OXFORD CONFIDENTIAL:I've Gotten a Little Too Comfortable Being Single?!?.

Boring day at work. After getting used to having a million things going at once, my workload's about 90% back on schedule. After spending the last three months running in between meetings, offices, and parts of town, things are beginning to level off.

Great. Now what am I going to do?

I ended up spending the day getting some old administrative things out of the way. Catching up on paperwork, digitizing some floorplans, and even managed to get caught up on e-mail. Minimal meetings, and one was a lunch phonecall with a friend.

Sweetness.

I get into an elevator this afternoon with this woman. I politely ask her if she's enjoying the wonderful fall weather. She says yes, but neither she nor her roomates can figure out how to get the heat working in their new place.

So I give her my number, tell her to give me a call at about five or so. I've fixed everything from heaters to furnaces to doorknobs for people - its probably a simple fix, I tell her, and I'd be more than willing to stop by and check it out.

So she gives me a call at 5:30 or so. I stop by on my way home. Turns out, it was indeed the waterheater - somebody must've turned off the gas to the furnace.

While I'm working on getting the pilot light relit, this girl started asking me a lot of questions. (Who moves into a house with a gas furnace and DOESN'T keep matches handy? Do you know how hard it is to light a pilot with a frigging Zippo?)

She asked what I did at the library. She asked me why I was in Oxford. She asked how old I was. She asked me what I do for fun.

And then she asked me if I had a girlfriend. I said no. She asked if I was seeing anyone. I said no.

She mumbled something, then left the pantry for her kitchen. While I'm working the coverplate back into place, I hear the sound of three destinct women's voices and a guy - the roomates, I guess? All four are speaking in that "loud whisper argument" voice - soft enough where I can't make out what they're saying, loud enough where I can hear them in the room where I'm working while the door's shut.

Feeling awkward, I start singing to myself. Whistling. I was hoping the roomies weren't mad that this girl had brought a total stranger home to fix a furnace, rather than call the landlord. To make things worse, I heard some door slam shut.

Awkward...yeah.

So I fix things up, get the gas flowing, and the Lord sayeth, "Let there be heat!" And there was. I quietly snuck out to the hallway to check the thermostat. The girl who'd asked me to look at it was standing there fiddling with it. I squeeze between her and the meter (tiny place), figuring she'd move out of the way. She doesn't; she just stands there pressed between me and the wall.

This girl is like breathing down my neck, asking if I wanted something to eat.

Told her I was fine.
Then she asked me if I wanted a beer or something.

I said no thank you and asked her what temperature she liked to keep the place. She asked me where I lived and what temperature I preferred.

I finished up and left. She followed me out to the curband thanked me for helping her out.

I stopped on my way home for a cup of coffee. As I'm sitting there reading, I kept wondering if I'd somehow missed something. I had to call a female friend of mine up for something else anyway, so I told her the story, and she laughed.

She wouldn't tell me why she laughed, but she said I've gotten too comfortable being single...

What the hell does that mean?