2004-10-18 | 9:58 p.m.

last week my fortune cookie told me:

"do not let your instincts run right over your reason."

like the smiths song the previous week, it was a message that hit at exactly the right moment.

***

sunday i tested my endurance by walking six miles in an AIDS walk, then topped it off by going on a first date with a new online geezer.

he is a very nice fellow. very sensitive and smart and creative. all good things. hailing from eastern europe, he has a nice accent and an impressive command of the english language with all kinds of 25-cent words in his vocabulary jukebox. which makes his first big slip of the tongue all the more humorous.

before we met in person, there had been some e-mail and phone discussion about our astrological signs' stereotypical characteristics. i am the steady bull of taurus, he is the twin-set of gemini.

so here we were, walking side by side within minutes of meeting each other and he decided to make a comment on my stride.

"you walk in a very deliberate manner," he smiled, looking down at my feet. "i'd almost say in a bovine way."

this made me rear up on my back hooves.

"what?!" i coughed, half-laughing.

"oh, i think i said that incorrectly. i'm sorry, that was the wrong word."

"yes," i giggled, "the word 'bovine' should never be used in association with a girl. never!"

he apologized again.

over dinner he complimented my well-formed ears.

"they have a unique shape," he explained, "there is curved portion i've never observed before."

i leaned back in my chair, bemused, then inquired:

"would you say they have a bovine quality?"

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