The return of Bachelor #6

To refresh your memory, Bachelor #6 is the fireman/soccer coach father of two young kids who also runs a landscaping business in the summer and plows snow for his township in the winter.

The reason I ultimately declined his initial offer of meeting over coffee is because he admitted that his divorce wasn’t finalized and that’s important to me. Well, now that I’m back to sampling the salad bar, he sent me an email on Monday to update me that his divorce is much closer to being final and things are moving faster, if that makes a difference, because he’d still like to meet me. What the hell. I doubt this will be a love connection because I don’t think we’ll have enough in common, but he is such a nice guy! I really want to meet him. You know that phrase about caution and the wind?

After a few email exchanges, and a delightful phone conversation last night, we agreed on dinner tonight at 6:30pm at a local brew pub. He’s from way out in the country, but I’m making him come to me, which he seems very willing to do in order to try this place (he’s not tried a lot of things, but is willing to learn). Although he does seem concerned about being able to find a parking space for his massive doublewide pickup truck. (We’ll see how he does.)

Furthermore, I’m also emailing with an avid hiker/kayaker (41 years old) who I originally thought was a jerk (the lead example here), but who started emailing me the moment I un-hid my profile (kept it hidden while I was dating the jalapeno). And you know what? He seems like a smart, hard-working, decent and fun-loving guy who used to “work for the military” and then held some government contracts in biometrics and aviation (!!!), but then he wanted a normal job (online product & development manager) so that he could enjoy life. Apparently, he’s got no money problems. (I’m dying to know what it was he did for the military!!) So we’re email-talking and it’s going quite well. His pictures are super-cute, too. At one point he said, “Why do I get the feeling that your pictures, as beautiful as they may be, don’t do you justice?”

I coyly replied that perhaps he would just have to judge my physical appearance in person some day – and Friday and Saturday evenings are free in case he was wondering. Saucy minx, me. 😉 (He’s definitely the most exciting man I’m communicating with right now.)

Then there’s the 49-year-old sales guy who is also a published novelist with a wicked sense of humor – he made me laugh with his words on screen, which as you know is a huge intellectual turn-on for me. I gave him my number and he said he’d call me sometime this week.

Then there’s the IT manager. He looks pretty cute, loves sushi and adventure (from riding his Harley to grabbing a bunch of random foods at the farmer’s market and then figuring out what to make – which appeals to me because I do that, too!).

And let’s not forget the lawyer I’m talking to who specializes in investment law and federal regulations who is an avid sports photographer and outdoors activity buff in his free time. 🙂

Of course, that’s not including the four guys I turned down almost instantly yesterday when they contacted me. Honestly, I’ve reached the point in my pickiness that if a man doesn’t proofread his writing or can’t recognize a misspelled word or use proper capitalization and paragraphs, I’m not interested. Because there are plenty of men who know how to express themselves in writing, as I’m discovering (see all the ones I describe above), so I feel less guilty about being a writing snob. Just one more way to separate the keepers from the stinkers. (This may be classist, but I’m getting so many responses that I am able to start dividing the group into smaller and smaller numbers and yes, those who rise to the top tend to be the higher earners with better educations, written and verbal skills, and more professional jobs. For better or worse, that’s the level I’m playing at.)

I’ve upgraded my salad bar from fast-food level to mid-level chain restaurant in less than two months! (If this was a video game, I’d get major bonus points for this. And probably some extra super power, like Buyer Beware X-ray vision to check out the package through the jeans to determine whether to proceed. heehee! Although in all honesty, the couple of guys I’ve dallied with in this way were anything but disappointing. I now have high hopes this trend continues.)

I’m really enjoying being single – this is fun. As it should be. 😉