Singin' Them Dreg's List Blues

Well, we can put another mark in the "Eric The Dating Disaster" Column.

It has been pouring down rain all day, but I was planning to go to Arlington to meet Brad anyway. He wanted to meet at the Starbucks in a hotel near Ballston Common mall at seven, so I parked my car in the mall garage, and was there by about 6:40. I ordered a coffee and was told that they would be closing at seven.

So I waited until about 6:55 before calling Brad. He answered, and I told him that the place was closing. According to him, he had forgotten that we were supposed to meet, and he was all apologies. He said he was still in DC, and would call me back in ten minutes. I went back to the mall to hang out a little bit, just to see if he would.

At about 7:30, he sent me a text message: "Not gona be able to meet tonite. im so sorry. To be honest I met someone this weekend and i think hes the One. Im so sorry I didnt call sooner. I wish u luck in finding a good guy. Ur in my prayers."

Well, Brad, I might be in "ur" prayers, but with with two keystrokes on my cell phone "ur" no longer on my Contacts list. And "ur" gone from my IM list as well. Learn to spell while you're at it, dude. If you changed your mind about meeting me, you could have saved me a lot of trouble by sending me an email.

As you well know, most of these disappointments have lately been ending with me heading to Safeway or 7-Eleven and buying donuts (had I gone to Freddie's, it would have been even worse). But this time, this didn't happen. First of all, I had already had a cheat day on Monday. I had been quite good all day; when Cleo asked if I wanted to do lunch today, I suggested Ruby Tuesday and oinked out at the salad bar. I knew it wasn't worth it to screw it up, but I needed help. So when I got home, I informed Julie of that lovely text message, and told her we were going to Burger King for a soda. Julie preferred coffee, so we went to the nearest Starbucks. It was 8:30 by then, and they had closed at eight. We wound up just going home, but by then the urge to tank up on sweets had passed. At least Julie isn't trying to sabotage me anymore; maybe she finally gave up.

So here I am, having wasted an evening, several dollars' worth of gas, coffee, parking fees, and such, with my self-esteem bruised again. Like I mentioned in June, I am wondering if there is a monastery around here?

So another day off is down the drain, much like the nonstop rain that has been falling all day. And it is supposed to continue tomorrow. I'm glad I am working the early shift tomorrow; at least I can be done that much sooner.

Let's wrap this day up. The positives still outweigh the negatives: I did my walking with my weights. I didn't overeat. I got some "guy time" in with Cleo during the past couple of days. I did get out of the house for a while tonight, even if it did mean hanging out at a mall (I'll get into that some other time; it'll be another one of those "revisiting the places of my youth" entry). Tomorrow will be a rough day at work, but no matter how rough it gets, it'll be over at six.

Eric Out.