where the heck I have been . . .

Soooo. There's been a terrible neglect of blog around here, shameful really. About two months ago, my level of boredom reached a critical mass, and there was nothing to be done but to throw myself face-first into the dating pool (very out of character for me. As you might have guessed, I'm more a fan of wading lightly than diving in). All told, it was either start dating, or sell all my worldly possessions, move to Paris, and become a topiary artist. The Best Roommate Ever wasn't too fond of the uprooting-my-entire-life idea, so dating it was. I followed Yarn or Death's rules (Step 1: DO NOT pay for online dating), and set myself up on a site she recommended advertising myself as a nerdy girl, and BOOM! I was covered in boys. Turns out that's the way to go with internet dating: appeal to all the introverted nerd boys. It seems so obvious in hindsight. :-)

I wasn't in it for anything serious; after all, I have BRE, and what guy could compete with that? (Despite numerous bets by both our sets of coworkers, BRE and I are, sadly, strictly platonic. Otherwise, we'd already be married.)
I settled in quite happily to a whirlwind routine of being flirted with by interesting guys. It was a lot of fun: I got to get all dressed up and pretty and go out to eat with someone new who thought I was cool and pretty, which is just good for the ego. I met some really nice guys with whom I was completely incompatible: one revealed over dinner that he was a Libertarian and didn't believe in global warming; another seemed perfectly normal and awesome until we were trying to schedule our third date, which somehow devolved into a fight over vegetarianism, which he asserted was pointless because broccoli has a central nervous system and can feel pain. Uh huh. Sorry, I have standards. I can't date guys who are dumber than a brick.
Then, there was another one, who now has the nickname Shiny New Boyfriend. Yep. It happened. Our first date lasted six hours. We talked in the restaurant until the wait staff started shooing us out the door, then we talked in the coffee shop next door until the staff started putting chairs up on tables and sweeping the floor, then we talked on a bench outside the coffee shop until BRE started panicking that I'd been killed by some weirdo I met off the internet and called and yelled at me for not answering my phone. Poor girl.
We've been together for a month so far, and it's been great. He took me to the sculpture exhibit at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, which I'd been DYING to see, and we strolled through it in the rain and he recited poetry to me. It doesn't even sound real, and yet somehow this has become my life. It's bizarre. When did I stumble into a romantic comedy?

picture shamelessly stolen from www.mooreinamerica.blogspot.com

He made me teach him how to knit. I was knitting on our first date (I prefer to get the crazy right out in the open), and he was absolutely fascinated and revealed that he had once started a scarf which was now languishing, and would I teach him so he could finish it? Well, you don't have to ask me twice. I swear, all I did was put the needles in his hands and show him once, and he was off and knitting. And purling. He's a natural.
Shiny New Boyfriend is fantastic. He is intelligent and funny and absolutely the most interesting person I've met. He's thoughtful and feministy and has a real weakness for super-nerdy smart girls, which works out well for me. He loves my cats even though he's allergic and he thinks BRE is the greatest thing ever. It's all very troubling, but I might have to keep him.