I guessed correctly that my intelligent decision regarding this young woman would lead to a gunfighter mentality in other young women at this business; that other young women would then want a crack at me. And so it came to pass.
The third challenger in this mix turned out to be about as vexing as the young woman that started it all. I knew enough just to slow things down and pick my spots. Leonard Cohen has a line from his song, "Hallelujah," that goes, "The only thing I ever learned from love was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya." And so it came to pass.
The point of this entry is this: someone has to be the responsible party in these little dances, and long before any of these women were born, I decided that would be me. Yes, at 23, untreated mental illness and all, relatively inexperienced in dating and relationships, not really looked at as someone who could take charge, I had no choice but to be the responsible party. When I left it up to the girl to call the shots, if it was a certain kind of girl with a certain kind of attitude towards me, things could go sideways in a hurry
Being the responsible party, it became less about taking advantage of "opportunities," and more about making "intelligent decisions." "Intelligent decision" is code for cutting them loose. I've never dated someone who's presented themselves as an elusive/unavailable woman. I don't think I've ever stood in the way of such a person from dating me if they really wanted to. I've simply never dated someone who's been like that with me, and I don't expect that to change.
In conclusion, it it is indeed the case that employees of this particular business read this blog, then I hope I've given you something. If the young women concerned read this, I hope I've given you more than you would get from reading a daily horoscope.