Say Hey!

Well, since June, time has flown by. If I recall correctly, at times, things were tough at work, lonely at home, and boring all around - it was time for something new to hit.

Fortunately, mid-July, I started talking to Jenna, and after this past weekend, none of that stuff even matters.

Everything started the same night Wizard, Sarge, and I went out on an all-nighter kayaking trip near the Gaylord Texan. I found her profile on match.com (when your social circle is considered to have gotten bigger because your friends had a baby, it's time to start branching out) a few days before, and sent out a wink. Late that night while I was out in the lake, I got a text message - which normally doesn't happen when I'm with all the people who normally txt me. I checked it, and it said "jrdejong has winked back at you." But I didn't recall winking at a "jrdejong" - and thought it was another girl being brave and making the first move, that I was going to have to decline, because I'm not as attracted to Asian girls. So I tossed the phone back into the drybox, and we finished our trip about 6am.

Well, later that morning, I checked my profile via my phone, and found that I *had* winked at her, and she was not Asian - she was, in fact, one of the girls I was hoping would wink back. I happened to be at The Lackey's, and showed them out of curiosity, mainly to see what Mandy thought, because I prefer her to screen the girls I date for any psycho-vibes. She approved, so I sent off a rather unique email with some rather unique and different questions.

For the next week, Jenna and I asked quirky questions to get a different side of each other's personality, until she had to go to Florida on vacation to visit with her family and friends there for 2 weeks.

She came back to Texas the Saturday Sarge and I were supposed to go fishing, but he stayed up too late, and it looked like rain anyway in my area that afternoon. I headed out alone in my boat, and the rain showed up about 5 hours earlier than I expected, and I saw it consuming the lake in a white haze that was moving towards me faster than I could row to get under a bridge.

She called that morning, to set up our date for that evening, and we went to Sweet Tomatoes In Irving, TX as our first date. This might have little significance to you, but to my synesthesia, Sweet is Red and Tomatoes is Green - those are our favorite colors, and I just realized that nifty little connection.

We spent the evening talking about all kinds of things - family, friends, interests, jobs, life, religion, politics, everything. Afterward, she piped up first that we should do it again, and all I could say was "Definitely."

So we scheduled a second date for the following Friday when she had off...but my work nearly put that date in jeopardy when XO Communications and All-Tek Communications couldn't get their schedules straight and their jobs done on time, and I had to stick around after work, yet still make it back home to change/shower from the sweaty task I was suddenly assigned to, and then get to Lewisville in time for a 6:50 movie, during rush-hour traffic.

We went to see Funny People at Studio Movie Grill, and afterward, we headed out to the nearby Lake Lewisville. On Google Maps, I found a spot I wanted to drive out to, but when we were actually in the car, I missed the exit or something, and ended up finding the exact same one that Hambone, Sarge, Wizard and I took when we went kayak fishing for one of the first times but and nearly died taking it because of its sharp turn we didn't know about. This time, I took it much better.

I happened to have had some of my fishing stuff in the Cube with me, and that included some catfood I use to chum the waters when I go fishing. So we pulled into the Marina there, wandered out onto the floating gas station, and found a bench to sit on while we tossed catfood into the water and watched some old people across the marina play games near their boat. We got a chance to talk some more, until we had to go - because she ate cheese at the theater on her pizza and wasn't supposed to.

The next weekend was Quakecon - and I invited her to come out to it, since I had registered a second account, like I have done every year since 2005, hopeful I'll have a girl that I can loan it to. During our emails she told me she was into WoW and the gaming scene, which was awesome.

I went out there Wednesday night, but we were firing someone the following morning, so I had to come back home after I dropped my computer off, in order to change the passwords on all the work accounts. On the way home, I stopped by the office and picked up a bunch of boxes and packing materials from the warehouse dumpster that was emptied the previous day, and loaded them up for Jenna to move with.

She came out to Quakecon Friday after she got off work. There she got to meet Wizard and Sarge, and see me in my element...around all the technology one can stand, and without the pretenses of a date or any date-like attitudes. It was kind of a boring night for her though because she brought a Mac - and I have very little experience with a Mac. So we all went to dinner at Whataburger, and we did our best to play games we both could play on my computer. Then I found out she shouldn't eat meat or french fries, so we had to call it a night, and I loaded her boxes into her car.

Saturday she was supposed to register for classes, but they were closed - so, much to Wizard's surprise (after seeing us as we are, and having the very easy option to stay home) she came back to Quakecon! This time I was prepared though, because Friday night afterward, I went home and looked up what it would take to get her Macbook on the DC++ server and in the IRC chatroom...as well as a couple other issues. When she came back Saturday, I also realized there was a Terminal window on her Mac, and that made my life much easier - having been a Linux admin for a couple years. I got her connected, showed her how to use the software, and she had a blast downloading music, and going to the booths with me, and trying to get a Quakecon Girl shirt in a crowd full of no-deodorant-wearing teens.

Quakecon was a blast this year, and afterward, Sunday was as lame as possible. With one exception though: Jenna sent me a facebook invite to help her move. However, quickly thereafter she said she didn't expect me to actually come help her, she just wanted to see me again. I told her that wouldn't be a problem, and we scheduled to spend some time the following weekend together with just some "us" time - no friends around, and since we were more familiar with each other, in a quiet/non-public location - my apartment. Which needed to be re-cleaned, in a hurry.

We both cooked breakfast (I made the waffle batter, eggs, and bacon...she handled the waffle iron while I was cooking the meats). The eggs were for me, though - but she ate one anyway...but I don't think it made her sick this time. And we also cooked a dinner, some indoor Grilled Chicken, and she cooked some white-wine asparagus...both were awesome. We got to showcase our culinary talents and we approved.

The private time during the weekend gave us a chance to talk about other things that needed to be mentioned and between movies and conversations we decided that we're both exactly what we've been looking for...and made it official.

So this would be my first official girlfriend since 2006, and it's a nice feeling to have someone like you more than you would expect someone to like you - but also a little difficult for me to accept it at times. And after all the searching through my past and relationships of the past that I did in 2007 and blogged right here on this very journal, it has finally paid off to know exactly what I'm looking for in a woman, and to know exactly when I find it. Yet, every day I get to spend with her, I learn something new about her, so I'll probably never know everything there is to know about her...

But I know...one thing...