How Did I Get Here?: Part 14

It was around 2003 or 2004, when despite my increasing size, I decided that I was tired of being alone.  It was a tough decision because I was very self-conscious about my weight, but having come off the great decrease in my size, I thought I'd give the whole online dating thing a whirl.  Being just over 300 lbs. instead of almost 500 lbs. gives one a slight sense of bravery.  I forget what sites I signed on to.  I know there was Match.com and I think something called Kiss.com.  The whole thing is rather demoralizing for a fat guy.  I was never one to lie about much of anything, let alone my weight, so I was always honest when it came to answering the questionnaire regarding 'body type' and checked off the space for 'have my own zip code'.  


When you are a big person trying to find companionship, the response level is somewhat low, to say the least.  I don't know how big women deal with it other than calling themselves "BBWs".  It has to be even harder for them.  Guys are a much harder sell when it comes to their willingness to date the obese.  I do recall one date in particular.  We had communicated via the online interface from Cattlecall.com, or some such site for a while and finally decided to have dinner.  I was a bit taken aback by her appearance.  In her picture online, she reminded me of a young Kirstie Alley.  What sat across from me making all sorts of odd noises while inhaling her sushi was more like the Wendy, the Snapple Lady.  That was just one of the memorable encounters.  I decided then to just go about my life and try for something to come about organically, rather than post my mugshot online and hope someone would like me for me, based on my 250 words or less...too much to ask for.


By 2004 I was going to karaoke regularly and one of my spots was a rib place in Union, NJ.  I eventually became one of their hosts and was in there about 2-3 nights per week.  One night in February of 2006, I was sitting at the bar with a friend and a very attractive redhead got up and sang Linda Ronstadt's "When You Wish Upon a Star".  I was very impressed.  Good singers are in the minority at karaoke and this one was staggeringly talented.  I honestly don't recall if I approached her to introduce myself or the other way around, but she asked me to do a duet with her.  I eagerly accepted and we struggled our way through a tune together.  I say struggled because, while not bad, it wasn't up to snuff per either of our standards.


Several nights later at a different bar/restaurant, the same redhead comes in, by herself this time.  She heads straight to the bar, orders up a shot of Jameson and throws it back.  We chatted briefly over the course of the evening and went our separate ways.  A few nights later, at yet another bar, Red comes in, makes a beeline to the bar and repeats the Jameson ritual.  I mentioned something to my friend Mike, the host and he noticed the same thing.  "Pity she is an alcoholic.  She is cute and talented."  Her name was Tabitha and despite her penchant for the whiskey and potentially a stalker, I thought she was fun, smart and very funny.


As it turned out, Tabitha was not an boozehound.  She was just nervous about singing and this was somewhat new to her.  The shots were a means of calming her nerves.  I was kinda smitten with Tabitha and figured I'd take a stab at asking her out for dinner, which is what I did.  I won't go into the the particulars or how that evening went, but we had a number of 'false starts' to our relationship.  That was until Mel Gibson day, in 2006.  What the F is Mel Gibson Day, I hear you cry?  Tune in next time for the rest of the story of how I met the women that did love me for me, my wife Tabitha.


Cya Sunday,
M


What I ate Friday and how I exercised:


Breakfast ~ Egg Mikemuffin: One fried egg and a chicken sausage on a multi grain sandwich round.  It was lovely to sit on my patio and enjoy the meal and the weather and get some work done.
Lunch ~ Whole grain pasta with marinara and a touch of parmagiano cheese
Dinner ~ Wolfed down a chicken sausage on a spouted grain roll, pre-gig.  So not what I wanted.  Days with work and gigs are rough for dinner.
Exercise ~ Being a roadie and entertaining for over three hours is quite the workout.