Patterns

Dear LB,
Here is your single's love horoscope
for Tuesday, October 24:

Couples celebrate anniversaries, and so should singletons. Why not pick an emotional landmark and pat yourself on the back for achieving it? Deciding not to date jerks anymore -- that's something to celebrate!

* * *

I know that I compulsively include my daily horoscopes here, but sometimes they just ring true enough to give me a good laugh. Today's definitely did - and I'm going to officially do that right now:

As of today, I, LB, officially decide to stop dating jerks!

Not that I've ever intended to date them in the first place, but I just seem to keep doing it. On top of that, I really think that I have to move on from the Los Angeles dating pool. There must be something about me, because no matter where I go or what I do, I attract actors. No one else I know has this type of problem meeting guys with normal-type career aspirations, but I can't seem to fix whatever the problem is.

Also, I wanted to thank everyone sincerely for all of your kind thoughts and words during the whole Irish debacle. It means more to me than you know to have people out there on my side.

On Sunday I was at Big Wangs (my customary football spot - as I'm avoiding Barney's Beanery and the possibility of seeing Irish for at least one week) with my friends, trying to focus my attention on two games since both of my teams were playing simultaneously. Very early on, a fairly good-looking guy was standing near my sight-line, but not in it. He asked if he was in the way, and I told him that he wasn't, everything was fine. About two minutes later he struck up a conversation with me which lead to the inevitable: what do you do? After answering and explaining myself a little (my job title doesn't have much recognition among non-healthcare professionals), I asked him the same

Actor.

Of course he was.

*sigh*

He didn't ask me out before he left (though he did stay through half of the afternoon game to talk to me), but he did ask if I was sure I'd be back next weekend. I said yes, knowing that I wouldn't go out with him anyway. Even if the fact that they're actors isn't the reason that all of my relationships in LA have ended badly, it's enough of a common thread that I need to eliminate that factor if I ever hope to break this pattern. Irish (during the 10 seconds that he was still interested in being involved with me) tried to argue the point that it's not being an actor that's the problem, that it has been personality problems with each of the guys that I've dated. (Yes, we went there, the Ex Talk, which is I place that I personally prefer never to go to.) At this point, I don't care if he's right, I just won't date any more actors. Period.

This week is a huge turning point for me though. On Friday I'm going to take the first test of the two that I need to pass to become officially certified in my occupation. Once I've passed both parts (I'm hoping to take the second part before Thanksgiving), I can finally start planning my escape. Except I already have, sort of. But we'll talk about all of that later...

Lyrics of the Day

"My own little world is what I deserve, 'cause I am the only child there is. A king of it all, the belle of the ball, I promise I’ve always been like this. Forever the first, my bubble can’t burst, it’s almost like only I exist." Guster Center of Attention