Friday afternoon at work: I decided that I was going to just go ahead and call hiking boy and see what was on the menu this weekend. I wasn't about to wait around and hope he'd call. We chatted a bit and then he asked what I was doing this weekend. I told him I was going out tonight with some buddies and then there's a birthday thing going on tomorrow evening. Then he asks if I'm free during the day tomorrow. I said yes and he suggested hiking again. He said he'll call me between 10-10:30 a.m.

After work, I stopped by the mall to pick up Keith's present and Linda's present. While I was looking at some gifts at Papyrus, a late 30-something or early 40-something year old man comes up to me and says "hello." He then asked me out for a drink." I responded with a "I'm sorry, I can't , I'm in a hurry to buy a present for a friend's birthday bash tonight." He then proceeded with an "Oh, well, how about some other time." I looked at him and said, "No, I'm sorry, I can't." Do other girls get asked out like this by strange men? I seem to get this all the time and it's never someone I'd be attracted to.

Friday evening: Drove down to Torrance where I met up with Keith and Tracy, old friends I met my first year of college. That was back in 1991. They introduced me to their friend, Mike and the four of us drove down to Downtown Disney where we met up with our other friend, Angel and his girlfriend, Theresa for dinner at The House of Blues. I had the salmon plate with crab legs and shrimp stuffing. After dinner, Angel and his girlfriend split and the rest of us decided to go to National's Sports Bar and Grill for a few rounds of pool.

Mike told us he was just arrested for being a computer hacker and now has to serve community hours. That sort of freaked me out, but he seems to be a nice guy, although a bit too much on the macho side. He's the first official criminal I know...at least that I'm aware of.

Saturday: I slept in late. By 10:30, Hiking-boy still had not called and I started to panick as he did not call right on the dot like the first time. I thought, "I am not going to let this get me down, so I decided to call him at 10:45 since I needed to jump in the shower because we had said we'd get together at 11, which would leave me very little time to get ready. His machine picks up and I freak. So, I call his cell number and his voicemail picks up. Again, I freak. I wait a few minutes and call again. Turns out he was online and still has dial-up so his machine was picking up. As for his cell phone....he had been trying to call me at the same time. He also had woken up late and needed to take a shower. We decide to go to LACMA instead of hiking since it was pretty chilly outside. LACMA is close to him and I mention maybe he shouldn't come pick me up cuz I'm on the opposite side of town. He tells me it doesn't matter, he'll come pick me up. So, I am pretty pleased with that.

He gets here. I get in the car and he gives me a hug. Immediately we start chatting away and we pass by his old workplace so he points it out to me.

We get to LACMA and park next door to this place with a few restaurants. He asks if I'm hungry. I said I was and asked if he was. He says he's starving so we decide to eat lunch first. We had Baja Fresh and he paid even though I brought out my wad of bills. I started to hand it to him and he goes, "What's that for? Tip for me? Put it away." I started laughing and said, "Well, I thought I'd offer anyway."

So we have our lunch and somehow he asks me, "Have you been writing to anybody else on that online personal site?" I told him that I haven't but I have gone on there to browse people because I get bored and they keep sending me stuff so I just look out of curiosity. So then I ask him the same question even though we both know he took his profile off the site. He says he doesn't bother to look anymore. So now I am curious why he'd ask me that. I wish I had asked him why. Stupid me.

We started talking about what "my type is?" I wanted to say, "Like you." in a flirty way, but I couldn't get up the nerve to say something like that. Instead, I got tongue-tied and bashful because he was looking at me intently in the eye. Also, some little kids just sat next to us which made me uncomfortable to be talking about that sort of thing. Then, I asked what his type was. He says he usually goes for brunettes even though he's dated all types. At that point I was getting really uncomfortable talking about guy/girl things with this family sitting right next to us so I said, I was done with my food so we get up to leave.

We walk through the La Brea Tar Pits and during that time I point out this older man who resembled some guy that was hitting on me at the mall and tell him that older men like that one usually seem to not be afraid to come up to me. Then, he points to this old women on the sidewalk and says, "She's mine type." I had to laugh at that.

The rest of the day at the museum was full of joking around and making fun of the titles artists gave their artwork. There was this mirror artwork and he was standing in front of it when he said, "Oh look, who's that handsome person I see." I started laughing and then he pulls me in front of him so we see both of us. "He goes, "And look, who's that good looking woman?" I got embarrassed for some reason, laughed, and pulled away. I wish I had stood there for a few seconds longer to get a better glimpse of us together. I have to admit we looked rather cute together. We analyzed sculptures and paintings of bodies binding and twisting together. He asked if we could try out the positions to see if they actually work. I'd respond with stuff like, "Then you can see how flexible I am." At one point, I asked if he could draw. He said no. So I said, "Well, maybe you can try drawing me and I'll be the judge of that." Then he'd say, "Can I draw in you in the nude?" I'd say, "Maybe...if you're a good boy." So, the whole time we'd flirt back and forth like that.

There were these earthquake seismic boxes in every room, or at least that's what we thought they were. So, somehow I ended up whispering to him, "I dare you to ask that old lady what she thinks of that." And he did. So, we're standing there analyzing that piece of machinary. Another man comes by and he ends up asking him the same question. It was pretty funny. I wanted to bust out laughing so hard. The only reason I asked him to do that was because he had told me about the time where he threw his wallet in the corner of a museum and started staring at it to see how other people would react. He ended up with a crowd of people staring at his wallet, thinking it was a museum piece until a guard came up and asked him if it was his wallet. I thought that was the funniest thing. So, you see, I like guys who are daring and unordinary. And the more I think of it, the more I think I can be even more daring and direct with hikingboy.

After the museum, he asked if I'd like to go with him to Amoeba, this amazingly huge indie rock music store in Hollywood since he had to get his sister a birthday present. They had a family thing that night. By the time we left the store, it was already 5:15 p.m. and since he had his sister's birthday thing that night and I had my coworker's birthday thing....we decided to call it a day.

Somehow we started talking about him not having called and how he hadn't been responding to my emails as much. He said he really had been busy and that he's not a flaky person and he won't be flaky with me. He dropped me off with a hug and asked how my week was looking. I said I had to work late on Wednesday but the other nights should still be open. He said we should go out to dinner either Monday or Thursday. I said "Ok." But we didn't schedule a definite day to get together.

Saturday night: I went to a boring party that one of my unpopular coworkers threw. I didn't know anyone and everyone was much older than I. So, I felt a bit awkward but somehow I was able to start a conversation with a few people including this married man who ended up telling me that I was very attractive and just really beautiful while his wife was standing next to us talking to another man. I thought that was a bit odd, but I guess his point to me was that I should have no problem finding a boyfriend. Flattering, but not true. Sure, I could have a boyfriend, but part of the problem is I won't settle for just anyone. He did say something else that made me feel good. He said, "Your looks will get you in the door without a problem." And I thought, "Wow, really? Should I test that out?" And then I thought, "Well, why is it that no other guy here is talking to me like you are even though I know they've all noticed me? Why is it that they are not coming up to talk to me after they've said, "Hi." Am I supposed to go up to them?"

Sunday: I woke up late. At 2:30 p.m., I wrote hiking boy an email thanking him for yesterday and to let me know when he wanted to get together this week like he mentioned yesterday. I went to pick my sister up and then we proceeded to Ikea, where we had some Swedish meatballs for lunch. She bought some fluorescent light bulbs. I bought a bag of tea candles and a beach mat. Then, we went to the Glendale Galleria where I bought a really cute pair of strappies.

Afterwards, we drove back to my place where our friend, Michelle picked us up and we went to this church to watch Michelle's friend do a spiritual dance with some old folks. That was quite interesting. I have never seen such energetic old people in my life!

When I got home, I checked email and hiking boy said he'll be practicing with the band Monday-Wednesday night, so we'll shoot for Thursday as our night out. I just emailed back and said I'll jot him down for that day and that we should confirm Wednesday night.