Just to give you an idea on how crazy (or boring) my life can be, let me tell you of the night I met “Tom Cruise.”

I remember most of it as if it was yesterday… the story isn’t finished cause I still have work to do (Hey, I still have to eat) and I do hope I can finish it later, but just to give you an overview on how life is with me.

Mind you, my parents would die if they could’ve seen me. I was wearing a quite-conservative halter top (was that an oxymoron?) and silk pants, so I doubt I was any sexier than any other girls in the bar. Not that I’d like to sound as if I have low self-esteem, but the question still lingers in my mind, “Why me?”

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Nobody’s going to believe me.

I met Tom Cruise.

Only he was taller (around 6 foot 1), and he was in Taiwan, in exactly the same bar my friends and I were hanging out.

His name was Mike, and he was of German decent. But he definitely looked like Tom Cruise. He said he was from Chicago, and from the moment he entered the bar, I couldn’t help but notice him. Yes girls, he was THAT cute. But I wasn’t alone, the entire female population was also looking at him, and drooling for that matter.

Of course, I didn’t really care. Not really.

Of course, I acknowledged he was a cutie, but he was just one of the men in the entire place, and besides, I would never talk to strangers.

But then, I bumped into my friend Jo. She is Taiwanese, and I met her through Hugo, another common friend of mine, when we had Christmas Eve dinner last year (Girls, that’s why you should go to every event… you’d never know when you’d bump into them again). She was already a bit tipsy at that time, and told me that she came with friends, but they were all around.

For me, I was having fun, so I danced with Karen, with Kai, with Jason (another Canadian friend who I bumped in the bar) and with myself. I didn’t have a care in the world. And Jo introduced me to all her friends — they were 5 or 6, and they were so many that I couldn’t really remember their names right now.

And then, she introduced me to Mike, turns out they were colleagues and lived in the same place in Tamshui.He walked beside me and asked where I was from. He mistakenly thought that I was Canadian but I hastily corrected him saying that I was Filipino-Chinese.

After exchanging some pleasantries, he told me, and to paraphrase him, “Well, I’d definitely like to learn Filipino.” When I asked him why, and he replied, “Because we maybe have a future together.”

My eyebrows went up in disbelief.

This guy was hitting on me!

He sounded serious, but I didn’t really like to believe it.

Next thing that came to mind was, “You’ve gotta be pulling my leg!”

I told him, “Look, I think you may have the wrong woman. Look around, and all the women you see around you are a lot easier than I am.”

And then came his reply, “Look, if I wanted a one-night stand, I would’ve talked to somebody else. But I wanted someone who speaks English well and intelligently. I want someone I can have a conversation with.”

*My guy friends think it’s so funny I fell for that line btw. But mind you, this is an adorable Tom Cruise look-alike!*

So followed some light banter. Half of the time, he sounded as if he was joking, while half of the time, he seemed to be serious.

For example, he said he met this other guy in Italy. They were studying Italian, and at night, he’d read Italian poetry in the park. Coming from an American who are usually stereotyped as ignorant with everything else, I didn’t believe it. I later found out that this was true.

I again told him that he’d be better off if he flirted with other women, and he said I reminded him of a Shakesperean play.

“Which play?” I asked him.

“The Taming of the Shrew,” he suavely replied. “And you, are the shrew.”

Oh.

My.

Gosh.

“I don’t like easy women. If I wanted someone shallow, I would’ve chosen someone else. All I do is go up to them, and they’ll tell me something like, ‘You look like Tom Cruise!’ and that’s done. But I like a challenge.”

Uh-oh.

It seemed, that by saying I wasn’t easy, I had set up a challenge, and he took it.

*** TO BE CONTINUED SOON ***