Speaking of clear as mud.  At my old old old old place of employment there was a trainer/sales dude who always used that phrase.  He was an alright guy, an artist in his spare time.  I have one of his paintings at my parents's in storage.  Also a gal in Canada has a painting of a rose I had commissioned for her when we met up for the first time.  Anyway this guy is great, people love him at work, he's a religious guy, has a wife and two kids. I hear rumours that he's cheatin' on his wife.  Shocked I am, because well he's got it made, the wife is very cute, etc etc.  Then we have some sort of gathering on a Saturday, at a local park.  I attend and we're playing games and all this when one of my coworker's kids is near the outhouses yelling that he has to go potty.  He's of that age where they can go on their own but need help, you know cleaning up.  His mother, my coworker, drops what she's doing and starts to walk down the hill to the outhouse.  The Clear as Mud guy, out of the blue, stops what he's doing and starts running down the hill, looking back at my coworker, saying "I've got it."  She doesn't protest.  The dude's wife, doesn't notice. I pick up on the body language and, and the GLOW of the woman.  Sure it was not proof, per se, but it was obvious that yes he was cheating on her.  And a few months later the truth did come out.

The thing with the gal from Canada didn't work out.  By Sunday of that weekend, I knew.  She was silent as she drove me to the airport, and online later that night she told me it was not going to work out.  I don't hold any bitter feelings over it.  She wanted a husband, American, and I was looking to just date.  Friday and early Saturday were quite nice.  I talked to her a few years after the whole thing and inquired about the rose painting.  She claimed she still had it.  Who knows, for sure.  I just hope that if the Clear as Mud dude ever makes it big, she didn't burn it or something.  She has a rose, I have a weasel painting. 

I once met a gal online, and we hit it off.  I was a poor college student and so was she.  By the time Christmas rolled around we were talking on the phone and sending letters and getting more and more serious.  We started talking about meeting. She wanted me to fly out to Minneapolis and spend a week or so with her.  I said that I'd have to save money, and perhaps in the middle of summer, since I'd have a job ripping up carpet in May, I could fly out.  Austin.  I think she was from Austin,MN.  Anyway. After Christmas, she had sent me a gift, a watch that was inscribed on the back with "Loving You Always".  We had not discussed gifts at all, it was a surprise to me.  It was a nice watch and all.  A few weeks later I mentioned off the cuff that I had bought 32 extra MB of RAM for one of my PCs.  Back then there was the fierce RAM wars and it couldn't have been all that much, and I am sure I used money from relatives meant to be spent on a Christmas gift for me.  She was livid though. She accused me of lying about wanting to meet her, and that I had loved her. Etc Etc.  We eventually broke up.  We remained friendly for a bit and she sent me a bunch of files she was going to use to create a calendar to send to her newest boyfriend.  Who. Live. In. Brazil.

It's near 11PM, remind me, if you're so inclined to tell you about the other gal I knew from Minnesota.