New Blog

To all those loyal readers who continue to check back, again, I apologize for the lack of new content.  At this time, I am going through a rather interesting time in my life and have decided to begin a new blog.  I hope as readers or subscribers to this blog that you come over to the new blog and check it out, give it a read and hopefully you like it.  The new blog will begin on January 1, 2009!  I’m very excited about this and hope that you check the new blog from time to time!  The new blog address is

Moving Out East

Hope you enjoy and thanks again for your loyal reading on this blog and please join me on my new “adventures” what ever they may be!

Be Well!!

The Nice Guy

I’m Back! Well…Sort Of

Hello again fellow bloggers, readers and general perusers, this is The Nice Guy.  It has been over a year since I last blogged, since I last felt any responsibility to this blog and its readers and about seven months since I last checked in to see if anyone was still reading this attempt at exposing myself privately to a public forum.

I come before you with hat in hand and on my knees asking that you accept my sincerest and deepest apologies for abandoning this blog.  For abandoning anybody who checked in regularly or was entertained by my poor and dry attempt at humorous explanations of who I am and what I stand for.  I am terribly, terribly sorry.  Sometimes life gets in the way of desire or even relaxation and to put it simply…life happened.  There are upsides to this long layoff and distraction…I have new and fun and to be honest, embarrassing ordeals to share with you.  I have a clearer sense of who I am and what I stand for and why it’s more important for me now than even a year ago to continue on my quest to provide an explanation of The Nice Guy.  A year older, a year wiser and a year removed from scars and pain.  A year of confidence and excitement and LIFE.  I have lived in the past year and wish to let you in, again.

I hope that you come back and give me a second chance.  I hope that you enjoy my new posts and stories and format as much as you have in the past.  Most of all, though, I hope you learn about what a Nice Guy is and why “he” isn’t anything near the stereotype that we all know today.  I hope you laugh with me and at me and that I can entertain you once again!

I will be posting once a week again, probably on Fridays.  I look forward to your interaction as always and enjoyed many of the comments I received during my long lay off.  I look forward to hearing from you and writing FOR you again.

My first real post back will be posted this Friday…hope to hear from you soon!

The Nice Guy

It’s Final!

Ladies and gentlemen, Nice Guy is once again employed!  Yes, yes, I finally got the position that I have been working on since early February.  It is a great job with a wonderful upgrade in salary for me (especially being unemployed for the last month and a half) and creates great future opportunities.

Anyway, thanks for all the well wishes and all.  Now that I’m employed again, it relieves a lot of stress and I can come back with a clear mind and continue the blog on its path I envisioned from the get go. 

So sit back, relax, tell your friends and keep coming back for more of the Nice Guy to come!

Friday…Fun…Day…or Something Like That…

If you haven’t already read the post below (“Just A Musing”), please do and get back to me.  Yes, yes…Nice Guy needs help from his reading public, so please, do help.  The responses so far have been great.

On good news…for those of you who were wondering, after so many months of going through the process of attaining this job that brings great opportunities for me…I start on Tuesday!  Wohoo!  This is going to help me expand my horizions financially and help me get a lot of different things set up for my future.  We all know that we’ve got to start as young as possible.  I may be only 23, but I know it’s never too soon to start investing.  Along with that as well goes away the stress of keeping my rent current and my bills on time and maybe I can get back to finding that dream girl for me. Anyway, enough of that.  Thanks for all the well wishes and good intentions on my getting the job, I appreciate it!

On to the fun stuff…I don’t know what it is, but something about a drunk cartoon baby is incredibly amusing.  Enjoy…

Just A Musing

So next weekend I am going to the wedding of one of my good friends (“Erica”).  She has been one of those people who’s not around every day or every month for that matter, but every time I see her we pick up where we left off and she’s great womanly advice for a man like me.  I met Erica through an ex-girlfriend of mine (we’ll call the ex “Janet”).  Janet and I had been dating for a few months when I met her friend “Dale.”  Dale and I became aquainted and Dale began dating Erica.  Dale and I ended up sharing an apartment for nine months and I became a bit closer with Erica.  Janet and I broke up about a year after Dale and mine’s lease was up on the apartment and I didn’t hear or see Dale or Erica anymore.  Erica and I ran into each other on that ever so popular MySpace and I found out that Erica was no longer dating Dale.  Two months later Erica was dating her soon to be husband and here we are, full circle.

The reason I went through that boring explanation of how I know Erica is because Erica and Janet are still friends.  Now, I haven’t seen Erica for a couple months because of her impending wedding plans, but last I heard from her is that her and Janet had a bit of a falling out.  Either way, here is why I mention all of this;  I really think Janet will be at this wedding.  Now, I will some day get to the whole explanation of Janet and I and what happened there, but let’s just say it ended nicely but for whatever reason I’ve heard through the network of friends that Janet increasingly got angry with me as the months after we broke up went by. 

I saw Janet a couple times while hanging out with friends in a few bars here and there and Janet always seemed to do her best to ignore me or turn and walk the other way.  This was perplexing to me, especially since Janet and I had ended things on good terms.  So this is my conundrum, I’ll be seeing Janet for the first time in years and although I am one who looks at the past for what it is and was, I can’t help but think this may be slightly akward.  Now in all honesty, I am mature about this, I really could care less about what happened to make her dislike me more and more in time because I see no reason for it, but I can’t help but think she’s going to force some type of “showdown” or confrontation upon me.

To me, that relationship is what it was.  It was my last serious relationship (going on almost three years ago now) and I definitely DEFINITELY grew up as a result of it.  That may sound crude, AS A RESULT OF IT, but I am believer in the fact that you live and learn; that is to say that because of my experiences, good and bad, in that relationship I am able to be a better person and better boyfriend in the future.  I have no desire to resolve any hidden issues that Janet may have, if there are any.  What I mean is that I don’t mean to sound arrogant or like I had this enormous effect on the woman that she has unresolved issues, but I just don’t want anything of the sort to come up.  I’ve heard through friends that she has found herself a successful job and that she has been doing well and in all honesty I am happy for her.  I hope, that if our paths do cross at this wedding, that she will exude that success and we can both move past what was and look ahead to what it helped us become.  On the other hand, there is also the possiblity (and knowing Janet, the likelyhood) of her completely ignoring and avoiding me throughout the reception.  This would be incredibly uncomfortable not only for me but for the various mutual acquaintances that will be attending the reception. 

I don’t know quite how to react to this.  Six months ago when Erica told me about her engagement and impending nuptials, I must be honest, the thought crossed my mind to grab one of my hottest “girl friends” and take her with me for the sole purpose of making Janet a bit jealous.  Of course that’s not very Nice Guyish (yes, I said it, “guyish”), but I am a man and the thought was briefly entertained.  As it stands, I did RSVP solo and am completely comfortable in that decision. 

I am at odds on how to react if Janet does avoid me, or if she looks to resolve issues within herself, or if she tries to make me look foolish in front of others.  I guess this is where I ask you all…what should I do?  How should I react in these situations?  Maybe I should just grab the best looking girl at the wedding and make out with her right in front of Janet…no, that wouldn’t be very mature.  Hell, I’m a Nice Guy right?  Help…

Friday Fun…A Happy Friday Fun Day!

I apologize immensely again that I have not had consistent posts lately.  Today, however, I was offered the job I’ve been working on attaining for some time now, so that is great news!  The consistency of posts will increase as I get back more in the swing of every day life with work and what not, so thanks for being patient and please continue to check back in the coming weeks!

Today’s entry is one that takes me back to childhood memories.  Ah, gathering around a TV on Saturday mornings and arguing with your sisters over the Nintendo controller.  Then proceeding to yell and curse at the damn turtle for killing you.  Yes, that’s right folks, Mario Bros.  Mario Bros. has to be one of the best games in the history of games.  I saw this and thought it was hillarious, whoever did this piece, great job!  Enjoy…

Friday Fun Day

What the world would be like without a little bit of alcohol….take it as a warning sign people, take it as a warning sign…

Perfect!…Part 5

So Abby and I had this wonderful relationship going.  Everything was PERFECT, except for the…timing.  I quickly came to the realization that after three months together, wonderful moments together and an experience that up until this point in my life, was the best point in my life; it wasn’t meant to be.

Now I know you may be thinking, “Well what the hell went wrong?”  The answer to that questions is: Nothing.  Nothing went wrong.  Everything was going a-ok.  But unfortunately, for the first time in my life, I did the typical “guy thing” and ran.  Simply because I was afraid of commitment.  Abby and I had an amazing last date; we went for a sunrise viewing at a local beach and walked along the cliffs and discovered a “graffitti art centre” there amongst the cliffs; but it just wasn’t right.  We had gotten along so well and had clicked so perfectly and for the first time in three months I took a look at what was going on and got very frightened.

Now, before you judge me as a typical guy asshole, you must understand that I’ve come to a certain realization after all this has transpired, that realization is this:

Abby is PERFECT for me.  She is my “dream girl.”  She is the type of woman I would really enjoy settling down with.  She is intelligent, creative, fun and interesting.  She is everything that I desire in a woman.  But, at that time, I was not ready for that.  I accurately told her when I met her that I was no where near the state of mind to meet the “girl of my dreams,” and I never deceived her.  I, to this day, will state that if I had met Abby three or four years later than I did, we would be together for a LONG time.  But because Abby was SO PERFECT for me, it scared me and made me realize that I was not ready for her. 

Abby deserved a reciprocate.  She deserved someone who cared for her and was as PERFECT for her as she was for me.  So simply, and unfortunately, “wrong place, wrong time.”  That’s it.  My PERFECT girl was interested, I was with her for three months, but because it was the wrong point in my life, I could not stay and appreciate her.  I feel horrible with that realization, but it is honest, at the least.

This is my tragedy, the deepest of sorrows in which I live today (relationship wise as well).  I’ve had two VERY serious relationships, two very long and loving relationships, but ABBY HAD MORE EFFECT ON ME THAN ANY OF THEM.  I wish that I was in the right state of mind, but all I can hope for is that the next time I meet a woman as PERFECT as Abby…I will be ready.

No Job Yet…But Still, Friday Fun Day!

I am yet to acquire a temporary job while I wait for the “process” to take place in the full time position in which I’ve been working on.  I hope I get the full time position that it’s now taken almost three months to acquire, but who knows.  I think I did well in the panel interview I had this last Tuesday and believe that I will go on to th next step (of which they will inform me within two weeks), the departmental interview. 

Nonetheless, it is Friday and time for Friday Fun Day.

Excuse the vulgar language and the bit of liberal ideology, but this is one of my favorite comics…at least the first 18 minutes of his HBO special……..enough said.

Laides and gentlemen, courtesy of HBO and YouTube, Mr. Robin Williams.

Nervous, Anxious and Optimistic

As I’ve stated before, by nature I’m a bit of a pessimist.  However, after getting laid off from my job last week, I’ve been viewing things a bit more optimistically.  In business at least, I do believe that when one door closes, two more open.

I went to two interviews today and have tremendous opportunities opening up to me.  Tomorrow is my first BIG interview for the position I have been in the process of acquiring for about two months now.  This first interview (after having submitted an application and taking a competance test) is a panel interview, with three people firing questions at me.  Although this may be intimidating, I’ve had the delight of preparing with my sister and brother in law (both of whom are excellent with human resource skills).  I am indebted to them for the amount of time they’ve put in to helping me prepare for this and for generally making me more confident going into this process.

The two positions that I interviewed for today are interesting opportunities that I will have to think about.  Either way, things are looking on the up and up.  I’d imagine that with these opportunities, I’d be exposed to many new things and many new people.  Simply, I’m excited and optimistic. 

It’s interesting at interviews, there are many opportunities to insert humor (which in my case is dry and sarcastic) which must be avoided since you have to remain professional at all times.  Take today for example:

Interviewer:  So how did you feel about management at your previous position?

The Nice Guy:  Well, if you took a dodo bird and a rat and mixed them together, you’d probably have more brains than the intelligence of both the executives I had the pleasure of serving for the last three years.

God, I wish I could say that.  Either way, I look forward to tomorrow and moving along in this wonderful job hunt process.

Wish me luck!

Back to Friday Fun Day!!

Jim Gaffigan

Hot Pockets

Enough said.

Unfortunate Instances

I apologize immensely for not keeping my word and updating Sunday and yesterday, but I went into the office on Monday after my week vacation and was told I was “being let go.” 

I think that’s a funny term, being let go; what exactly is that supposed to come across sounding like?  To me it says: “We don’t care about you as a person much, thanks for your years of hard work here but this is not about the friendship that we have built whatsoever, it is simply about money” Oh, and believe me, I completely understand business, but this is ridiculous in many ways…

Luckily I had envisioned something like this happening (knowing my current/former companies financial state) and had already prepared.  The good news:  I have an interview for a much better position with a lot more growth opportunity and a considerable amount of more money on Tuesday, the 15th.  The bad news:  Even if the interview goes well, it will be about a month to a month and a half before that entire hiring process is completed.  Therefore, yours truly, has to go find some bartending or waiting job for the next month so I don’t just sit on my ass and feel useless. 

If only I could be paid to write…

I will return to regular blogging after this has blown over a bit.  I am still at the company and training my replacement (yes, that’s right, replacement.  A girl that isn’t all that intelligent whom they obviously hired for much less money), so it’s been a kind of stressful week and I should be back this weekend. 

Oh, and of course, I wouldn’t miss Friday Fun Day!  It’ll be here this Friday.  Hope I haven’t lost you all. 

BTW – Meagan texted me last night after no contact for over a month, how weird is that?!

Friday Fun Day! and Next Week

It struck me just now that I realized in my previous post (Before We Return to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming), I said I’d begin the scheduled posts on Tuesday of next week, I apologize. I’m actually going out of town for all of next week to visit one of my sisters in Colorado. (in case you’ve lost count, that’s three. Yes, I have three sisters and am the only boy….maybe that has something to do with this whole “nice guy” thing?) So I apologize, I won’t be posting at all next week and won’t be back in time for Friday Fun Day either. I will update next Sunday, when I get back.

Today’s video is something of a diamond in the rough. It teaches us two things, 1) Don’t propose to your girlfriend unless you’ve got a pretty good idea that she’ll say yes and 2) Don’t celebrate a victory until you’ve got it in hand…enjoy!

Before We Return to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming…

I realize that this blog is still relatively young (about three months old now), but I truly under estimated the amount of time and effort it takes into not only writing for a blog but also running one.  Therefore, I’ve decided in fairness to my own life, which has gotten increasingly busier as of late, and to those of you who check back consistently hoping for a new entry, I will now schedule new posts.

Each Tuesday and Thursday, beginning next Tuesday, there will be new posts on the blog so you can check back on those days and expect to read something fun and exciting!  Oh and don’t worry, Friday Fun Days will definitely be there every week.  So I guess I’m just saying I don’t feel as much pressure or that I’m not paying attention to my blog if I have these schedule dates to put up a new post. 

Hope you’re all well and it’s been great hearing from some of you.  Perfect! Post series is almost complete so check back on Tuesday for that and of course Friday Fun Day tomorrow!

- TNG

The Week Is Over! Well, Almost. Friday Fun Day!

Hope everyone had a good week! We’re finally getting some rain here in Southern California this weekend (it’s been exceptionally dry this winter), so I’m looking forward to it. I love the rain.

On a quick side note, the Foxtrot comic strip is my favorite comic of all time. It’s probably the most sarcastic, dry, humourus thing I’ve ever read. I love the wit of the writer, Bill Amend. Anyway, the reason I mention this is because I’ve wanted to put a couple of my favorites up for Friday Fun Day, but I can’t figure out (and haven’t really had the time) how to embed an image in a post. So if there is anyone out there that is even remotely savy with Wordpreess, shoot me an email please (theniceguy0000@yahoo.com). Thanks!

If you haven’t seen already, I posted the next part in the Perfect! part series, check it out below and hope you enjoy.

Well, with business out of the way, here is today’s entry. I haven’t done Family Guy in about a month (and I apologize again for the Easter weekend Fun Day post, I know, those corny Easter jokes weren’t all that funny), so I thought I’d post one today. Honestly, I love the randomness of Family Guy and how they insist on dragging things out way longer than they need to. Hope you have a good weekend, enjoy!

Perfect!…Part 4

I believe the Perfect! Post Series will end up being a six parter. There’s just so much that had happened with Abby and I that I feel like I need to get it out, even if it is just to help myself figure out my whole Nice Guy attitude. Life’s getting back on track now so the timing between posts should be a bit more consistent here in the next couple of weeks. Hope you all enjoy…

The time I had spent with Abby seemed to be just flying by. We had been dating for about two months and summer was upon us. We were two young adults, falling for each other and we couldn’t believe how well we got along. Like I’ve mentioned throughout this story, Abby and I had consistent and effortless conversations. There were many late nights, since neither of us wanted to be the first to say, “Maybe we should call it a night.” Luckily, being the young man I was, I was able to survive the late night dates with Abby and the early mornings at the office (something I’m not sure I could handle even now, a year later).

By that time, we had not had any real disagreements. Sure we had disagreements about insignificant things such as music or favorite authors, but nothing to rock the smitten boat. We had already slept together and were engaged in a seemingly healthy relationship (no, I am not implying that sleeping with someone assumes a healthy relationship, but it was part of it)

There is something that I must confess to my readers that I don’t believe I’ve shared up to this point; I am addicted to………..sports. Some would call me a fanatic. No, I’m not the 6’5, 220 pound guy that played sports in high school; I’m the 5’11, 170 pound guy that wishes I could have. Sports to me, though, are not about adrenaline or hitting someone, they are about the fundamentals, the plays, the trends, the statistics, the history; I’m an educated sports fan.

About a month into dating Abby, I revealed this to her and warned her that she wouldn’t want to be around when I was watching sports with my friends. She wasn’t too worried and agreed she would abide by that rule, so I did something I had never done and have not done since; I took a woman I was dating to a baseball game.

It seems inconsequential looking back at it now, but at the time, my friends warned me. Christy (my roommate’s fiancé) had no faith that I could contain myself for a period of nine innings. My fellow sports fanatics and friends, Bob and Jim, did not think it was the brightest of ideas either. Nevertheless, I took Abby and we started off having a great time.

The game itself was rather slow (as baseball tends to be), a pitcher’s duel as they call it and we sat and chatted like always. With beer and hot dog in hand, every now and then I’d clap approval for what was happening on field and then turn an attentive ear back to Abby. Things were going great, I even (foolishly) showed her what the seventh inning stretch was all about. All in all, it didn’t seem like my fanatical side was going to appear; that is until my home team went down by one run.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, my home team failed to reciprocate the visiting team’s efforts and was now losing by 1. I started to get a bit anxious, as I do in those situations, and conversation with Abby took a back seat; it was baseball time. She was understanding and very intrigued at my change of attitude and all in all she took it with a grain of salt and let me be.

“Great!” I thought. “She’s seeing a difficult quality in me and handling it very well!” Abby, being her awesome self, even began to ask some inquisitive questions about what the situation was and what the team needed to do. Could this girl be more perfect?!

The game was really starting to get interesting with my team up to bat in the bottom of the 9th inning, their last chance. Something clicked in me. I slowly began regressing into my “Nice Guy Sports Fanatic” persona, I was beginning to show it to Abby without regard of what she thought. It hadn’t even crossed my mind at that point that this volcanic explosion of my sports fanatic self would be boiling to the point of eruption; and that’s where things would get interesting…

Taking Advantage of My Youth

I love my parents so much for all they’ve done for me in my life. Sometimes when I visit them, I can’t help but yank their chain a little…

Mom: How’s life?

TNG (The Nice Guy): Good.

Mom: You know at your age I was already married and had three kids

TNG: Time’s are different mom

Mom: Would it kill you to settle down with a nice girl?

TNG: At this point, it just might.

Dad: You know, it helps a man settle down a bit when he finds a good woman to look after him.

TNG: You’re starting with this too now?

Mom: Well, we just want to make sure you’re not going to be an old man with no wife. We want grandchildren someday you know.

TNG: So not only do you want me to find the perfect woman now but you want me to start having kids soon as well? You know, I could give you grandchildren now, if that’s what you want so much…it’s not that difficult.

Dad: Maybe we should leave him alone.

I always chuckle when my parents start on this stuff. My dad, bless his soul, thought about that for a second and thought it’d be best to let sleeping dogs lie.

Update

Test went well on Saturday, I will find out in roughly two weeks.  Thanks for all the good lucks and so forth, I appreciate it

I will try to begin blogging again tomorrow. It’s difficult to write about things that sometimes seem unimportant on a day when tragedy strikes. My heart and prayers go out to the families of all those lost at the Massacre at Virginia Tech. It seems so sensless and I can’t imagine the terror the people on campus felt.

TNG

Friday the 13th! It’s Still Friday Fun Day!

Even though I’m in the midst of studying for probably the most important test of my life, I couldn’t let my readers down by missing Friday Fun Day, it’s tradition! 

Update:  My test is tomorrow and I should be partying my success on it tomorrow night, which means I’ll be recovering Sunday and then will be watching The Sopranos and Entourage (God I lolve those shows) Sunday night, so it looks like I’ll start blogging again Monday, after work.  Thanks for being patient.

Now today’s entry in the Friday Fun Day series is a video that some may find incredibly offensive.  I’ve never been huge on South Park (I think it’s a hillarious show and really pushes the barrier, I just never watched it consistently) but I know some people are fanatics like I am with Family Guy; to each his own.  This video is just a funny, a joke, so please don’t send me comments or emails about how it is durogatory to call a woman a bitch and that a Nice Guy wouldn’t do that; I know, ok?  So please…enjoy!

Big Opportunities and Great Expectations

For the next week I will try as hard as I can to write the final post in the Perfect! Series posts, but there is something exciting that is slightly more important to me at this present moment.

I have a great opportunity career wise and am required to take a sort of entrance exam in order to test my aptitude toward this new position, therfore, must study like I haven’t studied since college finals.  It is a pretty hefty salary increase and will immensely improve my life and my worries significantly less.  I do agree that money isn’t everything, but when you are given certain opportunities in life, I believe you have to seize them.  That’s where I stand. 

I thank those of you who are loyal readers and I hope you check back toward the end of this week for more updates and new posts.  It’s hard sometimes balancing a passion project that teaches me an enormous amount about myself and the real world around me, so I hope you have patience and don’t run away from my little corner here!  Thanks again for reading!

Special Friday Fun Day!

It being Easter weekend and all, I figured I’d throw in a little Easter humor this week, they’re really cheesy, but I like cheesy humor from time to time. I found these on a humor website (http://www.twilightbridge.com/hobbies/festivals/easter/jokes.htm) so nobody thinks I stole them or created them myself.

I’ll be back with the conclusion of the Perfect! post series (see below) next week. Hope you all have a nice weekend!

Q: How do bunnies stay healthy?

A: Eggercise

Q: What do you get when you cross a chicken and the Easter Bunny?

A: A good Easter.

Q: What do you call Easter when you are hopping around?

A: Hoppy Easter!

Q: “Why are you studying your Easter candy?”

A: “I’m trying to decide which came first-the chocolate chicken or the chocolate egg!”

Q: What do you get when you find a rabbit with no hair?

A: A hairless hare!

Q: Why are people always tired in April?

A: Because they just finished a march

Q: Why did the Easter egg hide?

A: He was a little chicken!

Q: What do you call a duck who plays basketball?

A: A slam duck.

Q: What do you call a bunny with a large brain?

A: An egghead.

Q: What grows between your nose and chin?

A: Tulips (Two Lips).

Q: What’s red and blue and sogs up your Easter basket?

A:Coloured scrambled eggs!

Q: Why did the rabbit cross the road?

A: Because it was the chicken’s day off.

Q: What do you call a bunny with a dictionary in his pants?

A: A smarty pants.

Q: What would you call the Easter Bunny if he married a chicken?

A: The very first rabbit to lay an egg!

Q: What do you call ten rabbits marching backwards?

A: A receding hareline.

Q: Why was the Easter Bunny so upset?

A:He was having a bad hare day!

Q: Why was the rabbit rubbing his head?

A: Because he had a eggache! (headache)

Q: How do you catch a unique bunny?

A: UNIQUE UP ON IT!

Q: Why did the Easter Bunny hop down the road?

A: He was making the Movie

Q: What’s pink, has five toes, and is carried by the Easter Bunny?

A:His lucky people’s foot!

Q: What do you call the Easter Bunny after a hard day’s work?

A: Tired.

Q: What did the rabbit say to the carrot?

A: It’s been nice gnawing at you.

Q: Why did the magician have to cancel his show?

A: He’d just washed his hare and couldn’t do a thing with it.

Q: What is the end of Easter?

A: The letter R.

Q: Why is the letter A like a flower?

A: A bee comes after it

Q:What is the Easter Bunny’s favourite state capital?

A:Albunny, New York!

Q: Where does the Easter Bunny go when he needs a new tail?

A:To a re-tail store!

Q: Who is the Easter Bunny’s favourite movie actor?

A:Rabbit De Niro!

Q: How should you send a letter to the Easter Bunny?

A: By hare mail!

Ok, ok, I know…that was bad. I apologize I made you sit through that. Have a good weekend!

Gratuitous Worries

Easter is rolling around this Sunday and coming from the strict religious background I come from, it is difficult at times.  Not because my parents still require me to meet them at church (even though I’m 23 and would think I can make religious decisions on my own) at 5:30 in the morning for sunrise mass, but because of the traditional Easter breakfast.

See, my family has a tradition of Easter breakfast where we all get together (my married sister’s in-laws included) and rejoice in a wonderful Easter breakfast prepared by my sisters and my mom.  My dad, brother in law, brother in law’s father (I don’t know, is he an in law of mine as well?) and I sit around the breakfast table usually discussing politics and what is going on around the world.  Still, this I can stand and actually enjoy hearing the wisdom of the elders and expressing my opinion a bit; after all, I am up to date with world issues and enjoy discussing them myself.  No, the part I despise most comes after breakfast.

After breakfast, after my brother in law’s mother has had her twenty minute rant about every controversial topic under the sun, my mom and I usually step out to the back patio and delight in a morning cigarette.  This has, for some strange reason, turned into my mother’s interrogation room.  She hounds me about where my career is going, asks me why I won’t move back home, and the grand daddy of them all:  Why haven’t you found a nice girl to settle down with?  Then she goes into a diatribe about the countless daughters of her friends that she thinks would be perfect (been there once and done that, not going through that again…side note:  don’t ever let your mom set you up with someone) and that I need to settle down before I no longer have nothing exciting to offer.  I constantly remind her that I am only 23 and that I have many good years ahead of me.

Inevitabely at some point, my father steps in and asks a couple of simple questions and then tells my mother to leave it alone, that I’ll “find someone when he’s ready.”  I always loved my dad for that.

All these shenanigans end when I thank them for breakfast and tell them I’ll see them in a week or so.  They bicker about how I should stay longer, but eventually give way and allow their only son to leave the nest again.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my parents and I suppose everyone has their own holiday horror stories, but that is what I have to look forward to.

So I hope you all have Happy Easters or Happy Passovers or Happy Sundays (depending on your orientation) and enjoy your families. 

There is one thing to look forward to on Sunday besides the obvious, The Sopranos and Entourage return!

Perfect!…Part 3

It was very odd that Abby and I had grown so close in the short period of two days.  After she left at about 2:30 in the morning that night, I stayed up for another hour or so, racking my brain, trying to get a handle on the whole situation.  Was I just infatuated or is this how it’s supposed to feel when you’ve met a soul mate?  Granted, it was very early for these kinds of thoughts to be floating around, but they WERE floating around inside my head.  It scared me, but intrigued me even more.  What is it about this girl?  Why am I so drawn to her?

 

 

In the coming days, I found myself wanting to soak up as much of Abby as possible.  I’d call her after I got home from the office, and we would talk for hours at a time.  Every other day or so, I would drive the 35 miles or she’d drive to me and we’d go have a beer or some dinner and talk some more.  About three weeks into what had now become a serious dating scenario, we had another memorable evening.

 

 

As a bit of background, there is a bar in the local “downtown” area that my friends and I frequent quite often.  The people are very open and we had gotten quite comfortable at this bar, however, this bar was “our” hang out (mine and my friends).  It’s where we went to pick up on women or just let it loose after a long week, nonetheless, I had never really allowed anyone into that world of mine.  (I know, it’s a bit strange, but it’s MY bar!)

 

 

So Abby came over at about 7:00 p.m. and we decide to go catch an 8 o’clock showing of the latest Adam Sandler movie.  By this point, Abby and my roommate, Bob, had gotten quite comfortable with each other, so they were sitting and chatting as I was finishing up some laundry.  It came time to go and so off we went for our first “movie date.”  Abby had mentioned earlier in the night that she couldn’t be out late because last time she left my house really late she was extremely tired and didn’t feel comfortable on the drive home, so we decided we’d catch the movie and that would be it.  The movie was uneventful, I remember both of us didn’t like it much (which is shocking for an Adam Sandler flick) and we were both kind of unsatisfied with our “date night” so far.  Abby suggested we go grab a drink somewhere.  Knowing full well that she had stated she did not want to be out late, I asked her to reconsider.  She continued to insist it would be okay and that we should go grab a drink, so I went along with it.  It was a Thursday night and our local downtown area, where most of the “happening” bars are, is always busy on Thursday nights, so I suggested a little British pub about a mile off the downtown area where we could actually sit and chat a bit.  She agreed.

 

 

I had suggested the British pub because it had a bit of flair, something I thought Abby would like.  The walls were lined with old British ships and flags, articles about famous British people and magnificently interesting little British wisdom sayings; this place was different from your normal college bar.  Indeed she did marvel at the interesting surroundings and generally liked the place.  At about 11:15 the bartender yelled out that it was last call (apparently the British pub, which is also a restaurant, doesn’t stay open late), so I finished my glass of 18 year scotch and Abby finished her
Newcastle and we were on our way.  As we were walking to the car, holding hands (which was customary with us by this point), Abby mentioned she wasn’t done yet.  Something had gotten into the girl and she wanted to go for another drink and just hang out.  Not really too sure about the crowd around town that night, I took her to my favorite bar and began to worry.  I was worried that she wouldn’t really like the environment, mostly “bro dudes” and girls looking for guys to buy them a drink (like I said, good environment to pick up on girls, bad environment to bring a girl), because Abby was a bit of an alternative girl.  She didn’t have any tattoos or strange piercings, but she was an artist and listened to indie music and thought differently than most people (all reasons I was incredibly attracted to her).  If I had to paint a picture, Abby was like the girl from “40 days, 40 nights” that Josh Hartnett falls in love with; just an amazing all around person who you want to be around 24 hours a day.  I grabbed a couple of beers from the bar and headed to the back patio, so that we could hopefully grab a seat. 

 

All in all, the crowd wasn’t too bad that night.  It wasn’t excessively loud (like normal), so we could actually hold a conversation.  I honestly don’t remember what we talked about most of the night, but it was an amazing conversation.  I remember telling her that it was mystifying how easy it was for me to open up to her and she expressed the same.  She told me about her past, about her family’s past and some of the things that had affected her recently.  She spoke in such a soft tone, but loud enough to hear through the bar noise, that it was mesmerizing.  I was falling for her.  It was amazing how well we got along. 

 

Now, at this point we hadn’t slept together yet (I won’t get into detail too much about any sexual experiences here, out of respect for others), but it was amazing because for the first time since the ol’ ex girlfriend, I didn’t think about sex with Abby.  It had crossed my mind once or twice, but it wasn’t the predominant thought crossing my mind like it had been with the two previous girls I had dated.  I found her sexy and incredibly attractive, but I had a deeper connection with her.  It would happen when the time was right; I didn’t want to push anything.

 

 

We went back to my place (a little drunk and a little tired) later than we expected, it was about 1:00 a.m.  Of course this being a Thursday, I was already beginning to dread going to work the next morning.  When we got to my house, I asked her if she wanted to come in for a minute and relax, she did.  We went to my room and laid on my bed, we laid next to each other closely, but not touching; just enough to feel our body warmth.  We started talking again, deep conversation about life and where we expected to end up, what we expected to be doing. 

 

An hour had passed in what seemed like a minute and at this point both Abby and I were incredibly tired.  I asked if she’d like to stay since she was tired and since she really had nothing to wake up early for, she seemed a bit concerned.  I told her that it was only good intentions I had, that if she felt uncomfortable, I would sleep in the guest room, I just didn’t want her to drive all the way home that late and that tired.  She asked for an extra set of pajamas and I gave them to her, then she asked me to stay with her, to sleep next to her.  It was the greatest feeling in the world.  I had had other women sleep in my bed, some that I had sex with and others that just spent the night, but I had never actually gotten a good night’s rest with someone else in my bed, Abby was different.

 

 

I fell asleep in about ten minutes, with the smell of her hair near me, with my arm around her and her petite body cuddled up next to mine.  This seemed real.  For the first time in a long time, I thought that I might have something; lightning in a bottle, if you will.  I laid there for a few minutes just listening to hear breathe, I whispered in her ear, “Good night Abby.”

 

 

“Good night.”

 

 

And we whisked away, innocently, into a peaceful slumber.  I was at peace falling asleep.  As I started to drift away into that midway point between being awake and being asleep, I thought to myself,

 

 

“Is this love?”

 

Friday Fun Day!

The work week is finally almost over! I hope everyone is enjoy the “Perfect!” post series (you can read by clicking on the links to the right). I’ve got a pretty busy weekend ahead of me, but I will try to get Part 3 of the series banged out sometime this weekend.

On to the fun! This one is a clip from the (now) world famous Ali-G Show (aka Borat). Personally, I find this character a bit annoying, but there are some incredibly hillarious things he does from time to time. I thought this one would be pertinent to my mission here, enjoy!

Perfect!…Part 2

I’m not even sure if anyone cares about these stories and this may be more of a self actualization project when it comes down to it, but in reality, I hope you get an idea what goes through a Nice Guy’s head in these types of situations.  That’s why I’m going through this, I guess, heck, I’m not even sure.  Hope you enjoy…

 

“How am I going to get these other two girls out of here?!”

 

That’s all that was crossing through my head at that time.  After all, Abby and I were really starting to dig each other.  Our conversation was amazing and our interaction in general was pretty darn positive.  I thought to myself at the time, how in the heck have I never met this girl?  It seemed like Abby was everything that I had been looking for.  She was intelligent, surprisingly beautiful, incredibly interesting and very easy to talk to.  This, my friends, was MY TYPE.  After my previous three-year relationship ended, I told myself that I would no longer settle for anything less than MY TYPE.  Here she was, sitting right in front me, having this amazing conversation and all I could hear was the girlish laughter of two drunk women falling off of my bed.  This needed to end now!

 

It was getting rather late.  We started the party around 6:00 p.m., people began to arrive in earnest at about 8:30 p.m. and there was such an abundance of alcohol that it would be hard for this one to last all night.  All in all, it was nearing 12:30 a.m. and Abby stated that she was tired.  She turned to Jane and asked if she was ready to go, Jane approved the decision and they began to gather their things. 

 

Of course I was sad to see Abby leave, but I did not want to push my luck.  I already felt blessed enough to have run into her and met her and gotten to know her a bit that I wasn’t going to do anything to push fate’s opinion of me into a negative one.  We exchanged numbers, promised to be in touch and with a hug and a kiss on the cheek, she was off…as was I.

 

I was floating on cloud nine.  I returned to the party with what must have been the biggest grin in the history of grins, because my friends all chided me for it.  Immediately the discussion went into, “So how long you going to wait before you call her?”

 

Now in all honesty, I am not a fan of these dating games that seem to be going around.  The “how long before you call” game or the “when is it the right time to start being more open so I don’t freak him out” game; these games are just incredibly frustrating and completely unnecessary.  I’ve never enjoyed them, nor have I intentionally played them and I wasn’t going to do it this time either.  I told my friends that I’ll call her whenever I feel like calling her and we’ll hang out again. 

 

The party was on a Saturday, and although Abby was flying through my mind the next day, Mr. Hangover was a bit more imperative at the time.  See, after Abby left and it was just the usual group of friends hanging out on the patio, I proceeded to over indulge a bit in my celebration; I was hurting.  With work looming over my head and the idea of not wanting to still sound drunk when I called Abby, I thought it’d be best if I recuperate and refresh myself for the coming week.  I did, however, receive a nice little text message at about two thirty in the afternoon stating, “Oh, I think I drank way too much.  I’m wounded.  I had a good time talking to you though.” 

 

That definitely put a smile on my face and I replied with a simple, “Still in bed.  Hurting.  I had a good time too.” 

 

The next day at work, I had trouble focusing.  From the days of junior high, I had always been one for a deep infatuation when I meet a girl that irks my desires, so this was no different.  I decided that I would simply get through the day, try not to think about Abby too much and call her later that evening.  After lunch, it seemed like the day flew by and in no time my heart was racing as I was getting ready to make the call.  This was the first time I had gotten butterflies since I had met my last “serious” girlfriend.  It was nerve racking and I found myself having about seven cigarettes in a thirty-minute period before I actually made the call.

 

Abby was an easy going person, so I don’t know why I freaked out so much before I called her, but when she answered the phone, we began talking like we had known each other our entire lives.  It was easy, simple and to the point (the way I like it).  After the pleasantries of “how was your day,” this is the conversation that followed:

 

“Hey, so I had a good time getting to know you a bit the other night.  I’d like to take you out tomorrow night, maybe some food and a drink after work or something?”

 

“Yeah, I’d like that.”

 

“Ok, well why don’t we meet about 8:00?  Do you want to meet me there or you want me to pick you up?”

 

“Well, I have nothing to do tomorrow, so I’ll just drive down to your house and we could go from there.” (She lived about 30 minutes away)

 

“Sounds good, see you tomorrow.”

 

It was perfect!  Probably the easiest way that could have gone.  No pressure, no uncomfortable silence; just simply to the point and quick. 

 

Abby showed up right on time.  I had been ready since about seven o’clock, heck, I was excited!  I asked my roommate a couple times before she came if I should change my shirt, or my shoes, or my jeans, or anything; it was quite amusing to him.  All my friends had expressed, in the short time they met her at the party, that she did indeed seem like she was perfect for me.  They all knew the TYPE of woman that I would be happy with and they thought Abby fit the mold.

 

We headed out to a local “pub” for a bite to eat and a beer.  She introduced me to Stella Artois (which if you haven’t tried is a fantastic tasting beer) and the conversation flowed smoothly.  She had mentioned at the party how much she loved the film “The Royal Tenenbaums” and brought it along to “open my eyes to the wonderfulness of a fantastic film.”  We talked about music, how she grew up, our family past; surprisingly, all on the FIRST DATE.  These are things you usually don’t even mention until two or three months into it, let alone on the first date!  But we were like two peas in a pod, two horses in a stall, two doves on a power line, if you will. 

 

After we finished what turned out to be horrible food (we laughed about that afterwards), we headed back to my place.  Bob had told me earlier in the night that he would shy away to his room for the evening so that I could have free range in the living room, so we put on “The Royal Tenenbaums.”  After understanding the concept of the film and its dry humor, I enjoyed the movie and we talked about it on the couch.  It was getting to be rather late, but I didn’t care (she was on summer break from school and didn’t start work until the following Wednesday, I had work at 7:30 a.m.), I was having fun just sitting and talking.  The couch seemed rather impersonal so I said to her, “You know what would be perfect?”

 

“If you had a blanket and we laid in the backyard looking at the stars?” she asked.

 

Believe it or not, you may think I am just full of it, but that is exactly the thought that was crossing my mind.  I sat there stunned for a second and said, “Yes!  That’s exactly what I was thinking!”

 

“No you weren’t.  You don’t think that’s weird?”

 

“No!  I think it’s incredibly awesome!  I love staring up at the dark night sky,” I said.

 

And so we did.  I grabbed a couple of blankets to lay out on the grass and a couple more to cover us from the chilly May evening, and we laid.  Abby laid in my arms and we laughed and continued our conversation.  We talked with such an ease that it was quite strange and we both began to take notice.

 

“This is kind of weird, how well we get along, isn’t it?” She quipped. 

 

Indeed it was weird.  It was almost as if we were in The Twilight Zone.  In all honesty, I know many people have experienced “the night” with their significant other (in case you’re not aware, “the night” is one of those nights where you just sit up and talk about nothing all night and aren’t even aware of time and you just gaze at each other in awe and so much emotion is involved and what not) but this was different.  This was much greater than “the night,” in fact, this was almost “the life.”  I couldn’t imagine being any happier than I was at that moment.  It felt like we had been together for years, like we were best friends suddenly enthralled about the way we cared about each other! This wonderful woman was lying next to me, looking up at the stars, talking about absolutely everything, and then the thought hit me: 

 This WAS our first date.  Indeed, this WAS weird…

I Now Have a Myspace!

In an effort to continue to garner a larger reading audience I have created a MySpace account!  You can all check me out at http://www.myspace.com/theniceguyblog.  Add me as a friend and let me know a bit about you!  I will be posting some more info and such on the Myspace site, so check it out from time to time.

Thanks for reading…

I will continue the Perfect! post series today when I get home from work so check back later tonight!

One MONTH!

It is official!  It’s been one month since the inception of this blog!  I’m excited because I’ve been meaning to do a blog for over a year and even started one attempt a while back, but it fell by the wayside. 

I hope that you guys enjoy a small look into my life and some of the thoughts and insanity of a Nice Guy.  The “Perfect!” post series will continue tomorrow, as today I will simply bask in my anniversary glow!

Thanks to all my readers and I hope you enjoy!  Suggestions are always appreciated and welcomed. 

Perfect!…Part 1

After my experience with “The Journey” (the five part series of posts you can read below), I decided I needed to go back a bit and examine a certain past experience that still haunts and confuses me today.

  

My roommate Bob’s fiancé (which now I realize still hasn’t been given a name, we will call her Christy) graduated from university last year.  As we were known to do for momentous occasions, we decided to throw a party.  Christy had been in our circle of friends for about three years at that point, and although Bob hadn’t popped the question yet, Christy was one of us.  Her endearing personality coupled with her willingness to help out (AKA she cooked for Bob and I on a regular basis) around the house really made her easy to get along with.  Graduating college is a huge accomplishment and we decided we’d throw the biggest party to date at Casa de Bob.

  

(Little side note, as a bit of background, Bob and I have been friends for some years now and Bob is quite successful in his profession.  He bought the house we live in and invited me to rent a room, which worked out perfect since my apartment lease at the time was up.  We have lived in roommate bliss now for almost 3 years)

  

We didn’t hold anything back.  We got a margarita machine, we purchased scores of alcohol, balloons that were the school colors of Christy’s university, heck…I even hung decorations.  We rolled out the carpet, put out the signs, put chairs and tables all over the backyard; we were very intent on making this a more mature party than we had in the past as she was graduating college and we were no longer the “crazy” party people we were at one time.  Christy invited friends of her own from classes and back from high school that we had never met and after all was said and done, we had about sixty people (probably 25 of which I had never met) come in and out throughout the night.

 

A certain classmate of Christy’s was coming, Tara, and I was kind of excited.  For a while, gradually, Christy and Bob had been working to set me up with Tara.  Tara was a bit of a hopeless romantic (which Christy and Bob continuously hound me for being) and they thought that we would be perfect for each other.  I had already attempted with Tara on one occasion, but because of her busy schedule at the time and mine subsequently after, we never got together.  Well, I figured, this would be my chance.

 

 

As people started arriving, and the drinks began to flow, I was consciously attempting to be more sociable than my usual self.  At the time I was on a nice little streak (if I may say so myself) of having dated two genuinely interesting, but not right for me, girls in the previous six months.  I figured there were going to be plenty of people at this party that I could mingle with, get to know, and maybe come out of my shell a bit.  When Tara showed up solo, I decided to pursue a bit.

  

After a couple different conversations here and there, I was starting to become kind of disinterested with Tara.  It wasn’t that just a few minutes passed and suddenly I was no longer interested, but it became apparent that Tara had a certain way of life she was living that did not necessarily match mine at the time.  She was going out with two different guys at that time and just having fun in the casual dating scene.  Personally, I have never been one to “casually” date more than one woman.  Although I do subscribe to the school of thought that casual dating can be very fun and a great learning experience, I’m not too keen on an assortment of different partners to share my company with.  Either way, it was a “roll off the shoulder” moment, nothing fascinating, nothing over complex, just a simple acknowledgement that it wasn’t the right time to pursue interests with Tara.

 

 

Just then, I looked over to the table out on the far side of our patio and noticed a woman sitting alone.  Being in the sociable mood and not wanting anyone to feel unwelcome at our party, I headed over.

 

 

“Hi, I don’t believe we’ve met.  I’m Nice Guy”

  

“Oh, yeah, hi Nice Guy.  Nice to meet you.”

  

“So who do you know here?”  I said, sort of surprised she didn’t give me her name.

  

“Oh, my good friend Jane is close friends with Christy.”

 

“Oh, yeah I know Jane.  You having a good time?”

  

“Yeah, it’s alright, I don’t know anyone though.”

  

Now, it was a bit dark outside, but through the glow of the tiki torches, I first began to notice her.  She had a very subtle beauty to her, her smooth complexion and cute as a button nose contrasted well with her perfectly proportionate face.  Now, you may think that is a funny statement about a proportionate face, but in all reality, this girl had a very silently striking beauty about her.  Her hair was short and jet black, her skin was smooth and she had a gorgeous little smile; even sitting down, I could tell she was in great shape.  She was very cute, petite and very different than any other girl I had ever tried to pick up on.

  

Mind you, now, that I was not trying to pick up on her.  I noticed her alone and was simply trying to be a welcoming face.  But I did immediately notice these features about her and wondered to myself how I did not become aware of her at our party until that point.

 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name,” I interestingly asked

  

“Oh,  “Abby,” sorry.”

  

Abby.  Abby, Abby, Abby; the name rung in my head.  As soon as her voice and that name struck my ears, it was something intoxicating.  Of course, again, just playing a good host, I continued the conversation.  Without going too much into detail, Abby was an art major.  She had a very creative side to her that I had never met in a woman.  She explained her passion for art, the excitement in her voice was engaging.  The nonchalant way she spoke of life and passion was incredibly hypnotic.

 

After she realized that I was there for nothing more than the innocent pleasantry of conversation, she began to ask me some questions.  I mentioned that I’m an aspiring writer, that we shared that creative passion.  I went into detail about a couple of projects that I had working at the time and she was genuinely interested.  She asked to see some of my work, which to me was rather shocking given the environment we were in, and so I obliged.  We left the party area and went into the computer room.  I showed her my work, she asked questions, asked where the inspirations came from, asked who I enjoyed reading.  She began to share some of her favorite authors, some that I had never heard of, and how they inspired her painting.  Everyone suddenly began to take notice that we were no longer outside.

  

We decided that it would be a better idea if we rejoined the party, didn’t want anybody getting the wrong ideas of where we were.  We went back outside and I introduced her to Jim and Bob and Christy (who had only met her on two or three previous occasions) and we rejoined the rousing party discussion about life.  At this point everyone was starting to get a tiny bit more intoxicated, including Abby and I (after all, we had a margarita machine spewing out frozen margaritas at the push of a button).  We couldn’t understand why, but as we were sitting out there, we continued to be drawn to each other.  After a few words with this friend and that friend, I would constantly find myself back in the chair next to Abby’s, picking up right where we left off with our intelligent discussions about life and passion and art and writing and everything we could think of.

 

 

A few people at the party began to give me the little “thumbs up” and a clever little smile, and each time I would shake them off, as if to say, “No, it’s not what you think.”  Everyone around took some notice that we were constantly off to the side, engaged in some exuberant conversation that obviously no one else was involved in.  After a few more comments from others, I asked, “Do you wanna just take this conversation to my room?  We could have more privacy.”

  

“Sure,” she said.

  

Now, before you get ahead of yourselves, it’s not what you think.  I wasn’t trying to make some slick move to get her back in my room for some late night soirée; I was genuinely interested in our conversation.  Abby could obviously sense that, because I had no indication from her that she was afraid to go with this two hour stranger into his room.  Out of consideration for her reputation, I left the door to my room open as we continued our conversation.  About ten minutes later, Jane and another friend walk in with margaritas in hand and interrupt.

 

Suddenly, there are three slightly drunk girls in my room and I could only think of one thing…

A Revelation…The Journey Ends, 3:00 a.m., Part Five

So there I was, incredibly tired, incredibly confused and incredibly just wanting the night to end.  I had just been through an ordeal that I can now only look back and make sense of and all I wanted was my nice, comfortable, Egyptian cotton sheets to graze the cheek of my face and put me into a slumber long enough to feel refreshed.  Bob had different ideas.

 

Bob went into a sort of a diatribe that began with our conversation a few weeks ago (I Guess I’m Screwed post).  According to Bob (and now I guess P and Jim as well), my “nice guy” image was reaching a boiling point with him.  He could no longer sit back and watch as I experimented continuously with my love life.  Bob was tired of seeing me (apparently) affected and (by this point) somewhat defeated by women.  He was tired of me not having a date in months.  Bob was simply fed up with MY dating life.  He would teach me a lesson.

 

Knowing the annoyance I felt, even at that time, with Megan, Bob figured he would not protect me as he thought he had in the past.  See, Bob has always been the more sociable, talkative person when we go out.  Even though he is engaged to a wonderful woman, Bob (maybe in pity for me, I don’t know) set about talking up the ladies at social events and casually introducing me as a “viable” option.  Don’t get me wrong, I find myself to be a pretty good catch (as do others), but I am, admittedly, a pretty stand off person until I get comfortable.  It seems as though my problem isn’t approaching people, it’s not trusting them.  Therefore, Bob leads me into conversation and has been known to be a sort of “wing man” in many situations. 

 

This was not one of those situations.

 

Bob knew Megan’s “type.”  He knew where the night was going to lead and he set me up.  I know this may not sound like the most exciting ending to this journey, but it shocked me.  I was utterly shocked and it took me a couple of days to reflect on what Bob had done to fully understand (and partly forgive) why it was that he did it.

 

See, if you read through the entire journey story, you’ll see a struggle within myself.  This is a struggle that I have been facing continuously for the better part of seven or eight years now. 

 

I was raised in a pretty strict Catholic background.  My parents were very devout and so I naturally gravitated toward that lifestyle.  All through high school and into college, I was very “by the book” religiously, which in turn, meant I was “saving myself.”  As is apparent (and I won’t get too into the reasons why) by some of my earlier posts, I have moved quite far from that.  That upbringing though (and my parents being quite socially conservative) has instilled in me a terribly difficult ideology to get past.  I am a pessimist at heart, you will see that come out in many posts, but I have a belief in the “common good” in people.  You see, I believe that all women have an intrinsic structure that should allow them to date people like me.  I am what women want!  (or so I think or thought or am working through).

 

I am a nice guy.  I treat women right.  I am courteous and gentlemanly and all the “chivalrous” things that I thought women want.  I am also a man, though.  I do intend for my woman to not have to worry about certain things, to be taken care of.  In general, I guess you could say I have the mentality that all women should be innocent, pure and well-intentioned.  I am quickly beginning to find out this is not true.

 

Now, if you look back through “The Journey,” you’ll see that I was constantly trying to look at the “positive” side of Megan.  (Again, this is something that has come to realizations in weeks following the incident)  I was not very attracted to this girl, I did not think she was very intelligent, and inside myself I believed that I needed to get rid of her because she was not any sort of mate I was looking for.  But, aside from what was happening in my head, I rationalized over and over again.  I found one little positive, then another, and tried to rationalize a reason to want to be with this girl.  All along, it seems sad (and almost pathetic, now that I think about it) that I would do that to myself and her. 

 

This was, in a more philosophical way than he originally thought, Bob’s plan.  To get me to realize that deep down inside, I do not and can not be nice to every woman.  Not because she doesn’t warrant it (there was nothing all THAT bad about Megan) but because eventually it will leave me in an unhappy, unstable relationship. 

 

My biggest fear is somehow waking up one day and realizing the person lying next to me is almost the farthest thing from what I wanted.  Bob, somehow, helped show me this through this experience.  I’m sure he has no idea what kind of effect it had on me, I’m not even sure what effect it’s had on me, but in some way it has opened my eyes.  In reality, I hope that I can look at this in the future and avoid these types of situations. 

 

I will admit (which I’m sure some of you will interpret this entire story as), I feel as though my emotional maturity has taken a big step back in the past two years (since my last serious relationship).  I don’t believe it’s because I don’t know what I want, I believe it’s because I’m impatient in trying to attain it. 

 

It’s difficult being so honest with people, but I suppose the shroud of a keyboard offers some sort of protection.  I hope all is well with you out there.

 

Coming next, a story that might explain why I’ve gotten to this point.  Hope you keep reading!

 

The Nice Guy

And the Tradition Continues

I promise I will be back blogging daily beginning again this Sunday.  I hope I haven’t lost the little readership I’ve gained, so I ask that you stick with me.

 It is Friday though…you know what that means!  This one is short and quick but I find it particularly topical to this blog.

(By the way, I apologize lately it has been mostly Family Guy stuff on Friday’s, I’ve been lazy.  I will switch it up in the future)

On to the funny…