P.S.

Last night my friend invited a bunch of people to go see 2012 at the cinema.  I had no interest in paying the equivalent of about $11 to see a movie that I was pretty sure would be a waste of time.  Well, then he mentioned that a certain young man by the name of Swish would be coming.  So like the lame girl that I am, I decided to go.  We did end up sitting next to each other at the movie and made a few witty remarks to each other throughout the night.  I had decided to be a little aloof to make him really work for it.  Unfortunately, he didn't do as well as I would have liked, but come to find out, my efforts were not all in vain.  In Sunday School I caught him looking at me a couple of times and then he followed me into Sacrament meeting where he sat next to me as if that's our standard operating procedure.  He was quite flirty during the meeting and some witty banter was exchanged.  Afterward my friend said she thinks he fancies me a bit, so apparently that whole hard to get thing does work sometimes.  

Everybody dance now!

Last night was my second Reading YSA dance and I am pleased to announce that it went much better than last time for a number of reasons.  First of all, I felt like I was looking pretty hot.  A healthy dose of confidence always seems to make things go better.  I put in quite a bit of effort to produce the desired effect, although my roommate said I looked like an angel, which was not exactly what I was going for. But at least I was justly rewarded for my efforts, which we will get to presently.  Secondly, I know more people now, so I don’t have to follow my roommates around like a little puppy.  In fact, I spent very little time hanging around the roomies this time.  There’s a guy in the stake (in whom I am not interested) who loves to dance, so he was my dance crew partner.  Which brings me to the third reason last night was fun; they actually played good music most of the time.  We had a bit of Beyonce, some Kanye, and even a song or two from the boy band genre, all of which are very danceable.  Suffice it to say, I did my thang on the dance floor and quite enjoyed myself.

Now on to the fourth and most important reason last night was fun, the guys.  I know you’re wondering, so I will end the suspense.  Tweed was not in attendance.  It turned out all right, though, because it gave me the chance to meet and flirt with a lot of new guys.  And I took advantage of that chance.  First of all, there’s a guy in the ward, Swish we’ll say, that I’ve kind of had my eye on lately.  He’s been quite flirty since the beginning and last Sunday was fairly keen to keep my attention.  I’ve hesitated to say much just yet, but last night changed my mind.  Anyway, I was hoping he would be at the dance, and was not disappointed.  I was in the midst of shakin’ it like a Polaroid picture when he got there and he came right over to say hi.  Now, the music in the gym is very loud, which can be a great advantage if you like the guy.  Circumstances being what they were, Swish had to lean in fairly close to make himself heard and there was a little bit of the hand on the elbow action from both of us.  He danced with our little group for a while and then went off with some other friends.  However, later that evening, we found ourselves together in the foyer, which is where everyone goes to talk, since you can’t really hear in the dance.  We chatted and flirted for a while and I felt pretty good about the progress we made.  He now has my number with strict instructions to put it to good use.  The good news is that I’ll most likely see him at Church tomorrow and can continue my pursuit. 

The second guy, Obi-Wan, I met for the first time last night.  He’s not from around here, so I don’t know how much I’ll end up seeing him, but I hope this isn’t it ‘cause I actually thought he was pretty cute.  Our meeting needs a bit of set-up.  There’s a set of sisters in our stake that I’ve become friends with.  They are pretty popular with the boys, mostly because they’re beautiful and flirtatious.  So naturally, we get along.  Anyway, I told them that I was in need of a good snog and that I needed their help to find a guy who would be willing to do that with no strings attached and who wouldn’t spread it around and destroy my carefully crafted reputation as a good girl.  So the quest began.  A number of guys were suggested, but nothing concrete came of it.  I was introduced to a few guys, a couple of whom I wouldn’t mind snogging, but this was mainly a fact-finding mission at this point.  I had been introduced by one of the sisters to Obi-Wan earlier in the gym, but couldn’t really hear what he was saying and didn’t want to invade their conversation so I eventually left to go back to tearing it up on the dance floor.  At the end of the night, I found myself chatting again with Obi-Wan and one of the sisters in the foyer.  Her boyfriend came along and she cleverly left us to ourselves.  We had a nice chat during which time I found out that he’s a PE teacher.  How perfect!  He was very nice and funny and I felt perfectly comfortable talking to him.  He also has really cute eye crinkles.  Plus, I found out later that he’s 32.  I was pretty pleased to find out there are a few older guys left in England, as most of the ones I’ve met are in their early 20s, which makes me feel like a pedophile.  So yeah, all in all, a pretty good night.

Guy Fawkes What?

Okay, so details.  As I’m sure you’re all aware, Thursday was Guy Fawkes Day (for a bit of history, the G-rated version of the day’s events, and some pictures, check the other blog.)  Tweed had volunteered to have us all over to his house for the festivities.  We met first at our house to make our Guy.  Then we headed over to Tweed’s house for the burning.  We lit a few fireworks (that’s not what I mean, dirty minds; I’m talking actual fireworks.)  I love fireworks so I was busy taking pictures and video of the craziness, but not too bust to make sure to catch Tweed’s eye every now and then.  Then it was time to burn Guy, so we stuck him in a big metal garbage can and torched the poor guy.  As the fire burned down, most people drifted back to the patio and Tweed and I were left together in the near darkness.  By the romantic light of Guy’s smoldering remains, we shared a bit of good conversation.  We were quite near the fire and each other.  Tweed was doing the staring thing that makes me feel like he’s going to kiss me and I was being dutifully coy.  During our conversation, he had thrown a few of the dud fireworks into the garbage can and at one point, one ignited, startling me into Tweed’s waiting arms.  We then decided it would be safer to be on the patio.  The party moved inside and I hung back in the kitchen with Tweed while the rest of the group went to the living room.  We chatted for a while and were then interrupted by everyone else.  The decision was made to return to our house, as no one there was trying to sleep. (Tweed lives at home and his mother is scary sometimes.)  Somehow Tweed and I ended up next to each other on our love seat where there was plenty of room for us to not be touching, but we were.  After a game of charades, the night ended with me walking Tweed to the door and my friends teasing me about our interactions.  I think I can safely say there is some interest there, on both sides.  I’m getting more and more comfortable around him and thus more and more flirtatious.  I hope he knows what he’s gotten himself into.  Poor kid.

Tidbits to keep you interested

First of all, let me apologize for the fact that the last post is bigger than the rest.  I'm new at this blogging thing and I don't know how to fix it.  It bothers the perfectionist in me.  

Anyway, a couple of quick updates and teasers are in order.  I just got home from Sweden and I'm too tired to write very much tonight, but I didn't want to leave you all in suspense any longer.  Full and complete details on most of these subjects will follow in due time.

1. The Slacker has a girlfriend...with whom he lives.  Would have been nice to know a couple of weeks ago.  Plus, what's he doing flirting with me if he's already living in sin?

2. Jersey showed up completely unexpectedly at Institute on Wednesday.  Good thing I was looking hot.

3.  I spent Thursday night with Tweed.  No, dirty minds, not in that way.

4. Sweden has better looking people than anywhere else I have ever been.  It was disconcerting to not be the only pretty girl around, but flattering to be noticed nonetheless.

The plot has thickened

Last weekend, I went to London on the pretense of seeing the sights, but really to hang out with a guy, Jersey for our purposes, whom I had met a couple of weeks ago.  His best friend lives in our ward and he was visiting for the weekend.  I found him quite attractive and interesting that first evening.  I decided that I needed to get to know him better, hence, the trip to London.  Anyway, the initial attraction has now grown to a full-blown crush after a weekend of chatting and assorted flirtatious interactions.  To start, Jersey’s got fabulous lips and beautiful eyes, and in the interest of full discretion, I have a definite weakness for a good pair of lips.  He’s also the artsy, does-his-own-thing-without-caring-what-others-think type that I’ve found myself attracted to on occasion.  Plus, he plays the guitar and wears crazy clothes and hums to himself while he’s walking down the street.  But anyway, enough daydreaming, back to the story. I went to London prepared to stay through Sunday if things went well, but with the option of leaving earlier if I wasn’t getting the vibe.  Well, I stayed until Sunday evening.  It was a great weekend.  We walked together all over London and had the chance to chat without a bunch of people around listening.  We sat next to each other on the couch looking at pictures and later watching a movie, did the dishes together after dinner, and generally had a good time with each other, at least from my perspective.  He was very attentive and careful to make sure I was comfortable and taken care of.  I tried to make sure I wasn’t the one following him around wherever he was and was rewarded for my efforts by him coming to where I was.  When it was time for me to leave, he volunteered to walk me to the station with his friend.  The goodbyes were said and he gave me a hug.  I then spent the entire journey home planning our future, while he probably didn’t give me another thought.  Such is life, I suppose.  Hopefully this crush turns out better than all the rest have.  Stay tuned.     

            Saturday night we all went to a frozen yogurt shop called Snog and Jersey bought me this button without me even asking.  I know.  It's perfect.

Here we go again

My roommates have convinced me that I need to write about a guy in the ward who has been paying me a fair amount of attention. We’ll call him Hawkeye for our purposes.  Lest you think this is good news, I will endeavor to set the record straight.  We’ve all had a Hawkeye at some point in our lives.  In my case that’s about all I’ve had.  You know, the “nice guy” who really deserves a girl who is actually interested in him, but still insists on chasing something far out of his reach.  He’s usually not attractive, lacks some key social skills, has horrible fashion sense, and can’t take a gentle hint.  He might have hobbies that include making movies with his friends, playing video games, or playing in a marching band.  Well, you guessed it, Hawkeye is that guy.  It doesn’t help matters that he’s the only other American student at Reading and we are thrust together several times a week, as we’re both dependent on other people for rides to Church, Institute, and FHE.  What I originally interpreted as a mere desire to connect with something familiar, I have now had to admit is something of a crush.  I don’t know why I have such strange power over the men I don’t want. Part of the problem is that I just can’t be mean.  I’m too nice.  Unfortunately this type of boy misinterprets “nice” as “she’s in love with me.”  Now, I wasn’t entirely sure at first that Hawkeye fancied me, but after asking my roommates to observe and offer their opinions, it was concluded that indeed, he was smitten.  He talks almost exclusively to me and in a group talks at me, which I hate, especially when I’m trying to listen to or talk to someone else.  He comes in my room uninvited and always has a really boring story that he insists on telling me.  He tries to sit by me at Institute every week and is constantly inviting me to go on day trips to see stuff around Reading. I have yet to accept.  Bless his heart.  Drastic measures may need to be taken.