as long as we're on the subject of awkward conversations, i have a good story. there seems to be a high level of cohesiveness between these stories, most of that cohesion centered around living situations and moving. this story is no exception.
i had more or less resigned myself to living in burnsville at my friend jason's house. the only real caveat to that particular situation is that it's burnsville. there isn't exactly a ton there that appeals to me, and it's a very long commute to and from work each day. i decided i could swallow those pills, but just in case, i found myself checking the rooms section of craigslist just about every day (i actually still do. of course, now i may actually need to). wonder of wonders, i came across an ad in there that piqued my interest. it was a really nice sounding, affordable place in uptown. the girl who posted the ad sounded pretty nice, and the description of the apartment was favorable, so i copied down the email address and started typing.
the back story to gmail's keyboard shortcuts must date back to the vi text editor, which was developed before people had mice to point and click to move around their text. it essentially works in two modes: command mode and insert/replace mode. it shouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the difference between those two. one moves the cursor around and deletes stuff and pastes stuff. the other is the mode in which you sit and type. when you finish typing the text you intend to add to a file, you have to hit the escape key to get out of insert/replace mode and back into command mode so you can choose somewhere else to edit text or quit the program. i realize this is boring background, but underneath it all, the vi text editor gives me a warm fuzzy feeling that few other things on earth can rival. for whatever reason, it's the editor of choice in market research, and so i've been using it ever since i began my career in market research 2 years ago. naturally, i was thrilled to find that gmail was using something similar let users navigate through their email without using the mouse. the commands are mostly different, but the idea is the same. here's where this becomes pertinent to the story.
after typing the first half, i accidentally hit escape and started typing vi commands. it's a really bad habit i have that comes from using vi all day at work. unfortunately, since gmail works so similarly, my escape put it in command mode, and before i realized what i had done, i hit the shortcut key for "send." what can i say? i thrive on opportunities to make myself look silly. i realize that sending one email in two pieces is neither conventional nor the end of the world. i wasn't born without a sense of perspective, so i simply wrote a quick explanation and finished the email in a second message and sent it along.
the girl responded to me the next day and we set up a meeting at noon at her place so i could come by and look at it. once i got there, i pulled up to the curb and began the lengthy shutdown procedure of my car. i have to turn off the ipod, shut the windows, close the sunroof, and then turn off the ignition and put on the parking brake. unfortunately, i don't really do this all so automatically, and sometimes i switch the order of things up. i don't like to leave my car in gear when i park it; that's why i have a parking brake. still, i'm in the habit of turning off the car while it's in first gear and the clutch is in. i don't know why i do this, but it happens a lot. anyhow, here i am, pulled up to the curb, ignition on, car in first gear, clutch engaged, and i pull the parking brake. then i pull out my phone and call the number she gave me. as i was pulling up i noticed a girl walking a dog down the sidewalk. by the time i picked up my phone, she was right next to my car. turns out this is jen, the girl i'm going to meet. and she waves at me as soon as the phone starts ringing and asks me if i'm adam. i say yes. and i let go of the clutch and start reaching for the door, though the engine is still running. now the car lurches forward, catches itself on the parking brake, and stalls. you have no idea how cool i looked.
so there's strike two. keep in mind i'm not usually that bad, but at this point, this girl has only three things from which she can make her impression of me - the email, the phone call, and me pulling up. i botched two of those already. fortunately, the rest of the showing is uneventful, at least in that i don't do anything klutzy or stupid again.
after leaving, i started thinking about the apartment and the girl and whether or not it's something i would actually want to do if she decides on me as her ideal roommate. and my decision, initially, was that it would be totally awesome. upon further consideration, i realized that i only thought it would be a good idea because i found this girl to be rather attractive and really engaging. and that could cause all sorts of problems if i were to move in with her, so regretfully, i had to conclude that it wasn't such a great idea. i figured i'd wait till she got back to me and tell her i was just going to move to burnsville after all.
she finally called me back tonight, telling me she decided not to stay at her apartment and that she found a place in st. paul that was much closer to work. and i brief her on my roommate situation, so it's no big deal because i'm not moving very soon now anyway. and the conversation sounds like it's just about to end.
here's where i need to jump in and point out that it is VERY seldom that i find myself in a completely nothing-to-lose situation. this was one of those very few times. and i knew this all week, as i was more or less expecting this call and trying to think of exactly how i could explain this to her. i decided the blunt approach was best.
i'm not so good on the phone tonight. i mean, i was, up until the point at which she sounds like she's wishing me luck and telling me to have a nice life. so i interject, "yeah, there was another thing." i quickly tell her that i thought she was really attractive and decided then that i wasn't going to live there, and that i'd rather just ask her out. except, because this is something i don't do very often, i'm NOT very smooth. she bursts out laughing. not a good sign. but then she exclaims, "that is so sweet!" and continues laughing.
i'll spare the details of the rest of the story, save for the fact that we're going to meet up some sunday (soon) at famous dave's, where i play every week and she used to eat and listen to the music pretty frequently. in baseball terms, it wasn't exactly a grand slam. or even a home run. but it was at least a single, maybe even a double. and probably due to an outfielder error, but hey. the end justifies the means. i told her she's got my number, and awkwardly hung up the phone.
all in a day's work.
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