Y2 D3

I know I keep changing the template but it's because I haven't found one that really works for me yet, sorry about that.

Ok, how the hell did I get talked into this hike again? I should not be up at 5:30 on a holiday weekend especially to go off to hike 12 miles. Oh the things I do for people. Especially when I am functioning on four hours of sleep. I didn't get home until after 1 this morning from my date with Miss T1.

Had a great date though, I will say that. Starting at the beginning of the day...

Went out to my client in the morning feeling on my A game from the night before still. Doing well, ready to face down all the wanna be security guards life could throw at me. Had Smashing Pumpkins running through my head (Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage...) but otherwise doing good. Got some stuff accomplished and left a little early in honor of the long weekend.

I did get another text from N1 in the morning. She was enjoying the coffee cake I brought her the night before. Her amount of communication is good. Not too much, but enough that I know she was thinking about me. Perfect balance. At least so far. She reminds me in some ways of J2. Similar kind of personality. If there is one thing that came from everything last year it was knowing what I like in a person, friend or more. We also worked out the details for this morning about where to meet and what time. We hardly know each other and she wants me to meet her at a coffee house near her place. I can respect that. At this point she doesn't know if I am serial killer in nice guy's clothes, or just honestly a nice guy. Fair enough.

Tangent - I did get the first draft of the book finished for editing. I got all the layout done and the basic flow. 226,000 words and 590 pages right now. I need to clean and edit it with the intent of getting it down to about 150,000 words. Without deleting anything that would take away from the main. I may not trim the word count, but it does make it harder to sell a first book at that length. At least according to what I have read so far regarding getting a first book to be looked at by an agent and a publisher. On the other hand, if I start trimming words from it, am I going to compromise the artistic and integrity of the material? It's a tough call.

After work I came home and took a little nap because I knew or at least I had a good feeling, I would be out late last night. That worked out for me. Picked up T1 around 8:15 as we had an 8:30 reservation. I was way early like normally and sat in a parking lot near her house from 7:40 until about five after. While I was waiting Miss F texted me. Haven't talked to her in a couple weeks since I saw her last when I got the kid's car. It was really nice to hear from her. I am going back down there when I get back from Phoenix and am excited about seeing her again.

Miss T1 was looking good. No question. I brought her baby pink roses which she put in a nice vase, got the grand tour of her house, and off to dinner. We had a good dinner. The steak was good, the soup was a little heavy (asparagus bisque) but good. I brought a St Chinan since I had look at the wine list before I left the house and didn't like what I saw. Also she had told me before hand that she wanted to take *me* out to dinner and I didn't want to stick her with $75+ on the bill just in wine. This way she would just have to deal with a corkage fee. Had one cocktail before dinner and then the wine. Did good in that respect. I kept myself in check for two reasons. One, because of this thing this morning and two because I wanted her to see me having a good time without having to be drunk. That's also why I am going today. I need N1 to see me without a drink in my hand.

After dinner we had a little tonsil hockey and I decided to be responsible. I told her that I liked her very much, but she needed to know that I am not a monogamist dater at the moment. And that while I did like her, I would prefer to keep things moving slow as to not disrespect her or anyone else I may be seeing. She was surprised by my candor in a good way. She thought it was good that I could be the honest and open with her. Awesome. Now I don't feel like I am being mean or sneaky seeing other people at the same time. We went back to her place, little more tonsil hockey, some chit chat, and I was out by 12:30.

Got home, bed. Now I need to go get ready for pain. 12 miles. Ugh. After this if I have the energy I am going on an adventure to find a new hat. All depends on how much pain I am in six hours from now...