From the Dept. of You Can't Make This Up...

So you recall a few nights ago I had a benign outing with The Artist from the Western Suburbs.

Him: Tall, broad-shouldered, leather coat and scally cap, drives a lime green VW Beetle. Can talk at length about Belgian ales and running and forges steel sheets into quirky household products in his spare time. Has had enough romantic relationships of varying sorts to have some wisdom, but not drone on. After our drink at a pub on Waltham's main drag, we browsed through a bookstore and he confessed to not being as in love with Harry Potter books as perhaps is the fashion.

This was all well and good. Except that The Artist and I had no spark. Borderline flat-lining. As I already mentioned, I was certain he felt the same level of zero. Because when he dropped me at the train I gave him a smile and a wave and stepped out of his car, and he just smiled back. There were no promises of a future meeting.

I did, however, follow up Monday night with an e-mail:

K: I apologize for not dropping you a note sooner, as I meant to, to thank you for showing me a bit of downtown Waltham on Sunday night. I know that I was a less than ideal conversationalist. Part of that was surely that I was tired (as I said, probably too often). I also didn't quite sense that we had a natural chemistry to take to the bank, and felt thusly quiet.

Nonetheless.....I wish you all the best -- not only in your art projects but the marathon, of course, and just generally.

The Artist had always been a gentleman. So I expected he might acknowledge my note in some way.

What I didn't expect was this response (used with permission of the author):

A: This Artist from the Western Suburbs knew that already, but thank you for the note.

The "casual hand on thigh" was a simple test to see where I was at, when you needed to "stretch" I got the hint. I love subtle communication! Glad to hear it was loud and clear on both sides! Most women are terrible about giving closure, so thank you.

I was actually going to write you Thursday night to do the same. Why Thursday night? Well, later that night on OKC, I was chatting some girl and we got talking about "no chemistry" dates. I said I just got back from one with a marathoner. The girl said "Does she write a blog?" "Yes". She asked what your name was, I replied and she squeals out: "OMG, I have been reading about you!"

After some convincing she points me to the blog, and now she wants to meet the "Artist" on Thursday. I was holding off writing because I know anything I say can be used against me in the court of blog....

By the way, I am thrilled with the moniker! I am glad to see my personal identity is what I want it to be!

So, in a strange way, you are helping me get a lady. I think you should make this into a formal recycling program. You have lots of ladies out there that are reading. Why not offer up some of us to the fans? Make an event of it: You can host the party here. Every girl must bring a single guy that they did not click with, and it will be a swap meet!

Good luck out there and I will keep you updated on how things go....