave, confident, having fun being out alone, and it paid off! Yay Me*

We talked for about 45 minutes or so, I told him all about my criminal ways in the mile high city and we were having a really great conversation. But in the end it turns out he is married and has one of those "open marriages" where they can see other people.

What is up with that open stuff!?

He was really hot and it was verryyyy tempting to keep getting to know him, *sigh* but...that just isn't for me. I want someone who is MY own, someone who will adore only me and I can adore only him in return.

Is it too much to ask for to get hit on by a hot, single guy who is looking for the same things as I am???

So what have we learned in this adventure?

1. It is totally okay to go out to dinner alone.
2. I don't need to bury my head in a magazine when I do.
3. Sit up, be confident, have fun and enjoy life - people will notice.
4. Wait for the guy who wants you... and only you!

NEXT...

Sightseeing... the criminal way!

While I was in the Denver area the girls I was training asked what I had been to see. I told them I really hadn't ventured out... especially after my adventures in the Beast! They told me that I could take the light rail all the way from where we were at into downtown Denver to the 16th Street Mall. They said it was a good place to shop, eat and look around.

Sounded fun!

After training I went out to the station, looking around I didn't see a ticket office so I asked a couple of kids where to get tickets. They said I didn't need one.

I jumped on the E Line which took us past the Mile High Stadium, the Pepsi Center and ended up at the Union Station.

The 16th Street Mall was a fun street filled with shops, street vendors, outdoor cafés, and street entertainers.

I at lunch at the Denver Hard Rock Café

and particularly had a good time watching this self-made robot guy...

It was a good adventure but then I needed to get back. So I hop back on the light rail for a scenic ride back. At one stop a family with a couple of little girls got on. They were sitting next to me and the girls were telling me all about their fun day. The mom said something about she didn't know why they bought tickets for the ride, there wasn't anyone around to take them. I told them how I was told I didn't need them and she thought maybe it was just a way to take money from tourists!

Well as they got off at their stop, an officer of the light rail system got on. Guess what he was checking for... TICKETS! Guess who didn't have one... ME!

I explained to the nice officer my situation, how I was there from out of town, what the kids told me and he just laughed saying they were hoping to see me get a citation.

Well he needed to see my driver's license and while he called it in he lectured me on how I was stealing from the State of Colorado by not paying and that it's a criminal offense. Meanwhile, the whole train was watching. It was quite embarrassing!

Since I didn't have any *prior* warnings or tickets for this same crime, he wrote me a warning ticket and kindly asked me to step off at the next stop to purchase a ticket from a little vending machine. I was more than happy to do so since I had inquired about it at the beginning of my adventure.

So first the fender bender in the beast, now I am a public transportation thief.. what next?

I am beginning to think Denver hates me! *pout*

Date Girl Adventures in... Denver!

So what does a Date Girl do in Denver when she's there on Business??

She wrecks the company rental, that's what!

Yes it's true. I had a fender bender! *Sad face here* Our rental was a HUGE Suburban so that we could haul inventory, pick up all the items we needed for the new kiosk and all that fun stuff. I spent 2 days joking about how huge that beast was and as soon as I am on my own... bam!

Backing out of a parking stall, I didn't see a Jeep turn behind me. When I started backing out I heard a beep, knowing that it beeped that I was almost out of gas just before parking there, I looked down to see if it was still telling me it needed gas. NO, apparently it beeps right before you HIT something!

*shrug* WHO KNEW???

Luckily, the damage wasn't too great. The picture below shows where I dinged her car. Of course the beast was pretty much sparkling still.

Well this whole thing made for a poopy day! Had to spend a few hours making a police report, calling my company to confess, calling insurance companies, making copies, etc.

I must say the highlight was when Miss Phyllis told me that, right before I backed into her, she screamed for me to "STOP". I laughed and was like, "Honey, I am driving a BEAST!"

I don't know why she expected me to hear her!

*Things to learn:

1. Never drive a Suburban if it can be helped.
2. Park BEASTS in outer darkness and walk 2 miles to destination.
3. Take up as many parking spaces as possible.
4. Never again curse at beastly sized cars that take up as many parking spaces possible.

Summer, Friends, and Good Times...

Labor Day has come and gone. That's the signal that summer is coming to an end. A couple of month's back I turned off my dating profiles and vowed to get out more, meet people and have some fun.

Well, I have done just that. We went to an Indian pow wow, had some great seats at some great concerts, lusted over rodeo cowboys, danced our butts off, joined a social media club and much more... oh, and have made some awesome new friends along the way.

I have had to push my comfort zone levels a little. It's very easy for me to sit back and be a wallflower when I am in a group of new people. I had to make it a goal to introduce myself to at least one person where ever we go... I was good and sometimes met and talked to a few people!

I decided to put one dating profile back up. When I did, I may or may not have been slightly frustrated with a particular man friend at the time and when I rewrote the introduction paragraph it probably was a little on the Alanis Morrisette side of hating men.

I knew it was kinda bitchy, but I didn't care and left it.

It has been posted for a couple weeks now and I've had one (1) guy contact me. One.

Email subject: ? (That was it, just a question mark)

Email: Hay baby what U doin tonight?

First thing that popped into my head was: Not YOU!

*Delete*

Even though I didn't get asked out or have any dates over the summer, I will definitely be continuing into the fall with the plan to get out and keep having fun. I mean we have some serious fun coming up with Haunted Houses, Oktoberfest, and not to mention.... kick ass Hockey Games! But I figure, in the meantime, one little dating profile won't hurt either.

And yes... I did redo it so it's nicer. *Ü*