Today:

-Driving back to school town. Not for school stuff, however. Picking up Dive Equipment.

-Tonight: Arena Football Game. I am so excited, I've never been to one of these before.

-Later Tonight: Hanging out on Kat's family's big farm. Driving around 4 wheelers and annoying the cattle.

Tomorrow:

-Diving at the rock quarry!!

-Visiting one of my best friends from school!


The point? This is going to be an epic weekend. Not that any of you care. I'm just stoked for myself.

"Laryssa. I need to meet some women. What do I do?"

I was thinking about it today. Why is it, that people are so stuck on this idea that the best place to pick up a woman is in a bar? I'm not even a guy, but a few months back I was talking to one of my guy friends about picking up women (for some reason he thought I might have some good ideas, and as far as I know he still hasn't gotten a lady, which goes to show how good my advice was), and even I was like, "I don't know, dude. Go out with some friends to a bar or something and when you see a cute one, flash a good smile and talk to her."

Once again, today this whole concept was brought to my attention by another inquiring guy friend (No, I'm not secretly pondering how to pick up women for my own personal gains). Again, I said, "Bro, I don't dig women. I don't know how to mack on them either." To which he further inquired, "Okay. If you were meeting a guy, what would the ideal scenario be?"

I realized then, that unless this guy in the bar was:

A. At least in the Top 5 for the most beautiful man I'd ever seen,
B. Wasn't originally at that bar to pick up on women (meaning we were interacting by sheer accident),
C. Smart enough to compliment me on something like my laugh instead of some aspect of my physiognomy,

I probably wouldn't take this guy very seriously for romantic potential.

Now, I don't know what all the ladies dig. I'm just one in a world of too many. But if I had to think of some situations when it might be okay to say, "Sure, you can have my number," they would be something like one of these.

1. We met through a mutual acquaintance/friend.

Now, see, this makes sense to me. If someone I know leads me to this guy, I'll be more willing to give this guy the time of day than if some mack daddy came up to me and said, "Hey baby what's cookin'?" Plus, it'd be a good ice breaker, discussing how we both know so-and-so. Obviously, not all of the people I know have fabulous tastes, and obviously some of them may set me up with a real, ahem, ...loser?, but hey, most people that know me, like me. Meaning, they're not going to just send some bozo down my alley. So I'd rather take my chances with that and see how it works out, because it's not like guys routinely knock on my door or anything. So my suggestion to you men is get to know some more people, not necessarily just ladies. And they don't have to be your friend that you hang with all of the time either! The more of a circle you've got going, the more likely it is you're going to meet someone through an introduction or something. Get it?

2. We met at some function/event.

I know. I didn't get very specific with that term at all. But here's the thing: I know tons of people who meet at social functional organizational meeting stuff, and end up hitting it off. My Uncle and who is now my Aunt met at a Cross Country meet. My good friend met her guy at some volunteer project a few summers ago. The possibilities are endless. So here's the thing: Just because you don't have a date, or a bunch of friends to go out with, doesn't mean you need to sit at home and watch TV. Actually, that's a bad thing. Go do something you like to do. As long as you're out there, interacting with people, you're only keeping that window of opportunity open for the breeze to come in (yes, women can be nice breezes. They can also be monsoons, but we're not worried about that right now). Plus, if you do meet someone at one of these things, you'll obviously have some sort of common interest (dun dun dun!). I know I'd be stoked if someone met me at a Classical Music concert (and actually had the tactics to captivate my interest while I'm being serenaded and am not really receptive to much else anyway).

3. He says, "Whoa, there must be something wrong with my cell phone, because your number is not in it."

This one obviously has no real worldliness to it. It's just personal druthers. And this is my blog so I'm allowed to personalize. And for the record, it won't totally guarantee you a date (standards, I haz). But you'll definitely get my attention and a smile/laugh, which is a good start.


SO! Let's recap:

• The whole, "Oh, I need a woman. Maybe I should go out to the bar with friends tonight." :No.

• "Yeah, that one guy at work that I've never really talked to? Maybe I'll say Hey tomorrow." :Yes. However, if the guy turns outs to be someone that would never pick out good women, don't get too friendly.

• "I think that instead of going to the supermarket, I'm going to go to the Farmer's Market instead. It's an environment that's far more conducive to relaxed shopping and it will be much easier/appropriate to be sociable there." :Yeah, hey, how did you get so smart? Oh yeah, Laryssa taught you.

• "Who is that delightfully intellectual, humorous, and good looking girl over there? Oh, that's Laryssa. I think I'm going to go talk to her." : A good idea, just know what you're getting into.
  

The good news for all of you single men out there is that the economy is bad. So all the ladies are depressed and are ready to get themselves situated in relationships. If you're not really into a relationship kind of deal, just pretend you are, and that you have some money to spare, and it can work (kidding guys, kidding. Laryssa doesn't approve of that nonsense).

I really don't know why people keep asking me this stuff. I'm not the expert on this stuff (nor am I a sexpert. Fortunately I don't get many questions about that, unless it's from my 9 year-old sister who recently got "the talk" from Mum, and now is realizing that there's a lot of sexual innuendo in movies and stuff that she never quite understood before). But here's what I gotz at 2 in the morning. Good luck.

Oh em gee, Laryssa just made a post that dealt with DATING!! Is she sick?! (Probably. Well, not really. It makes a good excuse if no one likes this though)

This one time when I was younger, I got in a big fight with my brother. We were mad at each other for days because he called me some mean stuff and did all sorts of manipulative things just to set me over the edge. I responded in kind, and it just ended up being this gargantuan battle in which neither of use were really right anymore and we were making everyone else in the house miserable.

I never thought I'd stop being mad at him. He never thought he'd stop being mad at me.

But guess what, guys?

We got over it!

And now, we drink beers on the front porch at night (I even share my favorite kind) and he tells me stories about the things he did at the law firm that day and I tell him about how swimming went with my kids.

Xanga, I'm not asking you all to hug each other and throw back some beers (although that'd be ideal). Just try to move along. Think about the other people in the house. I mean come on, even I outgrew it.