So I'm definately overdue for a blog... especially since I had a very big week.
The week obviously kicked off with my stellar Bison debut. After that, my main focus was the ILPA (www.ilpa.info) conference, which I've been helping to put together for some time now, but I did manage to slip in a second date with Elizabeth. Since the latter is much more interesting and important to me, I'll talk about that first.
Elizabeth also works in private equity, but that's not how I met her. Admittedly, I met her on this sketchy internet thing... but, to be honest, she's anything but sketchy. She's smart, ambitious, fun, personable... very likeable. She's got a similar background... from Queens, commuted into the city for high school like I did. She's also way prettier than her picture online. In fact, I think she's quite the fox. HOWEVER, I have to be very careful here, for fear of scaring her off Colleen-style. I dunno... maybe I'm just not too easily scared, or maybe its just been so long since I felt anyone was really smitten with me, that the idea of someone falling for me right away doesn't bother me. Elizabeth, however, seems like she'd be easily overwhelmed. In fact, after our first date late last week, I flirted with disaster by overduing it with e-mails. (ok, so I sent her like three, but I e-mail like I IM... I just send whatever I'm thinking.) Since then, I've only called her to set up the 2nd date, and I've been totally laying low. We went out on Tuesday, and I just gave her a call today. I hope that wasn't too long. I also sent her a nice little handwritten note Wednesday morning.... nothing much, just a very short "enjoyed your company" kind of thing.
Anyway, I'm just having trouble figuring this whole thing out. So its only been two dates w/o much talking in between, but that's kind of the point. Like, why shouldn't I expect that someone would be excited about me? Like, after I saw her last time, I wanted to say, "Can't wait to see you again..." because I really couldn't and I didn't want the date to end. Yet, I'm sure that probably would have freaked her out. What are we all scared of? Shouldn't we all expect to be smitten-worthy? Sigh... I'm a nice guy... and I try hard to be a nice guy...but you're not supposed to try hard. In fact, it seems like the most successful guys don't try at all. They barely maintain civility. What passes for worthwhile dating ettiquette is beyond me. Like, the other day, Deirg went out to a bar and some guy was talking to her. At the end of the night, he invited her home. She was annoyed, but to be honest, a lot of girls probably would have went home with him. Corey is doing something similar. She's got a great guy that is absolutely sweet to her, yet when this fireman that is only looking for a late night booty call, it piques her interest. The whole world is just fekked up. Anyway... I called Elizabeth today to ask her how she was feeling... I hope she calls me back tonight. I'd love to have a nice phone chat. Too bad she doesn't have a blog... this way, I'd know what she was thinking and whether or not I am setting myself up to be disappointed.
Anyway... its foggy out tonight... I love fog.
Oh... and another thing... I had dinner with Liz Werner last Sunday. Yeah... right... blast from the past. She was away in Japan for two years... pretty much since right after graduation, and before that, we weren't talking too much after we broke up. Therefore, its been a good three and a half years since we've talked. And yet, it was as if it was all back to normal... back to the way we were in sophmore and junior year... like we were at Lincoln Center... eating. It was standard fare for us and it just felt really nice. Hopefully, we'll hang out again soon.
Ok, so the conference. Well, a little background.... ILPA is an organization of groups like mine that invest in private equity funds. Back in October, I went to the conference when it was held in LA. The Executive Director of the group asked me if GM would "help co-host"... two words when taken together seem to imply not nearly as much work as I wound up doing for it. However, all that work seems now worth it. The conference went off great, and I really got a lot of great exposure at it. I have a few buddies in the group now that I've seen several times and that I stay in touch with. There are a few guys that work for CALPERS that are pretty cool, a great girl from Cleaveland who is all business and never really gives me the slightest bit of vibe. (UPDATE... Turns out she's engaged.) There's this really cool lady who works for a family office on the west coast. She's very interesting and we chat a lot about venture... but she's also going to hook me up with this girl who just graduated from Stanford. She'd be a really interesting person for me to talk to. Anyway... it really is a great bunch of people in this asset class. Plus, I met this guy at a Swedish pension fund who would be a great candidate for one of our fund of funds products. Charles (my boss) was pretty impressed that I came back with a potential client.
Isn't about time people started realizing that I'm not your average bear. :)