The Lady from Match.com, she says...

...No. Or maybe. Or perhaps. Or you never know...

Confused? Well I certainly know that I am.

Still, once the excruciating weekend wait was over it was pretty much textbook stuff – and as I’d expected really. This time it was the much underrated “I met someone at the weekend and we’re going to go out again this weekend”, plus she did mention that the (and in my honest opinion - not insurmountable) distance might be a problem too.

However, this is where things start to get interesting – and since we’re near to Halloween “spooky” too.

The usual “still want to be friends” was banded about which I always find interesting – especially since it usually only lasts a week before they disappear back into cyberspace – but I really did get the impression that she was unsure just what to do and which direction to take.

Things like “not saying I don’t like you”, “good looking”, “you never know” and “it’s very early days” left me even more confused than before. I’ve simply no idea what to make of it - even if I'm much happier that things are now "sort of" in the open.

So, do I do the gentlemanly thing and, with yet another heavy heart, simply give up and walk away, or do I get ready to dust down my pistols for a duel at dawn because I really do think that this lady is worth fighting for?

BTW. Thanks for the support Franje but I suggest you should uncross your fingers and toes before you start to get arthritic

The Waiting Game

I’ve been kept rather busy recently – chatting via MSN and the phone – to a rather pleasant lady that “Winked” at me on Match.com a few weeks back. It’s been great fun chatting late on into the evenings on MSN and text messaging about complete nonsense. So it was only natural after a conversation on the phone that we decided to meet.

Unfortunately, work gets in the way of most things – plus she lives about an hour away - but these are just small problems to overcome as we search for our soul mate. And they were, and we managed to meet up at a shopping centre near Manchester on one of her days off. As it was, she was there with her family and she arranged to slip away for an hour.

They say the camera never lies, but I’d care to disagree, because I only just managed to spot her at our meeting point – mainly because she looked like she was waiting for someone. She told me that her hair had grown a bit since her profile picture was taken, but nothing could prepare me for the utterly stunning woman stood in front of me. She then invited me to peck her on her perfect cheek.

In the lull in her shopping we sat down to chat over coffee and I started up my body language scanning mode to see what the signals were. There was a bit of hair playing, but no hand touching, and there were no breaks in the conversation. She has been hurt before, and I suspect she was being a little guarded, but she talked about her two kids and even showed me a picture of one of them. I’m not sure whether it was just general chit-chat, or if she was judging my response to them, but I’ve never been shown family photographs before.

But our lovely time together was soon up and she had to get back to her family. So after saying our goodbyes and, along with another peck on the cheek, she disappeared back into the late night shopping throng.

This is usually the point where I get some lame excuse and end up back on the Match.com scrap heap and questioning my subscription. So I made sure that I sent her a text message to thank her and to say how nice it was to meet up. I got one back saying the same things too. There was no MSN chat that night though.

So I’m now in my worrying stage. I don’t want to keep pestering her with phone calls or text messages but, because she is currently working weekends and she has her girlie nights out on a Friday and Saturday, I won’t now hear from her until Sunday evening. As a result, I’m now on pins wondering how – of even if – our MSN conversation will go.

I’ve already prepared myself for the worse, but did she like me? Would she want to meet again? Or will she simply go cold and uninterested? I’m hoping not because, hand on heart, I believe there’s something there this time, but these flipping butterflies in my stomach and the endless supply of scenarios playing over and over in my mind is really starting to bug me.

It’s the waiting game – and it’s the bit I hate the most.

Sweet Tooth

It’s all kind of new too me, and having been in a male only office environment for too many years, it’s great having three women sat next to me at work. Naturally, I stay well clear of their increasingly bizarre conversations about things I never thought ladies talked about and I can’t help noticing their synchronised trips to the ladies room.

But what surprises the most is their near continual consumption of crisps, chocolate and biscuits. Judging by this lot, it’s no wonder that there are shops stocked to the ceiling with magazines containing of stories about women and their diet struggles. However, what is all the more surprising is that they are all as thin as twigs. Just where are they stocking it? Have they a got tape worm or something?

As for me, even though I exercise regularly and watch what I eat, all I have to do is sniff a chocolate bar and I put on a pound!

List-o-Matic Part II

In a previous entry, I created a list of five famous women I’d most like to invite to a family party.

Naturally the chances of this ever happening are pretty much beyond the dreams of any red blooded man. Mind you, if I ever won the "big one" on the British or Euro lottery I may be in with a whisker of a chance. After all, you have to be in it to win it (the lottery that is...)

Anyway, in yet more flagrant use of a list to fill an uninspiring blog entry, I thought I’d come up with a list of five famous women I’d least like to invite to a family party. Obviously, these people are absolutely nothing like this in real life, but you never know...

1. Kate Moss. You’d probably never see her as she’d keep having to disappear to the bathroom to powder her nose. Would also have to keep a close eye on that icing sugar on the cake.
2. Jennifer Lopez. Just good old Jennie from the block? Yeah right. Probably won’t enter the house unless she got some sort of gift bag from Gucci. Would also need some expensive finger food from Selfridges.
3. Mariah Carey. Possibly a great date as she could do a bit of high pitched singing to keep both Auntie Alice happy and prevent her poodle from running away. Trouble is, before she arrived I’d first have to repaint the entire house, place candles all over the place and then drop rose petals in front of her. She probably wouldn’t be impressed with the mini pizzas either.
4. Charlotte Church. Voice of an angel who’d probably vomit in the salad bowl if given half the chance. Plus she’s Welsh – and you only need ask Anne Robinson about those people!
5. Madonna. Once she’d got her two hours of trantric yoga out of the way she’d probably try and adopt the neighbours children. Would also probably be a strict vegetarian that only ate dandelions – that is until the latest celebrity fad of eating raw meat came along an hour later.

Spider Central

It’s a good job I don’t mind spiders because at the moment my car appears look like an extra from an Indiana Jones movie. After the warm and humid summer, and lack of a real winter last year, they’ve all been breading like, er, spiders. There are cobwebs everywhere!

There must be at least four of them living on one wing mirror alone and the little blighters are trying to out do each other by building ever more intricate webs on a daily basis. Unfortunately, I then drive to work, leaving me feeling really sorry for them as they hang on for dear life.

Mind you, they are feisty little fellows because come the evening they’ve always rebuilt their webs – only for me to wreck them again on the journey home. They must be getting really cheesed off with it all by now – so much so that one of them has now decided to take up residence inside the car!

Now where's my hat and whip...?

Films That Move Men To Tears

Being a bloke and all, I thought that the recent MSN Films That Move Men To Tears feature was an interesting one to ponder.

The poll is a bit limited to say the least (their Entertainment Editor, Lorna Cooper, simply asked the blokes in her office) but you’ll probably have to agree with at least one or two of them (and I’ll own up to a few that managed to raise a sniffle - although I can't say I've seen all of them for it to be a true representation of my emotional state!)

Anyway, here's that list in full :-

1. E.T. The Extra Terrestrial
2. The Shawshank Redemption*
3. American History X
4. The Champ
5. Dead Poets Society
6. Field Of Dreams
7. Forrest Gump*
8. Gladiator*
9. Glory
10. The Green Mile*
11. Kramer vs Kramer
12. My Life
13. Hotel Rwanda
14. Saving Private Ryan
15. Schindler's List
16. Seabiscuit
17. Stand By Me
18. United 93
19. Watership Down
20. It's A Wonderful Life

* Got me sniffing. Should I be ashamed? You decide...

List-o-Matic

No blog would be complete without the ubiquitous, and easy to produce, list. So today I decided to create a list of my own. After much head scratching and deliberation, I proudly present my list of the top five ladies I’d like to date (I would have chosen ten - but I was too lazy to think of any more - plus it's not as easy as it first sounds).

I guess most blokes would try and turn my list onto its head and make it somewhat more shallow, but in my case at least, they are all simply someone I'd like to take home to show off to the family. Sure, by only picking film stars, I guess I'm being a bit shallow too. But, heck, a guy can have dreams.

Still. You do hear so many things about famous people and their two faced personalities and, although I suspect none of you are single – or looking for a “commoner” like me, I just hope the personality you project in public is just as nice as the real you.

So here’s my list of five ladies I’d like to bring and introduce at a family party:

1. Scarlett Johansson. You had me from the moment I saw you in Lost in Translation. Although your acting hasn’t really been top draw stuff so far, you seem like a really outgoing and chatty person and, let’s face facts, you’re a bit of a stunner too. Would be happy with a natter with my mother over the Nachos and dip.
2. Justine Waddell. Who? I first saw Justine in the film The One and Only and I’ve been hooked ever since. She has the looks, and the personality to go with it, plus she appears to be finally getting the recognition she deserves. Would probably go for the vol-a-vents to try and look posh.
3. Anna Faris. Famous for her dippy role in the Scary Movie franchise, there’s something too cute about her to ignore. Sure, she’s probably typecast by now, but behind the camera I’m sure she is a smart cookie with lots of interesting stories to tell over the potato salad.
4. Keira Knightley. I dare say that meeting her father would be a little scary, but since she comes across as a bit of a laugh and someone who’d be prepared to muck in, I think I’d risk it. She’d probably head straight for the wine and then help with the washing up.
5. Thandie Newton. Another girl with her feet on the ground, out shining that midget Cruise in MI:2 and stretching the laws of clothing physics in The Chronicles of Riddick, the sizzling Thandie is my wildcard entry. I also suspect that she’d be the one who would have my brother giggling like a girl with her, no doubt, crude sense of humour and love of quiche.

You Are a Tease!

There appears be some sort of epidemic of faulty mice going around the country at the moment – and they appear to be mainly in the possession of women. Perhaps I can put it down to the global warming phenomena, but it looks like I've become the target of a cruel group of women teasers and their sticky left mouse buttons.

Confused? Well, after having a bit of a minor face lift on my profile – which most likely moved me up the pecking order display wise - I’ve had about five or six of these Match.com “winks” over the past week, plus my profile viewing count is advancing at a fair rate too.

For those of you not in the know, these "winks" are essentially little teasers that people can send to you to indicate that they might be interested. However, when you reply to said winker (hmmm, my spellchecker wanted to change that…) with a carefully crafted message I’ve being getting nothing but static in return.

Still, they’ve not all been nasty teasers, because one person did finally reply to one of my messages and we’re now in the process of having a bit of a chat. She seems very nice, plus we appear to be looking for the same things in life, so we’ll have to see how things go. The only downside is that she probably lives just that little bit too far away. Never the less, worse problems have been overcome.