One Night At AWOL

Saturday night my friend Jessica and I went down to a bar called AWOL. A guy there said I was cute. His name was Robert; he was 37, beer belly, not particularly hot, but not bad looking. He gave me his number; I called him the next day and met him there again. He asked if he bought us a pitcher of beer, would I take him home? I said I would do that when I was ready to go. After all, it says "nice guy" not "taxi cab" on my forehead. In the mean time, I had talked to two friends, Dana and Dustin. I told Dustin that Dana was on her way, so he came down (despite his ex being there) to see her and I.

When Robert and I ran out of beer, but before Dustin showed up, he was "ready to go." I said, "My friends are on their way, so I would like to wait for them a little bit. You can't be here if you have nothing to drink?" He promised that my friends weren't showing up. About that time, Dustin walked thru the door. Robert continued moping while I said hi to Dustin. Robert was getting more and more agitated about "having to walk home." I told him that he certainly did not have to walk home, but that if he didn't walk, he would have to wait. He called me a liar because I said I would take him home, but that I had not yet done that. I told him that I was still there, and that he only needed to worry about a ride home if he came out of the bathroom and I was not to be found anywhere in the bar. Which, incidentally, was getting very close to happening if he didn't back up.

He said, "Well, its gonna take me a couple hours to walk home, so I'll talk to ya later." He pecked me on the cheek and walked from the smoking shack into the bar. I told Dustin, "Ten to one, he's still inside." About that time he came back out to smoke again. A few more sneers, and some nasty comments. I said, "Go get in the car. Dana's coming and she will skin me if she got dressed to come down here and I'm not here, but I'll take you home now." As I was turning from Parsons Ave. to Broad St, I swore I saw Dana's car coming around the corner. I called Dustin and told him to find her and make sure she didn't leave until I got back.

I went up to Fifth and High Streets and back to the bar in about 10 minutes flat. Just as I pulled back up to the bar, Dustin called and said, "I still haven't seen Dana." I ran in and looked high and low: the smoking shack, both bathrooms, the basement. I went back out front to start combing parking lots and smoke, because I still swear I saw her car. At that moment, Dana called. She explained that she had gone to get dressed and woke up 45 minutes later face down on the bed with her shoes still on. I was and still am so excited that she never made it. I love Dana, but she scares me. I tremble to think of the trouble if she had shown up I was not there. I went back in and told Dustin she was safe, and everything worked out in the end.

Since I had taken Robert home, I could talk to other people. That was a whole different issue for another day. Anyway, thinking positively, I wrote my number on a piece of paper, and went to find my prey. Find him I did. I went up to this guy, Adam, and said "I've been admiring you from afar tonight." We talked about a show he was in the night before and made other small talk. Then, I said, "I don't talk to people all that often in the bar, and I know that you're supposed to talk to someone then offer your number. But, I think Dustin and I are getting ready to leave, so would you like my number? Will you call me?" He said, "Sure, I'll take your number." It was then that I realized my dilemma. So, I came clean. I said, "On the off chance that you said 'yes', I wrote my number down already. By pulling this out of my pocket and handing it to you, doesn't make me desperate. Does it?" He laughed, gave me a hug, said I was funny, and took my number. Even if he doesn't call me, we talked a little bit, and he was nice. Maybe my sights are set a little low, but when a cute guy takes my number and gives me a hug, I consider it a successful night.

Dustin and I went to my house and ate a pizza and watched a movie. I told him that I had done some thinking and I think I have figured myself out. Basically, I feel like my life is at a "cruising speed." It is almost too difficult to meet someone and get them up to my speed. I am certainly not quicker or sharper, nor do I think I'm above anyone. I have a certain group of friends that "get me." My humor, my mannerisms, etc etc. To meet someone new and be who they want me to be just to spring the real me on them later is just not worth it. That doesn't mean that I'm giving up, just that it's gonna take someone really special. I think I'm going to write a guidebook of myself. Kind of like the pamphlets you get at the free clinic.

To All the Jobs I've Held Before

I've travelled in and out their doors....You know the rest. Have you ever sat down and thought about all the jobs you've ever had? Some people have been with one company their whole lives. I don't know anyone like that, but I am on the other end of the spectrum. While the following is not a resume, it is a list, just for fun of all the places I've worked.

When I was in junior high school I mowed my grandparents' lawn. For a couple years, I would go to their farm every weekend and mow the lawn. It was a two day job. But it gave me enough experience to work for Schrock's Crafts when I was in high school. I filled mail orders. I also worked at a church camp for one summer between my freshman and sophomore years. One of the guys I worked with at the camp got a job at Noble Roman's Pizza and I followed him there just before my junior year of high school. I worked there until I graduated and went to Cincinnati for college.

My first job in college was at Deaconess Hospital. I worked in food service there. I had some unique opportunities such as watching a surgery. For the record, I didn't make it. They were scrubbing a lady's belly for a laproscopic gall bladder surgery, and that's all I saw. I started to get sick so I left. I didn't want to have to clean up chunks in the OR.

Later, I went to work at the Omni Netherland Plaza Hotel in Room Service and Night Audit. I worked there for 3 1/2 years. To date the longest I had ever held a job. I loved that place. It's a 621 room hotel in downtown Cincinnati that was built in 1929. It is one of the best examples of Art Deco architecture remaining today. Incidentally, Cincinnati's Museum Center (the former Union Terminal) is another fantastic example of this type of architecture.

I left the Omni to work for Studio Plus Hotels with the intent to move to Akron. That didn't work out, so buckle your seat belt. In the next two years I worked for Don Pablo's, Prestige Audio Visual Rental, Applebee's, Dairy Mart, and the Holiday Inn.

I then moved to Columbus to take a job with Extended Stay America. That lasted less than a year. That job holds the distinction of being the only one from which I've ever been fired. I began working at Wendy's after that. Finally, in January of 2000, I took a job with Bank One. I know that I have definitely reached corporate America because I have worked for two different companies and never moved my desk. Bank One is now Chase. Hello, hello.

While working for corporate America, there have been two occasions when I felt I needed some additional income. I worked for PRWT Services processing Child Support Checks and then CVS Pharmacy.

So, to recap, in my career over the last 18 years, I have worked for seventeen different companies in five different industries. And they say I don't have enough experience. They talk a lot, don't they?

Spotlite on...Greg

What's this?? Two postings in a single week? Yes, friends, believe it.

Greg has been mentioned a time or two before. I thought I would start my spotlite series with him. But first, let me say that the spotlite series is done in no particular order. If the spotlite is on you, you’re someone who is important to me.

Greg just turned 18. He lives in Sydney, Australia. Take a look at him. Isn't he just as cute as a bug? Honestly, I have no idea how we started talking-or when. All I know is that I love talking to him. One reason I love talking to him is the language. Everyone knows Aussies speak English, but it’s more the Queen’s English than American. And they shorten everything. He doesn’t watch TV he watches the telly. He constantly uses words like ranga (orangutan), chuck (throw), and pissed (drunk). That one is always fun, because there have been times when Greg has been angry, but when he says he was pissed, he doesn’t mean angry.

We have been talking for at least a couple years now. Little pieces of Aussie culture come through from time to time. Obviously, his seasons are opposite mine, but it makes me a little jealous to think that when I’m standing outside watching fireworks on New Year’s Eve and freezing, he can be on the beach sunning and surfing. I’d love to be on the beach one time for New Year’s Eve. Of course, when he’s standing outside watching fireworks on the Fourth of July, he’s freezing while I am nice and warm. Oh, wait. He doesn’t celebrate the Fourth. But if he did, he would be cold.

He has palm trees and has never seen snow. I take that back, sometime last summer (or winter, depending on your perspective), he told me they brought in a load of snow and he got to see it. Greg, any time you want snow, I’d be happy to send you some. We have too much.

Greg has a web cam so I have seen him a time or two. I have spoken with him on the phone too. I love that accent; he sounds like the Geico Gecko. To hear him tell it though, he doesn’t have an accent, but I do. I am quite a few years older than him; so one thing I do when I’m talking to him is to think about what I was doing when I was his age. Let me assure you, I wasn’t doing nearly the kind of things this kid does. The fights alone are something I know nothing about.

I wish that I could go to Australia and meet Greg. I think it would be so much fun. Until that day, though, I will just have to talk to him online. The internet really makes the world a smaller place. Maybe it’s always been small, we just didn’t know it.

A Week in (Brief) Review

I'm not really sure what to write in here tonight. I do know that I don't feel good at all right now. I have one of those diseases where you can feel your lungs every time you breathe. Not pleasant at all.

I don't have any real big news to report, but I have met a person or two in the last week. Most notably, Paul. I started talking to him when I was in Cincinnati a couple weeks ago. We finally had the opportunity to meet last weekend. I went up to pick him up in a small town about 90 minutes north of here on Thursday night. Both Friday and Saturday we went out for a couple drinks. OK, several drinks. Saturday was Dana's wedding shower. Obviously, I was not invited, but we did go to the after party. Let's just say, what happens at Bob's (Bar) stays at Bob's.

Sunday evening I volunteered again. This time it was a benefit for the Columbus AIDS Task Force at Wall St. They had an Oscar Party and all the proceeds went to CATF. I think I'd rather hand out food. From the volunteer perspective, it wasn't too bad, but the nightclub was absolutely disorganized. It's funny how certain small things can overshadow other larger things, and cause one to have feelings about the whole evening. I guess the same can be said of first impressions. You can meet someone who is funny, attractive, bold, etc., etc., but one little thing can turn you off to them. Maybe it's the way they carry themselves or something they say, but whatever it is, you never give them another chance.

That was a little deeper than I wanted to go, but you'll have that sometimes. I think tonight is a great night for spaghetti, a blanket, and a movie. I'll write again. Surely something exciting must happen soon.