A Dating Update

Let's see, Kevin 1 and I continued to struggle reconciling so that seems over. Kevin 2 ghosted me right before our Las Vegas trip, so I ended up canceling. Tall, boring Brandon actually has made repeat appearances. He's a total bore but we both seem to have mutually agreed to use each other without saying it. Francisco also reappeared briefly, and then slithered back into the shadows. Marathon runner Andrew and I took some distance and sort of faded. I ended things more formally the last time he reached out. Hollywood Justin tried gaslighting me - he's so shady and ghosty - I told him I don't trust him and he never responded, so I guess that's over.

And now, for AJ of NASA JPL.

It was a rocky start to AJ's and my first date. I met him through the Hinge app after changing my location to Pasadena, reasoning that I'm in Pasadena once or twice a week typically for swing dancing. Some percentage of the reason he connected with me was because of my job. I told him fairly quickly that I wasn't actually in Pasadena and he understood. He comes up to Edwards Air Force Base on a fairly regular basis so my locale isn't actually too out of the way for him on those days. In fact, we agreed it was rather convenient that I could potentially crash after swing dance with him in Pasadena and he could stay with me when he has back-to-back days in the desert. Anyways, due to miscommunication or really lack of clarification, he ended up at the Lucky Luke's in Lancaster while I was awaiting him at the one in Palmdale. He quickly joined me though. From there, it was a lot of shop talk and I wasn't sure I would be interested if that was all there was. But we eventually got off the topic of airplanes and it went better from there.

Because there was no food at Lucky Luke's, he asked if we could go to Yard House to grab a bite before he headed home. It was a Monday night and I wasn't too keen on staying out late, but I was enjoying him and had at least a little attraction to him. So I acquiesced, and we ate at Yard House. We wrapped up the first date with a simple peck kiss which was both absolutely perfect for a first date, and leaving me wanting a little more.

His next visit to the area was Thursday, but I also had a goodbye happy hour for an employee I wanted to attend and my last lindy hop class in Pasadena that night. I sort of talked myself out of going to class, and he agreed to meet me at the happy hour. We had a good time there and headed back to my place. We immediately assumed a cuddle position while I queued up some Ted Lasso, and, well, he spent the night and it was pretty great.