You say potato, I say probably not.

I was at a party on Saturday night and started talking to a girl who had just finished medical school and was about to begin her residency. She wasn't sure where she was going to end up, but she did know it was down to two cities - New York and New Orleans. Well, seeing as it was around 3:00 am at this point (and I was about thirty two beers into the evening), my face just about exploded and I was babbling breathlessly about how either way she'd be so, so happy, because both cities were just SO amazing, blahblahblah...Anyway, she asked how I knew these cities were great, and I told her that I'd lived in New York for a couple of years and at one time had a girlfriend who lived in New Orleans.

She pointed out that maybe my inflated opinion of New Orleans had more to do with my emotional attachment to the girlfriend (doctors is smart). I told her she was exactly right and I totally knew that was the case. Then (groan), we got into a "well, what happened?" "how long have you been broken up?" conversation, and she advised me that one day, I'd "meet that special someone." And that "it may not feel that way now," but at some point, I'd run into "the perrrrrfect woman!!" I nodded appreciatively, smiled hopefully, then began thinking...why do you necessarily think that's going to happen? It's the same platitude you hear from everyone: "oh, one day you'll meet her." But is that really true? Isn't that just a fairy tale we've all come to accept as fact because of the countless romantic comedies we've all seen? Surely not everyone will find that perfect someone?

I was listening to a story on NPR a few days ago about Peruvian potato farmers (seriously) and the farmers had a saying: "soup without potatoes is like life without love." Okay, despite the fact that only a potato farmer could get away with that kind of ridiculous proverb, what if there's not enough potato soup to go around?! I ordered the potato soup, but the waiter keeps bringing me gazpacho! Cold, lonely gazpacho!

Okay, things aren't really that bad. I'm eternally optimistic, so as cynical as I'm feeling now, I still think, deep down, that things will work out. They have to. Besides, you have to believe that someone is out there waiting for you. It's that hope that keeps single people from hanging themselves off a bridge. So I'll be okay. As a matter of fact, I've begun (sort of) seeing this girl from my office. I say "sort of" because I'm not 100% clear what we're doing. Our relationship is very strange. I can tell she likes me, but she doesn't really like me. And I like her too, but I don't really like her. We hang out, we go out for drinks, we have dinner, we do other stuff. And yet. Hmmm...maybe we're still getting to know each other, and the awkwardness will wear off soon, but it seems that at this point, we're not really great friends and we're definitely not uncontrollably pawing lustily at each other (adverb attack!). But we're somewhere between the two. Regardless, it's a nice distraction. It really is. Just kinda...weird.

Update: on a MUCH more depressing note, Team Texas may never actually take the field. From the Associated Press:

The new All American Football League will have to postpone its 2008 season unless it finds new financial backing. The announcement Thursday came less than a week before camps were to open for the six-team league. The league will push its plans back to 2009 unless it secures a TV deal or other funding. The league announced Thursday it was exploring "multiple financing options" to address its funding crisis. According to a statement released by the league, the AAFL's financial crisis is tied to the national subprime mortgage crisis. League CEO Marcus Katz co-founded a company that provides student loans. The statement said camps would open Wednesday "if liquidity can be immediately restored." If not, plans for an inaugural season will be pushed back to 2009.

I just saw those bastards on Saturday signing autographs at a college baseball game! They looked so happy! Sniff!