The Michelin Man

Day 204
161 Days Remaining

Wow, I am a real slacker.  Look at how many blog posts I managed to get done in February: two. TWO!  How in the world did time go by so fast that I only squeezed out two posts?  And with hitting these "important" milestones (like the halfway point, and the 200-day mark, which I hit on February 25th), you'd think I'd be posting a lot more, if only to scream with excitement that I made it this far!  

...and counting.

Well, I can't be too hard on myself.  Truthfully, I've been incredibly busy with school - it's midterm time again, so between writing 13-page essays and studying hard for my Biology Lab and Lecture midterms, I'm almost literally feeling sick at the thought of sitting at the computer and staring at that screen some more.  I do mean that - my eyes are aching and my fingers are cramping up!  I've also spent the better past of the last few days in bed - attempting to keep up with my studying - laid up with rhinovirus.  Terrible, isn't it?  (Don't panic; I'm just practicing using my nursey words - "rhinovirus" is the common cold. But you probably already knew that.)  So here I am, already into March, forcing myself to take a few minutes to jot something down.  I don't want the record of The Evolution of Lisa to suddenly disappear; this time I fully intend to finish what I started.

A few interesting developments have happened since I last wrote, the weirdest of which is that I am being pursued - romantically - by a celebrity.  Well, a pseudo-celebrity, anyway, depending on your preferred television fare.  I don't even really know what to think of it at this point, but it's definitely interesting!

This particular famed individual happens to have been on several seasons of my favorite television show, so if any of you know which show that is, you could perhaps hazard a guess as to who he might be.  He is, actually, very well known, but only people who watch that show would be very familiar with him.  Let's call him..."Mitch Michelin".

It didn't start out as a romantic pursuit, of course, although I'm not naive enough not to realize that if he hadn't seen my photograph, he may not have contacted me in the first place.  I follow his "Official" page on Facebook and had posted on his Wall with comments on occasion, and one day, out of the blue, I received a text message from an unfamiliar number.

>hello!

>Who's this?

>From way down in the United States...it's Mitch Michelin. :-)

Of course I`m thinking, why would Mitch Michelin text me?!  So, that's exactly how I responded.

>Why would Mitch Michelin text me?   

>I was going through Facebook, and I saw you had your phone number posted, and I'm spontaneous.

Now at this point, I was really confused.  I hadn't realized that my cell number was that easily accessible (I'm set to "Friends Only"), so that gave me pause, but just the fact that he was texting me was so weird!  I, of course, happen to be a very spontaneous person as well, so I could understand how a famous person might want to send a random text message to make the day of some fan, but how did I know he was who he said he was?  On the other hand, why would someone pretend to be Mitch Michelin, of all people, and begin messaging me?

 

Long story short, Mitch Michelin has been texting me for more than two weeks now.  I have confirmed that he is who he says he is (I made him email me a photograph of himself holding up a piece of paper with my name written on it) and I actually really enjoy hearing from him, but I can`t stop myself from feeling a little strange about the whole situation.  No, he didn't start off with anything romantic on the table, but as we talked more, I must have said something - or a few things - that he liked.  It's definitely evident to me now that he hopes to try for something with me sometime in the future, and I'm not really sure how that makes me feel at this point.  I guess the fact that he is so far away (he lives in a completely different time zone in a completely different country) makes me feel safe, but at the same time, I'm very aware that I really don't know this guy.  All I really know of him is what I've seen on TV, and let's face it, that means absolutely nothing.

So what I've been trying to do is to stop feeling so fascinated that Mitch Michelin - himself - is texting me and wanting to be in touch with me - and actually called me one day and chatted with me for two hours - and start reminding myself that I need to always and continuously be aware of the Red Flags.  I don't want to be star struck by the fact that someone who is in fact very well known has declared that I am his favorite human being (and yes, he actually did say that, and I know that there's no way that he can know that without meeting me in person).  The fact that he is famous is not what matters about him.  The fact of who he is is what matters about him...and I have no idea who that person is yet.  I'm cautious, and I'm getting a clearer picture as time goes on.

Red Flag #1: He avoids direct questions - which, granted, happens often with text messaging, but I still don't enjoy it.  However, when we speak on the phone, he does respond clearly to direct cross-examination (I told him how much it frustrates me, and he invited me to ask anything that I wanted).

Red Flag #2: He's never met me and yet he is pursuing me quite adamantly from a distance.

Red Flag #3: He's been married three times.  Now, when I look at it from a different stance and think, well, if I had been married to each of my significant relationship partners, I would have been married four times, then I guess it is understandable...but...it's still a red flag.  Yeah, no.  It's not the same thing at all.  Is it?

Red Flag #4: When I told him I was on a dating hiatus, he saw it as a challenge, and has declared his intention - whether he said this facetiously or not, I don't know - to break me before the 365 days are up.  My back got up at that one; I told him quite strongly that I am not a challenge to be overcome!  Even if he flew here tomorrow with six dozen red roses to woo me, I would not let that sway me.

I have to also admit that I have spent a lot of time Googling him since we began this correspondence.  I typed in "Mitch Michelin scandal" and "Mitch Michelin cheat" and "is Mitch Michelin a bad person" (yes, I know, that one is kind of weird) and I tell you, I can find absolutely nothing but good about this guy on the Internet.  I think it's next to impossible to keep such a clean record on the World Wide Web these days, especially if you're well known.  What I did find: yes, he's a Christian.  He is known all around the world as a genuinely nice guy.  He has worked in Christian publishing and produced one of my kids' favorite Christian radio shows.  He gave away hundreds of Bibles for free.  He's a good dad and everyone seems to love him.  And when we talked on the phone the conversation flowed easily and I really liked him.  I guess I'm scared that I'm overlooking things because he is famous, and because he is a Christian, and because right now, well, he's making me feel pretty darn good about myself.

And then I just tell myself: IT DOESN'T MATTER RIGHT NOW.  I have made him no promises; he has made me no promises, and any chance of meeting is way in the future.  Even if we met before August 9th - my last day of this hiatus - there still would be no possibility of even looking at anything romantic until after that date has passed.  And by that time, I definitely will either a) know him quite a bit better; b) have stopped hearing from him altogether; or c) have picked up on any other Red Flags that mean I need to say goodbye.  You can bet that if I receive any "iffy" photographs in my email, I'll be shutting him down (or I suppose I could sell them to the National Enquirer...).

So, what I thought might happen when I began this year (the possibility that someone would want to date me and I would have to make him wait) has happened, albeit in a very unexpected and totally surreal way.  Let`s just hope he stays in the States for a while and his interest in me peters out soon, if it`s going to.  Otherwise, who knows what will happen?

L