I don’t even bear a passing resemblance to James Lipton

So how is the week going for everyone so far? My week is not too bad for a change, just feeling pretty tired since for some reason I’ve been waking up at 3am every morning. Proper waking up too, not wake up, stumble to the loo and then back to bed until the alarm goes off at 6.30am, no, I’m up and about for a good half hour which is immensely irritating. It’s a wonder I can concentrate in work at all.

Anyway I’m hoping for an earlier night tonight and plan to skip a leaving do in favour of a Pilates class instead. Is that wrong of me? It's a joint leaving do for A and J and well – A actually left the company 2 weeks ago and had a girls' night the Tuesday before last for her farewell, which I attended with gusto, and J’s last day is officially Friday and I’m seeing her tomorrow for a client team outing to celebrate a campaign launch so I feel like I have an opportunity to say my farewells to both without going out again tonight., because quite honestly all these farewell parties – A and J’s joint party is like the 6th one in the last two weeks - are playing havoc with my liver and at a point where enough is enough, I just want to leave work at a reasonable hour, hit the gym and then go home and eat salad or something similarly disgustingly healthy and have an early night. I’m planning to be on the ginger ales tomorrow night; that is if the will power holds. Hopefully it will because I am quite gung-ho about not drinking for a few weeks – it’s been like Christmas party season all over again of late - plus I am out with people I don't know well – creative types included, but sadly no Creative Crush even though it's the account he was initially pegged to work on. I haven't spotted him for a good while now, so I suspect he may have left the company. Sigh, I need new office eye candy - so I will be more likely to behave.

In other news I had a date with someone from Match at the weekend, an actor...

Meh!!

The guy was nice enough, but barely asked me one question about myself and I felt as if I was constantly working to think of things to ask him. It wasn't a bad date, but definitely below average. Not that I necessarily need a date to ask me questions about myself, if conversation had been flowing naturally about other topics then I wouldn't have cared so much, but our conversation was definitely lopsided and went something like this....

Fish: So I saw from your profile that you moved to New York in 1998, did you move here to become an actor?

Date: Yes....blabs on about how he got his start as an actor and the TV show he is currently working on

Fish: How long have you been doing it?

Date: Since 2005....blabs on about meeting his ex-wife and moving back and forth between NY and DC for a few years before getting a divorce and deciding to focus on himself.

Fish: So you also work in commercial real estate?

Date: Yes, to pay the bills, I got my license when I first moved here started with XYZ ...etc

Fish: Is that hard to fit in with the acting?

Date: Well my previous boss was sympathetic....goes on some more about fitting in the work and acting.

A few more questions of that ilk and I’m thinking um...what do you think this, Inside the Actor's Studio? Do I look like James Lipton? You're on a date not a chuffing interview, are you really not interested in knowing anything about me? Seriously would it have killed him to ask me about my job, my family etc? I pretty much sat there thinking "this is awkward and neither of us seem to be enjoying ourselves, so I'm sure there's no question of a second date," but as we were wrapping things up – a short date at an hour and 15minutes - I asked him whether he saw many plays and I was really just making conversation - and his eyes lit up and he said he didn't but if I wanted to see a play sometime he would love to see something, then he asked me whether I skied and if I would ever be interested in going to Stratton with him because he has a friend who can get free passes which was a bit out of left field after theatre chat, so took me back a bit, but whatever, it took me back a bit but I mumbled a 'maybe' and afterwards we walked to Borough Hall to catch a 4 or 5 train to Manhattan travelling together as far as Union Square where he was meeting a friend for a movie. As he left the train he said it was nice to meet me and he hoped to see me again and gave me a big beaming smile and a kiss on the cheek.

Hmmm!!

I thought he was just being polite initially, but then he sent me an email asking me on a second date last night and I had to send the "I don't think we are a good fit" note. Sigh!! I don't get it, I was sure our lack of chemistry was mutual, but apparently not, unless he was just "flexing his second date muscles" as Kitty has previously put it. I.e. they ask for a second date even though they are not really interested just for the practice of asking. I think she has a point because no matter how badly a date goes I have always unfathomably been asked on a second date.

Men are weird!!

Anyway I’ve already sent the “nice to meet you, but I don’t think we are a good fit” email, so all done and dusted, although there’s a bit of a dearth of prospects at the moment. Emma on the other hand is having a marvellous ol’ time with Stephen, the first and last man she’s met on Match. “I really like him,” she confessed over lunch the other day, “it scares me how much I like him.” The feeling seems to be mutual from what she says about him so fingers crossed.

I relayed the news of Emma’s success to Nigel who has been active on the online dating scene for the past 5years without any luck.

“Well good for Emma, the cow.”

But, he’s not bitter ;-)