Mr. Directions, Mr. Cruise, Italian Boyfriend, and The Explorer

Whew!

It's been a while since I've updated (although not nearly as long as the Realist and the Disbeliever--don't know what's up with those ladies...), but it's been an eventful week!

I spent the last 5 days in Miami working a trade show for work. It's incredibly hard work because you put in very long days, are running around on a concrete floor in dress shoes all day for 12 hours, and even after hours you do staff dinners, so you still have to be "on." I'm going to need a few days to recover from that.

BUT, this particular trade show was crawling with good looking men. It's an international show, so it attracts a lot of Europeans, who I have a weakness for, and who dress very well and smell very good.One guy I met was asking me directions somewhere and we ended up chatting for ten minutes. I wasn't attracted to him, but he was nice, and it was nice to chat for a while (and he is from another city, anyway). I saw him later that day at a reception and he introduced me to some buddies he had met that day, both of whom are from New York, and one of whom was very cute! And works only a few blocks from me! You can bet I'll be arranging a lunch with that guy. I don't know a lot about him so I'll just call him Mr. Cruise.

At the same reception, I was mingling, asking people how they like the show, basically doing my job. I talked to one guy who is Italian. It was a normal professional conversation, I guess--asking him how he liked the show and such, he responded with something and I might not have understood all of it in his broken English. We exchanged cards, and I moved on to chat with someone else. But later I saw that he had emailed me not ten minutes after that--evidently I made quite an impression on him, because he was asking when he could see me again, when I would be in Miami again, and if I was free in the next couple of days while I was in town. Well, oh my. It seems with the Europeans there is a fine line between friendly professionalism and outright asking someone out. Actually, I'm pretty sure there is no line at all--it's all fair game. A couple of nights after that I was out for drinks with colleagues and emailed him inviting him to join us. He asked where we were, and I replied with the name of the bar and street. He didn't show up. Which is fine. Might've been a little awkward being besties with some guy I just met, although my colleagues were interested in meeting my new Italian boyfriend.

Also at this show I had the pleasure of meeting a certain grandson of a famous undersea explorer. This was definitely a trip highlight, as meeting minor celebrities usually is. He was very good-looking, very charming yet also very approachable and down to Earth. I asked for a picture with him, and not only was he agreeable, but he insisted we took many shots to make sure one wasn't blurry and I had options. Too bad the guy just got married this past September.

I can't tell you the last time so many men told me how wonderful and beautiful I was in one week, including some of my international colleagues who were in town to help with the show. What girl doesn't love to hear that? They were all Europeans, though, which makes me wonder about what's up with the American men. And also whether or not I should move to Europe.

Trying to stay positive,
Skeptic

No more happy-go-lucky

Well that one was short-lived, eh?

At least I assume that's the end of it. It's been a week since our date and I haven't heard from him, so I just assume that means that's that. No hard feelings here, though--I had a great time with him, but wasn't sure if there was any attraction, so I could have gone either way.

Meanwhile, an ex from long ago still creeps up and haunts me now and then. This one has been so hard to shake, because as many strides as I make in getting past it, and as much time passes that naturally moves my thinking on toward the next thing, unlike a lot of other exes, reminders of him pop up all the time just because we have such an overlapping network. Pictures with him in them fly past my eyes sometimes through my network. Or someone will mention him, and when they find out we dated, they'll say, "oh, he's such a nice guy," and I can see the thinking behind their eyes, wondering why it didn't work out. Then I find myself sad all over again. One step forward, two steps back. :(

Finally, in other news, I've been trying out a new dating app called Hinge (that I heard about through my HR rep at work, interestingly enough). It shows you pictures of singles taken from Facebook who are in your town, found through your friends as 2nd or 3rd degree connections. It tells you very brief info about them, like where they work, where they went to school, and how you're connected to them. You either give them a star, or an x. If you give each other stars, it lets you contact each other. Jury is still out on it--It's fun and simple, and I haven't been using it very long, but haven't had much luck yet. It might work better the more people use it. 

Trying to stay positive,
Skeptic