I've got to admit, it's getting better...getting better, all the time!

Wow. Ok. I am definitely making progress now, so it's kind of amazing. I just had my second telephone conversation! Same person as last time, but this time she called me (great intrinsic value there; proves that somehow, the first call was successful). I missed the call, so I had a chance to prepare a brief list of backup conversation topics. I didn't really need the list - used a few things I hopefully could have remembered anyway.

The good news is that I had much less anxiety and reluctance to dial the number this time. And, I had a very very low anxiety level throughout the entire conversation - just the result I was looking for! The conversation was much more fluid. There were silences - including some long ones, even longer than the ones on the first call - but these were somehow less awkward. This got pretty interesting for me, because she brought up the topic of relationships. I, obviously, have never been in one, but I was bold enough to *try* to tiptoe around the many dangerous subtopics. Of course, this is an advanced area for ANY guy, so I didn't do a great job. For example, she mentioned that she had been cheated on twice, and (in an effort to avoid silence) I tried to ask a little about it. Dangerous. The only major blunder I made though was something very basic I've learned about dating-type conversation for guys. I really wanted to break a very long silence, so I said the first thing that came to mind - what do you think of our eHarmony match? D'oh! The territory doesn't get anymore treacherous than that. I just got an "uhh" in response, and gave the question a different meaning :) That led to some more conversation (topic: the eHarmony matching system) that got me to the end of the 38-minute phone call. She had to go this time, but said she would love to hang out some time. Sweet, so I didn't blow it too badly :) She suggested tomorrow (Thursday), but I had plans; she's got plans for the rest of the weekend, so she said maybe Sunday or Monday. I told her to just give me a call.

All in all, this is amazingly good, mainly because 1) That was only my second phone conversation with a girl, ever and 2) The anxiety level was markedly reduced, and I was a heck of a lot more comfortable, indicating that YES, these things do improve with practice.

The more success I gain, the more I want. Onward.