Texts.

So, there's this Belgian guy in the Classics department who wear button down shirts and is on the quiet side and tends to be punctual, so people think he's a no-fun tight-ass, I get the impression, only, he isn't, and has a really good sense of humor.

(He even loves my two pedophile jokes, which is a major plus in my book.)

Anyhow, we've gone out drinking a couple times - he misses the drinking at his former university in Belgium; there, he put it, the question isn't whether you're going out drinking after class, but where - and it's been cool, so I texted him this past week to find out if he wanted to plan ahead and go out for martinis on Wednesday with me and some other people, especially since he'd have taken his big Greek exam by then. This was his response:

The greek exam is on thursday, so i'm afraid i will have to stay sober then ;-) but after thursday there should be less constraints. All best!

So, I texted him back to ask whether he would want to barhop that night in our neighborhood, and this is what he texted me back:

I cannot predict whether it will be a celebration or not, but in either case drinking sounds like an appropriate response :-)

I found his texts very evocative - slightly formal and stilted in a non-native way, but also very reflective of his personality, since he's slightly formal and a little on the quiet side.

Also, I found his use of the first emoticon, where it was winking, slightly off-putting. Perhaps cultural translation issues with emoticons?

I also wonder if I am glorifying drinking too much, though I think it's just the age.