The pickup

On Thursday after work, my intern friends and I went to the Boeing Museum of Flight. As budding aerospace engineers, we all get totally giddy looking at SR-71's and MiG's, plus admission to the museum is free on the first Thursday of every month from 5-9pm, and we're all broke college students. Anyway, toward the end of the evening, my roommate and I were talking about how much longer we wanted to stay and which exhibits we wanted to see before we left. As he wandered upstairs to look at World War I planes, I went back to reading a poster on the wall about World War II pilots. As soon as I looked to my right to see what else there was to read, a random Indian dude appeared next to me and started asking me about the museum and how I liked it. Expecting our conversation to be short and consist of useless chitchat, I gave some lame response and a smile and went back to reading. Mr. Body Odor plowed right on to ask me where I lived and if I had a lot of friends in Seattle. "I just moved here, and I'm trying to get connected to a social network," he explained eagerly. Umm... okay. I told him I didn't really know how one met people in Seattle since I had only been here for a few weeks and the only people I really knew were the other interns I worked with. I was really hoping he wouldn't ask if he could tag along on the next intern get-together, but it turned out there was a worse question: "Well, maybe you and I could hang out sometime." Before I could object, he started asking me if I liked hiking, rafting, and other things he dubbed "adventure sports."

Me: "Uhh, yeah... I hear this area is great for that sort of thing."
Random Indian dude (RID): "Okay, so maybe we could go hiking or something some weekend."
Me: "Um, I guess so..."
RID: "Okay then, can I get your phone number so that we can make plans?"
Me: "Um, I guess so..." (As you can see, I'm very articulate)

I couldn't really tell if he really was just lonely and wanted to get to know more people in Seattle, or if he was trying to ask me out, but either way, I didn't really want to spend any more time with this guy who wasn't very well acquainted with his shower. However, I couldn't bring myself to say, "No, I don't think so," because I imagine it would have been horribly awkward. So, I gave him a fake number. I have since been told (from a guy) that the appropriate way to handle this situation is to ask for his number and not give out mine, so that way he has no way of calling me. Well, live and learn, I guess.

Anyway, so that was Thursday. Today, I was wandering around Pioneer Square looking for the Elliot Bay Book Company when this beefy blond guy sauntered up to me while I was waiting to cross the street and asked if I was from Seattle. From experience, I can tell you that answering "yes" to this question means you will inevitably be asked where some bar is located, and with my general lack of Seattle barhopping this summer, I can never answer these questions. So with an apology and a no, I turned back to waiting to cross the street. Unfazed, he introduced himself as Brad and asked where I was going. I explained that I was just out wandering around Seattle, and then he asked if I wanted company and maybe we could stop somewhere and have a drink. I said no thanks, I just wanted to walk around and take some pictures. As he started asking if I was sure, I wondered why this had to be the longest "Don't Walk" of my life. We stood there in awkward silence for a few moments, and then he asked where I was from. After telling him I was from Michigan, he exclaimed, "I'm from South Dakota!" My face must have shown my confusion about why that was so exciting, so he explained that we were from sort of the same neck of the woods. Sure... Finally the light turned green, so I gave a quick "take care" and hustled across the street.

I dunno... that sort of thing just makes me so uncomfortable. Maybe because people never ask me out, so I just never know what to say. Or because it's never the cute, nice guys who ask you out - it's always the weird, sketchy ones. Oh well... either way, I'm not looking. :)