Dating Guys my Own Age and the Buggery of Facebook.

This is something which happened recently which deserves special mention...

Ok so I meet this guy... we have a mutual 'friend' however I use this term loosely (now). We ran into each other at a Wednesday trivia night at a local bar while I was with my dad who was calmly waiting for the Anthony Mundine fight to commence. 'Shrek' (his name has clearly been changed) and I greeted with an awkward embrace - he was over keen and I was somewhat hesitant as I was unsure which kind of offensive aroma I would be met with this time...pot? stale bourbon? 'Shrek' was in good spirits and insisted I come to trivia. I contemplated my night with my father .... a big empty room up stairs with 7 other 50 something year old men hovered around a big TV complaining about all the unknown boxers preceding Mundine.....I told 'Shrek' I will come down for a bit later on. After watching a few fights I thought a bit of intellectual stimulation was favourable. I took the lift down to the lobby... I looked in the lift mirror...I was not looking my best...I had my hair curly, half up and half down and I was wearing my dark brown rimmed Dior reading glasses. I would of looked like a Sunday school teacher if it wasn't for a missing top button on my knitted top. I tried to correct it as I did not want to give 'Shrek' and his friends anything to look at.

I walk out into the lower level which is busy with pensioners being seduced by the bright lights and quirky sounds of the poker machines. I find 'Shrek' and his friends in a separate area where trivia has already begun. I am greeted with warm welcomes and quickly decide I am not interested in any of these boisterous and competitive 'young men' arguing over which picture cut out is Britney Spears' abs.

I sit down at the table next to a tall, blonde, pleasant looking guy. He is plainly dressed and straight away reminds me of a character from the Muppet show (I later find out he loves this show and see's the similarity between himself and this character). 'Jamie' is a primary school teacher and prides himself in knowing all of the teen/young adult popular culture trivia. 'Jamie' and I start a conversation off as I too have an interest in teaching. Meanwhile.....'Shrek' is sitting half a meter away too my right. I look over at him mid game and notice he is staring at me. We lock eyes and he smiles a rehearsed smile and manages a slight twinkle in his tired eyes. I throw an even more rehearsed and border line patronising smile and stare into his eyes with a blankness which cuts the air of flirtatious possibility to nil.

'Jamie' witnesses this and 'Shrek' admits his defeat.

'Jamie' pursued a conversation with me which was quite bland in the content, however his energy and mild childish yet controlled flirtation made me feel relaxed and unguarded as far as preventing any unwanted romantic advances. I felt some tension at the table so I decided to head back upstairs. Dad and I had a little giggle about 'Shrek's' charade and unwarranted flirtation.

The next day I log into Facebook. There is a friend request from 'Jamie'. I willingly accept as I had enjoyed getting to know him.

A couple of weeks later I see them again at a house party. By this stage 'Jamie' and I have talked a few times on Facebook and seem to have a lot in common. After pouring my own vodka and lemonade into a plastic cup for most of the night I was ready for bed. Before I leave, 'Jamie' corners me to the side after an hour or so of talking together on the balcony. He asks me "Would you go out with me"? and I said "yeah sure, lets do dinner next week". I left feeling pretty happy with myself.. buzzing from too much sugar and vodka, I skipped down the driveway singing 'follow the yellow brick road" right into a taxi.

The next day I woke up with a mild headache and sore feet from prancing about in high heels. Not capable of much - I slouched down at my computer and checked emails and Facebook. I noticed in my news feed that 'Jamie' went from 'single' to 'in a relationship' - my initial thought was "wow that's great!" as 'Jamie' had been single for two years. Still a little hyper from the night before I decided to comment on his status along with many other people from uni. I congratulated him and called him a dark horse for not telling anyone at the party last night. 'Jamie' replied with 'haha yeah thanks cheeky'. Confused by his comments I decided to go back to bed.

...to be continued