Date with a Marine

I should never have doubted the United States Marine Corps. I meet one cute Navy guy and I’m ready to turn my back? What kind of fickleness is that? My mother raised me better than that! So, Marine Corps, I’m back claiming you as my favorite military branch and will never forsake you every again! You were always the one for me. I hope you accept my humble apologies. What brings this on? I had a date with a cute Marine. Duh! So, on Thursday morning, there was a cute guy on eharmony who had “government” listed as his occupation. We did the back and forth throughout the day. He responded nearly as quickly as I did, which was a plus. He asked for my number that night and we spent 3 hours on the phone. This guy was hilarious and sweet and sarcastic. He graduated from Texas A&M, so he’s an officer: a Captain, to be exact. Kind of a sexy rank. He wanted to hang out on Friday, but I had plans with Curly. I told him that I was going to LA, so I couldn’t til Saturday. Then on Friday he texted me that he had to go to work on Saturday cause his unit had to see another unit deploy. And, he sprained his ankle really bad that morning. My inner Florence Nightengale kicked in, and I wanted to go take care of him. What is it about someone being hurt that makes me want to take care of them? Like, I want to rush in and save him. Granted, it’s a sprained ankle, but I know it hurt a lot. So, I did what any reasonable person would do and canceled on Curly. I told him that my friend broke her ankle and I had to go take care of her. How is it that I am canceling on the hottest guy I’ve talked to thus far to go meet a Marine I’d been talking to for one day? Apparently Eharmony is turning me into a heartless person. Curly was very understanding and told me to let him know when I could reschedule. Look at me turning down the hot guy for the guy I clicked with in a day. Granted, if he weren’t a Marine, I probably wouldn’t have canceled on Curly. But, that is neither here nor there, because he is one. I told the Captain that I would drive down to him since his ankle was hurt. We went to this really good sushi restaurant. It was awfully convenient that we both liked the same rolls. Apparently this place was his normal hang out, cause everyone who worked there knew him. One of the ladies who worked there stared at me the entire time we were there. I took that as “Oh my gosh! He’s with a girl!” My sister said it was probably cause she was thinking “Wow, this guy brings in a new girl every day!” or “That’s not his girlfriend!” What a supportive family I come from! So, we had dinner and it was good and he was so fun to hang out with! I was real awkward at first. He called me out on that actually. I guess when I would talk, I wouldn’t look at him, and he pointed that out. Who are you, Miss Manners? Shut it dude! We hung out at his place after with his buddy who is staying at his place for a while (another Marine). I don’t think the buddy was expecting a girl to walk through the door, cause he literally stopped talking and looked surprised when I came through. Then again, he could have been thinking exactly what my sister said the waitress was thinking. It’s really hard to tell. We hung out and watched South Park. I love a man who will watch cartoons with me. We then watched a George Carlin routine. It was good times for sure, though I was out way too late, considering I had to be at USC so early on Saturday to watch the Trojans get spanked by Stanford. (Seriously. Stanford. What the heck?!) He texted me early Saturday morning. That was cute. I mean, I love the texts from a guy just to let me know he’s thinking about me. I hope we hang out again. He’s a lot of fun. And, well, he’s a Marine. (I personally relate to that scene in Grease where Marty Marashino is talking about her penpal and she says he's a Marine. And then all the girls exclaim "A Marine!" and then squeal excitedly. Yeah...that's me.) I probably messed up, cause I texted him this morning around 11 to see if he wanted to hang out. He responded that he just woke up and was feeling hung over. And he threw in a “hahaha”. So…I don’t know. I guess it's a good sign he responded? Maybe it's not a good sign he didn't want to hang out? Maybe his sprained ankle, swine flu shot and hangover really made him feel gross? Maybe I need to remember that some people are not as excited as I am and want to hang out all the time. Like the Comic, even if he digs a chick, probably won’t hang out with her more than once a week for a long time. But, he has many dumb rules (like no coffee dates or day dates) which I don’t agree with. What is it with dudes and their rules? Maybe I should stop overanalyzing and overthinking every little thing? I’m going to kick back and not text the Captain again, and see what he does. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, but I’m horrible at the beginning of relationships. Like, I guess I shouldn’t have texted him today, but why not? If I want to hang out and had time, why not tell him? But, the new me has vowed that I will be patient and try to play by the rules. Some of the rules. I’ll think about playing by the rules. I’ll think about the rules while I’m breaking them. I think I made progress today. Instead of texting the Captain I went to the gym, cleaned my apartment, bought a coffee maker, and studied for a whole bunch of hours. Maybe not texting boys is what I need to be a clean and healthy straight-A student! Two other dudes from Eharmony called me tonight. A teacher I’ve been talking to, and this Honduran dude. I didn’t answer my phone. I just wasn’t feeling up to it. Maybe I’ll call them back tomorrow. Besides, it seems guys are super interested when you don’t show them interest, and then back-off when you do. So, maybe I’ll call them in 2 weeks and just be like “Oh man, I’ve been so busy. But I have a free 43 minutes tomorrow at 11:20pm. Interested?” And then they’ll be so stoked that I worked them in that they’ll propose at 11:34. I think that would work for Paris Hilton, but not me. I just can’t play games. Can’t do it. But, I can work on not putting my heart on my sleeve, or at being too available. I hope the Captain calls. I’m not holding out for the Captain, but I’m hoping he’ll call. Adopted brother #1 said I need to not go out with cops or marines anymore and meet a computer nerd. I don’t know about that. At this point, I’m just looking for a dude who I’m compatible with, whether he’s a marine or a computer guy, or anything in between. I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want in a relationship. And in doing this, I’ve been thinking about all of the couples in my life and what I can learn from them.

#5: The Newlyweds. They are just an adorable couple; the kind that you know just really enjoys each others company. They do the cutest couple costumes for Halloween. They offer to get the other a glass of wine, or a napkin or whatever when we’re all hanging out. And they’re comfortable doing their own thing and having their own lives. They’re just that couple who are completely in sync with each other, and it’s apparent to everyone. With this couple, you know if it came down to them against the world, they’d take it on, and succeed.

#4: It Couple. They’re the It Couple, so you know I have a lot to learn from them. I think what’s most important about It Couple is that they laugh at each other’s jokes. I mean, even the bad ones. Of course, he will call her out for a bad joke or she’ll call him out, but they still laugh about it. They get each other. Even when there are arguments or disagreements, they manage to laugh after and get over it. These two are on completely opposite ends of the political spectrum, so you know they argue, but they still manage to respect each other and come to a happy middle. Maybe that’s what I’m learning from them: compromise and humor.

#3: The Brits. My best friend and her husband are just the most adorable couple. They’re both so sweet and good-natured. And, even though it was cheesy when I said it in my maid-of-honor speech I still believe it: I know what love is when I see the way he looks at her. You can just see the love spewing from his eyes. (Ok, I guess “spew” isn’t the best word to describe love, but deal with it.) And now they’re having a baby! They are just too darn cute for words!

#2: Sunnbeam and Groucho. Ok, Sunnbeam is my cat and Groucho is my parents cat, but please bear with me. These cats are as in love as any cat couple could be. They’re always together. They cuddle in the sun, and clean each other. She waits til he’s done eating to eat. He kills little critters and brings them to her. I bet in any 24 hour period, they’re only apart for a total of 45 minutes. They’re just enjoy each other’s company that much. Granted, they snap at each other and fight sometimes. But, that only lasts for like a minute, and then they’re back to cleaning each other. Maybe a bath is the key to getting over a fight?

#1: My parents. Of course they’re number 1. Come on. My parents are best friends. They do everything together. They share the same interests. They put up with each other. (Trust me, in my family, we are all so stubborn and crazy that at times, it’s putting up.) They work through all the problems and support each other. They even know each other’s passwords to email, voice mails, etc. Not that I need to know that from my future partner. But, it must be nice to be at that level of honesty and trust.

So, what I’ve learned from this list is that to be in a successful relationship, I need to dress up in costumes while laughing and spewing, then give a bath and share my email password. Thanks happy couples for enlightening me! Be expecting wedding invitations in the mail soon, cause now that I know the secret to being in a happy and successful relationship, I’m ready for my soul mate.