I met her the third time at a birthday party almost a year ago.  Before that point I'd "met" Anna not once, but twice actually... first at a backyard bbq at Laura's place in Davis and then again at the Independent in Union Square.  At the bbq she'd just gotten back from her first big trip, and at the Independent she was excited to meet me and have another "gay" friend.  After all, I was the "Tom" in the dynamic-duo of "Jim and Tom"... what else was a girl to think?  !*#$%&  Finally I met her for the third time at a birthday party for our friend Emily... in my mind Anna was the worldly unapproachable one but after a lot of laughing and talking about barking dog sharks, I think she was interested.