8 weeks, 8 dates.

S and I decided eight dates will do us justice. Him with his alley cat energy and I with my recent status change. The deal is this: one date a week, eight weeks, one letter written per date, all collected and to be exchanged at Barnsdall Park over a bottle of “chicken wine”- the rosé with the chicken on the bottle. I should be writing a dissertation but instead I’m sat at LAX waiting to catch a flight that my mother, father, sister-in-law, and S expected me to miss. 13 missed calls, an hour drive with a rat’s nest of hair, and two yerba mate cans and an iced latte later, I’m an hour early with straight hair. Each date will be pretty innocent. I’ve gotten the whole sleep with someone else thing out of my system. Someone new. Someone I actually really enjoy. He’s tall, handsome, kind, and loosely dating a 33-year-old actress back home. Plus, he can build shit and looks good doing it. He’s the only person who knows about this site, not sure why I mentioned it but he promised he wouldn’t read. We’ll see… hey M. I’m taking a page out of S’s book- have a good time, be good to other people, and don’t take it too seriously. Is there a way to casually date and not end up hurting someone? I think so. I think honesty is probably the biggest part of that. Another thing I’ve been thinking: the only real difference between dating a few people casually and polyamory is introducing those people to one another. I don’t think (I don’t know) that you can really go deep when you date multiple people at once. Calling someone your ‘partner’ and introducing them to your other ‘partners’ is just casual dating wrapped up with a pretty bow at the end of the day. I think when you casually date you go just as deep with those people as your ‘open’ coworker has with his wife. Or am I just not evolved enough to be open to it? Anyhow, a date a week till I make my official move, then S and I will have a good laugh.