Meeting Maria and Reflecting on My Final Round at Belmont

Before I get to my post about NBA players going to Europe, I’ve had an interesting night.

First, I had my first class of the semester. It was good to see many of my friends in one location for the first time along with one or two new faces. I’m looking forward to the class for the rest of the semester, even though if it pans out like I think it will, its going to be a lot of work. But all of us in the class are in graduate school to better ourselves and for that to happen, we have to work hard. Bring on the work!

I was about to head home, but ran into my friend Robert and we chatted for about an hour near the soccer field. It was a good conversation where each of us was reflecting on our time at school and looking forward to the upcoming year. It’s each of our last year here at Belmont and talking to him made me realize that I will probably be in a different place in May. If I stay in Nashville, I would like to stay where I’m living and be near Belmont, but it ain’t the same as an alum. I experience this everytime I’m at Vandy now.

So after speaking with Robert, I proceeded to head past Beaman and come across Daniel and Angie and speak with them some. I was about to leave when a really cute girl asked Angie a question about her student ID card. I was talking to Daniel about getting home to watch The Simpsons. She walked off and I happened to follow her because we were heading the same direction. She looked back and saw me and thought it was funny that I was rushing home to see that show.

I’ve honestly haven’t been looking to date any girls recently and haven’t even asked one out in a long, long time. I’ve been focused on work and just living a chill life. However, if a girl like this one wants to chat, I’m going to respond.

I joked with her about my entire syndication TV viewing rotation including the Simpsons, Family Guy, Scrubs, Seinfeld, etc. She mentioned how much she likes those shows as well. I even mentioned King of Queens, which she likes because she resembles one of the actresses.

I held off on telling her about coming home to watch General Hospital also. I’ll have to ease her into that one.

I found out her name, Maria (not her real name, but you know the drill by now) and we walked to her home, continuing to talk. I learned about her, she’s a transfer student and this is her first year at Belmont. She's an artist who specializes in drawing. I originally thought that I was going to just talk with her for a few minutes and then go home, but we vibed immediately.

She’s a talker and very outgoing, which was a good thing because I was just content to listen to her. We talked about everything, music, tv, sports, movies, etc. I’m usually the one that initiates conversations, but Maria just kept going and going, which was a good thing. She talked about her dancing background, things like that. She even found my job as an SID interesting and sorta comprehended what I did. We talked about financial aid and our process of getting that done. Needless to say, the conversation hit many subjects.

She’s also a legit sports fan and likes sports such as soccer, volleyball and baseball. I know that she’s going to come out to some Belmont games which is good for her.

BTW, it was humid as heck outside and I was sweating, but if you think I was going to pass an opportunity to speak to her, you don’t even know.

It was funny because the first part of the interaction, I was thinking, this girl is way too hot for me. That was my honest thought.

She has dark, curly hair, had on some funky blouse with a big black and white bag and had ripped jeans and some heeled shoes. Interesting look. Definitely one of the top two or three attractive women that I’ve met in Nashville since I’ve come back here.

So while she’s talking with me, I’m thinking to myself, is she actually showing a friendly interest in me. It’s so darn hard to read if a woman whose talking to you is attracted to you. I was looking for some signs.

-She kept eye contact with me.
-We stood about a foot apart from each other as not to cross any physical boundaries
-She laughed a lot and thought I was funny.
-She didn’t touch my arm or anything like that during the entire conversation.

However, after about 20 minutes, I realized that she was interested in me. I’m not saying in a romantic, we’re going to start dating kind of way. But she was NOT completely rejecting me and placing me in the friendship zone. Trust me, I know when I’m getting placed in that zone. This conversation was in between.

I also did the one defense mechanism that I hate doing. At least once during our conversation, I asked her if I was keeping her from anything important. I have the habit of making sure my conversation with a girl isn’t taking up too much of her time. There’s probably more to it like I don’t believe that a girl will willingly talk to me in a subconscious way. You psychology majors or dating experts can probably give me a straight answer on this.

We even talked about each others families and how we ended up here at Belmont. This whole conversation went for about an hour. At least once or twice, I mentioned that I had to leave but one of us would mention something and we would go another 10 minutes.

So when it was finally time to end the conversation, I was unsure how to end it. I mentioned that I was going to watch the Alabama/Clemson game this Saturday at a friend’s house. Maria wants to come to that if she isn’t busy.

I say that’s cool and get her phone number. I told her that I’ll call her if I’m heading out with some friends out on the town or going to a game, something like that. Maria was down with that because she’s trying to meet new people here in town.

She’s even interested in coming to, wait for it, ‘Pancakes.’ Maria lives a block away from me so its not like I’m asking her for a late-night visit or anything like that so she knows that this wasn’t a forward date move because it’s a friendly gathering. I invite any and everyone to ‘Pancakes.’

Finally, I tell her that it was nice meeting her and give her a handshake and let go a little too early. If you read my previous post on greeting from last week, you know my feelings on this: http://pourtoutpancakes.blogspot.com/2008/08/when-is-it-time-to-hug-it-out.html

I walk home and that’s really it.

I guess I’ll call her on Friday night to see if she wants to watch the game and see what happens there.

Your advise on this topic would be welcomed. Maria is cool and I would like to get to know her better, but I don’t want to get into some ultra serious commited relationship or anything like that.

I need to convey that I would like to hang out with her in a friendly way that could potentially turn into something but not place pressure on her.

Should I even call her on Friday?
Should I call her Saturday before the game?
Should I even call her at all?
Should I invite her over to my place to watch some TV in a friendly, non-dating way because we like the same shows and she can literally walk over to my place and be here in less than five minutes?
Should I ask her out for coffee at the Bongo?
Should I make her a collage?
Should I have a box social and invite her to it?
Should I just do like my nephew Matt said and completely ignore her?

So many options. However, it was good to speak with a cool girl for an evening, even if I never see her again. If you’re a longtime fan of this blog, you know that I tend to focus on unavailable women. For reference, I will mention Joan and Amber. Maybe your boy will finally met someone who has no attachments and is ready to play. Or maybe I just made another good friend. Either way, it’s all good.

I leave you with her favorite artist, Cheyenne Kimball, I think. She either said Cheyenne or Chevelle. Here’s both of them.

She even dug my interest in Talking Heads, Rush and even Mars Volta.

BTW, my post on Kobe and Lebron going to Europe will be tomorrow, I promise