Men, men, men....

Guy update: 1) Last week I had a date with another guy I met at the New York Easy Dates speed-dating marathon a couple of weeks ago (http://www.nyeasydates.com/). I won't even bother naming him because I doubt I'll see him again. He has a car service business, so since he's often in Manhattan during the day, he met me for lunch one afternoon last week. We had a great time talking politics for half an hour or so. Then suddenly he said, "I have a customer to pick up at 1:30. I'd better go," and he got all abrupt and left. At least he paid the bill first (though he did allow me to pay the tip). However...

2) Learned Optimism, the other guy from speed-dating who I had a date with a week ago, didn't think I was too old, I guess, even though I'm 36 and he's 28, because he e-mailed me asking me out again. I'm still not sure what to do. It may be worth it to have a second date with him, since he seemed kind of nervous on the first one. But...

3) I still like the Nicest Guy in the World a lot, so that's distracting me. I don't think it would be fair to him to date him while still dating other people, though, and that makes me feel nervous. So I have to hold off, at least for now. Especially since...

4) Mr. No Touchy-Feely is still in the picture. Yes. He resurfaced over the summer after not contacting me for three weeks, and we've e-mailed and talked on the phone. But I still haven't actually seen him in person since July. He called me this past Saturday, we had a good talk for over an hour, AND we made concrete plans for dinner and a movie this coming weekend. That's when I'm going to gather my courage and ask him what our relationship to each other is, exactly. I hereby rename him Sweet but Shy, because I think that's more accurate than Mr. No Touchy-Feely (even though he still hasn't done anything more than hug or kiss me on the cheek). I'll keep you posted!

Speed-Dating Marathon: not for the faint of heart!

On Sunday, through New York Easy Dates (http://www.nyeasydates.com), I attended my first ever speed-dating "marathon," where you have at least 30 dates in one evening. The most speed-dates I’ve ever had in one night was around 15 or 16, and even that was tiring, so I wasn’t sure how the marathon would go. But in many ways I think I preferred it to the regular events. I got to meet 35 guys, more than twice as many as I would’ve met otherwise, and there were others I couldn't even meet because we ran out of time. The bar was too air-conditioned, and I shared my booth with another woman and her dates, which was a little strange. But fortunately (because I was really hungry) there was an “intermission” in the middle of the evening with finger sandwiches, fruit and other snacks. Each date was really short in order to fit in as many dates as possible – they must have only been three minutes each. You would think that wouldn’t be enough time, but it worked out well because the awkward dates didn’t last too long. ;) It WAS a bit exhausting, and I had to take quick but accurate notes after each date or I never would've remembered anyone, so I can see why some people prefer the regular events. But afterwards I felt really good, like I’d genuinely accomplished something. I guess that’s part of what motivates people to run real marathons.

I ended up choosing 10 of the 35 guys I met, even though one looked awfully young, and I’d actually met two others at other speed-dating events – both of whom I had picked, they also picked me, I e-mailed them, but then I never heard from them. One of them used a different first name this time, oddly enough (running from someone?). He chose me again this time, too, but my other “repeat” didn’t. Four other guys did, though, including my favorite guy of the night. :) I hope he e-mails me soon. One guy contacted me almost as soon as he got my e-mail address and asked when we could meet for coffee. It’s refreshing when they cut to the chase like that (and rare). So we’re meeting up this weekend. And another has already e-mailed me, too. We’ll see what happens.