Mixed Signals

On Friday we had a happy hour after work at Wizards Sports Bar in Richardson. Nachos, Quesadillas and free drinks from 4-6. I love free anything and if you mix free in a social setting and you are singing my song.

I noticed that lately I don’t get out much. I go to the movies, I eat dinner with friends, I play ultimate, I work out, I do Yoga, but I don’t go OUT.

So Friday I found myself having a great time hanging with friends from work and after they wanted to go to Pete’s Piano bar in Addison. I decided to pass on that because Pete’s is only fun if you are in the mood to be zany and after 2+ hours of socializing I was ready just to chill out.

Saturday I didn’t go to Ultimate Frisbee and so I went to see Fool’s Gold with some cute girls from work. One of them is single and the other one’s boyfriend is in Alaska in the military. We had a good time and then Claudia said, “Hey, my friend is having a birthday party at Al Amir tonight, you want to come?”

As I get older I find myself less inclined to be spontaneous and so I said, “I will let you know.” I came home and had very little to do and so at around 7 I was going stir crazy. I wasn’t sure I was ready for the Al Amir club scene complete with Lebanese food and belly dancers. I called Roger and Jes to see what they were up to only to find that Jes was off in New York with Nicole and Roger was having a guys night with some old college friends. I decided it was time to get cleaned up and head to Al Amir and I was so glad I did.

Claudia didn’t show up until about 15 minutes after I arrived and this birthday party for her friend ended up being huge. There were at least 50 of us all grouped up at this ridiculously long table and I couldn’t help but notice how pretty everyone was. This was a scene I could be down with. The birthday girl was very attractive, but what was so impressive about her was the way that she made everyone feel included. She went around and took pictures with everyone, even me whom she had just met.

My friend Claudia arrived and we ate dinner and afterwards there was dancing. At first the dance floor was empty and no one wanted to dance. I hate that. It’s so lame. I don’t like it when people are too self conscious or too cool to be on the dance floor when it isn’t packed, but I have to remember that 98% of the population is not extroverted like me and to expect them to be is just dumb. I waited and had a few mojito’s and some hookah with T and found that I was really, really enjoying myself. I love ethnic places like Al Amir becuase of the diversity. So many beautiful exotic women and I met a girl that could have been the future Mrs. Renz. I know I’ve said this before but my word, she was so unbelievably attractive and fun and she had a gorgeous sister too. What was most amazing about both of them was that they appeared to be oblivious to their total hotness. I danced with both of them a bunch and we had a blast and some great laughs. I loved it.

I got home last night around 1:30 and decided that I am going to get out more, especially with groups of people that I won’t form attachments to.

So now to the title of this post… the girl that invited me, Claudia, invited me to this party and then later I noticed her dancing with this guy from the group. She can be very intense and I think most guys would confuse that with attraction. She has a way of looking at you and when you are talking sometimes she looks at your lips and you find yourself wondering if she wants to kiss you. I thought she was pretty attractive, not really my type, but I thought we might have some fun and so I went to the party. I later realized that was just her personality. We had chemistry, but she was oblivious to it. Late last night she came over and stood by me and put her head on my shoulder and said she was tired. Once again, this sort of closeness can be misconstrued. She had also invited me to lunch with her today to eat Venezuelan food and said, “Yeah, this guy invited me to lunch with him, you can come if you want…”

It was this statement that really made me realize that she had no idea that guys were attracted to her, or maybe they thought she was attracted to them when in reality she was just hanging out and being friendly. That guy was probably asking her out on a date and here she was inviting male friends. I saw other guys flirting with her too, but once again, I think she was sending them signals that she didn’t intend to send.

Either way, I had a great time and since I am not looking for anything more than the occasional ncmo, I was happy just to be out dancing and having a good time. Plus, this big group was mostly from Fellowship Downtown Dallas and I’ve been wanting to branch out and try some new churches.