Uber-Single

Here's the story of my Friday night (because, you know it always has to be a story.)

I met my friend John for drinks and dinner on Friday night at the Fowler House in the Quinzzzz. We watched the game and had a few pops (He's moved up to Rum and Cokes now. He used to only drink Margaritas.) At that point, the Yankees were winning by three and Mariano was in, so we left, figuring there would be no celebration that night.

On my train ride home, I heard rumblings that the Yankees had lost. "That can't be," I reasoned. Still, I got off the train and went to a bar near my house, and found the celebration on TV. It was true! So, I celebrated with a beer.

After a few moments, a young lady sits next to me, so we strike up a conversation. She's an Emerson grad and works at Christopher's in Porter Square, rigth near where I used to live. We're hitting it off. We talked for over an hour, and I'm about to make my move when I notice that she's talking to the bartender an awful lot. "You know that guy?" I ask.

"He's my boyfriend."

Thank you. You're a beautiful audience. Good night.

Grrrr... If I had known she had a boyfriend, I would have had one beer and left. People like that shouldn't even talk to other people in bars. What was she thinking?

The next day, I had lunch with my friend Chrsitine, who coined what to me is the phrase of the decade: Uber-single. I don't know how to make that little symbol thing over the "U," but you get the point. Or maybe you don't, so I'll explain. The idea being that someone (like myself) is sssooooo single, that they probably couldn't survive in a relationship (even a good one) because they would feel trapped. The very term "single' has become a bad word these days, almost coming to mean "lonely" or "loser." To me, it refers to "independance" more than either of those. I have become so independant in these last few years that I have steered myself completely away from relationships, and even when one comes along, I would probably spurn the poor person soon enough, feeling crushed even if I'm not. There's probably a middle ground between uber-single and, well, most of my coupled friends, but I don't know if I know how to get there.

The best thing was that John told me not to change anything, because I'm one of the few friends he has whom his wife can stand, and who he can call up on almost any given night and ask if I want to go see a bad movie. And let's face it; is any relationship worth giving up that?