Outpaced

As I alluded to yesterday, events have been outpacing my ability to keep up in this forum. So, I will try my best to, once again, reconstruct the past couple of days.

While I was in Amsterdam, the Prototype's roommate went nuts on her. Now, this woman is an alcoholic with severe depression/mental health issues, so it was probably a matter of time. So, on the day I left for Amsterdam, the roommate went out, got drunk, and came back to the flat in a rage - all directed at the Prototype. It was apparently quite horrible and involved the roommate screaming, "get the f*** out". The Prototype left and wanted to call me, but I was out of the country (she told me this last night...sigh). Instead, she called her father and he calmed her down. It sounds like she was really distraught by the whole affair - which I'm sure we all would be. At any rate, she stayed at a friends place that night and then her roommate let her come back the next day. They've patched things up as well as they can, but the impetus to move is incredibly strong right now.

So, not knowing any of this, I called the Prototype on Wednesday evening after work. She didn't answer (as she sometimes doesn't - blame Vodafone for shite service) but I left a message saying I wanted to see her this weekend. She texted me from work the next day and suggested that we go out after work. Like I was going to say no. She had to go up to High Gate (Archway Tube - which means nothing to you unless you open up the tube map - but is a little farther north of where she lives now) to look at a bedsit, so we met up there. A bedsit is like a shared house except that everyone has their own bathrooms, kitchens, etc. Essentially they're a merger between studio and student house.

Anyway, we met up there and had drinks at a nice pub. Now, I say drinks, but I don't mean many because we're both poor and really, we don't need to drink fast or anything like that because we're not on the bullet train to liver disease or alcoholism (especially after the roommate fiasco). It was a really nice evening. Unfortunately, 11 came too soon and we had to call it a night. Neither one of us wanted the night to end. I had asked her to go to the National Gallery with me on Saturday. They're having a Rafael exhibit there and she mentioned she wanted to see it. So we agreed to do that and I was going to call her on Friday.

On Friday, I was just dead ass tired at work. I got a reasonable amount of sleep, but I think I just hadn't fully rested properly since New Year's. But I powered through and instead of taking that nap I really wanted to take, I ran errands, bought shoes (Ecco - thanks Vic!), and did laundry. Around 7, I had finished everything I needed to do (including eating dinner), so I went to call the Prototype. As I'm leaving her a message, a text comes through. Now she's asking me out because she wants to see me. Yep, that's me hopping on the train and heading up to meet her. The cool thing about that was that it was totally unexpected but totally the right call for both of us. She had been out with "the girls" and I had planned on sitting around and playing cards with the Argentine Tenor, but meeting up and having a drink was just that much sweeter. Once again, the night concluded long before either one of us was ready.

We met up at Trafalgar Square on Saturday. I had taken a risk on Thursday that I will describe. I did not tell her about the blog - it's obviously way too soon for that. But I have talked about how I'm an aspiring author and that I just love to write. She said she would love to read something of mine. So, while it made me a bit nervous, I printed out the Pert Plus essay (after a little editing) and gave it to her on Friday. She loved it. And she wants to read more. I told y'all she's legit.

Anyway, the Rafael exhibit (only 4 pounds for students!) wasn't going to let us in until 530 and it was just after 2, so we went down the street so that she could get something to eat. We basically killed 3 hours walking around Soho and that area and it was great. The exhibit was really really cool. I got a postcard of one of his pictures that is visionary for something else I'm writing. Not only were his paintings really awesome, but they showed the sketches that he did before hand, so you could see the evolution of his work from sketch to masterpiece.

After, we went into Covent Garden. London is a legendary city for many reasons, but the romantic element is undeniable. Walking around the city with a beautiful woman at your side pretty much tops everything in life, but Covent Garden is truly amazing because there is always live, virtuoso type music being played. Last night was no exception. There was a quintet of 4 violinists and 1 cellist. Not only were they really good, but the lead violinist was truly an elite player. Also, in the middle of the performance, one them put his instrument down and belted out this opera song - he was great. We stuck around there until the end of the show.

Finally we were too cold to stay outside any longer, so we found a nice posh pub and had a little food and drink. We were having such a great time that we decided to go out dancing, but we had to go back to her place first so that she could change. While we were there, we engaged in a little group think and decided it wouldn't be prudent to spend money that we didn't have, so we ended up at Embassy, which is a decent club down the street from her. I've mentioned it before, so when I say "decent", I mean cheap and not that dodgy. We got our dance on for two hours until they closed, at which point I took her home and grabbed the next available bus.

The point of this long winded narrative, however, is that in the last three days we've spent over 20 hours together, we've never run out of conversation, and neither one of us wanted to part and go our separate ways. This woman just does it for me and it's becoming readily apparent that I do it for her. One of the best things going is that we have incredible respect for each other. The Prototype has a thirst for knowledge, argument, and understanding that many people I have met in life's journey simply do not have. We share that and it always leads to stimulating conversation. Neither one of us knows where this is going to go, but when I look at her, I see something I haven't seen in a long time - a possibility of a shared future - or more simply, companionship. And that pretty much the root of all male-female pursuits from where I'm sitting.

So, yes, I'm in a pretty damn good mood today. Plus, I'm going to go watch some NFL playoffs with some mates around 6 GMT and you can't argue with that. Denver-Indianapolis.