Truth in advertising

March 6, 2009 12:00 AM

Share this Article

Author:

Many have written (re: my last column) asking why I continued to date “Stinks.” Despite his flatulence, poor taste in clothing and dating venues, he was a nice guy. He also had other assets. And guys, size does matter. If you have a small thingie please stay home, watch TV and fantasize about meeting chicks, we don’t want you in the dating pool.

This week’s heinous disaster: Rudolph. I was getting ready to leave a trendy bar when he started flirting. With his protruding lips and fish-face Rudy wasn’t exactly handsome, but he smelled good. I leaned over and sniffed the nape of his neck. After being with Stinks, I had to be sure. Apparently this gesture turned him on. We exchanged numbers and he called me that same night at 10:30 p.m. for a “date.” Guys, don’t ever call us the same night we meet. We’ll think so much more of you if you show a modicum of restraint.

Date no. 1: The next night. Rudy was engaging and funny. Since he walked to the bar, I gave him a ride home. He bade me to drop him near an alley, never revealing his actual residence. Rudy called me that night at 1 a.m. wanting to “chat,” and again at 8 a.m., then again at 11:30 a.m., at 3 p.m. and almost every hour on the hour, with the same lines, “You’re so beautiful” or “I love your smile” and/or “I miss you.” How could he miss me when he was calling me every 10 minutes? He wanted to come by, but I have a rule, I have to see where a guy lives before I allow him over, and I’d yet to see Rudy’s place.

Date no. 2: This time the evening wasn’t quite as much fun. Rudy spent the night trying to get me to take him home while he begged for a pair of my unmentionables. He needed immediate gratification and there was a reason. Rudy was a former crack addict. Such a pedestrian addiction! Couldn’t he have been hooked on something sexy and chic like heroin? What a loser. Rudy was also evasive. I revealed my rule and left thinking I’d never hear from him again. Then came 2 a.m. and Rudy was on the horn — again. He called so many times I had to unplug my phone. The next day he called to apologize and to make it up to me by taking me to dinner.

His cell was cutting in and out so I asked him to call from his home phone. A woman’s name came up on my caller ID. “Who’s that?” I asked, repeating the name. There was a long pause. Rudy, it seemed, was living with someone.

Trying to rebuild his life from his days “on the streets” Rudy said he was living with a “roommate” who was taking care of his “kids.”

His credit was shot and his ex-wife was too unstable thus was the predicament he was afraid to share because he didn’t want to lose me. Then he inquired again about my undergarments. Rudy apparently had an underwear fetish. About this time, he started texting me photos of his John Thomas which was uglier than a braised pork chop. Look guys; if you care enough to send the very best and yours is the very worst have the foresight to send a pic of someone else’s. And incidentally, if you tell us it’s six inches and it photographs as three, remember … the camera adds pounds. It doesn’t subtract them.

Date no. 3: The food was great, the wine superb, but nothing this guy told me added up. During our repast he blurted out conflicting bits of information such as: There are two kids. There is no ex-wife. There are no kids. He lives in a two-bedroom. He lives in a one-bedroom but sleeps on the couch.

He lives in a two bedroom but his kids sleep in another room. His “roommate” is old and frail. His “roommate” is paranoid and weird. His “roommate” is psycho. The only psycho here was Rudy, who eventually showed me his place. He had a one-bedroom and a girlfriend … no ex-wife, and no kids.

The last night I saw him we met for dinner. He expressed a sincere desire to get me pregnant. Say what? He couldn’t take care of himself let alone a child plus he was a deceitful cheater. His request was coupled with a final and almost desperate plea for underpants.

Knowing about the girlfriend I had stopped by Sears earlier, picked up a pair of cotton undies for a buck and used them to clean my toilet.

Upon leaving I gave them to Rudy and watched as he greedily draped them over his face. Nice. Guys, when you lie to us have the courtesy to get the lies straight lest you wind up with a mouthful of shigella and a Lysol chaser.

Taylor Van Arsdale is a writer/producer. She’s been married, widowed, duped and dumped, and is back in the dating fray while most of her friends are married with kids. She’s currently working on a true-life-tell-all and can be reached at Tailfish@roadrunner.com.

Other News

  • File photo

    Man pleads guilty to assault with bicycle

    THIRD STREET PROMENADE — For the first time in Santa Monica someone plead guilty to assault with a deadly weapon after seriously wounding a pedestrian last year while recklessly cycling near the bustling Third Street Promenade, police said. Rocky Martin, a 38-year-old Los Angeles resident, was sentenced to three years formal felony probation and 30 days of community service on May 31 for striking a female pedestrian with his bike on June 24, 2012 after failing to stop at a [...]

    Read more →
    Crime Featured News Transportation
  • File photo

    L.A. tentatively bans plastic bags

    LOS ANGELES  — Los Angeles is one council vote away from becoming the nation’s largest city to pass a ban on plastic grocery bags, which officials say will stop the flow of 2 billion single-use bags that are distributed each year and often end up in gutters and on beaches. The City Council voted 11-1 Tuesday in favor of the ban. Since it failed to earn unanimous approval, the ordinance will face a second vote next week. The Santa Monica [...]

    Read more →
    Environment Featured News
  • Community activist Irma Carranza discusses the Cradle to Career initiative during a press conference introducing the new Youth & Family Violence Prevention Fund on Tuesday at Virginia Avenue Park. (Photo by Daniel Archuleta)

    New fund to address community violence

    VIRGINIA AVENUE PARK — City, school district and Santa Monica College officials announced the creation of the Youth & Family Violence Prevention Fund Tuesday that they hope will propel forward efforts to address violence in the wake of three shootings in early June. The fund, which received $50,000 in seed money from a private donor, will be used to put in place a “whatever it takes” program that chooses at-risk youth between the ages of 14 and 24 and provides [...]

    Read more →
    Education Featured News Public Santa Monica College
  • Trevis Jackson (File photo)

    Basketball: Samohi’s Jackson picks Sac State

    SAMOHI — Former Santa Monica star point guard Trevis Jackson has picked Sacramento State to continue his basketball career. After leading Samohi to its first CIF-Southern Section championship in the sport since 1987 and an appearance in the state Division 1 title game, Jackson liked what Sac State had to offer. “I picked Sac because it was one of the schools that would allow me to pursue my dream of playing basketball at the Division 1 level,” Jackson said. “Also, [...]

    Read more →
    Featured High School Sports
  • Pacific Park (File photo)

    Brief: Webcams launched at Pacific Park

    Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier launched three new live streaming high-definition webcams recording events in the park, on the Pacific Wheel and at the pier. The videos are viewable on the park’s website. The cameras will provide 360 degree views of the amusement park, a stationary shot of the world’s only solar-powered Ferris wheel along with the West Coaster roller coaster in the foreground and a bird’s eye view of the west end of the pier. “We encourage [...]

    Read more →
    Briefs Featured News
  • Brief: Vacancy on Personnel Board

    There’s a vacancy to serve on City Hall’s Personnel Board. Applications are due by July 16 and the selected person will be appointed at a City Council meeting on July 23. The Personnel Board is an advisory body to the council and personnel director on matters pertaining to personnel administration and a quasi-judicial review body for hearing employee appeals of certain disciplinary actions. In conducting its business the board considers the rights and interests of city employees, the city administration [...]

    Read more →
    Briefs Government News
  • State’s older adult education programs must be saved

    California has a long and glorious history of providing educational opportunities to all segments of its population. Lately, however, this commitment to life-long learning has faltered, and we should all be concerned. If a measure, known as Senate Bill 173, already approved by the Senate and pending in the Assembly, is signed into law by Gov. Brown, classes for older adults and health and safety education would no longer be funded. By comparison, the governor’s revised budget calls for continuation [...]

    Read more →
    Columns Opinion Your Column Here
  • Prop. 13 under assault by Assembly

    For millions of California homeowners, Saturday was a day that will live in infamy. Without a single public hearing, the California Assembly passed Assembly Constitutional Amendment No. 8 (ACA 8), the most egregious attack on Prop. 13 ever to come out of the Legislature. ACA 8 would repeal Prop. 13’s requirement that local “special taxes” (taxes intended for a specific purpose or purposes) be approved by a two-thirds vote. Instead, special taxes imposed for the repayment of local bonded indebtedness [...]

    Read more →
    Columns Opinion The Tax Man
  • Letter: Talking apples, oranges

    Editor: I find the writers of [the column] Room for a View to be somewhat disingenuous. They write only of square footage in proposed and approved new projects (“Creating a different Downtown,” Room for a View, June 12). They neglected to mention what worries most of us: it’s the height and density of buildings, not the total square footage. Moreover, Colorado Center, the Arboretum, and the Water Garden are at the more eastern end of Santa Monica, and don’t impinge [...]

    Read more →
    Letters Opinion
  • Letter: Respect my privacy

    Editor: As per our new law, I received from my landlord a document to fill in and sign stating that I do or do not smoke in my Santa Monica apartment. I returned it blank with an enclosed signed affidavit explaining that, “the government, including our Santa Monica City Council, has no right to demand that I declare what I do or intend to do in the privacy of my own home.” If our city leaders really care about reducing [...]

    Read more →
    Letters Opinion
  • Gabrielle Giffords

    Giffords calls shootings ‘eerily reminiscent’

    DOWNTOWN — On the six-month anniversary of the deadly Newtown, Conn. school shooting that shocked the nation and renewed efforts for stricter gun control laws, former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords — who was the victim of a shooting in her hometown of Tucson, Ariz. in 2011 — called the recent Santa Monica shooting rampage “eerily reminiscent.” In an opinion piece for the Newtown Bee, Giffords and Roxanna Green, whose 9-year-old daughter was killed in the Tucson, Ariz. shooting, called for “common-sense solutions [...]

    Read more →
    Crime Featured News
  • Ex-hitman was ‘heartbroken’ Bulger was informant

    BOSTON — An ex-gangster who admitted killing 20 people was unemotional Monday when describing his line of work at the trial of his former partner, James “Whitey” Bulger, but called himself heartbroken when he learned that Bulger had become an FBI informant. John Martorano gave short answers and spoke nonchalantly when questioned by a prosecutor about a string of murders he committed while he, Bulger and Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi were members of the Winter Hill Gang. The only flash [...]

    Read more →
    Crime News
  • File photo

    Brief: Celebrate America returns

    The Celebrate America Independence Day festival, hosted by Santa Monica College, will take place on Saturday, June 29 starting at 5 p.m. on Corsair Field. It will be free and open to the public. Festivities include live musical entertainment by the rock ‘n blues group The Chris Mulkey Band, a regular at the House of Blues on Sunset Boulevard, starting at 7 p.m. followed by a fireworks show at 9 p.m. Guests can visit community service booths, food trucks and [...]

    Read more →
    Featured Life
  • Brief: Make Music fest coming to town

    The city of Santa Monica and Make Music Los Angeles will partner to offer a celebration of music on Friday, June 21 from 11a.m. — 10 p.m. Performers will play at various Santa Monica parks, sidewalks and the beach in addition to a stage set up in Palisades Park from 11:45 a.m. — 6:45 p.m. The day will kick off with The 100 Hohner Harmonica Project, a musical performance with audience participation led by Tom Nolan, leader of the Tom [...]

    Read more →
    Life
  • Santa Monica Civic Auditorium (File photo)

    History is the foundation

    “I grew up in Europe. Where the history comes from.” That’s an Eddie Izzard line. He’s possibly the most intellectually capable comedian alive at the moment who is still touring. In his movie “Dress to Kill” he does a bit about how we in America tear down our history and put in a parking lot. One of his funny bits is that a hotel in Miami was restored to its former luster of “50 years ago.” It’s funny because it’s [...]

    Read more →
    Columns Opinion What's the Point?
  • Letter: Asking for answers

    Will this new column Room for a View by Urban Sense be insightful, or more urban nonsense? I hope you will honestly critique the body of work you have overseen these past years. You establish your authority with positions on the Planning Commission, Architectural Review Board, Santa Monica Conservancy, committee work with American Institute of Architects, and 32- to 41-year  residencies. You list your background but choose not to disclose if your clients are the same developers who are pillaging [...]

    Read more →
    Letters Opinion