Meet me in San Diego?
I want to start by giving Tinder a big shout out! Tinder, thank you for connecting me with personal trainers, a pretentious philosopher professor, countless editor/ director/ filmmakers, a Reiki healer, foreigners, and even a few vegans!
Thanks to Tinder I had many terrible dates, but more importantly, that's how I met my love/ mi amor/ ahava sheli, Jonathan (pronounced YON-A-TON, for my fellow gentiles).
THAT'S RIGHT, WE MET ON TINDER.
NO SHAME.
The only time I tried to hide how we met was when we went to Mexico after knowing one another for a week.
I'd like to review Jonathan's tinder profile.
I remember three pictures.
1. A Guitar shot- He was looking down, playing a guitar, and his shirt had Michael Jackson on it.
2. A beach shot- He had an awkward posture, was lanky, and had oversized board shorts on. He was somewhere tropical with hilly white sand mounds and turquoise water.
3. Music festival shot- He's on stage dressed up as, what I later found out was a testicle, for a crowd of 1000+ people.
This guy sounds like serious relationship material, right?
I thought, Okay.... he seems weird, cute, maybe a musician or groupie.
-> RIGHT SWIPE
Our first conversations were odd. I would ask him a question and he would tell me to guess the answer.
For example:
What do you do?
- Guess.
You're a musician.
- No, I'm so sorry to have misled you. Guess again.
You sell pizza at music festivals?
(Next question.)
Where are you from?
- Guess.
Israel.
- How did you do that?
Honestly, it was a lucky guess. I saw the picture of him in board shorts and thought it was Israel. He corrected me, it was Brazil.
We talked on and off for about 2 weeks before we met. He wouldn't tell me when he was leaving LA, because supposedly he didn't know. I wasn't really into the idea of meeting someone who was just traveling through, but in our ongoing conversation we had piqued one another's interest. As I mentioned in the last post, when we finally met, we went to take my foster dog, Luna, to the dog park. We met in between each of our evening plans.
Thank god for Luna, really she was the best wing-girl a gal could ask for. I was really anxious before we met. I had been running late all day, I missed my morning shower, I had partial makeup on, my hair was dirty, and I wore exercise clothes, with neon running shoes to meet him.
I wanted to cancel so badly, but since we were just taking Luna to the dog park, I didn't.
I saw Jonathan before he saw me. I observed him from across the street and waited to see if he would recognize me. I texted him saying where I was, but he still didn't see me. I figured it was because I was having an off day and I didn't look like my pictures. I know now, it's because he cannot see well. We didn't stay long at the dog park, and once we left, I couldn't stop talking. Typically when I met guys in LA, they would either talk about themselves endlessly, or they would ask me a bunch of uncomfortable questions, like it was a job interview. No thanks.
Jonatan was more introspective than most guys I had met. He listened to my nervous babbling and seemed interested in what I had to say. We talked about Los Angeles, the reservoir, the movie Chinatown, Luna, Luna's issues, Mish Mish, his childhood cat, and his friend who was a dog trainer. After the walk he got a burrito from a nearby taco truck, brought it to my house, and I ate leftovers. We ate, had a little wine, and talked. Our meeting should have only been an hour, since we both had plans(with other people). But we were probably together for 2.5 hours. I wasn't thinking about the time though, because I was simply enjoying our time. After eating, we did shoulder stands in my living room, while waiting for his Uber.
We hung out the next night, Saturday. He mentioned that he was planning to go to San Diego on Tuesday because his friend, whose room he was staying in would be coming back home then. On Sunday, I was going to the Best In Drag show, and he asked if he could come over afterwards. I told him I would still be with my sister, thinking that would change his mind, it didn't. He said, "cool", and wanted to meet her. The weirdest part, was while we were hanging out with my sister he kept gently touching me, not in an inappropriate way. This confused me, but I also had never felt so comfortable with someone showing me affection before, especially in front of my family! Around this time he mentioned meeting him in San Diego.
I though to myself, Whatttttt??? I thought you were leaving and that was it.
I ignored him, thinking it was something he was saying in passing. Nope, he brought it up again and asked me very clearly if I was interested in meeting him there.
My initial response was no and at the end of the work week I was picking him up in San Diego with Luna, and on we went to Mexico.
To be continued...