P-C the invite to game night is an opening. Step through it and see what happens.

You keep putting unrealistic expectations on yourself and the women that you meet. It seems like you have a this, not fantasy, but you have this idea in your head of what meeting your Future Girlfriend will be like and none of your encounters with women you like can ever be successful because you keep judging them by this ideal.

Movies teach everybody to do this.But it's never worked out for me either. I've never "met-cute" in real life.

I've never "met-cute" in real life.

I met my boyfriend when he offered to tie me up at a party while wearing a long leather skirt and 5-inch heels.

Does that count as "meet cute"?

I never get to tell 99% of people that story. It's always "We met through friends." Which is technically correct, but lacks that sartorial flair.

Does that count as "meet cute"?

Depends. Who was wearing the skirt and heels?

Maybe in a foreign film, Tep. (I've had a few relationships, but they were pretty free of, like, magic, and "I just knew," and a special way we met, and all that cinematic stuff.)

Who was wearing the skirt and heels?

Who do you think? (That was a grammatically vague sentence, wasn't it? I should edit it. I probably won't, though. It's kind of a given that *I* am not the one wearing heels.)

they were pretty free of, like, magic, and "I just knew," and a special way we met, and all that cinematic stuff.

Ah, to be fair, that was just the first time I met him. There was no magic, and I didn't "just know" anything other than how astonishing it was he could walk in those heels like he was born in them. It took a year of being friends before I thought, "Oh, crap. I think maybe I have Feelings for him." (And that was pretty much my reaction verbatim, because I didn't want to fuck up a friendship. Plus I didn't know if I could date a cross-dresser. But mostly I didn't want to fuck up a friendship. But then I went and did it anyway.)

In retrospect, Hubby and I had a "meet cute", but I wouldn't have pursued it if Amy hadn't vetted him and orchestrated a second meeting.

I think that's basically the root of the problem. I'm getting into the dating game stupidly late and I don't know how anything works and I just want a magic fantasy to happen and get it over with.

Not P-C, but see many of my relationship problems in his posts. For me, I never know how to bridge the gap between friends and let's try something more. Being shy doesn't help any. Also need to get out more.