May 3, 2008

• A boy post

  No, the post isn't male, at least as far as I know (and I'm not checking - my poor Xanga site deserves some dignity). Someone said a little while back that she wanted to know about the fellas. Never let it be said that I didn't give the audience what it wants. May not do it quickly, but I do try to oblige.

  I have actually had some encounters with the male of the species. Nothing all that interesting in the romantic sense, but as someone who tends to spend a lot of her time in her own head, me noticing any sort of anything from a guy is, sadly, a huge step. So, allow me to share...

  Guy #1 I met at the Auckland Food and Wine festival. I'd gone by myself, natch, and was watching the band that was playing, tapping my foot and doing a bit of chair dancing and watching the folks who were out dancing in front of the stage. A guy sat down a couple of chairs away, we nodded to each other, and I continued watching. After a little while, he asks me to mind one of his glasses of wine while I found his friends. I said sure, and he went into the folks dancing. Another man comes over to retrieve the wine glass, Guy 1 catches my eye and nods, and I pass over the glass. As his buddy goes back to dance, Guy 1 beacons me to go join in the dancing. I laugh and shake my head (I know, I know, I'm working on it), he waves me over again, I shake my head again, he comes over to haul me out of my chair, and I finally get it through my thick skull that I really need to just get up and dance like I really wanted to anyway, especially since it's not like I know any of these people. So I danced and had a really good time, had sort of disjointed conversation with Guy 1 - who's Scottish, by the way - and get introduced to his friends. (By the way, Guy 1 is quite drunk, but for once in my life, I don't end up being uptight about it.) Guy 1 invites me to join them for dinner, and for once in my life I decide "what the hell" and agree to join them. But his friend had a bit of an issue with it, since I was going to be an extra person to pay for dinner for, and he didn't want to risk his wife getting upset. Not wanting to cause a problem (since even though I said I'd pay for my own dinner, they weren't having any of it), I regretfully make an excuse and depart the scene. Which sucked, because I really wanted to join in for dinner, but I've got this thing about not being where I'm not wanted. (By the way, Guy 1 did ask for my cell number in case I wanted to hang out in Auckland, "and I'm not on the pull because I already have a girlfriend," but I didn't have a cell phone yet. Besides, I left two days later for Paihia. And I didn't want to be a problem for the girlfriend, even if I wasn't positive he was being honest about being attached. I got the vibe that he was just saying that to try and put me at ease, but I could easily be wrong on that one.)

  Guy #2 was on my backpacker bus, from South Africa. It took me a bit to really talk to him, because I'm me, and it took me a while to actually talk to anyone. But I'd had a bit of conversation with him by the end of the first night. Sadly, he hopped off the tour the second night. But he's one of the people I ended up running into again later in the trip, here in Wellington. Too bad he was leaving for Auckland the next day, but we did manage to have dinner together in the hostel, and a good chat was had.

  Guy #3 was also on my backpacker bus, also from Scotland. It took me a while to say much to him, since a couple of the other girls were quite chummy with him. Not in an interested way that I could tell, but more that they enjoyed giving him a hard time. Once again, I didn't end up really having a conversation until the last night we were in the same city, but I even flirted a bit. Now, this is me flirting, so I'm not sure if he realized I was interested or not. But alas, my timing as usual was poor.

  Now, I will say I have noticed (even I have noticed) that men seem to be more interested in my here than at home. It may be because I can't be in my own head quite so much, since I have to pay attention to what I'm doing so I don't end up wandering the streets perpetually lost. Or it may be a cultural thing. Or it may be me realizing that people may be interested in my, rather than simply assuming they're being polite. Which is kind of funny, since I'm not wearing any makeup, my hair is usually pulled back in a ponytail since the wind's been strong and I don't want to eat my hair, and my clothes are decidedly utilitarian rather than flattering. But it was kind of heartwarming to watch the three guys working the hostel desk yesterday kind of jockey for position to help me when I went to ask questions... a few times.

  I think I can even safely count my tour guide today as Guy #4. We ended up chatting quite a bit during our tea break. He even asked if I was in New Zealand looking for a husband. Of course, I think I got a deer-in-the-headlights look on my face at that question, since I really wouldn't have expected it. I got the idea that he would have asked me for a drink or something if I wasn't on my way out of town Monday morning. Too bad, since I would have said yes. I know I could have asked, but hey, Rome wasn't built in a day. Besides, I wasn't positive he was single; fairly sure, but not positive.

  I even met a guy this evening when I went to the theater. I was trying to get in to see a sold out play; I was on the standby list and waiting in the box office line to see if a ticket was available when a guy came down the line trying to sell an extra ticket; his girlfriend was sick, but his sister was in the play and it was the last night, so he couldn't not go. So I was able to get my ticket, we did a bit of chatting while waiting to get into the theater, and once we got inside and I tried to go off on my own, he asked if I wanted to go ahead and sit together. Guess he didn't relish sitting alone, either, so we talked before the show started. Poor guy, I think he felt a bit weird once we left the theater; it's almost like he wanted to walk me back, but I wasn't his date, so he didn't want to step outside of bounds. We walked across the street together, then I wished him a good evening and I hoped his g/f felt better soon. He was a nice guy, though I don't even know his name. We never did introduce ourselves.

  So there you go, far more than you probably wanted to know about far too little of interest. But you know what, I'm actually kind of proud of myself. That's far more than talking to guys that aren't "safe" than I may have ever done in even thrice the time.

  I am heading out of Wellington, as I said, on Monday morning. There's a job opening in Christchurch that's actually practically perfect for me, so I'm taking a chance and heading over there. It's through an agency; I contacted them Thursday, talked to them on Friday, they sent my CV and writing samples to the client, and the client wants to meet me. Since that's a whole lot more of a lead than I've gotten so far, and I was planning to go to Christchurch at some point anyway, I figured I might as well go now. Besides, I think if I don't get this position, the recruiter will feel badly enough that I went to the effort and didn't get the job that she'll work a bit harder to find me something else. Oh, but the point of all that was that it may be a bit before I can post again - just a couple of days, between travel, getting settled and going to my interviews. (And not that I haven't gone longer without posting, but I do like people to know when I'm on the move, just in case.)

  Have a great weekend, all!

  • 5:48 am
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