Nervousness is a weird thing in that, at the same time it produces fear, it also allows the person to feel very much alive.

The only times I ever get truly nervous are during those first few phone calls to a girl.  I could sit there for hours contemplating the possibilities, and, having only recently met the girl, those possibilities could be endless.  The majority of it comes down to what you're going to say, or for that matter why you're calling in the first place.  Objective is key, because if you're not sure about the reason you're calling, or if you put it in the wrong words, then it's possible you've not made a very good first impression.

Though...by now you should have already done that.

Once you figure out what you're going to say, then it's all up to pressing that call button.  This isn't the hardest part, as the physical action is really the easiest, but for some reason fear, if it's going to rear its ugly head, grips ahold of you at this exact moment.  The hesitation could last for quite a while.  And you know you've prepared yourself, and you know what you're going to say, so why can't you seem to work up the courage to do it?

Because there's always a curveball.
Except we call it:  Voicemail.

Now you're at a standstill, because everything you rehearsed beforehand, the "casual-and-not-interested" charade to hide the quiver in your voice can't possibly be played out in 15-30 seconds.  You need more time.  Heck, you need those silences to catch your breath, and her to talk so you can think of what else to say so you can help her forget about that stupid thing you mentioned 2 seconds ago.  Now things have to be perfect, and they never are, so this voicemail, should you choose to leave one, is going to require every bit of training you have in order to give it your best.

But let's say you chicken out.

No big deal.  Dodged that bullet.  She's probably too busy anyway, and you barely know the girl as it is.  Besides, you've got a blog to write about your recent experience with working up the courage to call someone you've only seen twice, so it works out better for you two.

But what if she calls back.
or worse...she texts!

Remember that 15-30 seconds you had for voicemail (technically 2 minutes, but you don't want to leave a voicemail that long...you'll just end up hating yourself.)  Well cut that down to 5.  That would be...I dunno...3 incomplete sentences at the most.  Unless you're me, who uses correct grammar on all his correspondence, and could write a book with my text messages alone.

Now the "casual" person you told yourself you were, would take a good 10-15 minutes before replying to the text.  In fact, you could take all day according to some douchebags, but we'll cover that another day.  Let's face it though, are you really doing anything important that requires your attention away from your phone for that long?  probably not.  Sure, you could lie when it comes down to it, and she probably won't even ask, but knowing you there's a chance you'll just say the first things that comes to mind.  Bad move Mr. Jojo.

Cause you see, now that send button can't be canceled, and once she receives that unfortunately creepy message you're stuck wondering how you're going to explain it.  I know you already have an explanation, but could you type it up and send it in time?  What if you mess that up too?

Now we're in bad territory.  This is why I prefer not to text someone you barely know.  It's just bad publicity all around.

This isn't to say you can't do it right.  I believe it's possibly, but avoidance is the best defense, so if she doesn't text you first, try and keep it strictly to voice.

I miss the days where half of my nervousness didn't come from the girl herself, but in wondering whether or not her father would answer instead.  These were the days before cell phones, when things were a lot more simple.  The father always took off the stress of talking to the girl because...well...if I could get past him in one piece, then I would definitely have the courage to confront her.

Of course, the more that I think about it, the more I realize that this situation isn't just a loss for me, but for the father himself.  I can imagine that, as a father, I'd like to know when my daughter is talking to a boy, even if I wasn't so strict of a parent; knowing would be good enough.  It beats finally meeting the boy someday only to realize she's been talking to him for a couple of months at that point, and you've been left out of the loop.  I think if I have a daughter, I'm definitely now allowing her to use that cell phone for long conversations.  I need to be up to date with the boys she talks to, just like my mom always knew when I was calling a girl, it's just nice to be aware.

Sure, sometimes I'll scare the living daylights out of these boys, but it's for their own good anyway.

It makes them feel alive.