New Beginnings

I don't think I really believe in serendipity or anything relatively naive like that. But I do believe that in life, many things simply come down to good or bad timing. I've had my share of sweet success and sad disappointment that can ultimately be connected to timing over any other factor. However, sometimes, when you least expect it, something grand happens. Last week was one of those times.

A month ago, I was at a birthday party for a friend. There were many people there, the majority of which were Colombian. I met some new people but didn't think much of it. I couldn't stay late as my Mother was in town and we were going sightseeing the next day fairly early. I met a Colombian woman there that I probably wouldn't have really remembered if I had never seen her again. Well, last week, I saw her again. It was at the going away party for my Mexican friend. We were at O'Neil's, a pub-club that plays the London standard 80's and 90's music. Mentally and emotionally I was spent on the whole "meet a new girl a week" phenomenon that had been a central feature of my existence over the last couple months. The usual was, I meet a girl, maybe hook up a little at the club, exchange numbers, and go out with her the next week. The result was always the same. She would not be what I expected, would bore me, or just wouldn't be interesting. The single life had become a chore.

Thursday night, with all that going through my head and heart, I was committed to just enjoying myself and celebrating my friend and his immanent departure. Around 9 or 10, the Colombian girl showed up. She's friends with some of the people in that group and they had invited her. Even though she was not feeling that interested in going out that night (as I found out later), she came because they cajoled her into coming. We ended up chatting for about 3 or 4 hours. It was good. We ended up exchanging numbers and I walked her to her bus.

[Interlude. One of the reasons I was committed to chatting her up all night was that one of her friend's, a largish Colombian dude that I know, obviously was interested in her as well. She clearly was not into him. So I had a little bit of competition, but it really kicked off when he got pissed drunk and intentionally spilled his beer on my in a weak attempt to get me away from her. He apologized profusely when he realized that was a really stupid thing to do, especially since, in the immortal words of Seargant Al Powell, "You couldn't drag me away." So yeah, I felt pretty happy about the whole thing and not just because I connected with someone cool, but also because I had frustrated a guy who acted a fool.]

Friday, I was moving very slowly. I got up late and just couldn't get motivated to do anything. I had planned on calling her, but apparently, she got impatient and decided to call me first. That was sweet. I invited her to a party on Saturday which she eagerly accepted.

Saturday, we went to this party. It was a bizarre sort of time, really. It was a birthday party for a woman that Smooth Like Butta used to date (shag). She's a very nice (and gorgeous) Spanish woman and we got along well, so she made sure to invite me. The other attendees at the party, however, were quite odd. Her flatmate (a young Richard Branson) has this "girlfriend" which, after several hours of observation and debate, a consensus was reached, was actually a man. There was another clear transvestite as well (blonde wig, 5 o'clock shadow). Part of London's undercurrent, I suppose.

Anyway, Ms. Colombia and I didn't really have too many cares at that point. We just really bonded in a short period of time, which of course had all my friends making fun of us relentlessly. Bring it on, I say. I went out with her again on Sunday (movie's at hers) and I really can't wait until I get to see her again (probably Thursday).

This one is just entirely different from every woman I've gone out with here. She's smart, well educated (getting a master's in marketing), she's 30, knows what she wants in life, and isn't afraid to go after it. In short (she barely pushes 5 feet), she's got a package deal going on that appeals to me that I haven't found elsewhere in a long time.

I started this post talking about serendipity and timing and I'll finish it that way. I have no idea what the future holds, but our meeting and connection was not planned or sought after by either one of us. We both were in a foul relationship mood, although in good spirits about the rest of life. We both went with the idea that we would celebrate our mutual friend. And, at the end of the day, we both found something that had been elusive.

This is something I'm going to relentlessly pursue.

(It only took a year for me to get a foothold in the Colombian Mafia, right?)