Recent Encounters

It seems that three necessary ingredients to a conversation with a guy are: 

1) Being alone in a public place.
2) Making eye contact.
3) Smiling.

I've had some fun 'random' encounters recently.

Driving Like an Asshole
I was driving like an asshole.  I pulled up to a stop sign, got ahead of myself, pulled too far forward and blocked the way for a pedestrian of the male persuasion.  He paused, I gave the 'I'm sorry, I'm an asshole' wave, he tried to walk behind my car, I smiled, he paused again...and boom.  That's all it took.

He then said, 'Mind if we try that again?' and me, very open to hilarious experiences, said 'yes', reversed about 15ft and pulled back up to the stop sign appropriately.  He started laughing.  I was laughing.  He walked up to my window.  He was cute and had a bright smile and a twinkle in his eye.

And that's what started our conversation.

I ended up creepily driving next to him as he walked to his parking spot so I could grab it.  We exchanged contact information, both decided it would be fun to meet up again, and I got a text from him later that day.

The funniest part of the story is that I looked him up on IMDB (a database of everyone in the TV/movie business) (he was on his way back from an audition), and it turns out that one of my best friends worked with him on one of his projects.  Oh, LA is such a small world.

I've gotten a text or two from him, but no plans have been made.  We shall see.

Innocent at Starbucks
Starbucks might as well be called CoffeeMatch.com.  It's a fantastic place to meet people who are alone, bored and open to having any interaction with a human after staring at their laptop for hours.

I've been going to the same Starbucks for over 2 years.  It's a 'home away from home.'  When I first moved back to LA from Chicago, I had just quit my corporate job and wasn't quite sure where to start with my new career, so I pretty much lived at Starbucks and read by myself or had my laptop and wrote...by myself.

Being alone and having the willingness to smile at strangers is a huge opportunity to meet people, including single guys.

There was a guy who was also at Starbucks all the time.  We would see each other there and around town but never really talked - just some small talk here and there.

Well, out of nowhere, after two years of running into each other at Starbucks, the grocery store, the street, restaurants, etc., we saw each other at a car wash, and something changed.  He said I looked great (nothing about me has really changed since the last time we saw each other, and I wasn't wearing any makeup...I might have brushed my hair), and wanted to get my contact info.  Mind you, he's had my contact info for 2yrs.

He has been texting with me ever since that random encounter, determined to go on a date with me.  I have no idea what changed, what switch was flipped, but he decided it's time to go on a date with me.

He tried to get together with me for a month, consistently texting me thoughtful, sweet messages and invitations to meet up.  Every opportunity, I was already busy.  Finally, he asked me to lunch, and I was available.

I didn't want to go out to eat (trying to be healthy and vegan-ish), so I asked if we could change it up to coffee (and it's way more comfortable on my home turf at Starbucks).  He was cool with that, so we met up and talked for an hour.

It was comfortable and fun.  Great conversation.  He walked me to my car, said he wants to meet up again, hopefully sooner than a month from now, and we went our separate ways.

I haven't heard from him since.

Elementary Love at Starbucks...in a Vons
Yes, I'm serious.  I was picking out apples at a Vons after a full day of cleaning (so I looked extra sexy...ripped up leggings, dirty white vneck shirt, no makeup, messed up bun/ponytail thing, rocking a zit on my chin sans cover-up, basically pure sexy), and I heard a familiar voice but chose to ignore it (I was on a mission to get my apples and get the f*ck out of there).  I even chose this Vons knowing that I wouldn't run into anyone there.

The familiar voice was attached to a handsome man.  But, once again, knowing that I looked like a dirty, questionable mess, I said 'f*ck it' to myself and kept picking out apples.  But, wouldn't you know it, we made eye contact.  I tried to ignore it and walked away to find my friend who I had gone to the store with.

Just as I was about to walk away, my intuition stopped me.

Intuition: Go see if it's him.
Ego: No.  I look like a mess.  And, it's not him.
Intuition: GO!!!
Ego: No! (pause) FINE!!! Ugh.

I paused, got my sh*t together, and walked over.  Sure enough, it was him!  My crush from elementary school.  Perfect.  

I said 'hi', he looked at me, smiled and gave me a huge hug.  It was really nice.  I introduced him to my friend, who was wearing a Twilight tshirt and sweats (we looked so hot).

I just couldn't believe how nice he was.  All smiles.  Asked me what's new.  A bit of small talk.  And then my friend and I went on our way.

Of course, now I was curious.  I kept thinking, should I go back and talk to him?  Would he have asked for my number if he wanted it?  SHOOT!  One of the key ingredients to getting asked out is being alone.

So, when I got home, I did some detective work (aka stalking).  I asked a mutual friend for my crush's email address.  I emailed him the next day.  He seemed happy to hear from me (didn't ask how I got his email address, thank goodness!).

We have coffee plans next week!  I have no idea what his relationship status is, but next time we hang out, I won't be rocking leggings with a hole in the crotch.

Boom.  Magic is happening.  Or I'm a weirdo.