Lessons in Apartment hunting

OR

"Take your imaginary boxes and paint and get out!"

(I couldn't decide which title to go with)

Claudia and I found an amazing gem of an apartment. It was a bit of a fix me up but the rent was only $1000 (lowest we have found by far) and it was in a great part of JP and we would have had our own yard. I was getting really excited about the prospect of this place! Then this morning I was talking to my boss about it and I started getting even more excited (she had friends that used to live on the street and was raving about the great potential).

By the time I got to work (I had an awesome advisory committee meeting this morning and didn't get to the main office until 1 pm) I had already had apartment painting parties, moved in, had a house warming party, started a garden, had a couple BBQs, bought a bike, biked around to games and other various events, participated in block parties, and lovingly live in my apartment for a couple to a few years. Unfortunately when I sat down at my desk I found this e-mail:

Hi Melanie. We had several people come to the apartment

last night and it was taken right away for April 1.

Good luck in your apartment search!
Samantha

Claudia pointed that "the bitch" didn't have to be so chipper about the whole thing. She also (as the seasoned apartment hunter) told me that you cannot "mentally move in" before you have paid your deposit (let alone before you even see the place).

Lesson learned, lesson learned.

I'm taking and things and mourning my loss and looking for a new love to take my lost loves place.

I should be stripped of my blog!

You know how they can strip generals of their titles for dishonorable conduct (like being openly gay) er something- I should be stripped of my blog for never updating.

Things are just so crazy at work all the time, and when I'm not traveling to interview care providers or putting together information for presentations, I'm looking for apartments.

Yes, apartments. Claudia and I will soon be co-workers and roommates. Okay, so I know being roommates with friends can be a bad idea, and I know living with a co-worker can be a bad idea. But I am hoping that we can make it work anyway. We have already decided to be in contact as little as possible during work (of course our boss really likes putting us on projects together....). I am just so ready to live some place that feels like home, I feel like I haven't really had a home since I left orange county 6 years ago.

In any case, I am excited! We are looking for two bedrooms in JP (with maria and the gays), Brighton, and Cambridge/Somerville, we're even checking out a place that sounds too good to be true in the South End today. We are traveling all over the city this week to check out really cute places. May 1st is our anticipated move in date- for those of you that live in the area be ready for us to bribe you with beer and pizza to help us with the moving process :). Also, start getting together your outfits for our "come as yourself in high school/ jr. high" house warming party!

Okay done with apartments. Now, my good and sexy friend Lindsay is brining my old old old old (but still functioning) laptop to Spain from OC, and then I will take it from Spain to Boston and then I will be able to use the computer from home. Then maybe I can actually update on a more regular basis, and I can re-earn my title of blogster (er something like that).

Ciao bellas (and mike)

Lessons in Dating

1. Don't count your chickens before they've hatched

2. Listen to your instincts, if you get the feeling they're not too interested you're probably right.

3. Don't broadcast dates because you're just gonna have to tell all those people when it ends.

4. Don't be serious before it's serious- just have fun.

5. Don't convince yourself you like someone just because you are excited about the prospect of dating.

*******************

These are all good things to learn since as said before I have very little experience with dating.

Mike, I know you're shaking your head right now- clearly I have a lot more to learn from you.

Happy Evacuation Day

You though I was gonna say St. Patrick's day didn't you. What is Evacuation Day you ask. It is a holiday that government employees and schools get off in the city of Boston (no where else)- it is the day the British left the city of Boston in order to attack other cities. It had something to do with an artillary that was placed to face the city- thus intimidating the British to leave- we didn't even beat them in a battle or anything. The British "evacuated" the city on March 26th, 1776, but the city of Boston celebrates the holiday on March 17th. Hmmmm... funny that a city with tons of Irish pride and a basketball team called the celtics decided to celebrate a historic event 9 days early on St. Patricks day.

Anyway, due to this false holiday I can update about my dates with Vicky.

Here is my update:

I LIKE VICKY! And last night we danced all night and then I kissed her, and then she drove me home and then she kissed me. Yay!

And I am going to a Mutiny (her football team) fundraiser on Sunday and I am nervous cause all her football friends will be there.

I feel like a little girl. It's great!

(I can't spell check this and I am a terrible speller, c'est la vie)

First dates are so gay...

****I started writing this entry on Monday...oops, took a while to finish it!***

Due to Claire's extreme enthusiasm and the lack of more than one vote/ title and the fact that this topic is filling my brain to capacity right now- it wins.

Sooo, if you know me, you know that I refrain from using "gay" as an insult or a term reflecting negativity. You may wonder then why I chose this title and what it refers to. Well, I'll tell you. I am gay, and I just went on a first date. And first dates are very much not gay. What I mean is that the last actual first date I went on was in 2003 with Jess.

This is Jess, she will probably hate that I put this picture of her up here, but it is the only digital picture I have from when we were dating. Jess and I dated for 4 months, and I pretty much lived with her and her two cats the whole time (despite the fact that I am allergic- sometimes I'm crazy!)

Anyway, our "first date" went something like this: We met at a party and we were both interested in each other, at the end of the night Jess asked me for my AIM screen name. Then the next day she IMed me and asked if I wanted to go play pool with her in the Student Center. Not what you would think of as a typical first date, more like two people who might be interested in each other "hanging out". So for my most recent typical first date we have to go allll the way back to the fall of 2001 and a girl named Kirkley.

This is Kirkley.

Now, to be fair, this is Kirkley on her way to Drag Ball senior year (yes, Drag Ball- I went to a women's college, what do you expect?). Kirkley is actually the most "feminine" woman I have ever dated (meaning that we went out on dates, err, a date), and has since gone back to the dark side of dating men. I just enjoy this picture.

Anyway, Kirkley was my first girl crush, and everyone knew that we were interested in each other and everyone was talking about it except for us. So one day she came up to me after class and said, "Everyone is talking about us. We should go to coffee and talk to each other." I of course eeked out a nervous "yes" and was very excited about my date. What I didn't realize was just how much of a date it was.

On my way to meet her my friend Suzy informed me that she had borrowed a cashmere sweater and an expensive sports car from her friend, and that rather than getting coffee as originally planned we were now going out to dinner (or desert or something- I think it was after dinner, but still!).

Kirkley and I had a weird relationship after that 1st date, but the date was one of my best ever. We talked so much that the waitress had to come by multiple times to ask us for our orders and then she left a massive tip which I thought was very cute. At the end of the night she walked me to my dorm and gave me a hug, then I bolted upstairs to gush to my friend Minelly.

So, the point of this quaint trip down memory lane was to highlight that it has been almost 5 years since I have been on a typical first date, and that even then I didn't know it was a first date until like 5 minutes before it started- thus there was no time to stress. In those 5 years I have dated 4 women and with the exception of Jess none of those relationships started with a first date.

Meet Vicky:

(Not her usual dress, she bet against the Steelers and lost)

Vicky and I met a couple of weeks ago and she promptly asked me out. Thus beginning my first date pondering and stress. After she asked me out she was diagnosed with two inner ear infections- so on Monday we went to lunch together. It really wasn't very datey since we both had to get back to work and she was sick.

So, a couple of days ago I e-mail asked her to a movie tonight. As I type she is on her way to pick me up at work and we are going to go see Failure to Launch. So here are my questions (which clearly no one is going to answer in time since she will be here in minutes- but oh well):

• Should there be a kiss and how will it be initiated?
• Should I invite her "up" and how do I do that and does that imply that I want to have sex
• I have more questions but my mind is too muddled to think of them....
  
  Okay...now I have to spell check and then I'm off....wish me luck :)

Out of the Office

Sometimes I do very little here, and then sometimes I have to leave the office to go to regional commitments multiple times a week and on the days I am in I get slammed with all the work that has piled up while I was away.

Well the Maternal Mortality (sounds fun doesn't it?) case files are all in the mail on the way to the reviewers. So I have a little more time on my hands... I will try to post on another topic before I leave today.

Here are the possible titles (I stole this game from Claire):

• Melanie's Olympic Highlights
• Grizzly Man
• First Dates Are So Gay
• My Mother Wishes She Could Still Buckle me in

If you still read my blog, post a comment to cast your vote on which title you would like to see come to life :)