Until today, I had not had an eye exam since 1997. Considering my eyesight, four years is way too long to go without an exam. Lately, I've been getting more and more frequent heacaches. So, I scheduled an appointment for today, with the optometrist I used before moving to Michigan. As I had figured, my astigmatism has worsened. Although my old contacts (gas-permeable, which help correct astigmatism) should still work fine, I needed new glasses. So, I got a new pair of glasses, and also a pair of prescription sunglasses. They should be done tomorrow, which really surprised me.

I had another long conversation via ICQ with Erica last night. I really missed those while she was on spring break, and I'm sure that I'll miss them this summer as well. Although, I'm still hoping that she'll have more free time this summer, so that we might be able to get together more often.

I'm getting more and more upset about the situation involving China illegally detaining our plane and holding the crew hostage, but I'll save my comments for a rant, which you can expect to see in the SoapBox section as soon as I have all of my thoughts laid out to my liking.

Short entry today, but I would like to get to bed early tonight.

Q E D

Yesterday was takeout Chinese with Matt... we took dinner back to Casey, since she wasn't feeling well. I didn't stay long, since she had a lot of homework to do, and I needed to get back to the hotel so that I could get my weekly call in with my parents. We've been talking weekly by phone since my freshman year of college. It's a nice way to stay in touch, especially since they moved out east, and aren't close enough any more for a random evening visit. Actually, I haven't seen them since I spent Christmas with them. Hopefully, Erica and I will be able to go out there for a long Memorial Day weekend.

After that, Erica and I had a nice, long chat on ICQ. I think that program has saved long-distance couples thousands of dollars in phone bills. I think the highlights (and the state of our relationship) can be summed up with her comments, "We've been disgustingly sweet together because we were still in the infatuation stage; I think we're moving beyond that now." and, "I don't want you to change. You make me happy."

I slept over 9 hours last night, and still woke up not feeling well. As has been more common lately, I had a headache. I think it's my glasses prescription, since I haven't had an eye exam in about four years. So, I have one scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, at the same place that I used to go when I still lived in Indiana. That will also give me the chance to pick up my records. Hopefully, by this time next week, I'll have some spiffy new specs.

I also had to take my car back to the Honda dealer today. I got the oil changed about two weeks ago, and since then, have noticed oil spots where I'm parking. Matt pointed it out last night, and when I checked it out, I could see oil coming from the oil pan, in the area of the oil plug. I called the dealer, and they wanted me to bring it in right away. I took it in this afternoon, and they replaced the oil plug, and re-threaded the drain hole. Apparently, some road debris managed to hit the underside of the car, at *exactly* the right spot to cause the leak at the oil plug, so I'll have to replace the oil pan pretty soon. That's okay, I need to take it in for a 30,000 mile tuneup this summer (actually, right on schedule, since I will turn 210,000 miles sometime later this month).

Q E D

I had a fairly decent week. I got to spend some time with Matt and Casey (which of course means we went out to eat Chinese), and met a pretty big deadline at work. Friday night, I went to see Tomcats with Tom. The movie was pretty much American Pie meets There's Something About Mary. It had its moments; hilarious in places, disturbing in others (the nut scene was just wrong). I would rather have paid a matinee or second-run price to see it.

Saturday, I went back to school for Axe initiation. It was good to catch up with everyone (especially since missing the previous initiation due to my bout with mono), and even better, I got to spend time with Erica, since she and another brother from Valpo were there. I also got to play a *lot* of euchre, and I was happy to see that I could fall right back into my old form.

After eating dinner, and going to get a hotel (I wanted to have a *real* bed to sleep in), we went to the after-initiation party. We had the traditional Iota chapter toast, and then (of course) more euchre ensued. I was often distracted by Erica's backrubs, but my partners had no reason to complain, since not only did I not lose a backrub-enhanced hand, I don't think I lost a trick. I think I have a new secret weapon 🙂

As has become usual, I fell asleep on Erica while the other Valpo brother with us learned to play euchre (and the basics of bridge). We left, headed back to the hotel, and slept really well.

This morning, we had to part ways again, since I had to go back to Indy, and Erica had to go back to school. Fortunately, all my driving (which has been a LOT lately) this weekend has been blessed with absolutely gorgeous weather. I got back to my hotel in Indy, took a nap, and am going out later this evening to hang out with Dave, who has been working incessantly on his race car, in preparation for the start of the racing season. For those of you looking for an introspective entry, I apologize; I'm trying to get in to the habit of writing daily first; then, hopefully, my entries will develop into deeper writing.

Q E D

Before Erica, if my love life were to have a tagline, it would have read, "Perpetually Suffers from Nice Guy Syndrome." It's as if the male/female relationship is analogous to a group of baskets, the most significant being The Friend Basket and the Boyfriend Basket. Most importantly, these two baskets are mutually exclusive for that segment of the male population that suffers from Nice Guy Syndrome (NGS); we NGS sufferers could not be moved to the Boyfriend Basket once we had been placed in (banished to?) the Friend Basket. This predicament usually included symptoms of the girl in question saying something similar to, "Oh, [insert NGS sufferer name here], you're such a Nice Guy, and such a good friend, that I could never think of risking our friendship by dating you" or, "Oh, [insert NGS sufferer name here], you're such a Nice Guy, but I just don't think of you in *that* way."

Now, the NGS guy *can* be placed in other baskets, such as the Dear Abby Basket ("Oh, [insert NGS guy name here], why can't I date a Nice Guy like you?"), or the Surrogate Girlfriend Basket ("Oh, [insert NGS guy name here], I'm stressed about my date with Asshole Guy, so I'm calling you," etc.). But, these baskets also are mutually exclusive from the Boyfriend Basket. I often found myself in all three baskets. And to be fair, many of these baskets belonged to girls whom I consider to be some of my best friends now.

Fast-forward to now: for the first time in my life, I find myself in a Boyfriend Basket, having first been in the Friend Basket. Why the change? Maybe Erica is just different from all the other girls (she is, and to her credit). Maybe Erica and I "were meant to be" or "have something special" (I think we do have something special; I don't know if we "were meant to be" yet, or even if I believe that people are "meant to be" for someone.) Maybe I changed.

I have; I've grown up a LOT, socially, in the past 10 years, especially the last five, spent in college. In high school, I really had no clue how to date. I had no "game;" I had no skills. During my five years in college, I matured a lot socially. I set a new personal record, by dating a girl for three whole weeks. I learned to recognize when I got relegated to the Friend Basket, and when I was in the Not-Datable Basket or the Potentially Datable Basket (and that these baskets even existed).

So, what happened with Erica? I don't really know for certain, and I really don't want to over-analyze it. I happened, it's working, and that's really enough for me.

The other part of that is, I've now discovered another basket: the Why Can't You Be Single Basket. Now that I'm happily involved in a relationship, I find that I'm now occasionally placed in this basket ("Oh,[insert name of former NGS guy who is now finally happily involved in a relationship], if you were single, I'd be the first girl to go after you."), and sometimes, the girls who put me in this basket have moved me from the combination Friend and Not-Datable (i.e. NGS guy) Baskets.

Now, I realize that part of this change has to do with a person's Datable status (the Not-Datable Basket or the Potentially Datable Basket) changing from not-datable to potentially datable, just by moving into *someone's* Boyfriend Basket. For whatever reason, the former NGS guy suddenly changes in the eyes of many of the Friend Basket girls.

Do any of these ramblings have any significance whatsoever? I don't know. Honestly, I hope all this rambling is moot; I hope that I've found the one girl whose Boyfriend Basket I'll never leave. I've never been one for the Dating Game. Typical of an NGS guy, all I've ever really wanted was a relationship. I'm not naive, though; I know that only time will tell where things will go with Erica and I.

I suppose, if doing so would not be construed as too trite, that I'll just end by saying that, for all the NGS guys out in the world, there is hope. If someone as wonderful as Erica would choose me to be in a relationship with, then I suppose anything is possible.