2/14/2001:

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. Especially to those of you who thought you weren't going to be very happy... I hope you're finding that you're not as bitter as expected today.

So... the last Quad Girl story. I apologize in advance for being extra long with the blurb but I had to slip in another anecdote. Onwards!

First off, one year ago today, I was in a serious funk because I was expecting to have a great Valentine's Day with Quad Girl. It would have upped my ratio of being attached on Valentine's to not being attached from 1/19 to 2/19! Double!

See, we went out to coffee on the Friday before and I asked her if she was busy on Monday and she said no so I was ecstatic. And then she emailed. Very apologetically but telling me that she'd been planning to hang out with her unattached girl friends that day and she hadn't really put the days together and so... our plans were off. I left a card on her door, a funny one. Two pigs sitting at a bar, one of them has a boa constrictor around him, squeezing and the other pig saying, "I think she likes you, Bob!" She never mentioned the card.

One year ago today. I went out that night with two friends from the hall. We saw "The Vagina Monologues" at the University Center. And I was upset but as I listened to these empowering stories of women talking about their sexuality, I backed down from my male chauvinist thoughts. Of course she should celebrate if she wants! We weren't that deep into things already! She wasn't defined by her tenuous connection to me! Etc. etc.

Did I forgive Quad Girl? But of course. How could I not?

So, to finish off the story now.

Spring Break came. I went out of the country with my family for some family obligation style stuff. I wasn't really that excited to go, because I missed out on going on tour with my improv group. I missed total team bonding with them and some amazing shows and lots of other stuff so I was pretty bitter. On the trip itself (which was full of good food), I had fun but I was just thinking of how much more fun Titanic Players was having and also about how much relationship time I was missing with Quad Girl.

I got her a gift from Asia... a little box of candy sushi. Another reference to a disastrous date, when we'd gone out with her friends for sushi that turned out to be supermarket crap and which we nixed and then I mocked.

The night I got back, I unpacked and then called her. Not there.

A couple nights later, I "happened" to be over in her dorm. She and her roommates were cleaning the place and she was tired and flustered from it. I didn't give her the box of sushi then. I walked away and Rick's girlfriend (who'd gone there with me for moral support) tried to help me analyze the signals coming from Quad Girl.

Always with the signals. I should find the part of my brain that does this over analyzation thing and, um, turn it off. Or pluck it out.

So I felt something was wrong. I mean, I felt like I was more into the relationship than she, but that was normal, wasn't it? Normal for me. Here's some mail I sent to a friend in Ireland...

Things with Quad Girl remain in limbo. I've passed her on the street the last two days in a row and our conversation's are short, and devoid of any weight. But I got a hug yesterday that made up for all the limbo I've been feeling. I know I like her but I need to make sure it's her I like, not just the idea of finally dating someone in college. So I just want to spend some quality time with her, but we haven't been able to set any dates for dates. it's annoying. i'm feeling stretched out by the whole thing.

That's how I'd describe it. Stretched, like butter too thin over bread, like Frodo holding the Ring. A balloon filled with cotton.

So I gave her an ultimatum: make some time for me. She spaced out a little piece of a Thursday and we went to coffee. And she told me about how busy she was that quarter and how she really liked her work and she was so excited and could I please understand? And of course I could. Gave her the candy sushi (which were really cute). And I felt better.

But things didn't get better from that point.

And then a week after. Things got really bad. So we tried another coffee date. And that's where these strips come from. That night, she told me that we really needed to get on the same wavelength about things and that she really had to sort out her feeling for her old boyfriend and that a person can't be expected to get over the 3 years she dated him in 3 months. And that she couldn't match up to all the affection and devotion that I was clearly giving, she was scared of commitment and that things would be just better if we could be just friends. And there it was. 2 months of dating time.

2 months is really hard time to get past in a relationship, isn't it? The blush is gone. It's either going to last 2 months or it's in for the long haul. That's what I think.

But what do I know?

So, final wrap up. Up until that point, I'd been locked into this cotton head mode. I couldn't really feel anything because I didn't know how I was supposed to be feeling. Then she ended things and I felt bad. So at least that was something.

You, gentle reader, now get to say, "2 months? It's been about a year. Get over it." And I think I am (writing this down helped). Although I'll admit I tried to keep emailing her and stuff but it was always me giving more than her and when I got busy, writing quirky and funny emails to her was the first extracurricular I gave up.

She's dating someone else now (guess she got over her old boyfriend) and I found out on Friday and I experienced a slight twinge of "WTF???" but that's all.

K. Thanks for reading. Life returns to normal on Saturday.

Kip has left the building.

(for more stories of Kip suffering through infatuation, check these out. Names have been changed to protect the innocent and make everything funnier)