A DaaaAAattee!

I have something surprising to report:

I may be on the horizion of a relationship. Whoa.

For the past two months, I've been getting to know a fantastic fellow, Michael. We have planned our first date for this upcoming Saturday, and I can hardly wait! Our plan is to go ice skating in Millennium Park.

That's right folks-- he's a Chicago man. Damn straight! That's the only reason it's taking so long for us to meet-- as we will be, meeting for the first time. We have thus far "met" on a dating site.

But I have a good feeling about this one. He's sincere and never asks a question about me twice, because he actually listens and has an incredible memory for the smallest details of my life. He's the embodiment for what I consider physically attractive.

He has LONG (!!!), dense, curly and EBONY hair. Dark brown eyes, and the sexiest eyebrows I've seen in years. He's tall and his friends call him "Big Mike"-- something even more adorable considering most of my J-town friends call me "Little Amee."

Big Mike and Little Amee-- how cute is that?

We've been talking on the phone regularly for a month now, and he always calls when he says he will-- and often. We've talked just about every day in the last week.

Of course, I have no idea if things will spark in person. That of course is the single infuriating x-factor of online dating--- you have to wait to find out if there's actual chemistry. We've seen enough pictures of eachother to each be confident that we won't be dissapointed with each other's appearance and have a pretty realistic idea of what to expect physcially.

But I have this calmness of not really questioning how things will go. I like it. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but it seems inevitable. He's already sent me orange roses on myspace-- he's proved he's a smart guy who's in tune with what makes me happy.

"I can't wait to meet you," he told me. Awww. I haven't mentioned him before now b/c I wasn't sure if we would actually meet or not. All of January was devoted to work-- which is why it's been sparse posting.

That, and my damn computer died, leaving me marooned once again into the one-hour time slot at the library, when my work schedule permitted it. Which it doesn't every day. And considering my growing myspace obsession, I haven't had much thoughts of blogging.

All I did this month was work my ass off, except for the relief of visiting Kay at ISU (!!) and attending my first-ever Rocky Horror Picture Show screening, here in Gburg.

The only other thing is the span of distance between us. I always require a lot of time to trust a new relationships, and it's going to be hard to really get to know him with something like 200 miles between us, and conflicting schedules.

But I've realized in the last three months that after dating Andrew, I'm much more relationship-ready than I thought I was. I'm becoming settled in my life here in Galesburg. Although it would be ideal to have a local boyfriend, Michael gives me every reason to believe he's going to be worth the minutes, the gas money, and the trips home.

Most importantly, other flirtatations are feeling extraneous. I don't need to wonder about other options.

Believe it or not, I'm prepping for girlfriend mode, if he chooses to invite me there.