Out of the Blue

Today was a pretty good day! There were a couple of announcements at work that were reasonably exciting. There will be a little bit of movement among the ranks that could potentially help me out. It's a long shot but at least it will shake things up at work a little and for the better for once. We also got a grant to start a new project that I was asked to help on. I like being asked to meetings. I'm weird like that.

Out of the blue I was also asked to rewrite a presentation I gave in New York last spring into an article to be included in an anthology about queer grad students. Pretty exciting news!

Then this afternoon, again out of the blue, the Mysterious Stranger (MS) sent me a text to see if I wanted to have coffee with him. We had coffee on Sunday also. This means we've seen each other five times in the last couple of weeks - 4 coffees, and one tour at work. I was a little concerned that all the coffees somehow meant he was only interested in my friendship. I can always use a new friend though, so that would be just fine even if that's all that works out. Sunday's coffee was completely spur of the moment, I was a mess, I had been out grocery shopping, he sent a text saying he was going to be at such-and-such coffee shop. I texted back, "is that an invitation?" and asked how long he would be there. At that exact moment I was waiting at Pizza Hut for a spur of the moment pizza purchase. The pizza got done, I took it home, stuffed it in the fridge, and had coffee instead. I was all buggered up from daylight savings time anyway and had been debating between coffee and lunch for a couple of hours but the fact that I put a perfectly good pizza in the fridge uneaten... well that should tell me something. We had a great chat and I felt my metaphorical walls starting to crack. He randomly asked me if I wanted to go to the shooting range with him and I heard myself explain that I had a lot of cleaning to do and that I should go home. I immediately regretted it. Going to the shooting range really isn't my thing, but it's not something I'm opposed to either. I shot guns when I was younger. I grew up on a cattle ranch for crying out loud. It might have been fun. Plus it was the first time he asked me to do something other than have coffee. I felt like an idiot for saying no. I could have spent the afternoon with him and instead I went home to scrub my toilet. Stupid! Back to today... Another text message saying he would be at such-and-such coffee place. I replied that I would love to and that I needed a break from work anyway. I showed up, he showed up like 30 seconds after me, we sat and chatted and I felt myself opening up, my walls started to crumble a little more. I needed to get back to work so we left and as we were in the parking lot he off handedly mentioned that he was starting his shift tomorrow and that I probably wouldn't hear from him for a few days. I knew he worked 11 hour shifts 4 days a week but it was kind of sweet of him to mention it. Later in the day he asked if we could try cocktails next week instead of coffee. An upgrade!!! YAY!