Two moments with two women that left me totally confused/exhilarated this week:

One - I had a hard time making out what I had in my hand. There were several reasons for this. First, it was cardboard but there was something heavier in the middle. Further I was distracted by the kanji characters that adorned it. I don’t know mandarin, so the effort I put into understanding the characters was completely in vain. I looked up, apparently pensively, because she met my gaze with a slightly embarrassed look. She took it back and took it out of the packaging.

“Oh gosh, it cost less than a dollar. It’s a bookmark, see, with a magnet. It just looks nice. Also, it says something to the effect of “a free spirit has the most satisfied life”. I saw it on the street in Taiwan and it made me think a bit about you. So I bought it”

I took it back, and mumbled something about not having anything for her. Of course, why would I? We had one drink before she went to Taiwan for a month. In fact, I had two drinks, hers and mine as she calmly looked on, smiling and laughing at every dippy thing I said. We calmly repeated the dance there and now, with the new weight of expectations weighing us down. She treated. The waitress, a Latina who is always my waitress at this bar, and has seen me, quite unintentionally, parade a bevy of Asian women in here, smirked as she picked up the bill. I ignored her judgments and contemplated the meaning of my gift.

Two – She stood at my desk and arched her eyebrow.

“You know, you dress like a gay guy”

“What?”

That’s a good way to get my attention. I had thought our conversation was over. She had come and asked for some pointed advice. I dolled it out and she looked like was going to leave.

“Well, saying metro-sexual is so over done”

“I agree. But its better than implying I’m gay, don’t you think?”

“You’re not gay. You’re totally a guy”

“Thank you for noticing”

“You’re uber-sexual…which means like you’re a guy’s guy who knows how to dress and what not”

She drifted off.

A moment later, she IMed me

“I was messing with your a head…but I totally made you feel good didn’t I”

I invited her to watch a movie with me that later that evening.