Two for Two

I've been on two dates in two weeks (with the same person!). This is a huge deal for me because, as mentioned in my last post, people don't ask me out. So the fact that someone I know in real life (as in... I met him in person before he asked me out, also a new thing) likes me enough to ask me out not once but TWICE, despite knowing to some extent how strange I am, is a really exciting thing.

Especially because I really like him. There have only been a few times in my life when I've liked someone AND they've liked me back. And even more than that, he was interested FIRST. He made the first move, he was up front and straightforward about it, and there was no guessing or second guessing involved on my end about whether or not it was actually a date.

Last week (date 1) was a bit nerve-wracking. I don't think I've actually ever been on a legit date before -- one that was prearranged and where he actually asked me out. Every "date" I've been on was either one that I wasn't sure if that's what it really was, or else it was one with my ex when we were already hanging out and it just sort of happened. Never one like this though. And he's so thoughtful. He remembered from like... one conversation that I love ocean animals (the octopus is my favorite, and I just love the ocean in general). So he took me to dinner at a Thai restaurant, and then we went to this really awesome aquarium store to look at fish. It was a mix of fresh and salt water fish, but there were enough tropical and salt water fish that it was just really interesting. After that we went to the coffee shop across the street and just talked, and it was really good. I love talking about more serious topics, especially the Bible and just faith related things, but I've felt like I don't have very many people to talk to about it outside of small group on Sunday nights. So we talked about dating (not dating each other, but just the topic of dating in general), and Jesus, and our favorite parts of the Bible. It was just a good conversation. He texted me the next morning (not even 12 hours later) to say thanks and tell me he had fun.

And of course, being me and thinking I'm going to completely screw things up, I panicked after small group that Sunday night. We barely talked at group and I just got paranoid, even though he'd been happy enough to see me that morning and I knew it wasn't because anything happened. But naturally I left group to go home and just had a meltdown. In my defense though, I was also starting to get sick and I get really emotional when I'm sick. Anyway, mid meltdown my phone rang and he asked if I'd like to go out again.

So last night was date 2, and it just further proved how thoughtful of a date planner he is. We ate at a local restaurant (somewhere my family has eaten regularly, and he'd only been once before, so that was fun), and then we went to the art museum to see their special event for Chinese New Year. We watched a couple dances and then walked through the museum and looked at art. It turns out we both really like renaissance and medieval art, which was pretty exciting. There's also a big Assyrian carving at the museum that I LOVE, because there's so much detail in the carving, plus there are lines of cuneiform across the middle and it just looks so cool. Anyway, I thought it was Babylonian (the style is pretty similar), but after reading the plaque I asked if he knew whether Babylonian or Assyrian came first, and he actually did. He knew when each culture invaded Israel basically to the year, which was really impressive. We wandered the museum until they kicked everyone out to close, and then (sadly) he took me home. I wasn't at all upset about the number of red lights we hit on the way back, since I wasn't ready to go home yet, but unfortunately everywhere closes really early here (almost nothing is open past 9, and it was 9:30). He texted me as soon as he got home, which was definitely a good feeling.

Tomorrow is church and he agreed to come to 2nd service instead of 1st so we can get a few people together for lunch after (and by "a few people" it'll probably be him, my friend who is visiting this weekend, and me...), and then we're all heading over to a Super Bowl party at the home of a couple in the group. I'm pretty excited.

Now I need to stop blogging and finish lesson planning so I can actually do fun things tomorrow.