Date 14: The networking event

Went to an alumni mixer tonight. Well, an alumni "networking" event. What is it that people have in common with other people who went to their school? I don't know, the likelihood of me meeting someone in my profession is slim, like infrathin, but nevertheless, I was fearless and went head on in. So, I'm going to count this as a date because alumni events are ipso facto dating events if you are single. Was that the right usage of "ipso facto"? not sure, but I've always wanted to use it in text. Also, it counts as a date because I got all dressed up and even curled my hair and wore my sticky lipgloss. Anytime I deviate from my regimen of studying, working, and eating, to go out and try to meet a guy, it counts as a date. Per usual, the entire way there I kept thinking to myself "I really don't want to do this. I really don't. I'd rather be at home. Home is so much better than this! I can study and watch tv simultaneously!" So I pretty much dragged myself to it.

Anyway, I did meet three lovely men. One of the men was from Tokyo and did not speak English that well, at least pronunciation-wise but was quite nice otherwise...is doing a phd in neuroscience. impressive. I approve. The second guy was swiss and also spoke very poor english, I wanted to attempt to speak french to him (his native language) but I didn't want to risk doing an even worse job with his language than he was doing with mine. anyways, he was very cute and is doing a phd in chemical engineering at the same prestigious university that my "intellectual" date teaches at. very impressive. i approve. the third guy was british and is a lawyer. I thought he was pretty nice, although when another girl (one of the two I met) came by he quickly moved from speaking to me to speaking to her, leaving me, not holding the chicken, but a plate of cold tortellini. I awkwardly spooned seafood salad (ew) onto my plate (always be doing something, regardless of whether you end up with a plate of octopus [side note: never eat octopus, they are smarter than your dog]), and then introduced myself to some other people. why not? Gave all involved my business card. the lawyer on his way out insisted we go for hot chocolate some time. I approve. Let's see if he follows through. None of these people sparked with me though. got caught in terrible downpour on the way to the subway.

Interestingly, when I got off the subway, my giant giant umbrella broke so that the handle extended really far as I was walking, so basically the umbrella handle became about 5 feet long...don't ask how this occurred I have no idea. As I was walking, the handle suddenly extended almost tripping the guy behind me, except instead of being annoyed like a typical new yorker, as I was apologizing profusely I looked up and there is this gorgeous blond tall skinny guy with glasses cracking up. He says: "oh my! That was fantastic! Your umbrella is like a clown's umbrella!" I stammer, of course, b/c I can't act cool...ever. "um, yes, it's, um broken." I get out. "That makes my subway ride! what a great way to end it!" he smiles, and I say "It's broken." And he kind of looks at me like he wants to continue talking to me (meanwhile we are walking and I am dragging the huge umbrella behind me) and I can't decide whether to abandon the umbrella and follow this lovely man or try to fix it. Being the dating genius that I am, I stopped to attempt to fix it. And I couldn't, so I totally blew that. Missed connections anyone? Went to grocery store and picked up: garbage bags, small garbage bags, pop, and pop tarts. How very not-grown-up of me. Must stop eating crap, but they are brown-sugar cinnamon!

Anyway, feeling very melancholy this weekend.

Kind of realized my heart is still a little broken. Also having an upset stomach, I don't want to admit it, but it's probably related. Also having extreme insomnia due to overthinking about pretty much everything. tomorrow...