Dating Schmating

So...the spanx are rightfully retrieved, and the brief panic that had overtaken me is partially over. However, I believe that I've come to the conclusion that Mr. Date is not Mr. Right, or even Mr. Right Now, and as a result, I've decided to break it off with him. One tiny little problem - my final belonging, a pair of hugely important white gold earrings (not nearly as important or mortifyingly embarrassing as the Spanx) is still at his place, and I refuse to end it with him unless I get them back. And just asking for them back isn't even that simple, since I effortlessly managed to toss one of the earrings casually behind the backboard of his bed, which happens to be an entire wall unit that he did not want to move in order to retreive what to him was, 'just' an earring. But that earring, is mine. And one day, when he wants a bigger and better wall unit, and he decided to finally move this one back and he finds my earring, and either remembers how great I was, or decides to do something shady like gift the earrings to his then-girlfriend, I'm going to get upset. Is it irrational, that I don't want to break up with him until he gets me my earrings? I guess that would be the equivalent of a guy wanting his shirt back that a girl may have slept in when she slept over and ended up taking home with her the next day, and decided that this is now and forever her shirt. I know girls that do that - for each guy they date, they get to keep a shirt - its like a rightful belonging and a symbol of how many guys they date, and how big or small of men they were (depending on the shirt size). I guess I should've taken a shirt and then we'd be even and I wouldn't be thinking about these stupid earrings. But I am who I am, and the earrings will be on my mind until retrieval, much like the spanx.

On the downside (I guess there was no upside?), I've realized where it is that I go wrong with guys. In the beginning, I do it all the right way. I don't get too excited, I more or less act uninterested, busy, unattached - exactly how I feel. Then, when I actually do start to like them, I act like I like them. But what I've realized, is that you aren't supposed to ever show them that you like them. For some reason, men associate this attention with clinginess, lack of independence, and some button in them gets turned off the second that a girl shows interest. Be it the game, the chase, but its annoying. I don't like these rules, but what am I to do? I'm not clingy by any means, but I like attention just as much as the next girl. Guess its time for dating reality check. Next guy on the list, we'll be testing this theory.

How long do you have to act uninterested to keep him interested?

Dating schmating. People waste too much time playing these games.