How well do you know yourself?

A conversation last night led me to start thinking about myself on a different, more introspective level than I usually do.

This friend of mine and I were discussing relationships (he said he was thinking he might look to settle down soon -- I still think it's gonna be a while before he settles down but what do I know? :P) We both agree that there's really three stages everyone has to go through:
-Dating Around -- this is where you have relationships where you don't necessarily fall in love (though you might) but you are dating more to learn what it is you are looking for in a person.
-Finding What You Want -- now that you've figured out what it is you want and need in a relationship, you have to find it. There's probably fewer relationships at this point, but they're much more serious and more likely than not you fall in love, even if it doesn't last for forever.
-Having What You Want -- this one....this is your most serious relationship, it's the one that will, unless something terrible (like death) happens, will last for the rest of your life. If you're able to have a relationship afterwards, there's a good solid chance you'll be back at square one, because nothing can compare. (Or at least, that's how the romance authors make it seem.)

When the conversation happened, I was pretty sure I was there in stage 2, Finding What You Want. But I was thinking about the things I want and need in someone -- it's a long list and it seems like it would be impossible to fulfill. Maybe I need to go back to giving more people a chance?
But then I consider how miserable I was with most of the boys that I gave a shot to when I was definitely still trying to figure out what I wanted and remember why exactly I'm jaded and cynical and I think....maybe not.

I gotta refine that list though, that's for damn sure.

I just fell in love with this picture...

This is not the end of the previous cliffhanger ending because I need to go to bed so I can be refreshed for tomorrow's luncheon with the family (at a fancy restaurant so we're sure to be on best behavior, which guarantees chaos coming soon...what goes up must come down :-P)

However, as an addendum to the last post: being alive when Ferris Bueller's Day Off came out does not make you old. It came out the year before I was born, thusly all that indicates is that you are older than me. This might come as a surprise to everyone but most people on this planet fit into that category, I'm pretty young. No more of this "damn, I feel old" bullshit, it's your own fault for reading the blog of someone younger than you. :-P

"Sure, every day the Earth rotates backwards and the skies turn orange."

So, wow. WOW. WOW. For a week that started off so unbelievably badly, things went really well afterwards. Really well.

Tuesday night, a new local club had its first 18+ club. Never one to miss an opportunity, I went not just for the fun of being with friends...I wanted a job. I had heard they were hiring dancers and I've been getting more and more desperate for money. The key detail of a rather eventful was that I did, in fact, get the job. And flirted with a really pretty gorgeous guy (who flirted back). He turns out to be 32, which is out of my usual dating age range...but depending on how the next couple weeks go, I may make an exception. He's remarkably immature for being so much older than me. :-P
By which, I mean, he acts the same age I act. At least, he does when he's drunk.

Now, Wednesday passed by relatively uneventfully. And by that I mean, things happened but I honestly don't remember much of it. I suppose that's not a good sign, although no news is good news, or so I'm told by my mother.

Today was the big one. Tuesday night, I had run into my friend Zach who had wanted me to work at Abercrombie Kids with him when my initial job hunt was going so poorly. He had informed me that he had become a manager, and wanted to hire me. So I went to Park City today, walked into Abercrombie, met up with Zach, and went next door to fill out another application.
I'm starting tomorrow. I couldn't be more excited. I finally have a real job. And a dancing job!

But as if my life didn't get better, there was the weather. It was horrible today. Driving to and from Park City I literally knew where the road was by watching tail lights, because I couldn't see the road due to all of the torrents of rain.
The DJ on the radio said we had "severe thunderstorm warnings, flash flood warnings, and tornado warnings." I jokingly added "and Armageddon warnings."

The joke got less funny when the sky turned orange. I'm still not sure what that was, but the fact is it looked awesome and the world didn't end so I'm feeling pretty lucky about that. I wish I had gotten a picture, but alas, I did not.

Later, when I returned to my dorm from all the rest of my day, my various classes and meetings in the evening, I discovered I had an instant message from Boy-Craig.
"You win."
Now, I don't want to jinx anything, so I won't explain it. I'm not happy, because he's hurting and I wouldn't wish that on him no matter what he did to me. But I'm hopeful, very hopeful.

That sort of reminds me, I did want to ask everyone's opinion on something -- a question that always is rattling around in my head due to being raised on romance novels where people just seem to know they're in love...how does one really tell?
I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I think I'm in love with Craig. I guess it's a possibility. Other people have said I am, though that means nothing. I'm mostly just curious as to everyone's opinions on these things.