Andi – Date #23 November 13, 2009

We should totally be the Ikea poster children.

A few weeks ago, my friend, Yandary, messaged me on facebook to see if I was still interested in meeting people for this project. She told me a little about her friend, Andi, and he sounded like a great guy. When he called to talk with me, I got the sense that he was really easy to talk with and friendly. But I didn’t really get how awesome he was until I went out with him.

Andi is pretty much amazing. He was born in Bejing and moved to the states when he was young. He moved all over with his family and eventually ended up in Utah where he graduated high school, went to college, and joined the LDS church. The more I talked with him, the more impressed I was.

For instance, he picked me up in a car that I later learned he had customized, both internally and externally. He told me about his plans to drive to Moab the next day to do some mountain biking on one of the top ten trails in the US, with crazy 4-5 foot drops in places. He helps people with financial planning for his profession and works for Fidelity Investments.  He was the president of his fraternity in college and continues to head up the alumni chapter and events. He organizes charity projects through work for the community. He speaks some Mandarin. He’s worked in a down (as in ducks and geese) testing factory (How many people can say they’ve done that?). He’s worked construction jobs with housing. He cooks and plays all sorts of sports. There seemed to be no end to his abilities and accomplishments, but only because I kept pulling it out of him. He was very humble.

That light fixture reminds me of a cross between the Sydney opera house and a spaceship about to land. Loved it.

And I loved that he took me to Ikea for our date. It was only my second time there, the first time being a pretty brief visit. We ate dinner in the cafeteria upstairs, and I was finally able to try the Swedish meatballs with lingonberry sauce that my friends have raved about. We shared a dessert that looked like half of a tennis ball, but tasted like a sponge cake with jam and cream. After dinner, we walked around and checked out the different design styles and space-saving techniques. We had fun testing out furniture and exploring all over the store.

Yay! Kids stuff!

Motivational poster to sleep like a rock?

Andi was really easy to talk and laugh with. He was playful, but he also impressed me with his depth and knowledge of so many topics. He has an incredible memory and a thirst for learning. I had fun hearing about the music, books and movies that he likes, and we never ran short on things to talk about throughout the night.

I appreciate Yandary introducing me to Andi, and really enjoyed the chance I had to spend time with him tonight. As we were walking through Ikea, he taught me some words in Mandarin. And though I don’t know Swedish, the language of Ikea, I did look up one word online that describes Andi. It would be underbar — which means, awesome.

Todd – Date #22 November 7, 2009

Dinner at the Formosa Grill

Todd gets the “Patience of Job” award after our date last night. Unforeseen circumstances beyond my control caused me to be in Layton (a town south of where I live) at the time he was arriving at my house. I gave him the option to peace out with no hard feelings, but he decided to wait for me- even though my roommates weren’t home and he had to sit in his car for an HOUR until I arrived. And when I did get there, he didn’t show any resentment or hard feelings, even though it was 8 pm and he hadn’t even had lunch that day.

On the positive side, it ended up being a great ice breaker. From the time we got together, we were able to joke around and have a lot of fun. We drove to the Formosa Grill, a Chinese restaurant near my house that neither of us had been to, and it was an amazing discovery. The waiter led us to a room with several tables in rows and asked us where we wanted to sit. I joked around and asked him to seat us at the best table in the row. Fortunately, I think he misunderstood me, and led us to another room – our own private Japanese Style Tatami Room, from when the restaurant used to be a Japanese tea house. It was awesome! We had to take off our shoes to enter the rice paper walled room decorated with Japanese art and a hanging paper lantern. I felt like I was in Karate Kid 2. Such ambiance.

A little better shot of our Tatami room...

The food was delicious and I really enjoyed talking with Todd. I can see why his co-workers in Texas called him “The Dos Equis Man” or “The Most Interesting Man in the World”. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cxhsgr9Uj4w&feature=related)

I am surprised that I haven’t met Todd before, since we were both in the BYU choirs at the same time and we shared the same major. We found out we even competed against each other in a Mormon Times music competition several months ago. Todd is the manager of a Bluegrass Southern Gospel band that he also performs in which boasts three albums and one in progress, if I’m not mistaken. He teaches Latin dance and various other types of social dance and has won gold medals in dance competitions. He even made the finals of the national dancesport ballroom competitions. He set up the computer systems for the Utah Transit Authority. He has four degrees. He’s the number one sales person in his company and gets to travel all over for his work. And that’s just scratching the surface. He was very humble, though, and was more interested in talking about me than he was in sharing all of his interesting stories.

After dinner, we headed over to a place called Studio 600, where they had dancing and karaoke. After a few dances on the main floor, we headed up to the karaoke room. I swear the awkward guy running the sound was a clone of Mike Meyer’s character Wayne from Wayne’s World, except his mullet was curly. Todd has a great voice and sang a little “In the Still of the Night”, while I tried my hand at some Pat Benitar. We wanted to find a duet, but there were a lot of people signed up, so it didn’t work out.

We headed over to the room where they played Latin music, and Todd patiently taught me a lot of fun dances. We did some samba and some mambo and then headed down to the main floor to do a little two stepping. He offered to give me lessons and invited me out to his class, which is awesome because I’ve always wanted to learn to be a dancer. After some free smoothies, we headed back home.

I had a lot of fun with Todd and found that it was really easy to talk with him. I was impressed with his humility and accomplishments. I’m glad to have the chance to meet him and I’m glad that he’s a patient person who decided to wait.

Post-dancing posin'

Glenn – Date #21 November 1, 2009

 

That fish isn't coming out of my wig... it's part of the Market Street Grill sign behind us

I’ve known Glenn for years and think he’s an awesome guy. We met in college singing together in BYU’s Concert Choir, an he’s since moved on to sing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. He’s a great person and is constantly re-inventing himself. Every time I talk with him, he is doing something new- from tackling half-marathons to his latest adventure, enrolling in culinary school. And he’s always down for a good time. So when he asked me out on Halloween, I was looking forward to it.

 

We started the evening by eating at Market Street Grill, and as far as I could tell, we were the only ones in costume. Glenn got some comments about his chef’s attire, since we were in a restaurant. When our waiter discovered that Glenn was enrolled in The Art Institute’s culinary arts program, he confessed his desire to own his own restaurant someday. Glenn was really encouraging and gave him some great suggestions to takes steps toward that goal.

 

After a delicious dinner, we headed over to Kingsbury Hall, on the campus of the University of Utah. Every year, The Odyssey Dance Theatre puts on a Halloween show called “Thriller” that I’ve always wanted to see, but haven’t. Glenn had great tickets and it was closing night, so the show was bound to be fun.

 

As we walked up the steps, dancers in zombie costumes were already waiting for us. Some of them were young, but they were really good at staying in character. They had lifeless expressions and followed people around listlessly. Even waiting for the show to begin, zombies roamed the aisles, lunging and hissing at people. Occasionally, you could hear startled shrieks of people who were surprised somewhere in the audience.

Aaagh!

The show itself was amazing! The dancing and the choreography were so professional. The costumes, the sets, and the lighting were way beyond what I expected. And the guest artists that performed with the company were so talented. The emcee of the evening was a disgruntled clown whose deadpan humor had me laughing really hard. They did a good job at finding a balance between creepy and comedy throughout the evening.

 

The performance showcased several styles of dance. There were tap dancing skeletons lit by black lights, a stomp-esque trio of chainsaw-wielding Jasons, a ballerina that met her demise while dancing to the Nutcracker suite, and a lyrical tribute to the late Michael Jackson. There were Irish dancers who were picked off by the emcee clown in the “River of Blood Dance” (instead of River Dance). Several dances included breaking, popping and locking, and other forms of hip hop. And of course, tons of amazing modern dance pieces that were both humorous and dark. Bookending the evening were well-performed versions of the title song, Thriller, that refreshingly didn’t rely on the original Michael Jackson choreography.

 

I had a great time with Glenn, who is great with witty spontaneous jokes. I’ve always found him easy to talk with and enjoyed our conversation throughout the evening. I appreciated him inviting me and had a Halloween that I’m sure I’ll remember for a long time to come.

I think I need to work on my zombie face before taking our act on the road

 

 

Benson – Date #20 October 25, 2009

This Is The Place Heritage Park- We couldn't take pictures inside, where all the action was...

Two-thirds of the way to the goal, and this continues to be a great experience. Tonight’s date was with Benson, who is a pharmacist friend of Winter’s. We’ve met at church in passing before, but we haven’t had much interaction. So I appreciated him giving me a call and being willing to spend some time with me.

Benson picked me up and took me to Cafe Med, which is a really delicious Mediterranean restaurant by my house. Our waitress told us she drank half of the coffee back in the kitchen and was hilarious, because she was talking a mile a minute and seemed to have a jet pack strapped to her. Towards the end of the night, she came out cradling a rock that resembled a chunk of hematite so that she could calm herself down by using the rock’s energy. She was awesome.

I ordered an amazing plate of moussaka and enjoyed it over conversation with him. I learned that he’s a man of many interests. The University of Utah Hospital is a teaching hospital, so in addition to his work as a pharmacist there, he volunteers his time as an adjunct professor to teach medical students. He likes sports like softball and baseball, he spends time taking walks in nature, and he does some singing. He talked about his interest in traveling and about his mission to Portugal and learning Spanish to supplement his Portuguese.

The waitress thought the scarab on the sarcophagus looked like my necklace...

After dinner, we drove to This Is The Place Heritage Park for their Haunted Village. I was so excited- I’ve been before and it had just the right amount of spookiness. In fact, from what I’ve been told, one of the homes there is actually haunted and is listed on the national registry of haunted houses.

Benson was so considerate of me the whole time. He made sure I wasn’t too cold or too scared throughout the evening. And the haunted village was so amazingly well done. Visitors follow a marked path that leads through old historic homes, trenches, tunnels lit by strobe lights and obscured by fog, and more. Actors are positioned throughout the park and chase, startle, and entertain the guests. There was even a headless horseman and a guy who did a pretty realistic Beatlejuice impersonation. I screamed several times when people lunged out at me, despite knowing I was safe. They did a great job of building tension and startling people. I had a blast.

Benson was so funny throughout the haunted village. He made jokes and laughed and loved watching other people on the path get scared. He kept looking for a wolfman, but alas. Maybe another year.

Tonight was a good night to help me get in the mood for Halloween next week. I had fun getting to know Benson and getting scared with him. It was a great idea for a for a first date!

Already broke rule #3!

Bob – Date #19 October 9, 2009

I want to shake the hand of the man who came up with the idea of all-you-can-eat sushi. Truly.

Let’s be honest. There are lots of creative angles to approach blogging about a date with someone named Bob. You could reference Bill Murray’s character in “What About Bob?” and talk about baby steps in dating. You could make the blog a palindrome, but that’s getting a little carried away. To make it simple, I’ll go with just saying that I think the name Bob is awesome and so was the guy who bore the name.

Our mutual friend, Julia, gave Bob my phone number and from the first time he called me, I thought this was a fun guy. When he told me about our plans for the date, my suspicions were confirmed. It sounded like a blast.

Our chariot for the evening...

When I got to his place in Provo, he asked me how adventurous I was on a scale of 1-10. I found out that he wanted to take me out on his motorcycle, and I was all for it. (Don’t worry, Mom. I wore a helmet.) He drove me to an all-you-can-eat sushi place, and I was surprised because I thought those only existed in heaven. Bob introduced me to some great new sushi combinations (I even tried salmon salmon skin and octopus for the first time!) and he helped me with my chopsticks technique.

As we talked, I found out that Bob has a lot of well-rounded interests. He’s played football, he sings and has good taste in music, he’s traveled, he likes the outdoors, and more. We were having so much fun talking and eating sushi that we almost lost track of the hour.

On second thought, maybe we shouldn't get too close to that plant...

Luckily, Bob discovered just in time that we needed to head out to our next destination: The Hale Center Theater in Orem. He had purchased tickets to “Little Shop of Horrors”, an upbeat dark musical comedy that’s perfect for Halloween time. The show was fantastic and the performers were well cast.  The Hale Center Theater does shows in the round, so it was fun to be close to all of the action.

Bob was a really attentive and considerate date throughout the evening and I really enjoyed getting to know him. Before I knew it, the time had come for me to head back to Salt Lake. I was still full of sushi and had songs from the musical on constant replay in my mind. All of that, topped with some great company, added up to a really fantastic night.

Bob with the cast of the show

David – Date #18 (The Birthday Date!) October 6, 2009

Gotta love that David.

Date #18 was awesome for several reasons. Reason #1: It was a double date with one of my favorite couples in all of coupledom, Winter and Lee. Reason #2: THEY set up my date, so it was a surprise. Reason #3: The surprise turned out to me one of the sweetest guys ever, my friend David. To keep with the theme, I could go on to list eighteen reasons for my eighteenth date’s awesomeness, but suffice it to say, this had all the markings of a fantastic time.

Winter and Lee rang my doorbell to pick me up and after we talked for a bit, they put a blindfold on me and led me outside (David’s idea). Lee was holding my hand to guide me when I felt another masculine hand take my free one and I sensed a very tall person by my side. This was the first time I started to suspect it might have been David… and I was stoked.

They helped me into David’s SUV and once we were all inside, Lee tried a few times to get the blindfold off. When yanking from behind proved unsuccessful, I took it off myself. I started clapping when my suspicions about my date’s identity were confirmed. David is an awesome guy. He has a large stature (he even played football for the University of Utah!) but he is a teddy bear. He has an easy laugh and is so kind to everyone.

David drove us to the Market Street Grill for dinner and all four of us had fun joking and telling stories on the way there. David told us about the research he’s been doing for school and discoveries they’ve made. They were amazing! From ways to make skin glow in the dark, to prosthetic limbs you can control with the mind, to advances in overcoming blindness, it was exciting to hear about the developments.

Mmmm.... Market Street Grill!

And for those who have never been, Market Street Grill is amazing. It’s a pretty penny per plate (oh, how I love alliteration!), but the food is so worth it. We talked more through dinner about some other things David is involved with- teaching workshops for elementary school students in the district, audio and video editing, and more. And it was so much fun to hang out with Winter and Lee. They kept me laughing all night and I just kept thinking about how lucky I am to have them in my life. (Did I mention that I love those two?)

Throughout the week, I had sensed they might have been planning some sort of surprise afterward for my birthday. That morning, however, I was kidnapped by my roommates for breakfast with a bunch of friends. So, I laid aside the suspicions, figuring that what I’d sensed was tied to that surprise. That is, until the waiter asked us if we wanted dessert and Lee said, “No thanks. We have a birthday party to get to!” And it didn’t even register on his face that he’d divulged their plot.

Winter did a good job of not registering emotion, either. So, I was a little confused. Ninety-three percent of me was feeling justified in suspicion. And seven percent of me was thinking, “They have done SO much for you already. There’s no way they’ve gone to all of the trouble to throw a surprise party on TOP of all of this.” I was tempted to chalk it up to a post-dinner hang out, especially when Winter suggested we rent a movie.

But sure enough, when I walked through my front door, there were tons of my friends in my newly streamer-strewn living room. It was kind of the perfect ending to a fabulous day.

I love my friends!

David stayed all through the party, and even helped break open the pinata my roommate, Sharon, had provided. Afterward most of the guests had gone and things were winding down, he even gave me one of the back scratches he is famous for.

All in all, it was one of the best birthdays I can remember thanks to the love and attention of my friends and family. And having David as my date for the evening was the icing on the cake, so to speak. He was very generous and lots of fun to be around. With a start like this, I can tell that thirty is going to be a great year.

Chris – Date #17 October 5, 2009

Chris knew our waitress who was kind enough to take our picture

I’ve known Chris for a while now. We have a lot of friends in common and we’ve talked, but he was better friends with my roommate, Sharon. I was surprised when he contacted me to ask if he could be date #17, but thought it was very cool that he wanted to help me get closer to my goal.

We met a swanky Italian restaurant in downtown Salt Lake called Cafe Molise. Chris was there first, and he had brought me a beautiful brightly colored bunch of gerbera daisies, which are one of my favorite flowers. He pulled out my chair for me and was very sweet the entire night.

Over a deliciously prepared salmon dinner, we talked about a lot of things. He experienced being close to the action during hurricane Katrina and had an interesting perspective on those events. He grew up in New York and lived in California, and we talked about many of his childhood and life experiences. He talked about his conversion to the LDS church and his family’s reaction to those choices. We also had a good discussion about his studies in evolutionary anthropology. He had a lot of thoughts on the family, which I thought was awesome, since my dad’s life’s work centered around strengthening families.

Throughout the evening, I concluded that Chris is a very intelligent man with a good heart. He had a lot of interesting things to say, but was also very interested in what I had to talk about, which was nice. He had a lot of questions for me and really listened to my thoughts.

Chris: "Who needs the state fair when you have construction?!?"

After dinner, he suggested going for a walk around the city. No real destination, just enjoying the energy of the city at night. We walked and talked some more, taking in the sights and sounds. A brilliant full moon lit our way and there was an autumn bite to the air. Chris was careful not to take me through any areas that were sketchy, but we did get to explore one of my favorite cities a bit more.

It was very thoughtful of Chris to take me out on the night before my birthday and treat me so well. I had a fun time getting to know him better and it was a pleasure to be his date.

Jared -Date #16 October 3, 2009

On the set of "The Caretaker"

Ahh, facebook. It’s been a huge help in the success of this project. In this situation, my date with Jared stemmed from its fantastic networking power. My dear friend, Winter, has been posting each of my blog updates on her site and asking for referrals. Her fellow pharmacist, Jill, told her about Jared and introduced us via facebook email. And then its “mutual friend” feature showed me that Jared is also good friends with some other people I know. The world gets smaller all the time.

Jared, who is also a pharmacist, was a lot of fun to get to know. He’s adventurous and loves outdoor sports like skiing and ultimate frisbee, and he wanted to take me rock climbing for our date. Unfortunately, it was a cold and rainy day with some hail, so the conditions weren’t too conducive to doing that. Instead, he took me out to dinner and we went to a play put on my the Salt Lake Acting Company called “The Caretaker”.

On the way to Cafe Rio, I found out that Jared had already worked a ten-hour day and that it was the beginning of his seven day work rotation. He had just used his time off of work to drive to Cache Valley to help his family with some repair jobs. I was impressed that he would make the time to help me with my project when he was so busy. He was easy to talk with and had the type of energy that’s relaxing to be around.

I found out a lot of things about Jared during our car rides and at dinner. I found out that we’re in the same LDS institute class at the University of Utah. He likes several styles of music, especially bluegrass, but he doesn’t care much for blues and jazz. Since he’s involved in medicine, I asked him about some hotbed issues like healthcare reform, and he doesn’t just go with popular views. He has intelligent and informed opinions and seemed open to flexibility with them if he were presented with new information.

A chair lift at the Salt Lake Acting Company... hang on for your life, Jared!

I loved that he took me to the theater after dinner. I haven’t seen a play in a long time and it’s something that I really enjoy doing. This particular show was funny, but it was a pretty existential character study and the audience was left scratching their heads in places. The acting was really excellent, though, and it gave us a lot to think about. We had a good conversation about the symbolism in the show afterward and how it related to life.

I enjoyed my time with Jared and appreciated that he seemed like such a well-rounded, good man. I’m glad that I got to know him better and I’m looking forward to seeing him in my class each week.

Jared's impersonation of one of the characters- pretty accurate!

Matt – Date #15 September 28, 2009

Extreme close-up...

When I met him in Provo on Friday, I found out Matt is a guy who has his act together. It took a while for the two of us to connect after my cousin, Jenny, introduced us, but she spoke highly of him and her regard had merit.

I was impressed with Matt before even meeting him. When he told me that he’d like to cook for our date, he got even more bonus points. And he was a really great cook. I arrived at his home to find it set up like a cooking show with different stations to prep different parts of the meal.

I think Matt should have his own Food Network show. He's good!

We made gnocchi together- Italian potato dumplings- and I was impressed by his skills. He also made fresh basil pesto and a mushroom / kalamata olive topping for the dish. There was even fresh garlic bread for the side. Everything was from scratch. Everything was delicious.

As we cooked together, I got to find out more about Matt. He’s a math professor at the LDS Business College and and adjunct professor at BYU. He’s traveled all over the world, but he was raised in Virginia, not far from where I grew up. He served a mission in France. He loves the outdoors and different sports. He owned the condo where we were eating dinner and had done a lot of the decorating and remodeling himself. In fact, his condo reflected the same kind of collected vibe I got from Matt. Everything was well taken care of and in its place.

Matt was conscious of my time constraints, and really was accommodating. He was willing to talk, though, and we shared some stories from our lives with each other. I heard about his family, his mission, and even got to hear a few about my cousin that made me laugh.

Though we didn’t have long together that evening, I had a fun time with Matt. I learned how to cook some great Italian food, had some nice conversation, and met a great guy with a lot going for him. To sum up the evening, I’d say it was Molto Bene.

The finished product. Mmmm...

Terrance – Date #14 September 26, 2009

It's awesome to run into friends who will take pictures for you... Thanks, Heidi!

I don’t think it’s over-dramatic to say that in one single encounter, Terrance is a person that had a profound affect on me. The way things lined up for us to meet was so random, but I’m glad they did line up. I left the date a different person than I was when I arrived.

Terrance is the first person I’ve gone out with that would truly fall into the “complete stranger” category. We were not set up by any mutual acquaintances. In an effort to reach a variety of people, my dear friends, Winter and Lee, wrote up a short blurb about the project and posted it on Craigslist. Then they took a ton of their time filtering responses for me and passing on information from people they felt good about.

I noticed Terrance’s email address contained “Shiprock” in it, and asked him if he was Navajo. (I went down to the Indian reservation there this past summer with one of my favorite friends, Natani, who grew up in a neighboring town.) Terrance told me he was, and on the date I learned that his great-grandfather was a medicine man who had taught Terrance a lot.

Terrance was fascinating to talk to. There was something different about him. He had a way of helping me feel completely at ease. We met on temple square and started walking towards the place we were going to have dinner. We ended up just sitting in temple square and talking for a while, though.

We talked about a lot of deep things, like finding balance in a hectic world. Terrance commented on how my stride was fast and I seemed to be in a hurry. He talked about the peacefulness of temple square compared to the outside street and how we miss a lot when we are constantly rushing.

At The Blue Iguana

We ended up having dinner at a really amazing Mexican restaurant called The Blue Iguana and talking a lot more over the meal. I learned that he had recently started a relationship, and that he had thought to cancel our date. He came because he’d made a commitment to help me and he felt like somehow we’d benefit from meeting. And he was right- at least from my perspective. He told me a lot of things that really gave me pause and lit a fire that caused me to subsequently make some much-needed changes in my life.

On the way back to our cars, Terrance noted how my stride had slowed down. And I really did feel more peaceful inside. He’s a remarkable person and I’m glad he decided to honor our plans, despite starting a new relationship.