Accepting the Blame when Blame is Due & Sparks

Worst Date – Entry 19 

There are a lot of worst date stories on here, but none so far that are from the point of view of the person who made the date terrible, until now. It was my birthday and I was already upset because as it approached, it appeared that my family hadn’t really remembered or cared. My friends thought that it would be hilarious for me to go on a date that night with a long-time family friend whom I have known since Kindergarten and with whom I share an extreme love/hate sort of relationship. I detested the notion because I had always put him in the kind-of-like-a-brother category. So, we and several other friends who found last minute dates went out to dinner.

I am embarrassed to think of what transpired. The entire night, I insulted every aspect of his driving, telling him when to turn left, to slow down, and then to speed up.  I also expected him to pay for me but never expressed my gratitude for him doing so. I ignored him unless to insult him further, made him throw away my trash, obnoxiously told him to open doors for me, and then never thanked him for any of his date etiquette.

After dinner, we went to the movies. To be funny, a friend offered my date $5 if he put his arm around me. He whispered in my ear, "Hey, I'll split $5 with you if you let me put my arm around you." He then tried to put his arm around me and instead of just playing along I rudely pushed his arm away.

Afterwards, I learned three things: 1) my family hadn’t forgotten my birthday and was actually planning a surprise party for me for the next day – this is why my friends planned this whole thoughtful date to distract me 2) my date had been crushing on me for some time before and was hoping to make this the first of many and, 3) my friends that accompanied us on the date had no intention of ever letting me live the memory of my terrible date behavior down. Unfortunately, I understand why.

Best Date – Entry S

My date had extra fireworks and suggested that we go out to do them the 24th of July (pioneer day). So we went out trying to find safe places to do fireworks, walking by this man-made lake and doing it on the dock that went into it. It was so beautiful and we talked about a lot of things, but we had the feeling the flashers (firework) were too bright and we may have seen a ranger car, but on our way out the ranger stopped us and saw that it was a date and told us a few good places and went off laughing. Coolest ranger ever!

Anyway, my favorite part was when he almost killed himself thinking a rocket firework was a hand-held firework- so funny! I think we ended up walking around and talking and then went back to my house to get cookies/refreshments, sorry I can't remember. :) All I can remember is having a blast and staying up late and talking.