Time to throw myself into the dating world again.

The last time I tried this dating-thing, I did end up with a short but sweet two week romance with a girl I met online. She lived across the country, but I had no problem with taking the bus to see her. She lived in a tiny apartment, but it was homey. I still remember the layout of the place. When you entered the hallway, you had the bathroom , the shoe rack and the coat hanger on the left, and storage space, fridge and kitchen on the right. Well, when I say kitchen, I really mean kitchenette. Walking out of the tiny hallway, you had the living room and a room divider, where the bed was located.

When we met up, we sat down for some good conversation. I was there for the weekend, so it's not like we were going on excursions or anything. We mainly spent the time indoors, watching movies or playing guitar hero. Having a lot of fun. First kiss was on the night I arrived. Many more were exchanged over the weekend. Sunday arrived, and I had to leave home. I was there the following weekend, where we continued where we left off when I left the week before. However, this time it was different. She told me, that she was talking with her ex, about possibly hooking up with him again. It left me a bit "Oh boy, now what? I am falling in love with this girl, and she's possibly getting back with her ex.. What do I do".. She told me, that she wanted to take a breather and think about what she really wanted to do. If she wanted to begin something with me, or go back to her ex. A few days after I got home, she dropped the text: She didn't have the desire to see me again, and she was going back to her ex.

That was the last time I heard from her. The following month, I left for Scotland, so it's 7 years ago. I still remember it vividly, though.

Since that time, I have sort of tried to take it slow on that front. I have rarely engaged in things that could lead to any sort of relationship. I think that might have scared me away from any sort of romantic interests. Now, I know what you must be thinking now: "But Philipsen, what about the girl you fell in love with a few years ago, who went by R?".. Yes, that's one of the rare occasions where I have sort of tested to see if there could be anything other than friendship. R and I never kissed, which sort of puts that to rest. Nothing remotely romantic happened between us. Yes, we were perhaps close friends, but we never crossed the friendship line once.

But now.. Well, now is the time to actively start looking for a relationship. I have no preference as to where the romantic interest has to be from. England, Ireland, USA, Australia, the Philippines.. It doesn't matter. As long as the person is a decent human being, with a functioning brain, who can make her own decisions, then that's fine by me. Kids.. Well, I like kids, so it wouldn't hurt if she had some, or wanted to get some. I might approach the age where I might be a bit too old to put kids into the world, but I still have a few years before I go "Yes, I am definitely too old for children".. Maybe, if she doesn't want kids, maybe her and I could get a dog or a cat.. Am I open to relocating to another country? Oh, absolutely! I love experiencing new places, so I am always up for relocating to another place on the planet.

Time to start looking for that someone - and a job, since I haven't heard back from the temp agency yet. Maybe I will tomorrow.