Online Journal (April 10, 2003)

Well, expecting (more hoping than anything) Jeni to call me back (I've had many arguments with various people over who's responsibility it was to call whom--apparently I was supposed to call her, even though she's the one with the "busy" problem), I waited. And waited. And got depressed. And waited. And finally gave up, conceding that no girl with any interest would be that busy. Jay and Sara, on the other hand, finally convinced me (made me promise) to call her again. Well, today I was planning to call while she was in class (voice mail is so much easier to talk to), but I slept in too long (for once) and had an obligation with Ryan to go looking for apartments together. After I picked him up, I mentioned that I was going to call Jeni, but since I was stuck carting his ass around I wasn't going to. He said I should call her anyway and see if she'd want to go get food (or something). So I did. She was supposed to be in her last class of the day anyway, so what could it hurt to talk to her voice mail, right?

Well, she didn't go to that class today, so she answered her phone. I played it as cool as I can (which wasn't bad considering I didn't think she'd answer) and asked her out for food. She said she was waiting for a phone call from a friend, but to call her back after Ryan and I were finished looking at the house we were headed to.

I did just that, and she hadn't received her phone call yet and decided to meet us at Hacienda. Ryan and I got there first and put our names on the wait list. Now, at this point, Ryan and I had figured out that he and Jeni had gone to school together at Clay, but for the life of him he couldn't remember her. Until she drove past us looking for a parking space. I get this, "Oh, shit. I know her." Dead-pan. I don't know if this is good or bad, so I just tell him to pretend like we hadn't already discussed the fact that I knew they went to school together, since I wasn't technically supposed to know she had gone to Clay in the first place (I sort of peeked at her address on an application for a library card when we went to the library the first time). She came up and instantly recognized Ryan. Let me tell you, that was fun (sarcasm). Not only do they know each other, but over the course of dinner, I find out they used to hang out together, and after dinner (in the seclusion of my own car) I learn that they've made out before (that sounds so "eighth grade", but it almost seems important). I'm still trying to figure out how he's been such good friends with her and can't even remember her when her WHOLE name is mentioned.

So Ryan and I are discussing our options for getting a place together, and Ryan, looking at the classifieds, jokes that we should go ahead and get the 4-bedroom house that's going for $1200/mo. Jokingly, I reply that we should, and Jeni could be the fourth person (we've were looking for a 3-bedroom apartment, since there would be three of us). Seriously, she says she'd want to do that. Seriously. So Ryan called up the number in the paper, and tomorrow we go to look at the house (in a Clay subdivision). If it's as nice as what the guy says it is, I'd love to live there. I'll just have to convince Lori (Saros) that it's a good idea. Or decide that I'd rather ditch her and live with Ryan, Jeni, and some other unknown person. I'm pretty sure which one I'd choose.

Unfortunately, that's where the fairy tale ends. So dinner was enjoyable. I take Ryan home, and as I'm doing that, he gets a call from Jeni. She called to tell him that she felt bad because she's sort of seeing somebody (even though when Ryan asked her that question she said she wasn't). I guess the good thing is that she didn't say she wasn't interested or anything like that. In fact, she specifically told Ryan that she kind of wished she wasn't. But that doesn't change anything in the near future. I wouldn't expect her to stop seeing that guy just because of me.

"You see, I like you and all, but there's this other guy that I kind of like and he seems to like me, so I'd rather pursue that option. Have a great life." No, it's understandable that even though she might be interested in me, she'd stay with the other guy.

And that's where potentiall moving in together turns into more of a positive than a negative. Now I won't have to think up lame excuses to call her (part of the reason it's so hard for me to do that). Eventually we'll get to know each other a lot better, and as I've said to people about this, people get to know each other through dating. Another less used way to learn about another person is to move in with them. Maybe she'll learn to like me more after seeing me on a daily basis. Or perhaps she won't, and we'll have skipped a horrible step in relationships. Either way, this could turn out even better than at first anticipated.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't upset. I am, and a lot. But I'm glad that I know the situation (even if she doesn't know that I know). And I'm also glad that she's been so nice about everything. It makes me feel good about being friends with her, if that's all that ever comes from this.

Mini-Movie Review:Formula 51 starring Samuel L. Jackson. Oh, this was funnier than probably intended, and well worth the $0 that we paid (free "rental"). More importantly, it was worth the two hours or so we spent watching the movie. While entertained, this movie made me realize something about the movies I've been watching lately. Mainly, all of them have used a simple trick where the viewer thinks he or she has it "all figured out," but then the director or script throws in something completely different. Lately, it's been one person screwing over another person when the viewer didn't have any reason to suspect that the screwer had a reason to screw over the screwee. Now that was pretty cool the first couple of times that happened, but now it's come to the point where it's pissing me off. I won't hold this against Formula 51, since never at any point in the movie do you suspect that Samuel L. Jackson's character ever does anything for anybody other than himself. In the future, however, I will be extremely pissed if I get caught off guard, or worse, if I see it coming. Beware, movie makers! (7/10)

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- April 10, 2003