the M. M. M.

It's odd, when you are reminded that your are - in fact - good at something.
After months of not working, feeling discouraged and living for the weekend, I finally feel Good again.
You know, they say it's easier to find a job when you have a job, and I now know what they mean; it's easier to 'sell' yourself as good at a job when you actually have a job you feel good about.
And I feel good about my job. In fact, I'm really kind of kicking ass.
It's nice, because the managers (how weird it feels not to be The Manager, I admit, but still) but the managers speak to me in a 'knowing' way; a very respectful, conspiratorial 'You know what I'm talking about, you know what you're doing' sort of way. I feel like that in just a couple of weeks, I have proved myself, and my value to the sales floor, and that feels good.
I feel like I very quickly showed them that they had made the correct decision in hiring me.
And with a returned sense of autonomy comes a renewed sense of self worth.
Basically, I feel pretty damn good.
Aaaaaand... With this newly refound self esteem, I have jumped back into the dating pool.
I think with the lack of 'direction' I had without employment, I wasn't really feeling 'dating'. I mean, how could I feel like I had anything to offer in a relationship when I was already questioning it in my relationship with myself? I think that was entirely reflected in the three dates with the 6'5'' asshole in the Valley.
I went on a 2nd date with the mustache'd man from last Tuesday on Saturday. We met for sushi at  my favorite sushi place - a cougar den with a Sublime cover band on the Pacific Coast Highway.
The man with the mustache and I had a good first date; he is introverted, shy and a little bit of a loner, and underneath that (terrible terrible) mustache, he is quite handsome, with dark deep set bedroom eyes and a crooked row of bottom teeth. On our first date we bonded over the fact that we both avoid calling things ironic, because we can never really remember what exactly the definition of irony is, and know it is usually used wrong. And our second date was no different - I find him easy to be around. There is something a little dark about him, and on our first date I had said, point blank, 'You are very sensitive, aren't you?' He agreed. I worry a bit about that, truthfully, because give me an inch and I'll take a mile. 
'Take advantage' isn't the right wording, but I do know that if a boy lets me, I can tend to... well... Take advantage of that a little.
Like with the F, I let him keep me company, at this point all he gets out of it is being around me, and I know that. But I digress.
The man with the mustache and I had our sushi, grabbed a couple drinks at the bar and I didn't want to leave him. I enjoy being around him, and I find him intelligent and a little mysterious. Yes, actually, that's it. This quiet mustached man is mysterious. So we agreed to head to his house, together.
I know, I know, not really the best second date etiquette, but we kept it very PG the entire time. I  promise.

Although I've both followed and broken 'The Rules' - lately in dating, I have been very good at not following  The Rules as I used to. I know I've mentioned it before, but I have become much better at not just putting on my 'Hostess' hat, and going into the prospect of a relationship being me. Acknowledging my quirkier side,   or admitting when I don't know something - The version of Me that shows on the first date is more genuinely Me than it used to be. I remember when the Dutchman was visiting, he and I and Bijou were at brunch and I went to say something and I stopped myself. Bijou jumped on it, 'Why do you do that!? Finish your damn sentence!' My cutting myself off was such a sign of my insecurity, and she knew it.
But lately, especially after what I've learned from Apt F, in his love for my Me-ness (after never really being in an adult relationship that didn't stifle me, or make me doubt my own intellect), lately I've been more confident in the lovability of Me. And hell, what you see is what you get these days. (Full disclosure: This also can be attributed to my girlcrush - and the world's - on Zooey Deschanel. Quirk is so In right now.) 
So, back to the second date with the Mysterious Man with the Mustache... Wait, no, one more digression. A couple of weeks ago, I redid my entire online dating profile. Perhaps in a thinly veiled attempt to 'get back' at the Asshat in the Valley who changed his own profile to read as a Pros & Cons to 3 Dates with Me, but I decided that I definitely needed to revamp what I said about myself. To make it more representative of who I am, and less of how I want to seem. And in doing that, I have noticed been attracting a more introverted type of man. Which is a new type of man for me.
Okay, now back to the second date. We left the sushi bar & got his car from the valet. After a quick stop at my car, to grab a pair of sandals and my makeup bag, we headed to his place. Now, I know that he is moving into a condo he owns in a few weeks, but right now he is living by himself in a three bedroom house a couple of cities South of me. I was forwarned that he was not expecting company, so his house was a little untidy. Oh man, it was.
I wanted to clean it so bad.
Clean laundry on the floor in the living room, unfolded and wrinkled, iceless ice trays in the freezer, Saltines on the sink in the bathroom.

The Mysterious Man with the Mustache with an M3 made me want to mother him. I kept thinking to myself, This is one of those guys who needs a girlfriend. I could totally get this place into shape. So, we poured some wine, and made out well into the night. I swear though, it was totally PG. We slept in Sunday, wrapped in eachothers arms. At around ten, we got up and he made us coffee. Hot coffee in hand, pajamas still on, we sat on his couch, kissing and talking for the next several hours. He told me what happened in Mockingjay, because Goldi and I decided not to read it, and we talked about our love of Lost in Translation, and how Bill Murray's character is totally based on Harrison Ford.
Being with him is easy.
Silence isn't awkward.
We are the same age, almost exactly, and our brains work in eerily similar ways. On our first date, I had said something (jokingly) that had come off as quite rude, and had apologized profusely that evening, but while we were sitting on his couch in his undecorated three bedroom house, I looked at him, and said,

'Hey by the way, I'm...'

He cut me off,

'You don't have to apologize again. I promise.'

The night before, at the sushi place, I had said something to the effect of,

'It's funny, I think you are very intelligent. Probably because we have very similar points of reference to almost everything.'

To which he agreed.
I had somehow managed to get a split in the crotch of my black jeggings (ew, I know), but we decided to go to lunch around two. I threw on the t-shirt he wore on our first date over them, a gray tee with an image of John Lennon on it that he got at 'the Mall', put my denim jacket on over it and watched as he picked up a very wrinkly (though apparently 'clean') tee off the living room floor and we headed North, back up to near my car. For some reason, I started talking about my Best Friend in San Francisco, and how weird it is for me to think about the fact that she used to be married, and I had a thought...

'You've never been married, right?'

He paused.

'Actually, yes. I have. That was my last relationship.' 

Hmph.
I asked a series of quick questions:
How long? A few months. Length of entire relationship? A year. Kids? No.
Is that why you live in that house? Yes.
I kissed his shoulder, and he changed the subject.
We had a nice lunch and he dropped me off at my car.
And I missed him.
I went and collected Beauty off the beach, we grabbed a quick lunch, I caught up with her and her roommate (who recently started 'Internet Dating' as well) and then headed over to my Flame Haired Favorite's house for talk of her upcoming wedding and a glass of wine.
And I still missed him. The Mysterious Man with the Mustache.
So, as I have never been a big game player in dating & have apparently eschewed most of The Rules anyway, I called him after leaving my girlfriend's house.
And invited myself over.
Still, we kept it PG, watched his shows and went to bed.
He made me coffee this morning, and we made plans to go to a concert Wednesday night.

Although I did say to him, last night as we were laying in bed,

'Hey...'

He cut me off,

'No.'
'Why? I just want to see what it would look like.'
'No.'
'Fine.'

So I guess the Mustache is staying.
For now.
Hell, at least it makes for a damn good moniker: The Mysterious Man with the Mustache.
MMM.