Dating....

Grr.....

What I need is a class on dating.  Does anyone else feel like this?  I'm 33 years old and have been in 2 serious long term relationships in about 15 years.  In the first one the girl was my best friend for approximately 2 years in high school before we started dating after we graduated.  That lasted approximately 5 years.  The second was someone I knew as a friend for a year and then we dated for a year and then were married for almost 4 years.  In between those were a couple of brief relationships, both which started out as friendships.

What this means is I'm basically clueless when it come to dating.  Oh I know how to take a woman out on a date, pay for dinner, have decent conversation, etc.  But when all your relationships start as friendships how do you make the jump from that to a 'normal' date? 

Here's the thing:  I know who I am and what I stand for.  I know the type of person I am in a relationship and the type of guy I am in general.  When starting off as friends you have a chance to get to know someone and they get to see you for the person you are, when 'dating' you don't, or at least I'm not sure how to express that.  Believe me I know all about "being yourself".  I'm comfortable with who I am and 'myself'.  Thats not the issue.  I'm just not sure how to present that to someone else.  Does that make sense?

Of course this dating problem is compounded by the fact that I work in a job which doesn't exactly endear itself to dating.  Meaning that people typically find dates through people they work with, either through setups, or through meeting people on the job.  Well I'm in law enforcement, and the people I usually deal with aren't exactly dating material ya know?  Plus the people I work with are all, to a man, married, with kids and really are pretty much wrapped up in their own lives.   I'm also not a big fan of going out to the local bars.  As Napolean Dynamite says "I've got no skills."  Heh.  I just don't see myself meeting someone who is potential relationship material at a bar.

Actually what I need is a woman I can make a connection with who is a bit on the aggressive side, not in your face aggressive but someone comfortable making the first move and transition from hanging out to 'dating'.  Believe me I'm not  a pushover type guy in the long run but in the beginning it'd be nice for the woman to step up to the plate once in awhile.

Also it'd be cool if she could kick my ass in Halo2.