The Paratrooper Knight

I love military men: they wear uniforms, they can shoot guns, they are usually pretty darn fit. Strangely enough Veteran's Weekend was just that for me with the dating adventure. I had received an email from a man who was just back from the military, lived nearby and was interested in meeting me if I "dated men his age". I see nothing wrong with 26. . . maybe I am getting into my Puma years.

His profile handle was bizarre, but I figured if he was in the military it was probably one of their nick name things and just kept reading. When I read his profile it was brief. He was just recently out of the military with an engineering background, looking for a job and figured he'd try out the online dating thing. We had corresponded a few times back and forth and decided that we were going to meet for a drink after my night job on Sunday night. I left it up to him as to where to meet and he picked The Office in Morristown.  I had not been there in a while and loved the beer selection so I agreed.  If all else failed I could get some wings and a beer and make the most of it.

On the off chance that the date was a total bust and I wanted to get out of this date early I had reached out to my friend who I knew would be in town for Sunday Funday. I was scheduled to meet my date at 7pm. I had told my friend to call at 8:30 to check in.  If I told him "I was busy" and "what's up," he was to get me out of the sticky situation with some call for help. If I told him that "all was well" then he could go back to drinking his Miller Lites and rock on without me.  I truly do have the best friends.

I arrived at the bar at just after 7.  I sat down and took a look at the beer list. I couldn't decide on one so I went with a glass of Chenin Blanc (You never find places that serve it these days and here it is at the Office? Wow.) I received a text asking where I was sitting and I sent back that I was the girl in the scarf at the end of the bar. Shortly after 7:10 I see someone walk up next to me. Now, the next three steps that happened I have only ever seen in movies. He walked up to the bar, looked dead straight on at the bartender, ordered a drink, she brought it and he throws back a big gulp.

When was the last time you saw that happen? A Western. Yeah. Never in real life.

He then turns to me, and just starts in with a conversation about I'm not sure what. Maybe it was about the parking, I don't know. All I know was that I was in shock and awe of the fact that that sequence of things happened so seamlessly. He proceeds to sit down on the bar stool, and continue sipping his beer. I was a bit put off that he just showed up and downed half his beer upon arrival with not so much as a "hi", but maybe this guy was nervous.

Now that I can focus on him and not the beer commercial that just unfolded, I realize how very tall this man is. Another secret. I love tall men.

It's not hard for me to. I am 5'4 and pretty much everyone is taller than me, so I feel that does not rule out a large group of people. I am just from the shallow end of the gene pool in the height department
and my children should have a chance at being able to see over a crowd.

I realize that not only is this man very, very tall (I think his profile said 6'7) but all of his features are very tall? His fingers unfurl when he goes to grab his beer. Somewhere in the back of my mind I keep asking myself, "Is it the size from thumb to pinkie or 3 of their thumbs in a row." I start wondering if I am sitting next to a descendant of Ron Jeremy if either of these theories are true.  I snap back to reality and he is talking about how he had gotten out of military just recently and was living at home while he was looking for a job.

I notice that while he is speaking he's blinking and rolling his eyes and the facial gestures just don't seem to be in sync with the conversation.

I try not to focus on looking at him directly in the eyes just in case this is a nervous tick. I don't want him to feel uncomfortable.  I figure if I start to ask some questions he is comfortable with, maybe it will even out this whole weird start to the date. I ask why he joined the service, what division he was in and what he enjoyed most about it. He confessed that he loved that he was stationed over seas where he had a chance to learn a new language and to surf. We began to talk about surfing and it seemed like it was turning into a normal conversation.

I did notice that when he spoke he made grand gestures with his hands and his long fingers curled and unfurled wildly. It was nearly distracting to concentrate on what he was saying because you wanted to see what his fingers did next! At points when he was depicting things, it looked like he could have been conducting the New York Philharmonic. I think maybe I am just over reacting, but he tells me during the course of our conversation he was told not to gesture during interviews because he intimidates people. And well, it's sort of intimidating me.

Now while all of this is going on he has finished off two beers, I have had my wine and he has paid for them. Points.

He asks for another beer and I order a club soda. At this point I think that I am going to stay a while. We had a great conversation about surfing, traveling and I am thinking I don't even need my call. He asks if I am going to have another glass of wine and I think "sure, why not, I think I will stay".

"Yes, please". The bartender brings another drink and I offer to pay for this round. She then asks if we will be having anything to eat, he says no, and I figure, OK Chenin Blanc for dinner it is. He starts talking about how all there was to do on the military bases was drink. I worry that this is his hobby.

I ask him to tell me more about his time in the military and what he may have enjoyed about his training.  Apparently this man was a paratrooper. Yes, as in someone who WILLINGLY jumps out of a plane. I talk to him about this very fact. What makes a sane person jump out of a plane? "Your superiors" he tells me.  This makes sense. This to me is the most revolting activity I can imagine.



I once went canyoning in Interlaken, Switzerland (see below). For three hours you were spelunking through dark caves, climbing 80 meter walls, repelling down sheer cliff faces and swimming through bone chilling glacial water with Sven and Ven who would tell you things like "jump to the left so you don't break your leg."  After jumping off cliffs that were 80 and 100 meters up, it was enough for me to swear off skydiving forever and seek counseling for what was NOT an Action Park adventure. And here sits this man who was happy to just willing to throw himself out at a height I could barely comprehend. We chatted about this for a while and by the end of the conversation I had begun to reconsider my no skydiving stance.

Now due to the success with the recent past conversations I assume that asking about this man's hobbies will reveal more conversation provoking information and ideally we will end up watching the Bears v. Texans game that is due on at 8:30.  I have also written off the emergency phone call at this point, but have done nothing to stop it. It is roughly 8pm.  I turn to him and casually ask, "What are your hobbies?" He tells me he doesn't have any. I ask if he had any in college - "no," he responds.  I ask him if he had any in high school.  He responds "no" again. Hmmm. This is getting tough. I ask him what keeps him positive or what he is passionate about. He tells me that he is not in any way a positive person. He always believes the negative is going to happen and that it gives him anxiety.  Oh jeez I think. Who actually comes out and says "I believe in the negative in everything and I have absolutely no interests". I realize that we are sitting on the precipice of the date. This is where we went from a good time to barreling down the cliff of "This Is Going to Suck".  THANK GOD THE PHONE RINGS.  I pick up - "Hello, everything OK," I ask.  My friend on the other end of the line begins "I'm really wasted and I need you to come and pick me up."

Here is the phone call to end all phone calls and I am so very grateful.

I politely excuse myself from the bar where I am sitting with this man to step a few feet away, just out of earshot.

"Really," I say.  "You are wasted and need me to come get you?"

"My girlfriend is pissed at me and I can't drive myself home and I need you to come and get me," he replies.

At this point I am truly unsure if he is wasted and needs my help because he knows I am available (potentially) at 8:30 or he's not, in which case I am calling him an agent. This is an Emmy winning performance if he is not, in fact, wasted.

"OK. Just sit tight and I will be by shortly. I am just going to wrap up here," I respond as I slide back into my bar seat, "and I will be right by to get you."

"Wow," I comment to my date. "I guess my buddy had a little too much Funday on Sunday and he's ready to go home and can't drive. He knows that I was going to be in town and asked if I could come by and pick him up. My date remarks "Oh, OK." Before this gets akward I have to capitalize on this opportunity! I apologize for having to get up and leave in such a hurry.  We both finish our drinks and he walks me out. I thank him for a lovely night, wish him well and head off down the street to investigate this quizzical phone call.

I make it down the street to the 'Hopper where I see my group of friends. There sits my friend, drink in hand. I can't tell from this distance if he is well or he has officially zoned out for the evening. I look at my clock. The date was exactly one hour and 15 minutes. I think that that is some sort of new record and I should call Guinness.

"Are you OK?" I ask. "Of course I am OK," he replies.  "You said to call."

I have to giggle. I hug him and thank him and think, "Thank God I had a parachute for that jump."

The Pisan Knight

pisan: (as listed on the Urban Dictionary website) An Italian, esp. an Italian Male 

This date was initially going to be called the Persistent Knight, but I think he is being de-throned as I write.

As soon as I got the on-line dating page resurrected this gentleman started emailing. He was pleasant in his email but the messages seemed a bit canned. If you have never done the online dating thing, here's a little secret. . .Some dudes treat their dating profile introduction like the introduction to their insurance agency. You get a form letter. What I find to be hysterical is when I get the same form letter twice. The kick in the ass is that you can see what you have written in all your message chains back and forth. Stunning.

I am fairly certain I got at least one and half canned letters from this gentleman, so I wasn't really keen on meeting him.  Also, something about his profile made me ignore the initial requests. I can't recall at the time but I just was not totally into meeting this guy. Apparently though, he was totally into meeting me.  He continued to email me asking me if I had any time to get together, how my work was going and would kind of check in and say hi periodically.  I liked his persistence. It wasn't creepy, it was determination to get me to say OK, so I did. I like persistence.

We had agreed to meet the first time I think the night that Hurricane Sandy hit. I had cancelled in anticipation of the storm and he was already asking for the rain date.

Donate to Sandy

I think we then agreed to meeting if power was back for both of us (as it turned out) the night that we had a Noreaster.  I was assuming the universe was telling me three strikes and you are out. . .Maybe I should have listened.

From the get go he had wanted to meet at Bensi.  I agreed, having been there once. He had sent on the address for the initial meeting, which was now some time ago and buried in my text messages and that's where things started to go wrong. Now anyone who knows me, knows I was destined to be a CEO.  "Just give me the 30 thousand foot view." I like the big picture and glaze over details like a doughnut. He had sent the address ages ago, I had glanced at it, saw the highway it was on and though "Oh, I know where that is", and then never looked at it again.

I set out the evening of our date due to be at Bensi at 8.  It wasn't Blue Ribbon, but I was amped to go none the less. It's like when you are standing on the side of the boat getting ready to go diving. You know it's gonna be an adventure you just aren't sure if you are going to get out of the water relaxed and at peace or screaming and terrified.

I pulled into the parking lot at roughly 7:58pm and there were just a few cars. Something just felt off. "Was this the right place?"I thought to myself.  For whatever reason, NOW, I decide to jog back through the text messages to see what the address was. Yep, as I had suspected he was headed about 5 minutes down the road to the OTHER Bensi. Awesome.

I called him and sheepishly confessed that I hadn't checked the address and I was at the wrong place. He was flabbergasted.  He kept asking "Didn't I send you the address?" I kept repeating that I had received it but had gotten my wires crossed and he was beyond vexed as to how this could have happened.  I offered to come to where he was if he was willing to wait just a few minutes more. He kept asking if I had put it in my GPS.  I kept explaining I didn't have a GPS. (Generally I like to drive with the Force. No GPS crap. I just FEEL like we should go the way we are going.)

Good enough for Obi-Wan Yoda and Gary Coleman is good enough for me

Kindly, he offered to come to where I was and to look for him in a few minutes. I sat down at the bar, ordered myself a drink and commenced with waiting. I am not usually a fruity drink girl, but seeing as I didn't think that this date was going to last long from the jump, I figured again, what the hell, I might as well have a buzz on while I wait.  I ordered a clementine flavored cosmo and truth be told, it was quite tasty. Shortly there after in walks our Knight.

To give you some background on my hesitation with my Pisan Knight -  I am Italian.  I can hide it about as much as I can hide my love of the daily Ross and Simons emails I get.  I knew at some point during this dating adventure I was going to run into a fellow full blooded Italian man. Being from the Northern New Jersey area not running into an Italian guy in a pool of 30 was pretty much like like going surfing and not getting wet. I don't have anything against Italian men. Don't get me wrong. I just find that the ones in their 40s who have never been married and still live with their mothers are well, not my ideal candidates. In my experience, I have found that this group are fastidious, regimented and kind of old world in their thinking. They believe women still belong in the kitchen barefoot and pregnant, men need to do men things and flex their machismo, among other depressing dogmas that cause a staunch feminist like me to feel a bit itchy every time I have to keep their company. I thought perhaps maybe by the good grace of the universe, I would dodge the Pisan bullet and get a "modern" Italian man.

He was about 5’8, full head of dark hair and very Italian looking.  His profile said 42 and looked like he was into working out and skin care products.  He was clean shaven and dressed in a purple button down shirt and jeans.  Upon realizing who I was he immediately started in with “I had a number of jokes  I was going to use with you about not being able to get to the right place,” and I wanted to bolt out the door speaking in tongues assuring he would never call again. It’s like bartending and getting the guy who thinks he’s hysterical and you are his private audience. Unless you’re Eddie Murphy it’s pretty fucking painful. I felt badly about the mistake and his idea of humor was being lost on me.

I suppressed the urge to run and told myself I have a blog to write and I really need to commit to make this work. I am close to having my first sit down dinner since this whole dating blog started and it’s 8pm and I am starving. We agree to move from the bar to the restaurant so I close out my tab and grab my martini. We sit down and immediately he brings the conversation back to the fact that I was at the wrong place. I now try a different tactic.  I tell him how grateful I am that he was the one who fixed the problem. I hope that this will get us past this or I am ordering the check. This seems to work, he backs off and  he and I look at the menus to figure out what we are going to eat. He tells me that he is very health conscious and will be getting his usual grilled chicken and salad.  Shit. I can’t be a total heathen and order a full entree with this guy. I think I said “Oh cool,” and starting perusing the appetizers. The waiter comes over and asks if we need anything to drink. I tell him I am just looking for a water back for my martini and my date orders a Appletini.  Now maybe I am strange but I don’t usually see guys ordering Appletinis.  Discuss.

He starts the conversation with “So how’s the dating website working out for you?” I look at him and respond dryly, “If it was going so well would I be here?” I figure he’s either going to be offended or laugh this comment off. If he’s offended, game over, I am out of here. If he laughs it off, I’ll stay.  He ends up laughing it off and I figure we are going to continue the conversation. Now begins the interrogation. Am I originally from New Jersey? Where are my parents from in Italy? What do I think of online dating? Is my hair naturally blond?  What sort of business am I involved in?  Do I work out? And a laundry list of about three dozen other questions rained down on me for the next 15 minutes that made me feel like all was missing was spotlight and someone asking me where I was on the night in question. He at one point  HE even said, “I am asking a lot of questions. This is turning into an interview,” and again more serious than joking responded, “yep, sort of.”

I try to dodge the battery of questions by asking him what his hobbies are and what he is passionate about. He tells me he is into trading stocks, options specifically. I begin to ask him about this topic because I know as much about stocks as I do the square root of phi.  At first this seems like it is resuscitating the conversation. He becomes animated and starts telling me about naked buys and sells and despite the fact that I have only had 2 sips of my martini, my head is swimming trying to keep up with all the phrases and terms that he is using.  When dinner arrives, my fried calamari and his clams, (last minute decision to grow a pair I guess and not get a salad?) I am relieved. Perhaps now this will change the course of the conversation again. Wishful thinking. He now takes this opportunity to start in with “OK, here are some Series 7 questions" . . .  and begins quizzing me on the material he has just covered.  Fortunately for me,  I am getting the questions right but have no idea why or how. . . but this is getting seriously old. I feel like I am on a date with my college professor trying to get extra credit points. I try to shift the conversation yet again. . .

He mentioned he liked music so I begin to ask him about what type of music he plays/likes.  We have what turns out to be a decent conversation about music, that then segues a conversation about cars. He explains to me that there are girl and boy cars and of course I have a Jetta because it is a girl car. This is all very interesting coming from a man drinking an Appletini. Periodically he stops his diatribe about who-knows-what to attempt to force feed me calamari and clams. I had never been browbeaten into eating appetizers, but tonight seems to be a night of firsts, why not.

I need to get off this crazy train I am calling a date and get on with my getting home. I’m stuffed to the gills, my head is still swimming and now my date who has had ¼ of his drink is telling me he feels “tipsy”.  I have never been more happy to see waiters breaking down a restaurant in my whole entire life. I see our waiter come over and I immediately start with “I don’t want to keep you here any later than you need to be here. I’m in the biz and I feel terrible we are the last table holding you up. Please bring us a check whenever you are ready” I find that this approach, in its altruism, masks the disdain I have for sitting one more minute with this man. He agrees it is getting late (It’s 10pm) and he should probably be getting home too.  He walks me out to my car. I thank him for a lovely evening and he asks if we can go out again another time. I tell him that the rest of the month with the holidays and what not are going to be a challenge for me but I will do the best I can to get back to him in a timely manner. I get in my car and drive away giggling. Well at least I know I might be able to pass the Series 7 Exam now!

The Patrick Dempsey Knight

In order to kick off this dating/Knighting endeavor I had been initially relying solely on the online dating site as my main line for potential dates.  I don't think I have ever been asked out by a man at a bar and just didn't think that men were now going to be stopping me at Trader Joes just because I was now in dating mode. The thought was that I would put my lure in the water, so to speak, leave it there, and see what bit with the online dating page was surely my best bet.   Plus, it was a whole test of this patience thing everyone tells me about that I just don't seem to have.  

Initially when I created the online profile page had been in Brisbane for a bit and decided why not get out and meet the locals.  

Local Flavor

I think I went on two walking dates (we got a cup of coffee and walked around the park) and well, was gonna just focus on work and roller derby for the remainder of the stay in Oz. . .

My Aussie Men

A year ago I decided to take a look at the page that I had set up during my my stay in Australia. 

In my inbox I had a response from a guy wearing a lobster hat. I was intrigued. Who would wear a lobster hat for their profile picture.  So I read what he wrote. I can't recall it all but he touched on  my traveling and his traveling and I thought, what the hell. He seemed like a nice enough guy and if he was wearing a lobster hat, perhaps he didn't have heads in his fridge at home. 

People that wear lobster hats are OK?

So Patrick Dempsey Knight and I decide that we are going to meet halfway between he and I since we will both be coming from a distance. We decide to meet in a small town called Milford which seems to virtually be in the middle of no where. We wander around town and check out antique shops. I think either he's gay or an interior decorator.  Turns out he's a salesman for his company and a very good one at that. He tells me of his travels and time on the Cape and we end up having an amazing flight of hors d'oeuvre
 at a local French restaurant that we just so happen to stumble into.  It's like the cutest little bar and bistro in a basement and you would never think in a million years that this great place is in this one horse town. I wish I got the name of the spot!

He's a foodie, I'm a foodie, and we are having a great time talking about traveling.  As the night wore on, I realized that I still had quite a drive home, thanked him for a great evening and then bid him adieu.  Time, distance and my over all lack of the desire to date led to nearly a year gap until I heard from him again. He reached out to me on the online dating site and wondered if we could meet again because he was going to be moving further away. I knew that I was going to have to start this whole dating endeavor again, and why not start off with someone that I had had a good time with previously. 

We planned to meet this time closer to me because I would be getting done with work and he was in the mood for a good drive.  It was football Sunday and if the date totally tanked I would at least get to watch the game.  We decided to meet at Vanderbilt's since we could couch out, play pool or grab a bite to eat and have plenty of TVs for me to watch the game. 

I arrived at the bar and some of my friends from Morristown were standing standing around watching the game. Other than these guys I hadn't seen in ages, there was really no one in the place. I saw Knight Dempsey sitting at the other end of the bar and waved hello.  I sat down, made myself comfortable at the bar and started scoping out the beer selection.

I realized when I sat down that not only was I wearing a scarf, but my date was wearing a similar scarf as well. His was wrapped much more nicely than mine.  I marveled at it and I commented on the fact that I liked that he had gotten the scarf memo.  I frequently am in awe of how well put together the men I go out with are. I am not. I dressed myself based upon the mannequin in the shop, the stripper on the website or the fact that the clothes may have showed up as hand me downs in the same bag. Call me gauche. I never have, unlike the men I have dated, waited an entire 45 minutes for a different belt to arrive or worried that my pink on pink ensemble was too much.  I digress.

So Knight Dempsey is just as lovely as I remember. He has a warm and inviting way about him sort of like my friends grandmother. We swap hostel websites, talk about our travels and where we are headed to next. I ask about his job and he's excited about the promotion. He's a great guy and a super easy person to talk to. He wants to help me land a new client of his that he thinks I would work well with and over all it's like catching up with an old friend. But that's just it. I feel like I'm catching up with an old friend. There's no chemistry and well, honestly, Patrick Dempsey is a good looking guy, but this is just not my cup of tea.  It's a great feel good night. It's nearing 11pm and I realize I still have tons of day work to do.  I finish my half cider/half Oktoberfest beer, thanked him for coming, and quietly walk to my car. I knew I was never going to go out with him again. Despite his winning personality, and trendy scarf, I just wasn't feeling it and now it was time to start scheduling these other 29 dates. 

Criteria for a Date with a Knight

Prior to starting this endeavor I wanted to have some framework for the Knights and more importantly, myself. I tend to break rules regularly so I need a framework to work within LOL I wanted to lay the ground rules for myself and let everyone know what was going on offline when I wasn't online :)

Requirements for taking out Chris Manzella

Individual must be single

No married and dating applicants apply

Dates will take place in public places

All applicants must ask me out or at least have gleaned some interest in me prior to our agreed date

Individuals will have their names changed to protect the unsuspecting

All dates I recommend will be free, if they are paid dates the other party will have had suggested it.

There will be no hanky panky on any of the dates. When I get interviewed by Katie Couric I don't want my father to have a heart attack.  He raised a good girl :P

I have a two drink max. Alcohol shouldn't influence the date.

Dates can come from an online dating website, live and in person ask out (which pretty much died with cassettes), or as I have found, the passing of a number or name while I am out somewhere.  There may be a few referrals via Facebook or through word of mouth, but they have to do the asking. . .just to stay a bit old fashion!

Now since I don't really get out much (wait, that's a lie) Since I TRULY HATE doing the "let's go out and try to meet someone" while I am trying to spend time with my friends,  I figured I would get online and do the virtual thing.  Maybe if I could put myself on one of these dating sites, I could better my chances of meeting someone.  This would also afford me the time to connect with people when I had time and didn't have to compound the project with another layer of complexity: how will I find these dudes! So I decided to resurrect my old online dating page for shits and giggles. 

I popped up a few recent photos of me in varying states of glamour and casual. . . 

And wrote my profile:

My friends say I am the girl next door who has a charmed life.

I am a go getter and have always strived to make my life better. I am a fun loving girl who laughs a lot, always sees the silver lining and really loves people with a positive vibe. I am looking for someone who has hobbies and a life of their own that they are looking to share with me.

I would like to meet someone who can be my partner for activities, and shares some of my interests. I also love being challenged and seeing how others see the world, even if I don't have the same views.

I try to have the best time possible, enjoy every day and share the love and happiness in my life with those who are close with me. I have a great group of friends and am honored to have been exposed to a lot of cultures and places in the world many people don't get to see. I don't really limit myself to just having life happen to me.

I have traveled extensively. It's my passion! I like a beach vacation at a fantastic resort or visiting foreign cities. I love to have a well rounded travel mix. The majority of traveling I have done has been on my own, so I think that having a travel companion would be amazing. Would definitely cut down on the shameless asking of people to "please, would you mind taking my picture." I would love my next trip to be to the Greek Isles, St. Lucia or Buenos Aires. I have two continents left that I have not hit, but haven't really planned on the South Pole!

I have had a number of successful jobs and have a wonderful network of supportive friends and family that I would love to share with the right person. My goals and aspirations are simple I guess. I just want to continue to be happy and share that happy life with someone else.

The type of guy I am looking for is a man who takes initiative and puts some thought into planning our time together. You don't have to plan out every detail but I feel strongly about taking initiative and participating as an equal in our relationship. I feel that passion is pervasive in your life. I believe if you feel passionately about your family, job, hobby whatever, you bring a passion and fire that adds an incredible spark to the relationship. I'd love someone who has a big heart, is a go getter and has drive and ambition. I have owned successful businesses, traveled the world and am always looking to improve on myself both as a person and how I can better my being in this world. I would love to meet someone that has that same passion for life.

I put what my first date ideal would be:

I can imagine having a first date at a restaurant, bowling, or even going and doing an outdoor activity like skating, paddleboating or visiting a winery. I'm really open to any opportunities that are out there!

I love going into the city or just doing something out of the ordinary. I don't think that a movie is a good date because you don't get to really talk to the person. I actually would like to get out and see more local gigs because I have really missed seeing live music since being back from abroad. Ideally he'd wanna go to a place with either good music or food? I am not high maintenance, but would love a guy who would plan out the date and surprise me with the evening planned. A lot of my job is planning and managing so I would love to have someone else set up the first night out so I can take a break from my "work" persona! I know that I am unique in the world and am looking for someone that is unique as well. . .

I'm a little old-fashion. I like to feel taken care of and safe- but I don't mean I'm looking for financial support! Opening doors, holding my hand, helping me put on my coat...that kind of chivalrous stuff that I feel has been lost to a great extent. I know I can do it all on my own, but sometimes it's just nice to have someone make the small gestures that show they care.

And after all of this, I hit update on dating site page and waited. . . 

2 days later I checked back into my page and had 67 responses. 

Let the games begin!!