A night at the beer garden, watching the 2009 World Series, introduced me to Anthony. Oddly enough he had the same name as Thom Thumb (shocker right? His name wasn't actually "Thom Thumb"). I thought "Hey, maybe Anthony will be a theme for me this year." "You’re name’s not Anthony, I’m sorry, I can’t give you my phone number." This story ended a few days later, which could be considered progress since Thom Thumb only made it 24 hours.
I took interest in him because we had the same shoes on – laceless Converse. It was a conversation starter. I talked to him for maybe twenty minutes total that night, and within that time I think he told me his age about three times. He’s 38. Aside from his age and how young he felt he looked, we did cover the topic of food. I had said his sweater reminded me of pumpkin muffins, and like I mentioned before, I have the eating habits of a child. I don’t like plants; aside from peas, corn, potatoes and lentils. Although I don’t know if a lentil qualifies as a plant. Is a bean a plant? Anyway, Anthony let me know that he loves plants - especially lettuce. He told me with a little too much confidence that, "Oh… I eat about three heads of lettuce a week. That’s why I look so young! I’m 38." I didn't have the best feeling about this one, but figured I would give it at least one date. Maybe he was nervous and that's why he was prattling on. I've done it; I think we all have.
A few days later at brunch, I realized it wasn't nerves; Anthony was entirely too interested in himself, which made me not at all interested in him. Some highlights from my time with him: he didn't take off his sunglasses once during our meal, he skipped his high school reunion because he had a cold sore, and he had a bicycle crew. Yes, bicycle. He had dubbed them the "Handsome Devils." They all had matching bicycles, in different colors. There's really not much more to be said about that, maybe just an eye roll and a mildly disapproving head shake. Brunch was brief, and as we walked away from the restaurant, him back to his car, me back to the pier, I waited until he was out of sight - and deleted his number. It was a bad week for Anthonys.
Nov 30, 2009
Nov 26, 2009
Nov 18, 2009
Friendship
It's funny how the things you do to build a foundation are the same things that fall through the cracks in it.
Nov 7, 2009
There May Be a "Second Book" Coming
Chapter 1: Thom Thumb - A Love Story
No one ever said that meeting people at a bar was difficult; it’s meeting QUALITY people at a bar that’s hard. But you think to yourself, I am a quality person, there must be other people like me out there and I am going to find them. So you go out, and you try to meet Mr. or Mrs. Right, but you end up with people like Thom Thumb.
Let me explain. I was out with my sister watching baseball. I noticed an attractive man at the end of the bar; and it took him all night to come up and talk to me. It made him seem charming, shy and genuine. He also added how bad he was at talking to girls at bars. We hit it off and he had me laughing - which is key. He seemed pretty great, but isn’t everyone in the beginning? I noticed he kept his right hand in his pocket and a few minutes later I saw why. He had a slightly odd thumb that I thought may be the result of some sort of accident, but it had a baby fingernail so I suppose it was just deformed. I wondered for a moment if that was something that was going to bother me or something I would be hung up on. I imagined him holding my hand, shaking people’s hands, or running his hands through his hair, all with his baby thumb. (Sure, you may be calling me mean, but if you’re honest, you know you’d be doing the same thing.) The man was sweet and funny, so I figured I would just go with it. Maybe a tiny thumb was something I needed in my life. After an hour or so of talking to him, and having a dance off with the fellow bar-goers, I headed home. He took my number and said he wanted to take me out to a sushi dinner. When I mentioned that I eat like a five year old he suggested McDonald’s and wine. So far so good.
The next day, while my sister was being texted ceaselessly by the Irish man she met the night before, I wondered if I’d here from my guy. Before long, I did. A nice little note saying he enjoyed meeting me and hoped my day was going well. It was. When I got home that night and was getting ready to go out to catch the game with my friend Paul, I got a text message telling me to swing by the bar; they were out watching the game again.
This is when you start to run over the rules in your head. “I shouldn’t go, because I need to give the impression that I am busy.” “I can’t be too accessible; people always say that men don’t like that.” I always have been, and likely always will be, someone who just does what they feel is right. And I do believe that when I meet the right person, all the “rules” and “games” will just go away because it’s right. That, or my theory is wrong and I will end up alone and be the neighborhood cat lady. Check in with me in twenty years and I’ll let you know how that one panned out.
So, anyways, I grabbed Paul and we went to the bar. If we pause for a moment here; I sometimes wonder if this is another area I go wrong in… the male friend. But then I think to myself, I’ve agreed to go out with Thom Thumb, so clearly, he knows I'm interested. I wouldn’t show up at a bar with another man that I was interested in, that would be weird. One would think. After introducing Paul to Mr. Thumb, we all stood around talking. I noticed that Paul and I were doing most of the talking so I made the effort to engage Thom some more. That’s when I noticed something was off. He was talking to random girls at the bar - and he wasn’t shy about it; in fact, they were all laughing and having a great time. So what was he going on and on about the night before? A half hour later he was getting their phone numbers right in front of me. At this point I deleted his number because clearly he wasn’t interested or the charming man I met last night wasn’t so much at all. The girls left and Thom made some more small talk with me, before leaving.
I was a little blown away by the fact that he invited me out so I could watch him hit on other women, but it was so brazen I found myself laughing at the whole situation. It was the first memorable encounter of my new life living in Hoboken. I knew at that moment that this was going to be a wildly interesting time in my life, so I texted my friend, “I love Hoboken,” as Thom walked out the door.
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