It Had To Be You

It’s done.  As of ten minutes ago I have dinged ALL of my prospects.  They were men from different walks of life, men of vastly different backgrounds and fairly different ages.  They were all reasonably interesting, attractive and nice, and they were all eager.  I didn’t feel the desire to get beyond the first or second date stage (let alone the ‘fully dressed’ stage) with any of them.  Maybe their eagerness was the problem?

#1) The starving artist type

A man who’s probably quite a bit older, in his mid forties maybe, divorced, somewhat disheveled financially albeit not physically, recovered alcoholic, sports fan, a creative fool type of guy who really just wants sex and companionship (who doesn’t, after all).  All good, except that he’s probably also pretty simple and not the smartest cookie.  Perfectly nice guy, only I’d trample all over him.

#2) The preppy dorkster type

He’s the kind of guy who is wise beyond his years.  Probably closer to my own age, maybe in his early thirties.  Most likely a reasonably good looking guy who takes pride in his appearance and makes a point in working out regularly, but wears glasses and scarves.  He’s from Europe or Asia, came here for school, and went to an above average university to get an above average degree.  Maybe he has a PhD in math or finance or some other abstract field.  He seems humble or even shy at first, but when you get to know him you realize that he’s actually ridiculously full of himself.  He’s the loner type, probably has a lot more money in the bank than he lets on, and has a polarizing personality.  Doesn’t do it for me.

#3) The smart but laid back boy next door type

A young guy, probably my own age.  The type you’d find spending his early twenties at some random European university, having a good time and getting a degree on the side.  The type who makes good money and is reasonably passionate about his job, who is smart and lives the good life, the type who strikes you as someone whose social life still looks like it did junior year college: working some, playing sports with the guys on the weekend, traveling, not worrying about much.  A seriously cool, nice guy except that I feel like I don’t have much to learn from him.  Big problem.

#4) The ambitious trust fund baby type

He’s the type of man I actually might end up with at some point.  He’s probably well-educated, bright, well-spoken and well-read, comes from money and has money thanks to his own ambition and successful career.  He’s most likely older than me, and is at home in New York or London more than in Boston.  He drives nice cars, stays at nice hotels, owns nice houses and eats at nice restaurants.  He’s reasonably sophisticated, in reasonable shape, and hopefully already worked through his midlife crisis.  The challenge? Finding a type #4 who lives within a twenty mile radius, doesn’t take success and money for granted, has a body as amazing as P’s, and doesn’t have commitment phobia but is young enough to not feel a sense of urgency about having children.

Where do I find one like that?

Life Is Wonderful

I did it!! I finished my first half marathon! And in less than two hours, too.  I am extraordinarily pleased with myself – not only did I run the entire 13.1 miles, I did it below the magical mark that I hadn’t even set for myself until three miles into the race, and for the first eight to ten miles I really had a blast (before I thought a most painful death was surely imminent and unavoidable during the last mile).

It was a beautiful fall morning, and judging from my completely green perspective the conditions were just about perfect.  Dry, sunny, warm for October in New England, and the race course along the Emerald Necklace was gorgeous.  I ran the race by myself, without J.  Apparently it WAS too early, and even though we had a reasonably good time on Saturday I ended our dinner at Meritage by politely telling him that he was a fascinating man, and that there was no way this was going to work (right around the time he asked me where I would like to go on vacation this winter, how fast I would want a serious relationship to progress towards marriage, and that he saw in me a lot if not all of the qualities he was looking for in the mother of his children).  Eeeek.  The result of my disclosure was a deer-in-headlights expression on the other side of the table and frosty silence on our way out of the restaurant, followed by a “YES” dripping with what seemed to be detest and maybe even hate when I asked if I would be running the half marathon by myself.  Not sure if I could have handled this differently or better.

Well, all it meant for me was a slow walk back home (in VERY high heels) to digest dinner and our last interaction.  It was still early when I got home since we had had reservations for 6pm – mindful of having to get up for the race – and the Sox were playing the Rays in a tight game which I didn’t want to miss but also didn’t want to watch by myself; what to do? Naturally I changed into jeans and flops and headed over to TOW.  I had already had champagne, an aperitif and wine with J over the course of the afternoon and knew that I shouldn’t keep drinking because of the half marathon, but figured that just one beer for the game wouldn’t do much additional damage.  Of course there was a familiar face working the bar, and I got a free second – which I was resolved to not touch, until I got drawn into a conversation with the (rather cute) guy next to me and his (positively gorgeous) buddy.  I did have the brains to leave my third beer untouched and excuse myself in the middle of the seventh inning. I am still debating if not giving Mr. Cute my number was a smart choice – but what I know would have been smart is to stay away from alcohol the day before the race and get more than six hours of sleep… duly noted for the next race.

Now I am at South Cape Beach, taking in the serene beauty of this gorgeous fall Sunday and listening to the waves.  I will have to head back to Boston soon to get ready for what I am sure will turn out to be another week of craziness in the markets…