Saturday, January 05, 2008

Happy New Year!

I think 2008 is going to be a fantastic year. I don't know why. I just have a good feeling about it, you know?

The first few hours of 2008 weren't very promising. It was 4:30 a.m. on January 1st and I was standing on Bloor Street waiting for a bus to take me home.

I had just left a New Year's Eve house party. It was a good party. There was music and dancing and food and lots of nice people (and more than a few eligible bachelors). But I left the party feeling somewhat deflated. I had no one to kiss when the clock struck 12.

It's not being single that bothers me. I'd rather be single than settle for someone who isn't right for me. What bothers me is that my life as a perpetual bachelorette seems to be stretching out into infinity.

So, there I was, standing at the bus stop at 4:30 in the morning, freezing my butt off and feeling sorry for myself when a man named Rudy (or Ruby, I'm not really sure) snapped me out of my pity party.

He was striding purposefully down the street wearing a green puffy jacket and a black toque. He joined me at the bus stop and struck up a conversation.

"Are you Italian?" he asked me.

"No," I said.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "You look Italian."

And then he started telling me that he didn't like Chinese people but that Japanese people and Korean people were okay.

He ranted about Chinese people for a few more minutes and then asked me for my number.

There. I had met a man and he asked me out. Just like that. I didn't even have to say a single word, except to tell him I wasn't Italian.

I suddenly realized my problem isn't meeting men. I meet lots of men. My problem is that I have standards.

I'd rather be single than date a crazy, drunk, racist.

You know what? I like having standards.

And that is the kind of positive attitude I'm going to carry with me for the rest of 2008. Happy New Year!