The eternal question...

What to wear on a date?!  I think I'll have to go shopping tomorrow afternoon...

Nerves

I need to shut my brain up.  I'm over thinking and its making me nervous.  We left coffee yesterday in a good place after a first meeting, complete with backwards glances.  I wish we could meet again sooner than Wednesday but I can't really swing it easily.  I think that would help with the nerves though, if the first real date would be over soon...
This is incredibly disjointed because the worries and nerves are so nebulous I can't even articulate them properly!

Also Success!

One conversation has been going very well indeed however, so I think it deserves its own post :)
The single dad (henceforth referred to as SD) and I have been going backwards and forwards for a few days and having a good time doing so.  Today was in theory the day my children were with their father and I would be able to do errands etc but he messaged me this morning to say he was sick but still would take the kids for an hour or so so that I could do the stuff I needed to do. 
SD messaged and said he could grab a break when I was in town so when I got rid of the hangers on I gave him a buzz and we met for coffee.

I was so nervous I was shaking, I don't like meeting new people at the best of times but with the dating thing it is even harder.  Anyway, we found each other and sat down and talking was easy.  The conversation just flowed with no uncomfortable silences and the nerves disappeared.  We didn't have a lot of time because he had to get back to work and I had to get the kids again, but I'm glad we did.  Now I have less nerves about the date we arranged for next Wednesday :) 

online dating makes me laugh

So the chatting with the David Tennant guy hit a wall.  After having a discussion about when we were available etc and me saying I would see when I could organise a babysitter he suddenly can't tell me if he is available on the day we agreed on until that day...  So that has gone nowhere!

Then there was a fun one yesterday.  I recieved a message which included phrases such as

"building a yurt sounds like fun..
when i was young, i would have guitar lessons in a magnificent yurt out in the forest by a river ...

now am studying how to make applications for the iPad ... and it is like building a series of conceptual yurts, each with a garden of herbs that do different things. "

Which was a little odd but writing an initial message to someone you don't know is a bit weird in and of itself so I answered...  the reply was even better!

"you could actually move your yurt to another location..
super practicality, although i have no idea how..

thinking about this bring great concepts to my mind,
rather fortunate, as i must now go and do a programming exam...

gotta build those conceptual herb gardens around the collection of yurts.

i would love to hear your voice,
and talk about forests and crystal rivers..

my extra activity is creating organic dance rhythm and melody,
are you musical at all?
i bet you sing.."

At which point I thought 'Dude, you have taken waaayy to many drugs in your life' and blocked him...  

 

I did it

I joined Ok Cupid.  So far better than the other dating sites I used previously. 
I have chatted with a couple of guys so far, on a bit younger than me who I'll call DT cos he reminds me of David Tennant and a single father.
Both seem promising in different ways, hard to know with simply chatting online though and I am (I suspect) a bit hyper vigilant and distrustful to start with. 

Meeting people

Or more specifically, how to meet men?  My social circle consists almost entirely of people I have met through parenting...  Not suprisingly there is a distinct lack of available men! 
I've tried online dating in the past and found it frustrating, lots of work for very little reward really.  Part of that was possibly my lack of confidence in putting myself forward, but there was also the living in an area with a relatively small population and the tendency to scare them off by being independent that I have mentioned before.  (Apologies for that last sentence being so confusing...)

Last night was my free night away from the kids and I had dinner with a friend and her family then went to see Brave.  Driving back through town I contemplated going get a drink somewhere but it was midnight so all the places open were very full of people who were in groups and had been drinking for a while - a little intimidating to go into by myself! 

So I'm left with the conundrum - how to meet people?  Perhaps trying online dating again, if nothing else I'd get some amusing stories out of it I guess!

acceptable compromise

I have a question for you all.  Where is the line for you?  What are acceptable compromises to make in a relationship?  What would be unacceptable?

I realise that every one has different boundaries etc, but I'd love to know what others think anyway.  Coming from relationships where my boundaries were essentially non existant and I was the one making most of the compromises, I find it hard to define where boundaries should be...

So use the comments section and let me know!