Moving Van on the Second Date

I was chatting with an old friend recently about dating co-workers. He himself is currently in what could be described as a fling with a lady co-worker. Now I'm usually one to go overboard. With everything. Anything new in my life and I will dedicate 100% of my attention to it. My friends and family have learned this the hard way, as I've dropped off the face of the Earth to spend every waking moment with a new girlfriend or my MacBook or rock climbing. (I've also recently decided I'm going to quit my job and become a Spanish tomato farmer, but that's another obsessive story.)

Back to my fling-ing friend. He said it was going well and at this point, they both are really enjoying all the time they spend together. I was dumbfounded. How do people work together every day, and in this case on the same team, and not go completely overboard? I didn't understand how he wasn't spending every moment with her at work when he could have been. After all, according to him she's gorgeous, fun, and generally awesome. I guess it's at this point that I should clarify and say that when I do that 100% attention thing, it always backfires; after a certain amount of time (1 week, a month, etc.) I see the error in my ways and purge my newfound obsession. So I asked if he wasn't worried about maybe it being too much too soon and he told me that they have a good balance and don't overdo it. Clearly "don't overdo it" isn't in my vocabulary.

But why is this? Why are some girls out-of-their-mind crazy like this? And why, if I know I'm one of said girls, can't I stop myself from doing it? There's definitely a part of me that looks down and thinks, "Wow. You are insane. If I weren't a part of your conscious, I would totally dump you right now." Guys are different. I know no guys who obsess over a new girl and plan out the next month's evenings with them in mind. Usually it's worse in lesbian relationships; another thing I don't really understand. Are the women who date men less obsessive because they know guys won't put up with crazy and would dump them? Is women's insanity exacerbated by proximity to other women?

I guess I'll just have to take the next 2 weeks to perpetually think about this...