Around the World in 150 Days, Day 30, Failure to Launch
May 5th, Milwaukee: I wake up in Jenson's apartment around noon. Jenson is nowhere to be seen but Rufio is outside in the living room playing Counter-Strike on his computer. I make small talk then take a shower and get dressed.
I take a bus into the city and stop off at Uhle's to chat with Dave and Tamara over coffee. I walk down to the Badger bus depot and board the bus for Madison. I sit around and write for a while, then lay my head back and try to sleep for a while. It doesn't work particularly well.
When we arrive in Madison my parents are there to pick me up. They drive me back to the West side and I steal their car to head to the gym for a while. I'm messaging with Isabelle back and forth about our date, and we agree that I'll pick her up around 7:30 near her college. When I return to the house I tool around on the computer looking for an apartment with a kitchen in it around the center of Madison, but it turns out the only thing available is on the West side. I book an apartment for a few nights then take a car over to her college to pick her up.
When I get there I have difficulty finding her house and wind up parking in some random persons drive way then run around the street looking for the address, which seems to not exist. I call her and explain the situation, and it turns out that I had driven past her house numerous times since it was on the far end of the street. Unfortunately when I pull up she's waiting outside and hops in the car. This is not a preference in being able to walk up to the door as then I can greet her with an appropriate hug and kiss on the cheek, where as her getting in the car is a more awkward beginning.
Conversation is smooth and playful as we drive over to the apartment. She's a bit stressed out from having to study for finals all week, so hopefully the date allows her to unwind a bit. When we arrive at the apartment I start setting out everything I need to cook and begin preparing things
"Do you need any help with anything?" she asks
"Nope, my job is to bring the food yours is to bring the conversation remember?"
I offer her a drink; beer, wine, or milk. She goes for milk. I take a beer. She says she doesn't like beer. Ah fuck.
We seem to have quite a bit in common, but one major issue is that our senses of humor don't seem very compatible, which is a pretty mandatory condition for me when hanging out with a woman. That's not to say she has a bad sense of humor, simply one a little more reserved and conservative than my own. Most of all though, when I discuss with her that I'm constantly traveling and am not going to be around for a while there seems to be a fairly noticeable change in her attitude from date to friend zone.
After dinner we go for a walk and stroll along arm in arm, but when I talk to her about what she's looking for in a man she uses terms like "not afraid of commitment" and "doesn't do drugs" which are not entirely descriptive of myself. I never lie about what I am to a date, and when I tell her what my life style is like she does not seem thrilled. When we arrive back at the apartment and we sit down to watch Family Guy and I lay my arm around her she goes rigid and does not lean in. Yep, friend zone time. I get up to get some strawberries and sit back down in my own personal space and munch down while zoning out and watching the show. I give up attempting to be charming.
Eventually I say that I'm getting tired and should drive her back. We make the short trip back to her house and we do the friends hug and discuss what a "nice" evening we both had. I go back to my house and change into gym clothes. Sure it's midnight, but what better way to get over the annoyance of a failed date than by destroying myself in the gym for the rest of the night?
When I get to the gym I notice the cute Asian girl behind the counter, though simply say "Hi" and check in. I warm up with some basketball then go into the weight room, which is completely abandoned. I hit weights for about an hour, then go over to the track and run a mile while timing myself. I finish in slightly more than seven minutes; not bad considering I've always been a terrible runner.
I go upstairs to the aerobic room which has over 100 machines of cardio equipment, all unmanned except for one treadmill with the cute girl from the front desk on it. I jump on a bike and put it to level 8 and start riding as fast as I can. At some point I look back and see that the front desk girl is now stretching on the mats about 20 feet away. We are literally the only two people in the gym so I take off my headphones, lean back and say loudly to her
"Hey!"
She looks up at me curiously and I add
"Get a life" with a big smile. Hopefully she's clever and realizes that I'm making fun of myself and not her, though it's a long shot.
"What are you talking about?" she says at me in a fairly annoyed tone
"Heh, I'm just messing with you."
I put in my headphones and go back to my bike. I don't leave the gym until 2am.