Not the woods we went through

Forgive and Forget. The transition between the two can take seconds, or years… But it ties in with this crazy blind date, spontinaity, and a movie review.

I got back to Atlanta 1st thing in the morning yesterday (midnight), worked, and went to sleep.  It was a great drive from Florida.  I visited my little brother in Gainesville.  We had some delicious appetizers at the restaurant he works at (Head of security), and I thought- Damn.. so much for my diet- Duck rolls, blackened fish tacos, lamb chops… mmm… I’m drooling just thinking about it.  If you’re in Gainesville, eat at 101.  Anyways… I got home, and noticed that one of the lights was on, and the door wasn’t locked.  I also noticed my living room floor was cleaner than I remember leaving it. Jill must’ve been here! I’m gonna have to speak to my neighbor about this!

Jill is my neighbor’s sister.  She comes to visit him from Savannah, and sometimes uses his key to stay at my place when I’m out of town. In exchange, she cleans up. The only problem is that last time I was out of town, and she stayed here, she broke my faucet somehow, and my neighbor vowed to fix it, and took a month to do so. My faucet was in pieces for a month… alternating between looking like crap, and not working.  It had gotten my neighbor and I sort of pissed off at each other, and so I was surprised to find that she’d been here.  I was also upset that the door was unlocked (I don’t even know for how many days).  I also had made arrangements with someone to clean my place… so, I don’t need Jill to do it. Also, small random items are missing.  I called my neighbor in the morning, and politely told him that his sister is not to stay at my place when I am out of town.  It was semi-awkward.

I was really productive during the day, and (this is the fun and crazy portion of the blog) I had been texting this girl sporatically. She found my profile on OkCupid.com (Yes, my profile says I live in Austin, TX now.  I don’t live there, but that’s where I’m going to be for a while, or maybe use it as HQ.  OkCupid is an online dating site that is free, and blows away match.com, eharmony.com, etc… In fact, I still get a lot of traffic from people finding my writeup of okcupid.com), a tiny while ago, and messaged me on there, and we got to random texting.  She lives in Murfreesboro, Tennessee (about 3 hours away).  Back to yesterday-  she texts me (amidst a conversation that middle children (like me) are troublemakers):

(her)There’s not enough excitement in my life grrrrrr

(her)I’m getting restless

(me)Add some excitement then

(me)Fairly easy to do

(her)Lol u want some company? Lol

(me)Sure. How far’s the drive.

(her)Like almost 3 hours.

(me)That’s not too bad. What’s your schedule 4 2morrow? I.e. How long u wanna stay?  <– I don’t think it’s too bad.  I drove 8 hours the day before.

(her)class at 9:30 – work at 11am

(me) so you’d leave by 6:30am at the latest.

(her)yes.  Lol I don’t know what we could do though

We hadn’t actually spoken on the phone, just texted a handful of sentences prior to this. I had a “Duh!” moment, and realized I can just call, since I already hae the number to text with.  I called and said “well…. a 3 hour drive at night to meet some stranger is already a bit of adventure, so… let’s see.. what can we do? How’s about a movie, and we can go hiking through the woods at night….. and… I gotta go to the store, as I have no groceries here (’cause I just got back from a 2.5 week trip).

The movies I got were “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and “Blood – The Last Vampire“.  The food I got was lobster bisque, crab filled portabello mushrooms, and some ravioli (as well as yogurt, oj, bread, and eggs).  It’s great having a grocery store that’s open till 1am.  Remember that I said there was a gap between forgiveness and forgetting…. what I meant was that it takes time from the time you get mad, to the time you say “ok… we’re cool” to the time you really mean that.  I wasn’t really mad at my neighbor, but I was annoyed, and the potential was there for big trouble to have happened (i.e. someone walks in, steals the tv, or computers).  I walk out of my place, lock the door, and realize that my keys are inside. It’s 11:40pm, and I ahve to go bang on the door of an old sleeping man’s house… I have to make some noise to wake him up, so I can ask for the keys, that I just that morning told him to hide, so his sister stops using them. Yup, that makes up this episode’s irony segment

I tried calling a few times, but kept getting voicemail.  I then went to a combination of doorbell, and knocking.  His wife wasn’t happy to be woken so late.  The funny thing is that just a few weeks ago, when I got into Atlanta prior to yesterday, he asked if I had my keys and could get in.  I had replied that I often get in late, and even if I didn’t have them, I probably wouldn’t try to wake him, as that would be rude.  He said that I definitely should… so… I did   I had to wait a while though, and it was freezing outside.  He had to find his car keys, put on a bathrobe, and walk down to his car to get my keys.

I sent him off with my most sincere apologies to his wife.  Then I got the groceries and movies, and then I got back just in time for that girl to call me to try and find which building it’s in.  Here’s another odd moment.

(her) Which building is it in?

(me)Just keep going, it loops around. I’m right in front of the pool.  Here… I see your headlights.  Yeah… slow down, and park on the right.

Car slows down and parks.

(her)ok.. now what?

(me)Behind you is this wooden bridge thingy….

(her)I just see white stairs.

(me)Yeah… bridge… stairs… I’m right next to it.

waiting…. waiting… turns out, that it was a totally different car, with a different driver that had parked when I said to park.  Weird!  I had her keep going, park on the right, and this time it was her.  We hung out for a tiny bit inside, then I got my lantern, and off we went. For about an hour, we hiked the mountain bike trails through the woods. It was cold, and pitch black, and slippery, and slightly muddy, and there were strange noises.  It was awesome!  Just like in the horror movies.  And this is not a straight terrain. There was definite up and down action, with rocks, and branches, and mulch (yeah.. that doesn’t really add to the drama, but it was there).  I kept making dead hooker jokes, and “I don’t remember that mass murderer being there when we walked here before!”  We really did think we were lost on the way back… but the only way to know for sure was to keep going.  The trail is so different than it is in the daytime! A branch will move, a tree stump will look like a person or animal watching you, some creature jumps on a tree.  We were all smiles.

We got back to my place.  I pushed the table out of the way, and made a big mattress out of 3 comforters, a sleeping bag, and a bunch of pillows.  I turned on the fireplace, tv, and DVD player, and popped in Benjamin Button.  My dad told me that it was not that great.  I don’t listen to reviews, so here’s mine.  Great acting, great effects, tiny bit of a tear-jerker.  Creative concept. Pretty music.  Makes you think.  Gives that glimpse of magic.  The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is definitely an original movie… but it’s a bit lengthy, and slow.  It’s a beautiful movie… but you feel the time drag (maybe that’s to emphasize the time paradoxes going on in the movie?). In this movie, Brad Pitt is Benjamin Button, a baby that’s born old, and ages backwards towards birth. He meets this girl when he’s old, and she’s 5, and it shows their interactions over the years as she turns old, and he reaches infancy. I’d say good movie, but… not a 1st date movie, that’s for sure.

We stayed awake throguh the whole movie, but it was 4am.  Both of us had gotten aches in our side from laying on the ground… I guess I needed more blankets or something.  Both of us had our cell phones set for 6am.  I suggested we go in the bedroom, as my bed is way more comfortable than the floor (It’s true!  I have a most comfortable bed on its own… but I added a memory-foam topper to it! It’s like sleeping on clouds (except, you don’t fall through and plummet to your death).  We lay there quietly.

(me)I forgot to warn you! I’m kind of a spooner.

(her) *chuckle*

So… an innocent fun evening.  A 1st date that’s a bit unique and memorable.  I like spontinaeity, and had to add some notes to my book. I have to add a romance section, and the lessons and experiences I had in that department.

What kind of dates do you go on these days? It’s been a while since I’ve been on a date (June ended a relationship).  Does this one sound like something you’d do?