[ProudGrandpaParticipant]

For a little background context, read this thread:

http://www.nbadraft.net/forum/girl-help-please

To refresh everyone’s memory, "Andrea" is my, ahem, friend that I met at Journalism Camp last July. Unfortunately for myself, she lives in Cincinnati (I live in Indianapolis), has been dating the same boy for 22 months, and, most importantly, is Catholic (Gasp!). After procuring her phone number in January, we proceeded to have a series of long, late-night conversations over the past months, culminating in our eventual reunion (Yeah, buddy!) at this year’s Journalism Camp, which took place this past week.

After learning that Andrea would be returning to camp, the decision was made: I, too, would return. After all, Andrea aside, Journalism Camp is awesome. Don’t laugh.

I had saved up enough money working at O’Malia’s Grocery to pay for camp, knowing that I would have to skip prom to do so. But my father agreed to pay for camp, so I could do both. I no longer had to tell my friends that "I’m skipping rom to save money for Journalism Camp"…

Monday afternoon

I arrive at camp, in Bloomington, Indiana, that den of immorality that is home to the despised Indiana University. I’m nearly s****** myself. I pull into the parking lot, immediately getting on alert for any glimpse of Andrea, after imagining our joyous reunion for months. I don’t see her. I get checked-in and meet my roommate, a quiet fellow named Derek. He’s goofy. I then hang out in the lounge with the bros.

I go to dinner, alone. You see, I don’t make friends all that quickly. Then, in line at the cafeteria, I see her. My first couple of attempts at eye contact are futile, but then she sees me, across the room. She smiles. She waves. I continue to hold my bowels.

Then, after awkwardlywaiting forher to get out of line, she doesn’t see me, but instead goes to sit with the friends of her roommate, Claire, who she met at last year’s camp. They’ve stolen her away from me! But, I do manage an awkward tap on the shoulder and we do hug, say how good it is to see each other, etc., etc. Realizing I should not intrude with these foreigners, I leave.

Because of the crowded schedule on the first night, we don’t speak again. Things are not going as planned. But, via text, we manage to

Tuesday

I show up to breakfast. She is there with her female friends. "WTF, Andrea?!" I say. In my head. I sit, instead with my newly acquired friend Andrew from Ann Arbor, Michigan. He’s in my sports journalism workshop. Andrea texts me, saying that she is "finishing homework". Whatever. She does come over and sit with us, though. She and Andrew seem to hit it off. Very well…

That evening,

The counselors take a group of students to Kirkwood Avenue, where there are shops and a ridiculous number of overpriced stores selling hideous IU apparel. Fortunately, Andrea’s other friends (who I will refer to as her "Martinsville friends", since they are from Martinsville, Indiana, which is the biggest hicktown in the state) don’t come, so it’s myself, Andrea, Andrew, and Derek, my roommate, who comes along and says nothing.

I’m too busy considering my good fortune to take in the attractions. I open doors for everyone like a true-a** gentleman. We eat at a quaint little sandwich shop. Andrew and Andrea continue to hit it off (oh, you have the same ACT score? How bleeping cute!). I begin to regret introducing them. Derek continues to say little, though we do find out that he plays the flute.

We return for a lousy lecture by the Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice.

I then go to Capture the Flag. Andrew and Andrea do not come. We lose.

Wednesday

Andrea joins us for breakfast after her redneck Martinsville friends leave for their class. I eat poptarts. We discuss tennis.

Sidenote: Months ago, I suggested that Andrea and I, both avid tennis players, play a match at camp. She says yes, but I am sure something will go wrong. Sure enough, it’s over 100 degrees the week before camp and she’s like, "Oh, I don’t wanna play in this heat." I bring two rackets anyways.

So Andrew, who coincidentally is also a tennis player and brought a racket, an I try to convince Andrea to play, but she gives some lame excuse. Again, my dreams are crushed.

We walk to the lecture hall. Andrew sits in the middle, that butthole. (I have yet to tell him how I really feel about Andrea. They pass a crap-ton of notes. I get jealous. That’s right, I get jealous that the boy from Michigan is getting the attention of the girl from Cincinnati who has been dating another guy for 22 months. Dang hormones…

Andrew and I go to our sports journalism class again and part ways with Andrea.

After class, I sit alone in my room and get depressed, thinking of how little time remains of camp. I then meet Sam, my Jew friend from last year’s camp, for lunch. It is fun.

At this point, my suspicions are aroused about Andrew’s feelings toward Andrea. I think he liiiiiiiiiiikes her. What a sad little love triangle we have going. But he hd been wanting her to go to Momma Bear’s Pizza with us. She instead eats with her friends. Andrew and I are sad. We instead go with 4 other bros, one of which is ANOTHER Jewish kid named Yoni. He’s pretty dang funny. (You meet a lot of funny Jews at Journalism Camp)

Ultimate Frisbee is the activity of choice that evening.  Being from an area where frisbee is "hard-core", I basically dominate.  Andrea does not attend.

That evening, Andrea and myself text after lights-out (ohhhhh snap) (Although, apparently, she was texting her boyfriend and Andrew at the same time.  Whatever.) Anyways, I admit to her that a small part of me was jealous of Andrew. She said she liked when guys were vulnerable. Awww yeaaaah.

Thursday

I’m getting sad. It’s the last full day. Time to kick it into high gear.

Once again, Andrea meets Andrew and myself for breakfast.  Jack, the 6’5" attractive man-whore of the camp is there, as well.  (He bet another kid that he could "get with" some girl before the week was over. Apparently, he managed to "get with" her behind the Village Pantry. Just think, he can go home and tell his friends about "that one time, at journalism camp, behind the Village Pantry"…embarassing)

The three of us walk to the lecture.  This time, Andrea has the sense to sit in the middle.  We have a three-way note-passing thing going.  Unfortunately, I think I lost that round with Andrew, that butthole.

WE fail to convince Andrea to play tennis with us, but she agrees to come watch us play. Perhaps this is a bad idea on my part because Andrew played varsity tennis at a very large high school, but I don’t care. I put dis team on mah back.

We then meet Andrea fr lunch after out morning classes.  Andrew has to go back to the dorm to get his stuff, so I FINALLY get some one-on-one with Andrea.  I decide to not make my move.  She tells me about how Andrew, via text, awkwardly told her that he, ahem, de-virginized last year.  She was not impressed.  I fist-pumped on the inside.

ANdrew and I prepare to play tennis, but then Mother Nature chooses to end the incredibly long drought by nearly hailing.  I go back inside and dry off, having been soaked to the genitals.

Now, don’t judge me for this next part.  It’s amazing what one will do for…infatuation.

That night, rather than going to play basketball with a group of guys (they were playing make it-take it, which is BS anyways), I accompany Andrea to Karaoke.  Andrew comes at first, then pansies out.  Me and Andrea have a grand ole time. Neither of us sing.

We walk back to the dorm together.  I tell her that I’m gonna miss her.  It’s very sad.  She leaves. I go over to the basketball court right as those guys finish.  All camp and I play no ball.

I go to bed that noght, dreading the following day.

Friday

Last day of my last Journalism Camp ever.  Andrea joins us for breakfast, but we have to go our seperate ways as the sports journalism class is meeting at the dorm to catch a bus to that den of evil, Assembly Hall.

I was a bit distracted during the trip, and I have been thoroughly trained to despise IU basketball, but it was pretty cool. We got media guides.  They spelled Lazar Hayward as Lazar Haywood and put the same career high lists on Jordy Hulls’ and Christian Watford’s pages.  Very unprofessional.

We return for the closing ceremony.  I am panicking, now, looking for every opportunity to catch a glimpse, to make eye conteact with Andrea.  I see my prospective in-laws have arrived.  THis culd complicate things.

I sit by Andrew, but not Andrea, duting the awards ceremony.  I don’t win anything.  We head out the doors.  There’s where it gets really awkward.

The three of us meet up.  Andrew has to leave and sort of forces a hug on Andrea. lol, that amateur.  Somehow, Andrea and I get seperated.  She takes a picture with her Martinsville friends. I ask for a picture with her, one bloody stinking picture.  She sort of declines because her parents are there, then she leaves the auditirium to go back to the dorms.  I’m like, "What?! That’s it?" I text her,asking if she wants me to stick around to say a decent goodbye.  She says, "It’s just that they’ll assume Im like cheating on my boyfriend which I definitely am not." -_____-  This is BS!  I’m the dorkiest looking kid ever!

I walk back to the dorm, alone, depressed. I do strategically pass by Andrea one more time on the way to my car.  She winks at me.  Awwwwwww.

I drive home, saddened. I pass by Martinsville, punch the steering wheel.  I rip my parking tag off my mirror.  And I return home, to move on with life.

********

You may wonder why I wrote this story on the .net.  Perhaps I wanted to give closure to the events of last year.  Perhaps I needed to get it off my chest.  Perhaps I wanted Aamir to (hypocritically) make fun of me for being a virgin.   Whatever the case, I hope it was enlightening.  Don’t develop crushes at Journalism Camp, kids.

This is ProudGrandpa, signing off.

********

And yes, McDunkin, I did cry in the f****** car

 

[Hi its BenParticipant]

 Aw man this is so sad ):

[HaleParticipant]

 I don’t care what anyone else says…this was super entertaining for me to read. Sucks about Andrea but she kinda seems like an uninterested douche anyway.

[Raef LaFrentzParticipant]

I’m with Y2G. This was a fun read!

ProudGranpappy, don’t worry. There will be PLENTY more Andrea’s who will come and go in and out of your life. Trust me.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

And they call it, puppy L-OOOVE…..

Not making fun of you, Gramps. Well, of course I am. To an extent. For good reason. You make fun of countless other posters, sometimes in a way that is fairly mean spirited and usually unconstructive. We get it, you are a dorky teenager who I believe loves Purdue basketball.

Alas, I think we are a bored full of dorky, awkward teenagers or former teenagers. I think a lot of people can feel your pain and I for one will not make fun of you for sharing this. I will make fun of certain things, though, that I find kind of obnoxious and a tad condescending.

My notes:

• Yea! She is the same religion as you (I think)! That is fine, just hope you are kind of kidding about that being the most important thing…..
• I thought you were gonna $hit yourself, that would have been pretty funny. Hell of a way to stand out, too.
• Why do you look down on Martinsville so much? My guess is those girls made friends with her because they could have been nice. Maybe if you would have gotten to know them better, you might learn something about them rather than writing them off as rednecks? Just saying, I know you only had eyes for Andrea, just realize that it might have helped if you atleast attempted to talk to her friends. I know, it was probably intimidating, just realize they probably would have been open to including you. I am sure I would have chickened out at your age, hell for years afterwards as well, just know that people in these situations all feel nervous and usually are very open to meeting new people. Writing them off as hicks seems kind of prejudice.
• As someone who is Jewish, did you need to call someone "your Jew friend"? I just dislike people using Jew rather than Jewish, it just kind of seems slightly off.
• Ann Arbor Andrew likes her, too. Obviously. Andrew in Italian is Andrea, kind of funny. Well, seems like he is getting about as far as you are, with you more than likely ahead in her good graces. Her being liked by other guys at least tells you that she is obviously a girl worth liking, plus more than likely makes her charming and probably good looking.
• Why didn’t you make your move when you had the chance? At least vocalize how you felt about her and such, get a gauge of whether she feels the same way?
• You don’t like "make-it, take-it"? In Half Court, that tends to be the norm. Full court is different, but half court I do not really remember playing otherwise.
• Did you introduce yourself to her parents? If they didn’t like you, than your odds would have improved drastically, lol. Don’t ask me why. It just tends to be the case (semi-joking, but a lot of girls seem to love dating guys that piss off their rents). Still, her not wanting to take a picture with you is kind of ridiculous.
• Andrea is your "ahem, friend"? Dude, she is your friend. She is. You may have a massive crush on her, and she may be fairly flirtatious and text like a, well, teenage girl. I am not there. I do not know if her winking at you was suggestive or if she just does that. Still, from everything you have written, seems like you are in the friend zone. My advice? Either accept it or cut your losses if you are unable to. I noticed you did not talk about journalism camp next year. Seems like you might have already accepted it. Sincerely sorry it didn’t work out, but there are other fish in the sea.

Sorry if you feel this is harsh, Gramps. Just have kind of been through similar situations and feel that the best thing for you is to try and move on. Realize that their are other girls out there and that it seems like with the distance between you as a factor, this is one that is not meant to be. What is the worst that can happen if you try to go out and meet someone new?

Something I realized a lot later in life, that seems incredibly obvious, is that girls are as nervous as we are. Sometimes even more so. We are all just people and I find that very few feel they are completely above someone else. If they are, they are probably not worth your time. This does not apply to Andrea, she seems nice and she seems to genuinely like you as a friend. This just applies to you having confidence in talking and meeting someone new. Take it or leave it, just know that I am actually trying to give you genuine advice. Even if you think I am a nerd (why you wrote that, I do not know. Is it a compliment or an attempt at being funny? Either way, did not really get why you felt the need to write that on my article, definitely was not constructive and just made you look foolish), dork is not too far off.

[HaleParticipant]

 I’m actually with PG on this one…make it take it does suck. If you get cold or the other team gets hot the game gets decided pretty much right away. I play it sometimes but most of the time I try to make sure that’s not the way we play.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

Dude, if it is half court, it tends to be the norm. Also playing one on one. I used to dislike it when I was a kid, but now it is just something I tend to expect. Most half court games end pretty quickly anyway, so it can go either way. Just really have no problem with it and am usually surprised if people do not play that way in a half court game. Full court is completely different and no one would do that, half court you just tend to get the ball back if you score. At least in the majority of games I have played (in both Canada and the US).

[HaleParticipant]

 I know how to do it, I just don’t like doing so. It’s not like real games are that way. I realize it’s common, just not a fan.

[TheArtistPaysthePriceParticipant]

I was up at night making way to many post. I am Coach Worthy (changed my name to something stupid, so I can feel impervious to criticism). Dude good luck. I’m not doing it this time.

[ProudGrandpaParticipant]

First, I’d like to say that, while all these events took place, I was sort of writing this tongue-in-cheek.  I know I am not going to be in any kind of relationship with this girl, I am just recounting what happened for y’alls entertainment. 

• She’s Catholic, I’m Protestant.  As long as she’s Christian, we’re ok
• I figured losing control of my bowels, while demonstrating that homie means business, would not have been advisable.
• I’m just joking about the redneck thing.  Actually, they all seemed nice and I wouldn’t have minded meeting them, but Andrea seemed to want to hang out with them and me seperately
• My bad about the Jewish thing.  Being from suburban Indiana, I don’t have a lot of experience with using the politically correct term.
• You know, I used to be certain that Andrew liked her, but I think he, ironically, has a thing for a girl he from Chicago that he met at band camp, much like my own situation.  ANd yes, obviously Andrea is attractive and likable
• Make my move?  Find out if she felt the same way?  She’s been dating the same guy for 2 years!
• Make it-take it is stupid.  Andrew told me that one team won 21-0 because they scored every possession 
• I wouldn’t have minded meeting her parents, but she seemed to have thought otherwise 
• I have accepted it.  And I am too old to go to camp next year.  But thank you for your concern, MikeyV

lol 

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

Andrew has to go back to the dorm to get his stuff, so I FINALLY get some one-on-one with Andrea. I decide to not make my move.

Yes, she has had a long term boyfriend. She is, I am assuming, the same age as you. That is not necessarily a marriage. I liked a girl with a boyfriend in a very similar situation (almost like a camp, we were on a trip). She and I kind of became close friends and I at first said to myself, "she has a boyfriend, going to distance myself." Than, as we somehow ended up hanging out more, I decided, "I don’t really care that she has a boyfriend."

We hung out more, and I did tell her that I really liked her. She of course was insistent about her boyfriend, whom she did not want to cheat on, but was having doubts about. Eventually, she admitted that she liked me as well, yet still the boyfriend was an issue. Well, I almost thought she would leave this guy for me. When we got back from the trip, she and I met up a few times, she ultimately decided to stay with him. Sucked, but I think it was for the better.

Definitely do not regret taking a chance and I know a lot of married couples who were indeed dating other people at the time they met. If you like her, even if she does not necessarily feel the same way, if you have the tiniest inkling, you could have said something. Trying to be real man, think you are too no matter how tongue-in-cheek this was. What was "your move" anyway? You were the one that mentioned it, even if you were being self deprecating. 

[aamir543Participant]

"…I see my prospective in-laws have arrived…"

I’m sorry, but I nearly fell out of my seat laughing at that one.

I’m gonna try really hard not to make fun of you, because to mshare all of this does take some guts, but you go 4 days without playing basketball!? And you’re right near courts? I like Tennis as well(but I think my dislocated shoulder might have ended that) but how can you not play basketball for 4 whole days? 

Anyways, if you’re really crazy about her, than don’t lose hope, just be yourself, it seems like your trying too hard. Odds are that at some time over the next couple years that she is going to break up with her boyfriend, and if/when that happens, you’ll be right there, just be yourself, you don’t seem like a douche, but don’t be so obseesed with her, good luck though.

And your writing is pretty good, it’d be nice to read some more NBA pieces from you. I have a far fetched dream of becoming a sports writer as well(although my parents would disown me if I chose a major outside of engineering or the medical field, lol). Good luck, but I’m just cuious as to exactly what you guys do in journalism camp.

[aamir543Participant]

And what is make it take it? I’ve been playing B-ball on the playgrounds for almost 10 years now and I’ve never heard of that one.

[I May Be WrongParticipant]

 PG is one of the best writers on this website. He gets some hate, but most times he’s just a dork trying to fit it. This was a fascinating, vivid story.  

 

[ProudGrandpaParticipant]

Aamir: We were busy learning about journalism and, as you can see, I focused my free time on doing…other things.  I can play ball when I get home.  The in-laws things was a joke. And as for basketball-related content, well, I don’t think I am as knowledgeable as several of the guys on here, so I don’t have pages and pages of original thought to offer.  Not having cable, I base a lot of my opinions off of basketball cards and NBA 2k12 ratings

MikeyV: Well, I’m sorry I’m not a playa like you were in your youth.  I’m just shifting my focus to the other nice girls closer to home…

I May Be Batman: D’awwwwwww! <3

I really should take advantage of this new "reply" feature…

 

[ProudGrandpaParticipant]

Perhaps I forgot to mention…

I saw incoming Indiana freshmen Jeremy Hollowell, Hanner Perea, and Peter Jurkin nearly every day in the cafeteria.  I don’t know where Yogi or Ron Patterson or the upper classmen were, though

[Tongue-Out-Like-23Participant]

"Perhaps I wanted Aamir to (hypocritically) make fun of me for being a virgin" -ProudGrandpa

Best. Quote. Ever.

LMFAO

[ProudGrandpaParticipant]

I was hoping somebody would pick up on that…

[JunkYardDogParticipant]

hooo PG… that’s the story of life for almost everybody. Just use it to re invent yourself… what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

I remember I was in love with a young attractive woman (last year of my MBA in France)… but despite his feelings for me, she was engaged with somebody else (living in Sweden where she was living the year before)… I was so depressed at that time, I almost crashed my studies.

But finally, it ended, I fly away to Mayotte (a little island 8000 km from my home, in the indian ocean next to madagascar)… and lived there 2 years before coming back to france. That’s how I find my new girlfriend (soon to be my wife) my new job (teacher in economics) and a new way of seeing life. 

We’re living in a small small world… PG fly away, go see something else abroad… 

[eonoanvoaooaParticipant]

too long

[eojkoaoaoParticipant]

lol

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