Call me the awkward ostrich

If you understand the title of this blog entry, then you are probably a member of my close circle of friends. If you don't understand it, just know that the awkward ostrich is the weird animal looking you in the face right after you have done something to which no one knows how to respond.

The bottom line is this: I don't know how to date. Let's face it kids, I was involved or married for most of my adult (read: after college) life. That's a long time. So this whole being single thing completely confounds me. As soon as I figure out that I may be interested in someone, I immediately become 16 again. As in "do you think he's into me? He said this, what do you think it means?" and so forth and so on. I know I vowed a few months ago to not play games, but it's hard to do that when the single world lives and dies by the rules of the games.

I am in a quandary. There are two people I know whom I am interested in, but I don't know how to move forward. And when I say "know", I mean that I don't know them that well. Nor do I work with them, or have many mutual friends with either. This, my friends, presents quite a challenge. I mean, a grrl can only "run into" a guy so many times before it gets weird.

I conveniently "ran into" someone the other night, and it seemed like we enjoyed each other's company. We both smiled and laughed a lot, even casually touched each other occasionally. But I kind of get the feeling that this is a guy who doesn't really date. As in, he has a life other than work that is fulfilling (something I know nothing about, since all I'm allowed to do is work..) So there is my difficulty. How does one get to know someone who seems interested without being forward. Oh, I know, I could go for the slutty approach, It worked with my ex-husband...But for some strange reason, that doesn't seem like a viable option. Call me self-defeating, I know.

So what I'm asking for here, boys and grrls, is not relationship advice, but a survival guide. I'm mean, I'm pretty savvy when it comes to stuff like changing a tire, fixing plumbing, trouble shooting a sound system, and the occasional brain surgery, but I know nothing about being single, other than being a hermit.

C'mon, y'all...help a sista out...