Double Blind Dating

So my friend who is dating the guy that I now covet invited me over to his place this past weekend to be sort of a double date for someone visiting from England. It was a fun evening of playing pool, dinner, drinks, and a fun board game called Sequence, though I lost miserably. The guy from England turned out to be much older, and not at all attractive. He was nice and funny, and of course the accent was to die for, but he is not someone I would consider dating. He, however, took quite a fancy to me and wants to see me this weekend before he goes home. Luckily I think I am busy, but why couldn't he be 15 years younger and hot like his friend?

Thou Shalt Not Covet

I went to dinner the other night with a good friend who hasn't dated in a while. She told me she met someone and while she didn't think it would lead to a serious relationship, she liked this guy and was having fun. It was good to hear that she was back out there and enjoying it.

Our outings typically end early, so I was surprised when she wanted to text said new guy and see if he wanted to come join us for a drink around 10 pm. It was a Thursday night so I thought why not stay out late cause tomorrow is Friday.

This guy walks in, he's a good 10 years younger than her and closer to my age. Very good looking, well-built, funny. We hit it off and he was asking me questions and telling jokes like we were on a date. At one point he took my hand and was telling silly fortunes. There was music playing, and while he danced with her first, he also danced with me. The end of the night came and they started smooching goodbye so I made my way to the bathroom and realized "I really like this guy!" But from the way my friend was acting all night, so does she.

So now I'm caught in this terrible crush on my friend's date. I am doing my best to realize it's not a good situation and move on, but I do admit to looking at his LinkedIn profile in the hopes that he would see that I did. I know where he hangs out so I could do something really stupid, but I won't cause I don't want to do anything to jeapardize my friendship. But what a total bummer!

In the meantime, there was this other guy at the bar that I recognized, he is a neighbor. He kept making eyes at me and asked me to dance when there was no music playing. He was pretty drunk and slurring his words, and at the end of the night he said "It was good to see you even though we didn't make out." Really?

13 Days to Crash and Burn (Or, Sad But True Dating Truths)

So much for NY Eve opportunities, it took precisely 13 days for things to end with the new guy. I don't know what is going on with dating these days except here are the top 5 truths I've unfortunately uncovered recently:

1. Everyone is lying. A lot. Three guys I broke up with last year were lying about other women, thinking I wouldn't find out. Guys, we're not stupid. You make stupid excuses, hide it poorly, and we're not supposed to know? Come on.

2. Dating doesn't exist anymore. Guys don't want to date or have committed relationships. In the DC area, where the ratio of women to men is ridiculous, guys have their pick of a lot of girls. And they go with that. And try to sleep with as many of them as possible with no commitment afterwards.

3. Real communication doesn't exist either. Guys think it's ok to ask you out or "talk" to you via text and never pick up the phone. Really? I used to refuse to go out via text request, but I realized if I do that, then I'll never have any dates.

4. Marriage is on the rocks. Of the current guys in my "flirtation rotation," two are married. One of them has approached me seriously about taking things further, claiming an "open marriage." WTF?

5. Age doesn't matter anymore. In the past few months, I have been out with a 23-year-old and a 60-year-old. And they were both equally as immature and didn't last.

Anyway, that's my assessment of what's going on out there. Anyone have similar experiences? Think I'm out of my mind?

A New Year, New Opportunities

I can't believe it's been over two months since I last posted. Things have been really crazy with work, holidays, etc. New Year's Eve was super-fun. I go to the same party every year with a group of friends. There's live music, food, drink, all for a really good price. I took a date to last year's party, and it was a disaster for a variety of reasons and the evening ended badly, as did the relationship a couple of weeks later. Ironically this guy who ruined my night last year was texting me this year to meet him at a party. Really??

So this year I went to the party by myself, and lo and behold I met someone there, much to my surprise. I guess there's a first for everything. Meeting a new guy on NY Eve, what could be better? He actually didn't talk with me much and didn't dance with me until I was about to leave with friends to go to another bar. He wanted to come so we told him where we were going and he actually managed to find us, and got my number. We went out the next day and have been out 3 times since.

I don't want to get my hopes up, but somehow this year I actually did feel different on New Year's Day, like things I was doing last year I couldn't continue to do this year. I don't know if it had to do with the guy specifically, but there was definitely some page that turned that night, and made it feel like this new year had some real possibilities. It was amazing to wake up and feel it is a whole new ball game this year. And that is a really great feeling.