Date

I have a date on Tuesday night.

It's absurd and I feel like a dope for even letting this happen. While I've generally been on the ball about getting things ready for the move, I've been lackadaisical about the issue of my stuff and where it's all supposed to go. Yes, most of it will stay, but not all. Hopefully, I'll make those decisions in cooperation with my future tenant tonight and then I can get to packing in earnest.

In the meantime, I have a variety of social and obligations that are conspiring to fill most of my time during the week. Then, when the weekend hits, I either run around (literally) playing soccer and exhausting myself or I hermit like I did this weekend and get almost nothing accomplished. I guess a little nothing now is going to make up for all of the somethings I'm facing over the next three weeks.

My point is, I don't have time for a date. I don't have time to possibly meet someone who I really, really like and will really, really miss. I joked about those set-ups (none came to fruition), and I thought it was almost inevitable that I'd meet someone under these circumstances. But, I'm not leaving forever. Six months (or so) is a small amount of time in the grand scheme of things, which might explain why the imminent departure magic didn't work this time. Despite the date tomorrow night, it probably still didn't work. I'm far too practical for that sort of thing anyway. I consider three weeks too short a span for a whirlwind anything. Three months, that's more like it.

It's an internet blind date, and while I swore off those sites for quite a while, I hopped back on a couple of months ago around the time I decided to take my sabbatical. I think I wrote to two people, answered a couple of emails and had several short, annoying chats, but that was it. I didn't even log on every day. Definitely more an outlet for boredom and idleness than anything else. Last night, though, this fellow IM'd me and we had a fantastic chat. I knew he'd ask me out, and he did, and then I had to tell him I'm moving in three weeks and he said, "Ok, when are you free this week?" I'm not sure if this conveys the depth of the connection, but I mentioned baseball in passing and he said, "You like baseball too? I think I'm moving to Paris for a few months."

This is the thing, I've done enough internet chatting to know that when a chat goes this well, it's almost certainly someone I will like. It doesn't spell romance necessarily, but friendship is a distinct possibility. It's so rare to meet someone via the internet who doesn't say one wrong thing or set off a single alarm bell, ever so faintly. Yes, I'm meeting him in public and driving my car. I've told one friend (and now the internet) about the date, but I haven't an ounce of worry that he's other than he seems to be.

Actually, if I were wise, I'd cancel the date and avoid the risk of making myself miserable by falling in like with someone three weeks before a six month leave of absence. But, what the hell, you know I'm not going to do that. I'm risk averse in general, but I'm very pro romantic risk...why try and change that now?

Anyway, if meeting him in person is half as fun as the chat, I'm in for a good time--and that's always worth it, even if a little heartache ensues.

Grateful for: a date!