Day One!

Last night I kicked off the Summer of Like.  I headed out to One Up (downtown) with my favorite wingman, S.  It was a different scene than I expected - someone was having a birthday party, so most of the people there knew each other.  I introduced myself first and foremost to the cucumber margarita. Big Success. :) I'm typically a wine or irish whiskey girl, but the cocktail menu was just too interesting to pass up.  The light and fresh cucumber margarita was a great summer drink. While at the bar catching up with S., I was thrilled to notice that I also knew one of the party crew- M.  M works in my building, and did some training at my workplace about a month ago.  He is amazing, has roughly 300 people clamoring to hang out with him at every moment, and I admit I'm one of them.  But the man only has so much time, so...enter wingman #2! M did a great job introducing me all around.  Before long, I was having knee slide contests on the dance floor and salsa dancing to truly terrible techno. (Sorry DJ, but you had several requests for 80s, funk, hip-hop, ANYTHING with lyrics, but you just didn't listen.)  

The most difficult part of the night was the "informed consent" clause.  Casually working "so I'm doing this thing where I ask someone out everywhere I go....want to do something? And can I write about it later?" into a conversation isn't easy to do.  Ultimately, this was executed mid-salsa spin. Chris was the birthday boy last night, and he's been looking for girls to dance with at Salsa Under the Stars.  I gave him my number, and figured I had about a 50/50 chance of him remembering me after he made it through the night.

Imagine my surprise when he called this morning and invited me to breakfast with him and the after party crew!  Ordinarily, going out to eat as a stranger among a group of friends would not be high on my to-do list, but this is the Summer of Like!  The eggs were good, and the conversation way better than the America's Next Top Model marathon.  All in all, a great kick-off to my crazy experiment.  Hopefully there'll be some salsa dancing in my future.

  

The Idea: rules and regulations

THE SUMMER OF LIKE, 2009

Mission Statement

I have been living in Albuquerque for 4 years, and in that time I have made 2 good friends that I see on a regular basis. (Ironically, both of these friends are women I met during my first stint in Albuquerque, over 10 years ago.)  No offense to my friends, but I find this number unsettling.  Also unsettling, and on a related note: I have dated, but have not had any major relationship (2+ months) in these 4 years.  I have heard from others that for some reason, despite the overall friendliness of the city, it is hard to meet people in Albuquerque. Rather than sit back and agree with this opinion, I have- very uncharacteristically- hatched a pro-active plan to expand my social circle.

In short: for 10 weeks, ask one person out everywhere I go.  The “official rules” are outlined below.  To keep it realistic for myself, “everywhere I go” has been greatly modified.  Work is off-limits.  I am not required to (but can, if I like) ask people out at places that are part of my daily routine, ie gym, regular coffee shop, grocery store, etc.  While I am interested in making friends, I am also interested in dating, so my “test subjects” will be male.

About me: I am single, and in a 27-33 age range. I am pretty happy. I am in graduate school, and am active/fit.  Most people would agree I’m smart, funny, and attractive, with no obvious social networking deficits.  I am not, however, so extroverted that I approach or initiate conversations with strangers, ask people out, etc. Hopefully, this will result in a pretty fun summer!

What (if anything) I am out to discover: How truly responsible am I for my current social situation? How easy is it to make new friends in Albuquerque?

Rules

1)    Keep a blog. Tell at least one person of my plan. This will help me actually go through with this.

2)    Ask at least two men out/week. Subjects must be single (no wedding ring, not obviously with someone).

3)    Branch out.  Ask men out at various locations in Albuquerque (ie downtown, nob hill, NE heights, west side, etc.) Don’t limit myself to bars – try to go to concerts, festivals, art galleries, etc.

4)    Informed consent. At some point during the “ask out”, inform person of this personal experiment.  A formal/romantic date is never necessary – just hanging out will do.

I know there will probably be more rules, exceptions, caveats and problems along the way.  I look forward to answering questions, hearing comments, trouble-shooting, etc.

Wish me luck!

The Summer of Like begins Friday, May 22^nd, 2009.