S: November Cup Update

And we have a winner!

The November Cup has been taken by Contender the Third!

At the start of the race, C3 had worked his way into the lead by being the only contender to have actually made mention of a social outing. And, only a few laps in, this contender earned a decisive victory by suggesting dinner early next week.

We went a few rounds about where we would eat, because I’m notoriously bad at choosing a restaurant, but the message exchange was actually quite fun. He plays along very well and we feel the same way about a lot of food related topics. This is promising for dinner conversation. We’ll see if he ends up being any better at in-person bantering than the last two Misters.

After the flurry of exchanges to get our plans hashed out, I found myself disappointed that there wouldn’t be more to discuss. What do you email about once the date has been made when the original intent of your messages was to get a date made? I didn’t want our exchanges to come to a screeching halt. I was having too much fun.

Good thing I’m a master of random crap. I threw out some odd topics of conversation and the banter continued. Until now. Because he left town for the weekend.

And now I kind of miss Contender the Third. The newly crowned Mr. November. I found myself looking forward to his responses to my random crap. He takes the bait I put out for him and he makes me laugh. And then sets out new bait for me.

I’m actually looking forward to our date as more than just a quota filler after the last week of back-and-forth. I didn’t feel a great connection during the group drinks last week, but now that the ice is broken and it will just be the two of us, perhaps things will flow a bit better. We both have a better sense of what can be discussed safely with the other and we have a little bit of shared history to get us going.

And wine. There will be wine. And martinis. This will definitely take the edge off. But not too much. It’s good to have a little edge. It’s much easier to keep one’s distance when sober.

So that’s it. The November Cup has been decided. I was sweating this one, but a worthy stallion has come through.

In a late breaking photo finish, Contender the First also suggested a get together for drinks not a couple of hours after I accepted Contender the Third’s dinner request. I’d rather have Contender the Fourth cross the finish line for December, but it looks like I’ll be able to keep C1 at the starting gate for an early take-off next month.

Then I have to figure out what to do with the remaining contenders.