stories, snow, and beer

So I went out with the crepes guy for a second time on Tuesday. We went back to the same place, but this time to the bar upstairs, where there was a Story Slam. It is this really cool monthly story telling competition in Philly sponsored by First Person Arts: http://www.firstpersonarts.org/. For each story slam, there is a topic. This past week was Emergency. As you go in, you can put your name into a bucket if you have a story to tell. Throughout the night, they pick out ten names for audience members to tell their story. They have 5 minutes to tell a story, and it is judged by the audience members.

We got there about an hour early to get a seat, because it gets really crowded. In that time, we talked ... and I found out that he doesn't drink. at all. He doesn't care that other people drink, and he was even in a social fraternity in college - he just doesn't really like alcohol and said that he doesn't need it to have fun. Fair enough.

The stories were all really good this week. There was actually a tie, and they had to have a story off. You can watch the video on the story off here (theme: underpants). http://www.youtube.com/firstpersonarts. They were both really funny. The original stories on the topic of Emergency came from a guy who talked about going to this weird bar to play his acoustic guitar and almost having sex with a random hot girl in the bathroom, which he said never happens, and not having a condom. The girl told this story about being in this acting school in Moscow and getting really drunk and walking home in Moscow in the middle of the night. She stopped in a bank to get cash and got stuck inside the bank, the alarm went off, people were yelling at her through the speakers in Russian ... it was funny.

Anyway, the date was really good. We are going to Dave and Busters tomorrow night. I've never been, so it should be a lot of fun!

I met another guy on Thursday at Royal Tavern. Even though it was snowing, he drove from the northeast. We had a few beers, talked for 2 hours.... he was nice, and I think I'll go out with a second time to make sure that I'm not blowing him off (hello new years resolution), but I don't think I'm attracted to him.

I'm hoping to go out with the med student this week. I had a really nice time with him, and I would like to get to know him better.

Also, upped my calories this week that I was eating. Set the livestrong.com thing to "lose 1 pound a week", which used to be set at 2 pounds a week. I hadn't lost weight for the first 3 weeks in February, and I was thinking that maybe it was because I wasn't eating enough or something. So I upped the calories I ate and I lost a pound!! I also went to the gym 6 times. On Friday, I went twice. I went to 3 yoga classes. Go me. (I also had 2 snow days).

Lolita

Great guac. (They serve it with plantain chips. Oh goodness, it's tasty).

Good enchiladas with awesome portobello.

Not so great conversation. (It seemed forced and slightly awkward, and he didn't seem interested enough in me and my life).

Not so great date. (I wasn't physically attracted to him, but he was nice enough).

The end.

Crepes and Coffee

I met another guy this morning for brunch. This date also went quite well!! We met at Beau Monde, right near my house. I had a delicious crepe with eggs, tomatoes, poblano peppers, cheese, and avocado. Yum.

He is in pharmaceutical sales and travels for work to train sales reps. He is active - bikes, does a little running, likes to kite surf, ski, does triathlons ... We talked about family (His parents are from Bangladesh, and he grew up in Kuwait until he came to the US for college at USP). We talked about what we like to do, cats, trips he has taken. I talked a bit about Italy and college and studying languages. He takes salsa classes and actually went to Brasil's last night... where I have been many times. It was a nice, casual time ... it wasn't awkward and did not feel forced at all. We parted after about an hour and a half or so, which is quite a long time to sit and have brunch and drink coffee considering that our crepes came within 10 minutes or so. He gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek and said that he would love to get together sometime this week. We may go to the story slam at l'etage on tuesday or get together sometime this weekend.

Both of these guys were really nice, attractive, active, interesting - I will just have to see what happens.

In the meantime, I'm meeting someone else for dinner tomorrow night. :)

Mexican Post

I have some dates to report on! I met a guy on Friday at the Mexican Post in Center City. It was definitely a successful date!!

The guy who we will call Med Student is, in fact, a 2nd year med student at Drexel and lives in East Falls. His mom is from Argentina, and his dad is from Cashmere. (Or maybe it's the other way.) We met for happy hour and ended up having dinner.... for 3 hours!! We talked about all sorts of things, including his experiences in med school, my school experiences, kids who take too much medicine, traveling, tequila, places for good beer in the city ... There were not awkward pauses at all, 3 hours of free flowing conversation. We didn't even get into typical first date questions, didn't need to. He is talkative, outgoing, cute, tall, smart (went to Cornell for engineering as undergrad but not awkward academia), passionate about what he does, genuine.... a really nice guy.

He told me at the end of the evening that he had a really good time, that he really wants to get to know me more, etc. He also said that he is very busy with exams the next two weeks, but that he would love to get together in 2 Fridays, and he asked if I did karaoke. haha. I have only ever done karoake in college and in Honduras. He gave me a kiss goodbye, and he ran off (literally) to try to catch the Drexel shuttle back to East Falls.

I look forward to going out with him again and getting to know him a little better. It was really nice to meet him, so hopefully in 2 weeks we will get together again!

Party!! :)

So I went out for a friend's birthday on Saturday. She had a bunch of girls over for wine, cheese, and crackers. We had a lot of fun and managed to get some chocolate on the white couch. We oxy-cleaned it though! :)

After we left her house, we went to Ladder 15 where pretty much every girl met her boyfriend/guy she's dating. Awesome. It was fun though. I bought one drink and then people just kept putting drinks in my hand. I think I probably had 4 beers or so. I was drunk but not too crazy drunk or anything....

However, I managed to leave my debit card at the bar. I didn't even have a tab, but I must have it in the credit card book thing after I signed. I was still pretty sober at that point, I don't know. Maybe it fell out of my wallet when I was paying for coat check? I called them on Sunday, but they said they couldn't find it/didn't have it. Oh well. I got a new one, which looks like play money.

I also managed to lose my camera. I remember having it in the bathroom about 20 minutes before we left. It wasn't inside my clutch, which was stupid, and I think that there is a good chance that I left it there. Sad. I realized that I didn't have my debit card when I was in the cab, but I don't think I had my camera at that point. I didn't realize it at the time though.

It was fun, but I feel bad that I lost all of the pictures I took of her birthday! I am usually the picture taker of the group when there is a special occasion! Oh well. I usually lose my camera about every 6 months - sober, drunk, whatever. I can't hold onto it for some reason. This camera I bought last March. That is almost a year, my friends. Not too bad. It survived Italy and everything.

Winter Wonderland

Tomorrow will be Philadelphia schools' 3rd snow day in a row. The second big snow storm in the same week has left trees, power lines, awnings, roads, and roofs with ice, snow, and slush. I have seen at least 4 trees in my extended neighborhood down, blocking the road. Pretty crazy, really. Right outside my house, a branch fell from the tree.


Despite near-blizzard like conditions, I decided to trek over to Irish Pub at 12th and Walnut for some an adventure of snow, food, and beer. What else do you do on a snow day - especially when you know that you have the next day off as well?





























Irish Pub is only a mile from my house. I am generally a pretty quick walker, however, when you are walking through a blizzard - it's tough to get anywhere very fast. 30 minutes later, I arrived at the bar in desperate need of a drink. We had a nice time. Played some cards and attempted to play Catch Phrase, except that none of us could pay enough attention for that game. 4 1/2 hours later, we left the bar and trekked home. A friend and I actually found a cab. The poor cab driver was from South Jersey, had been working since 10 AM and was stuck in Philadelphia because all of the bridges were closed. Poor guy. It was a great snow adventure!

Compliment

Today, someone at school that I usually don't talk to said, "You're losing weight! You look good!"

I was happy to respond, "Actually, I have lost about 7 pounds. Thanks!"

I don't go fishing for compliments or anything, but it's nice when people notice!

Medieval Times

Last weekend I went to DC for the weekend to visit my friend, who recently got back from Iraq. She just got engaged (congrats!) and her fiance was there as well. It was great to hang out with him, play Wii, make fun of southern accents, etc. We took a road trip in the snow (and the unplowed lanes of 95) to Medieval Times, because well, they wanted to go and had already bought tickets. It took 2 hours to get there, when the trip should have taken maybe 40 minutes. It was a lot of fun, though, and we didn't die.


We arrived just in time for the show to start. We were seated in the section for the yellow knight, who died in the end. However, before he died, he gave us flowers! :)


It turned out to be a pretty fun time. We sat in the front row, which was cool. The chicken they gave us was the size of my entire plate. The show lasted about an hour and a half, and the drive home was much less dangerous than the drive there. It didn't snow very much in DC, but apparently - they don't plow the roads so much.

Dates and Duds

It hasn't been a good weekend of dates for me.

I was supposed to meet a guy on Friday for a drink. He canceled by email two hours before I was supposed to meet him. I got the email, but didn't think to respond right away. He never called to double check that I got the email to begin with. I realize that a lot of people have internet/email right on their phones, but what if I wouldn't have gotten that email? I would have been sitting at the bar, in the snow, waiting for him. I emailed him back and told him that, but also said that I would be willing to meet up another night. I don't think he liked being called out on his inconsiderate behavior since I haven't heard back from him.

The guy that I met at Misconduct last Friday also has turned out to be a dud. He called me on Monday and asked me to dinner on Saturday. Then, he emailed me saying that he couldn't go on Saturday - so he made reservations for Friday. That was Tuesday. I didn't get back to him until Thursday morning, because I was waiting to hear from a friend who said she may be in town. By the time I emailed him, less than 48 hours after he emailed me about going on Friday instead, he had already made other plans to go to New Jersey or something. (He could have called me.) So, we made plans for Sunday. Well, yesterday, he emailed saying that he was stuck in Jersey and couldn't get back until later last night. So, we rescheduled for today. Then, he emailed me this morning saying that the "planets were aligned against us meeting," because apparently, Dmitris is closed on Mondays. Regardless of whether or not that is true, I suggested just going somewhere else and made some suggestions. Then, he emailed me saying "I don't think I'm going to be able to make it tonight. I really apologize. I did really like meeting you and think you're really cute!" Seriously? I emailed him back saying that it was nice meeting him, to take care, and that in the future, please just tell someone that you changed your mind and don't make a thousand excuses, because it makes you seem a bit self centered. I honestly didn't really like him that much from the beginning anyway, but I still want him to be interested in me. I think that's pretty normal, but most people won't actually admit it. Maybe he thought I wasn't smart enough.

I mean, are these guys for real? I don't think that I'm holding unrealistic expectations. Call me if you are canceling, at least send a second email or something. And don't reschedule on me 28392 times and then tell me that you can't make it, but it was nice meeting me. Honestly. None of that rescheduling nonsense was my fault. I guess if there's this much drama to schedule a second date, it's probably not going to work out in the future.

Hopefully the next guy has his shit together a little more. Maybe I'm expecting too much, but I don't think so.

Misconduct

I met a new guy on Friday for happy hour at Misconduct on Locust in Center City.

He just turned 30. He already has a PhD in Philosophy and is in his last semester at law school. (Jesus!) He was very nice, maybe slightly strange - but we had nice conversation.

He ordered a glass of wine. I drank 2 beers. Is there something wrong with that picture? Maybe not.

There wasn't anything awkward really. He did ask me about past relationships, with I thought was a little intense for a first date, but that's fine. Apparently his last girlfriend was a bit of a bitch and ended the relationship by being distant and not talking to him much for like a month. (Sounds like a winner for sure.)

He asked me out for dinner this Saturday, but then he emailed me and said he couldn't do Saturday. He asked about Friday, but my friend might be in town so I haven't answered him yet. He is taking me to Zahav hopefully! It's this Israeli restaurant that I have been wanting to go to!