Saturday, October 27, 2012

A date in which I learn that a guy who has direction is the best kind.

Once upon a time I was set up on a blind date (surprising, eh?). This time, it was by someone who I didn't even really know. I went back to the home ward for a Sunday, and after Relief Society was awkwardly cornered by someone who had moved into the ward after I had moved out. My mom had warned me that she might be talking to me. So when she came my direction, I knew what she was coming over to ask.

Her son called me a few days later and left a message that said something along the lines of, "Um, hey. This is Zack. So I guess my mom wants me to go out with you. So, yeah. Give me a call back and we can set something up."

My first thought? Does he even want to take me out? Or is he doing it to get his mom off his back?

Anyway, I called him back later to set up said date. Our conversation went like this:

Me: Hi Zack. I got your message! I think a date sounds fun.
Him: Yeah. So when do you want to go? We could probably go any night this week. But we should probably just do dinner so it's not awkward or anything.
Me (thinking to myself): Huh? This is already awkward.
Me: Well I am free any night this week, so I can go whenever works best for you!
Him: Okay, well let me check my schedule and I will call you back.

Our date was later set for that Thursday night. He picked me up, fashionably (or not) late. He did at least call to let me know he was running late. After having to do an acrobatic act to get up into his over-sized truck, we were on our way. He told me we were going to Red Lobster for dinner and hoped that was okay with me. Within the first ten minutes of the date, I knew there was not going to be a second. And I knew that I just wanted to go home. Conversation was SO forced. And all he wanted to talk about was his truck, his days in Costa Rica, and how he was moving out with a bunch of 21 year old guys that week (he was 32, BTW). In an attempt to make conversation, I asked about what he did for work, if he was going to school, etc. His response, "Well, I'm not done with college. I actually never even finished high school. I got kicked out of the house when I was 18. I deliver pizzas, and I don't really see any need to finish my degree right now or find a serious job since I don't think I am going to get married soon."

Um. Okay. Now, I have nothing against delivering pizzas. It's a totally acceptable job. BUT... the problem came when he spit out the line about not needing to settle down or be serious. In my humble opinion, I find it much more attractive if a guy is already serious about life and at least trying to move forward before he meets a girl. There may be reasons to his being 32 and still single.

We sat through a very painful dinner. Again, conversation was still incredibly forced and was extremely shallow--- you can only go so deep when talking about scuba diving in Costa Rica (no pun intended...) and when he keeps mentioning how busy he is because he is moving. After he ate the entire basket (and half of another) of the cheese biscuits, he packed up the remaining ones and we headed out.

I haven't heard from him again, but I did hear word of his mom's report. In his words, "I think I was just a little too rough around the edges for her."

Oh, is that what it was? Silly me. I thought it was the lack of motivation and such.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Taking your date to a wedding reception is not a good idea.

Once upon a time, I was set up on a blind date. The first date was awkward, slightly uncomfortable, and just didn't go well. For some reason, I felt pity on the poor soul and agreed to a second date. Not a good idea.

Date 1:

Eric picked me up and told me that he had planned so many great activities for us to do. He informed me that we were going back to his apartment where he would cook us dinner, and then we would do some finger painting. Sounded harmless enough. I really can't remember how plans changed between getting to his house and what we ended up doing, but they did. Instead of ending up at his house, we ate dinner at Los Hermanos, which was pretty decent. On the way to the restaurant, he must have seen that a band he liked was playing that night at Muse Music, because that is where we headed after we ate dinner. He didn't really seem like the type to go hang out at Muse and listen to an indy group play their music, but I was up for it, and it sounded fun to me. Until we got there. We sat pretty much against the wall in the back of the room, because he didn't want to get too into the crowd. Well, the opening band started to play, and I quite liked them. He did not. He looked terribly uncomfortable and did not look like he was enjoying himself at all. We stayed for about four songs and he looked at me and said, "I think we should go. This is uncomfortable." We didn't even stay for the group he wanted to see. Haha. He took me home, and I thought that was that.

Oh, but it wasn't.

Date 2:

He called me a few days later and asked me out again for the coming weekend. Feeling bad for some reason, I agreed to go. When he called to ask me out, the plan was to go to dinner and ice cream (or something basic like that--- I can't remember the details). Well, when he picked me up, it was a new activity. We were going to a wedding reception, folks. Keep in mind that I was not dressed for a wedding reception, nor did I know these people. Oh, I should mention that he didn't either.

Apparently it had become his responsibility to go pick up his sister and her friend from a wedding reception at Wadley Farms in Lindon, which, by the way, he was an unknown city to him. (*Side note: If you know you have a date planned, I think the best plan is to politely tell your sister that she needs to find alternative transportation, or call your date and say you need to move the date back by 30 minutes.) So we eventually found the reception, but it soon became evident that we could not find his sister anywhere. We searched the place. And by we, I mean he did, and I followed him around awkwardly. We searched for around twenty minutes, but to no avail. She wasn't answering her phone, so we had no idea where to find her. It was awesome. So naturally, he suggests that we sit down and have some refreshments. Because, you know, that's totally appropriate behavior when neither one of us know the wedding party, nor were neither of us invited to the reception. Not knowing what else to do, and feeling incredibly uncomfortable, I went along with his plan. After we had been at the reception for nearly 45 minutes, his sister finally showed up. Hallelujah!

We finally left the reception, and headed down to take his sister to her apartment. By this time, any hope of a normal date was out the window. He knew it. I knew it. There was no salvaging this one. We dropped off his sister, he attempted to apologize, and took me home.

And that, my friends, is why taking your date to a wedding reception is not the best idea.

*(And for the record, the band from Date #1 wasn't "bad". They were just a little too edgy for his taste. They were not edgy at all. I would compare them to Neon Trees.)