Spring! Smell the scent of pheremones in the air!

As it was FINALLY warm enough to attend a baseball game without shivering, I decided to watch my Cubs smash the visiting rat-bastard St. Louis Cardinals. Riding the elevator in my building, I ran into a young guy I'll call "C Neighbor." Apparently, he was meeting friends in the Wrigleyville neighborhood to watch an NBA playoffs basketball game. No baseball for him.

C Neighbor asked if I want to share a cab and when I tell him that I'm walking (such a beautiful day and all), he asks if he can walk with me. Sure!

Mind you, I've run into C Neighbor a few times either in the laundry room, lobby, elevator or sometimes at my favorite coffee shop down the street. We're not friends really, but not strangers either. Did I mention that we've never actually been introduced?

Anyway, we're walking to Wrigley Field (and people, he walks FASTER than I do!!!) and he lights a cigarette (strike 1), and starts telling me how he doesn't remember much of what happened last night after he drank so much (strike 2). He does remember spending about $200 for a bottle of Effen vodka (retail $40??) and he thinks he might have gotten thrown out of whatever bar they were in (strike 3).

Obviously, this is not a person I plan to spend a lot of time with. Nevertheless, our conversation continues and he's decided that I'm in my mid-30s (could I have underestimated him?) and he'd like to buy me a beer before I go into the game. Oh, and he introduced himself so we could actually call each other by name (geez, what a concept!)

He says he'd like to meet me for breakfast if I was planning to head to the corner cafe near our building. Asks if I go to church on Sundays. (geez! a guy who asks about church?) Said he'd like to go to church but hasn't found one for him (he's not Catholic, but he offered to accompany me some Sunday).

I met his friends at the bar. C Neighbor bought me a beer and tried to confirm the Sunday breakfast plans. I told him he could text me on Sunday and see what my plans were. (Fine! So I gave him my cell phone number, so what?!)

C Neighbor and pals take off to watch the NBA playoffs and I go into Wrigley and say Hello to my 'summer family.' Before the game starts, I get a text from C Neighbor asking if I'd like to meet for a drink later (if my evening plans end early). Told him I'd keep him posted.

Having just bought a pre-game beer from one of my favorite vendors, I turned around just in time to see Cub Man, a guy I dated about 7 years ago. He and a pal are sitting 2 rows in front of me! He stopped to give me a hug and later sent a beer vendor over with a second refreshment for me. Mid-game, we made tentative plans to stop for ONE BEER after the game (since both Cub Man's pal and I had separate evening plans). He asked if I still lived (over there, as he pointed in the direction of my high-rise building).

When the game went into extra innings, Cub Man and pal took off. (Of course I was staying till the end!) Cub Man gave me another hug and said I looked great. I said it was nice to see him (it was, actually, since I didn't run into him at any games last year and that's unusual).

After my Cubs pulled off the 11th-inning victory, I ran home to get cleaned up for a black-tie optional charity event for which I had bought a last-minute ticket.

Black formal gown, spiderweb-designed hose and a messy pile of blond curls atop my head, I thought it was a pretty good effort for short notice as I jumped into a cab only 45 minutes late for the start of this casino night/silent auction.

Fifties Frank started off nice enough, complimenting me on my dress??. Wait, no, he said I had a great body (or something to that effect). We discussed the auction for a little while and in just a few minutes, I knew ENTIRELY too much about his family, their struggles with weight (he wasn't fat, but not thin either) and where he fit in the birth order of his large family (youngest of nine, strange coincidence, huh?), and his recent occupational roller-coaster.

What started out as innocent conversation became a sticky trap and since I had no wingman, there was no one to pull me out. When the inevitable request for a phone number came, I had to sink to an excuse of bad timing (implying that I wasn't available to date). He was nice about it, but nevertheless, I took the opportunity to end the evening.

On the taxi ride home, I assessed the day's activities...beer (and potential breakfast) with C Neighbor, another beer (and cancelled third one) with Cub Man and charity auction smalltalk with Fifties Frank (so named for the horned-rimmed glasses and military-short hair).

Not a bad warm up for Summer 2009, right?