George Michael and the Dating Iditarod

Here is E doing "Father Figure" on Wednesday night. Note a) the wine glass in his hand, which he sipped from during the performance and b) the audience holding up a table candle (left) and lighters (right)...

(Instead of running with my weekly fun run, I am blogging and lying in bed and petting my dog. I am SO tired. Besides, I finally had the "permanent" stitches, which my legs have been slowly rejecting over 6 months, removed with a scalpel Thursday, and my plastic surgeon said not to exercise for a few days anyway. So there.)

I just finished a week of meeting 5 (count 'em!) 5 new guys - 4 from the online personals site I'm on. I'm exhausted. I also drank beer or wine every night this week, which is also a (bad) first. Wednesday, my one night off, was a perfectly timed respite: this funny, great-idea theatre piece followed by karaoke with E at a tiny bar/restaurant/club in Uptown.

But it's also my very, very busy week at work. These crazy weeks come around 6 times a year, and basically ruin my life with constant fires to put out and constantly being behind on the many, many phone calls to make... and these weeks test my poor dog's will to live. She spends hours at home, alone, plus, topped by the dates and the drinking this particular week, I've often been asleep within minutes of getting home and washing my face. Poor girl.

Without going into detail on the dates themselves, I'll just say that meeting this many people at once has been really, really good for me. I was telling a friend - it makes me just not really care about looking or acting any certain way, and I can be myself all the more (too tired and worn out to be anything different), which I think is what dating is ultimately about.

I also have noticed the range of what people act like on first meetings. What they ask about, what they assume, and what they hide. It's definitely been interesting. There is one guy still to meet, with whom I have been trading phone calls and emails.

Then, it may be back to the damn "drarwring" (say it like Mike Myers, please) board, or maybe not. I need a couple of days to process, and with the holiday next week, and busy work stuff, my social calendar is full anyway.