Saturday, March 10, 2012

Still Under the WX

The actual WX matches my mood and state-o'-being... it's cold, gray, and wet outside, with a possibility of snow.  And we need to go out today if we want sumthin' other than corn flakes for dinner.  I'm not looking forward to that expedition...

I went looking for an answer to a comment Darryl made about yesterday's post, specifically where he asks for my guacamole recipe.  More on that in a minute, but in the meantime I stumbled upon this, which concerns yet another post I put up recently, that one bein' about writing on-line dating ads and trolling and stuff.
Blog-buddy Morgan has had admirable success in the realm of on-line dating (see his comment here). Ah, would that I could make the same claim. In those same comments linked in the preceding sentence I gave you the “Reader’s Digest” version of my issues with on-line dating. And now for a short war-story about this sort of social activity…

I was pretty active in the on-line dating game for a few years, most notably in Rochester, NY, and during my two-year sojourn in the Peoples Republic of the Greater San Francisco Bay Area. It was in SFO that I had one of my most traumatic on-line dating experiences…

It started as these things always do…I read her ad, dropped her an e-mail, she responded, we spent a few hours on several consecutive nights in instant messaging conversation, followed by several phone calls. We both decided we should meet, and we did. She turned out to be everything she appeared to be, and I was happy with that. There were distinct possibilities, in other words, for something other than casual dating. In a nutshell: articulate, intelligent, owned her own business, a voracious reader, great conversationalist, and not at all hard to look at. Fetching, if I may go that far.

So. It was on our fourth date, and we’re having coffee and cognac after dinner at one of SFO’s numerous superb restaurants. We don’t have any firm plans for after dinner, and I casually ask “Well, where to now?” She smiles and says “Your place?”

There couldn’t possibly have been a better answer.

We get back to my place and I’ll spare you most of the details, Gentle Reader, save for this one tiny thing. The lights are low, things are getting hot and heavy, we’re in a state of dishabille, and the deal is about to go down. Suddenly, and I DO mean suddenly, she sits up on my couch, pushes me away to arms-length and says with a very serious look on her face “I have something to tell you.”

“Uh, OK,” sez I, thinking “WTF?”

“I have herpes.”

Wow. Talk about mood-killers! So. The lights come back up, I go to the kitchen, freshen our drinks, and return to the couch, where we spend the next hour or so discussing her problem. “There are ways to work around this,” sez she. “Umm-hmm,” sez I, nodding. The bottom line, as she suggests, is that we should both give serious thought to where we’re going and what we should do. I agree. We finish our drinks and I take her home.

And that, save for two subsequent phone conversations wherein I explained myself in great detail, was that. Work-arounds or no, herpes is forever. I wasn’t willing to take the risk. She understood, and we went our separate ways.

I’ll always appreciate the woman’s honesty, if not her timing. I hope she found someone because, with the exception of this one tiny (?) flaw, she could have been a potential mate.

There are eight million stories in the Naked City; this has been one of them. But it’s pretty illustrative of my experiences with on-line dating. I don’t have any good stories to relate, in other words, Gentle Reader, and I have a couple that are worse. Much worse. But let’s not go there.
And now you know why I decided, in part, not to place that ad on Craig's List.

But about the guacamole.  My first reaction was "recipe?  what recipe?"  I do exactly what Darryl sez he does... I mash stuff up.  But I mash stuff up to taste, and I suppose that's the important part,  given that I'll add more onion, or more avocado, or a pinch of salt, or more lime juice, during the mashing process to ensure I get things right.  Here's that post I went looking for:

Today's Happy Hour Soundtrack Project

Two avocados, half a red onion (no Vadalias at the store, dammit) chopped finer than frog hair, half a lime, and about three tablespoons of El Pinto.


Let the flavors marry in the fridge for about an hour or so and then... Happy Hour Bliss!
That's MY recipe... such as it is.

22 comments:

  1. Coupla things...
    Walla Wallas are as good as Vidalias ...honest! The bad news is the season's short

    Re: online dating - I know nothing about it, but I do have a story and it has to do with SF. I think I will save it for my own blog ...if I remember (or I'm reminded)

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    1. I've had the Walla-Wallas when I lived on the Left Coast and they ARE good. I just haven't seen 'em here... like a whole helluva lot o' stuff I like.

      You want me to remind you? I'm sorta good at that. ;-)

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  2. Buck, sorry about your weather bein' bad and you bein' under it. Hope your wx gets better and your med cause minimal problems.

    The online dating story kept me wondering what the surprise might be and since it was SF, several possibilities presented themselves as I read. Heh. But herpes I didn't expect. I'm glad (and you're even gladder I'm sure) she finally told you, even though it was at a most inopportune moment.

    The guacamole recipe sounds really good. We'll definitely try it sometime. With some diced tomatoes of course.:-)

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    1. ...since it was SF, several possibilities presented themselves as I read. Heh.

      I think I know where you were goin' with that. But that particular "community" is upfront about their gender, primarily because there are still men who will beat the hell outta them just for kicks. Also the fact that, bein' SF, there's considerable demand for ladies of that persuasion.

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  3. Before is better than during. Innit?

    Kinda reminds of that question:
    Q: "What's the difference between love and Herpes?"
    A: "Herpes last forever."

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    1. In re: yer question. TOO true, that. DAMHIK (about love).

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  4. Okay, Buck...I just wrote a long comment, but decided that I'd just g-mail it at ya'.

    I'm sure you can't barely wait.

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    1. Well, I really couldn't wait. But ya knew that.

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  5. fyi-
    El Pinto has a few tomatoes in it.

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    1. I wondered if anyone would pick up on that. But El Pinto's Green Chile Sauce is much different than the tomato-based salsa. Yeah, the GCS has tomato bits, but they are THOROUGHLY marinated in chiles.

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  6. Glad you're feeling well enough to eat guacamole with onions and El Pinto sauce. Hope it sits better in you than the meds.

    I never tried online dating when I was single...ummm...actually I'm so old that online dating didn't exist in Iowa when I was divorced and single again...that I knew of. There was a service where you could make a phone call and record a message for potential suitors, or listen to someone else's message. I don't remember how the service arranged for you to meet someone if you were interested. (no, it wasn't a pron type service)

    I finally got the courage to call. The first message that I listened to -- I recognized the voice. It was a man that I had contact with through my job. And I knew he wasn't anyone with whom I wanted to have a personal relationship! I hung up the phone in horror and slunk away.

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    1. Wow... that's pretty freaky, Red. I always wondered if I'd hit on someone I knew in the on-line game, which was much more possible in Ra-cha-cha than SFO. But it never happened, thank The Deity At Hand. That said, it's my personal opinion that you didn't miss a whole helluva lot by missing on-line dating.

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  7. Good thing you didn't get "The gift that keep's on giving!"
    Here on the ridge, I don't think you could give away guacamole, even if you offered a gallon of "shine" to go along with it! Your mixture sounds good, I'd like to try it sometime, if, I can find an avocado at Mr. Walton's store.

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    1. I think Mr. Walton stocks avocados, I know he does here, anyhoo. Tennessee, OTOH, might be a whole 'nuther ball-game.

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  8. Great story. Reminds me of a plaque on the wall at the Navy clinic in Pensacola;

    "It's better to have loved and failed your Wassermann test, than never to have loved at all".

    Who needs mind eating brain chiggers? Not me...

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    1. That reminds me of a nurse I knew in the way-back who handed me two cold, cold vials and told me to grip them firmly, for to warm them up. "I'll be back in a few minutes," said she, "at which time our beautiful relationship shall become 'not-so-beautiful'" She was RIGHT.

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  9. Here's you a pretty good one.

    http://bobagard.blogspot.com/2012/03/business-trip-or-pleasure.html

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    1. Heh. I hadn't heard that one before.

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  10. It is interesting that you put online dating with herpes, when in this day and age you have to worry about herpes with any dating. If the man or woman has been single and sexual in the last 30 years, you have to consider the herpes thang or worse. By the way, don't have sex with any single woman who has lived in RR in the past 30 years - the herpes thang spread like wild fire in that wild town.

    I always put a bit of some sort of salsa in my quac, but not too much, and some garlic salt. The green salsa would be much better due to the tomatillas and green chilies. You are right on.

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    1. You're right about the herpes thang. I just continue to thank my lucky stars I got away clean (no pun intended) all these years.

      In re: the guac. Do ya think three tablespoons of chile is too much for two avocados?

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    2. Nope, I've seen people put lots of salsa in their quac and it's still good. Three to two sounds puhfect.

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