The latest bachelors and Happiness-have I found it?!?!

Time to catch up on the latest bachelors...#21 was kind of paranoid and suspicious. He would only tell me his first name and even after meeting him for a drink, he still wouldn't tell me his last name. He was a great looking guy but there just wasn't anything there for me. We texted for a few days after we met and then he started joking that he was doing a background check on met even though he didn't know my last name. I think he could tell from my responses that I wasn't amused so that finally died away.  Bachelor #22-I met during the week of Christmas and his profile said he was 5'3" which is the same height as me but when I met him, I felt like I towered over him! He was really short and didn't work. He said it was because he took care of his parents but I had a feeling that he was just living off of them and wasn't planning on working. I think he could sense that I wasn't interested and it wasn't a long meeting.
Bachelor #23--I also met this gentleman during the week of Christmas-in fact, I met him the same day as #22 only in the evening. We met at Starbucks and ended up talking over 3 hours. I really thought he was nice and felt that he was interested in me as well. He has a good job and was recently divorced. After I got home, I sent him a text thanking him for the evening and he responded that he would like to get together again that week. He called me the next night and we made plans to go out the day before Christmas Eve.
He came to pick me up at 1:00 since we were both off work and we went to see the new Harry Potter movie. We had both seen it already but decided it would be fun to see again. He held my hand in the movie and we had a great time. Afterwards, we went to dinner, drove around to look at Christmas lights and went back to my house to watch a Christmas movie. Our date ended at 10:00 that night and I had a wonderful time with him. He was very respectful and sweet and I was hoping to see him again.
We didn't get to see each other over Christmas because we were with our families but he did text and we talked on the phone Christmas night and he invited me to go to church with him the next day. He came to pick me up at 9:00am the next morning and we went to a nice service at his church, he tried to keep me warm because it was freezing in there so he offered his coat to me and held my hands to keep them warm. We rented a movie afterwards, grabbed some lunch and he hooked up my new blue-ray player for me. We spent 10 hours that day talking, kissing and just enjoying each others company. I have to admit that I am pretty smitten with him right now. He says the nicest things to me and is keeping a good line of communication open with me so far. He told me yesterday that he adores me and has said he can't think of a better way to welcome in the new year than with someone who he considers very special.
Let's hope this continues!!!

Bachelor #20 thought he was a Jedi

OK, so I met with Bachelor #20 last night at Starbucks. We had texted back and forth all day and I was a little curious how his behavior would be in person because he couldn't stop talking about Star Wars. His online screen name was Dark Jedi so that should have told me something. He even apologized for not having a better profile picture because his michordial? something or other didn't show in pictures. I asked him what that was and he said it was the force. I thought he was kidding when he sent that to me but after meeting him in person, I realized he meant it. He even told me that he tried to get out of a speeding ticket one time by trying to use the force on the police officer and he just about got tased.  He was sweet enough but something just wasn't quite right about him. I could tell that he really wanted to talk about Star Wars with me and I let him a little bit but since I'm not quite the fan that he is, I didn't have a lot to contribute. Lol. He even told me that some of his friends told him that he might be Autistic because of the way he is with numbers. He told me he thought he might have a brain tumor because he remembers numbers easily. After spending about 45 minutes with him and listen to him go on and on between the Star Wars topic and stories about his ex-girlfriend who he is not over, we decided to end the evening.
Heaven help me!

How do I stop trying so hard?

So I am still reeling from the fact that I met a convicted pedophile this past week through online dating. I go online and look at all these profiles of different men and I find myself sick of looking at them but yet I continue to do so. I pray for God to send me a nice, Christian man who will help me in my walk with God, who will be compassionate, loving, loyal, and strong. I am looking for honesty, dependability, affection and my soul mate.  I spent some time with friends and family yesterday and I told them I was open for referrals because the route I have been taking is not working for me. They all said they have been trying to think if they knew anyone and they couldn't think of one nice man that they would introduce me to. I know that there are still nice men out there who are available but where are they? One of my friends said that I am just trying too hard and need to stop looking both physically and mentally. I hadn't thought about that before but I guess I am mentally trying too hard as well. I just don't know how to turn that off.  I guess I struggle with that in not only romantic relationships but in friendships as well.
I have been trying to maintain a friendship with the bachelor that I broke up with after we had dated for close to three months. I guess I really fell for this guy while we were dating even though I know he wasn't the one for me. We have so many of the same likes and dislikes and I felt so comfortable with him. Well, when I broke up with him, we stopped talking for a while but this really bothered me because I missed his friendship.  I finally broke down and sent him an email and he said he still wants to be friends with me. I was elated but didn't know how to go about being a friend with someone whom I had been romantic with in the past. I tried to send emails or texts to see how he was doing and the responses have been minimal. I guess this isn't all too different from when we were dating either. He's not too great with communication. We do sit next to each other in church if we show up at the same service time but again, conversation is minimal and difficult to do in church. I am trying to make as much conversation as I can but he makes it difficult. He hasn't asked to see me outside of church and we will go for days without any communication. This just isn't how I think a friendship should work and I guess this is part of why I broke up with him in the first place. I called him the other day to check on his family and we had a fairly good conversation so I asked him which church service he would be attending today so I could try to be at the same service. He told me he didn't know because it would depend on how late he stayed up on Saturday night. He just wouldn't commit to a time and then I didn't hear from him for several days. He did finally text me last night and finally mentioned which service he would be at so I told him I would try to be there too. We sat together, talked a little, and when it was over, he told me to have a good week and left.  I just feel like I am trying too hard to be friends with him when maybe he really isn't comfortable with being friends with me. I took him at his word that he wanted to be friends but his actions say otherwise.
I guess I should just back off from contacting him for a while and see how it goes.  I guess I should do that with all of these men who send me texts from time to time but never want to see me. I try so hard and don't get the same effort in return.
I'm going to meet bachelor #20 tomorrow for coffee after work. If this one doesn't turn out decent, I think I will throw in the towel for awhile.

Mirror Mirror on the wall, guess who met the worst bachelor of them all......

That's right, it's me! I met bachelor #19 last night and I am thinking it might be time to hang up the proverbial towel. I started talking to this man yesterday online and he sounded really nice. He told me that he liked my profile and I was what he was looking for in a woman. He talked a great game. He game me his # so I gave him mine as well and he texted me all afternoon. I was feeling encouraged and we decided to meet at Starbucks last night to get to know each other in person. He said he hadn't done the online dating thing before and I was the first person for him to meet so he was nervous. I assured him that I was just a common person and I was never at a loss for words. We got there and started having a nice chat and talked about our work, families, etc and before I knew it, 3 hours had passed. I thought he was a nice guy and the conversation was flowing smoothly. Some of the things he said, I found a little sketchy like his work history and it concerned me when he told me a couple of times that he really liked that I am stable and established. He is 32, lives with roommates that he met off Craiglist and has changed jobs a lot. He talked a big game about how involved he is in his church and said it's a little church held in a coffee shop in Valley Brook. I have to admit, I wondered just how much of a "church" this really was. When I got home, he sent me a text and asked how I thought things went and wondered if I would consider dating him. I told him I thought things went well and that I would go out with him. He asked me to dinner Friday night and suggested we watch a movie at my place. I didn't give him my last name or address and now that I look back on it, I think God had his hand in this for my safety.
When I had a free moment in my crazy day today, I decided to do a little research on this bachelor. I found all of his mug shots and list of offenses on the Department of Corrections offender profile. This man was just released from prison in July of this year after serving 2 1/2 years for lewd acts with a minor, failure to register as a sex offender and drugs! I was just in shock and disbelief. We had spent 3 hours talking and he had every opportunity to tell me about this, especially when he mentioned that he used to work with drug addicts with the Dept of Corrections. He just didn't mention that he was an inmate at the time!
I sent him a text and asked point blank if he had ever been arrested. He sent a long message back saying he wanted to talk to me in person and had every intention to tell me but didn't feel that last night was the appropriate time to do that. His excuses were feable at best.  It wasn't all true, of course. What ex-con is ever guilty of his crimes? He was set up by his minor drug dealer who he was accused of being sexually inappropriate with. His MALE minor drug dealer!
It was all too much, I sent him a message back and asked him to please never contact me again. He tried to text a couple more times and finally realized that I meant business and said good bye.
I cannot believe that I spent 3 hours talking to a pedophile last night and I thank God that I checked him out before giving him my address to come over this weekend.
It's definitely time to concentrate on me for awhile.