Runnin' on Empty

After a few weeks running before work, i had become an exercise fiend, and joined the gym at work to lift weights on my lunch hour. By this time, i worked strictly nights at the hospital, thus practically zeroing out all possibilities of behaving like a normal person. *grin* It was a great schedule though, as it allowed me a rotating schedule set in stone and 3 days off in a row every three weeks. Woot! However, as i was never out during normal people hours, i found it even harder to find a date. Let's see, "Non-smoking SWF living with crazy old uncle, a cat with a tongue that hangs out of his face, and is pretty well sleep deprived most days seeks kind man to date." Yeah, that should get the offers pouring in, eh? So, it was about this time i turned to the internets to try to find some friends that i could get together with in Seattle on my three day weekend. If they were of the male persuasion, so be it. :) Sadly, it led to meeting a couple of really weird guys that travelled to Spokane to meet me. Let's just say that dinner couldn't end soon enough.

By this time, Moose had not only become exasperated with his dating prospects, but also disenchanted with design engineering. Work was physically causing him stress to the point of effecting his health. He was 29 years old and already sick of his work. He saw an opportunity to move into another department at the city. It seemed like interesting work: environmental engineering. He threw he hat in the ring and was accepted for the position. Quickly he proved himself indispensable. Now the only thing lacking in his life was a girlfriend.


Just when the pair quickly grew bored with the use of modern means to find a date...


It was July 3rd, 1999, when i logged onto a chatroom to visit with my mom over the computer, a common occurance so we could save a pile of money on long distance bills. While we were talking, i noticed a little conversation going on in the background about some Seattle happenings and people wanting to get together. I quickly typed whatever it was i had to add to the conversation, something sarcastic i have no doubt. I returned to Mom's conversation when a little window popped up with funny little blurb about my two cents in the Seattle conversation. We started trading jokes back and forth and all of the sudden started swapping vital statistics: names, ages, locales. He asked if i had visited Seattle much and i mentioned that i would be visiting with my friend from Portland in about a month's time to check out the Impressionists exhibit at the SAM. He mentioned he was just getting ready to go on a camping trip, and i was telling him how excited i was to work over the holiday--cha-ching!! However before he left, he mentioned he'd buy me a beer when i visited Seattle. We traded emails and he got back to packing for his trip.

After Mom and i finished talking, i went about my day: napped, worked, come home, slept, ate....i had this nagging feeling about this guy i'd met. He was funny, good funny, you know? Smart funny, not like a lot of those fraternity dudes i worked with. We had found a little bit in common too. I was hoping he had a good time camping and i was looking forward to talking with him again. So i thought, hey, why not write him an email to tell him so....