the easy part is meeting them. the hard part is everything else...

being a single twenty-something female is an interesting experience. although, i will concede that my experience does not stand as a universal truth by any stretch of the imagination. i live in new orleans (party city!), i have ZERO single male friends, i have several friends who are married, pregnant, or already have kids. also, i am pretty fearless with the opposite sex.

i throw that last fact in because i have a lot of single female friends who aren't. they have a very different experience from me in that they don't "meet" people. i've gotten to the point, however, where i realize that a man isn't going to just show up at my door and announce that he is my new boyfriend, best friend, future husband, whatever. granted, if someone did that, i'm pretty sure i would slam the door shut faster than you can say "God's gift to women..."

now, not every guy i meet when i'm out is worth even the time it takes me to smile and say hello. i can usually judge that pretty quickly (practice makes perfect, i guess). take for example friday night of this past week. in an effort to "put myself out there" in a variety of different situations, i went to a social event hosted by my friend's nonprofit. i dragged my friend along with me a) for support, 2) because we always lament the lack of "new people" in our lives, and d) you always need a wingman. there were plenty of new people there, male and female. we had mojitos, chips and dip, and pasta salad along with our social interaction.

after chatting up several different people (even exchanging business cards! but for work purposes only) two young gentlemen approached our corner of the room. they strategically placed themselves so that a conversation would be inevitable (not very subtley, i might add). anyway, i began chatting first with B, who initiated conversation while his wingman casually engaged my previous conversation partner. B was actually very charming, funny, attractive, etc... he was able to do three things in the conversation that i appreciated. he could stay on topic (and not just talk about himself), he could make me laugh with comments that fit into the conversation, and he would occasionally refer back to an earlier part of the conversation which accomplishes two things, proves he was listening and makes it feel like we have an established friendship already.

eventually my friend joined the conversation along with B's friend, G. we were all having a grand time talking and laughing. nothing seemed amiss and there was definitely a spark of interest between myself and B. but as the conversation kept going, it became obvious to me at some point that the next step needed to be taken. so i began with "what are you guys doing later tonight?" (it was only about 8:30 at this point).

what followed was a disaster. B said something dumb along the lines of "oh, probably something alone, by myself. it's a lonely city" to which i replied, unamused "really? new orleans is a lonely city?" then B and G proceeded to shoot sideways glances at each other, laugh, and refer to some sort of "inside joke." ugh. over it. and we left.

our next encounter was with two guys at one of our regular bars. i was feeling a little saucy at that point, so after catching A's eye a few times i finally winked at him. and of course he came over with his friend...?...to chat. while i thought A was hilarious and fun...my friend was not equally amused with ? so after dragging her with me to go to another bar with them and play a game of pool, i had to inform A that i needed to get my friend home. she was over it. so i gave A my number, bid him farewell, and hoped for the best. haven't heard from him since.

the easy part is meeting them. the hard part is everything else.

if nothing else, i'm becoming more open to meeting new people and, at the same time, more discerning about who actually deserves my time and energy when i'm out with friends. at least, that's what i'm hoping to get from this whole experience.

in other news...
i'm a sucker for obscure pop-culture references. i'll forgive a lot of sins if you can pull out lines like "in the game LIFE, did you always go to college?" (of course my answer was "yes, always" and his was "never, waste of six spaces")