The Pittsburgh Saga Continues (with a light at the end of the tunnel)
So I’m sitting in the coffee shop at 2nd and Christian, not because I like the coffee shop at 2nd and Christian (too full of babbling Queen Village brats) but because it’s too hot to walk any further, when I find myself in a bit of a pickle. I’m supposed to email my schedule around to the Young Adult Friends committee I’m on so we can settle on a weekend for our planning retreat in August but I can’t.
Why? Well, I’m also supposed to go to visit Date #7 in August but I don’t know when.
I draft him a quick email explaining the situation (something along the lines “August is a rather long month… any particular weekends strike your fancy?”), but then I feel like I’m being pushy, so I delete it.
Conventional wisdom tells me he’ll issue an official invite when he’s good and ready and trying to force him to do so is only going to lead to resentment and my being cast entirely too early into the role of the nagging girlfriend.
(Shudder. It’s way, way, WAY too early for that.)
So I submit my schedule to the YAFs in the hopes that I don’t end up double booking myself and get down to work the next order of business: Fringe stuff.
We’re being granted the rights to perform an amazing a cappella routine choreographed by Parris Mann that I learned during my days with the New Jersey Tap Ensemble. This means I’ve got to schedule some additional rehearsals and seeing as about half of our dancers have regular 9-5 jobs while the rest are all over the place like me, weekends are the only option.
Weekends… as in weekends when I could be in Pittsburgh.
But I can’t afford to let this get in the way. The Fringe is my top priority right now and I hear can hear various voices belonging to various girlfriends telling me, “Too bad for him. Don’t put your life on hold for his.”
And they’re right.
(I hate when they’re right.)
Then I get some emails from the various hiking meetups I subscribe too. Then I realize, oh yeah, my birthday is in August; I probably ought to do something about that. Then my parents tell me they may be going out of town earlier than planned, which means I’ll be dog sitting and before I know it, my calendar looks like it’s got the plague: all sorts of dots in various colors, with various notes attached and very little “break” in my summer break.
So I send the text:
Sorry to rush you on this, but if a certain sexy bachelor from Pittsburgh wants a certain sexy bachelorette from Philadelphia to come visit, he needs to let her know when.
Then I don’t hear from him.
For like three hours.
And I think, “Shit, Kat, now you’ve done it.”
So I do what I always do in these sorts of situations: I infuse life with as many distractions as possible because a watched pot never boils. Since I’m no longer on Match, cruising the net for new singles is out of the question (and admittedly, probably not what I should be doing right now anyway). Instead, I sign up to be a volunteer mentor for a high school writing program, then I decide to audition for a dance company here in Philly, then I accept my first ever official PR request for a book review on my blog and finally I whip up a three course meal for dinner.
See what happens when I have too much time on my hands? Thank God I didn’t have my mother’s car at my disposal; I could have easily purchased every last ghettofabulous bathing suit in Sou’ Philly.
Of course, it is at the precise moment that I stop thinking about Date #7 (almost) he texts me back. I tell him I’ll call him after dinner and when I do he asks, “So, I’m not much of a planner, eh?”
Cripes.
I’ve heard these words before.
I’ve heard these words before because I wrote them.
Which can only mean one thing: he’s reading my blog again.
(Actually this means two things: I should probably stop chronicling the minutia of my daily musings on Date #7.)
In any event, the official invitation has been issued, the dye has been cast and I’m off to Pittsburgh on a particular weekend next month 🙂
Fieldwork in Stilettos 
10 Responses to “The Pittsburgh Saga Continues (with a light at the end of the tunnel)”
I don’t think it’s chronicling the minutia that’s the problem — it’s over-thinking the minutia. All you had to do was call him (I despise texting and would not survive a second in today’s dating world because of it) and tell him how much you want to see him! Explain that it’d make your life easier to block out a weekend now since your calendar is filling up with boring work stuff and you need something fun to look forward to.
That said, I’m excited for you!!
P.S. Please ignore the fact that I ended a sentence with a preposition.
P.P.S. Since your’e no longer dating other men, maybe you should start a new social experiment where you work on a budding relationship sans texting. It would save you both from a multitude of miscommunications and worry, you would learn how to actually talk to each other without the time to agonize over your written words, and best of all, you’d hear each other’s voices much more often. So much communication is missed when you don’t hear someone’s tone of voice, no matter how fantastic the writer. Seriously, in today’s texting society, it truly would be a revolutionary experiment.
To honest, I really hate texting. I just go along with it because I’ve gotten used to it but you, with an email or a letter or a phone call, you only have to sit their wondering “Hmm… why hasn’t he called/written/emailed me back yet?” like once a day. With texting, you have to go through that whole process every three minutes! It’s ridiculous. And you’re right– tone is so important… I think I just may suggest to Date #7 that we revise our communication habits 🙂
Agreed on the “it’s over-thinking the minutia” that’s the problem. Not that I can talk… I overthink things all the time. I just don’t know if it would be wise to talk about it. Sometimes I need to remind myself that there’s the blog and then there’s my life. The pursuit of the blog should not ever overshadow what’s good for real life. I have learned to be more careful of what I post on the blog, because even if I think I’m being silly, some people take things very seriously. And people can read into things waaaay too deeply. Makes me wish I’d had the foresight to have an anonymous blog…. oh well.
Exciting! An excuse to buy new traveling outfits…and shoes.
Haha– by “traveling outfit” you mean a pair of flip flops and elastic waistband pants? lol 🙂 Shoes, yes… but sometimes I really wish we lived in a day and age when traveling still required gloves and hatboxes!
@Katie, you need to move to Philly and be Kat’s fairy godsister or something, cause when those thoughts are in MY head, I have to swallow them, you would have free range as a “sistah”…LOL As usual I agree wholeheartedly with your post, stop the damn texting, pick up the phone and CALL. You are allowed the polite, “are you busy” or “can you talk” text before calling if you must…
Haha, well my own sister doesn’t listen to me, so maybe I should send her your comment and tell her if she doesn’t shape up, I’m shipping out because I got a better offer. 😉
I think the problem is that men today have it too easy — texting is SO much easier than having to think on the spot. Women go along with it because if they call him, they’re worried the guy will think she’s pushy. Which he might. In which case, he’s obviously a poor communicator and she’s probably better off without him anyway, lol.
This is truly fascinating. It’s like parallel universes.
It would be rather nice if the Pittsburgh weekend was connected to the birthday one!
I thought about that but in all honesty, it seems a lot of pressure to put on the poor guy: buy me a present AND cake AND come up with something that will out-do a night on the town in Philadelphia? I’m sure he could do it but it will only be our third date after all!