Dating and Relationships: What has been your best date to date?

The best date that ever happened to me never led to anything.

This was 10 years ago, but I can still remember everything like it's yesterday.

I was visiting NYC (from California) for a job interview in January.

After the interview, I went to Korea town to grab a bowl of soft tofu.

On that day, everyone seemed to have the same idea. A line of people stood waiting out on the curb on 15F winter day.

In front of me stood a girl.

She was really beautiful with really long black hair. Almost too beautiful for me to ever muster up the courage to even start some small talk.

Finally, it was her turn to sit. The hostess gave her a menu. Then the hostess looked at me, and asked if I am with her.

I said no, shyly.

The hostess then asked the girl whether she minded us sharing the table.

She looked at me directly in the eye for a split second.

I have a resting scowl on my face, which scares a lot of girls. So I was worried that she'll say no. But then she said "yes!".

So we sat down on a really small table.

She was a ballerina at the New York City Ballet, originally from Korea. 5 years older than me.

She talked about how much she missed home, and how much her parents sacrificed in order to make her dreams of dancing in NY come true. That she hasn't seen her parents in 3 years because she couldn't afford a ticket back home.

I told her maybe she should dance back in Korea. But she was living the dream, and she was close to achieving greatness.

It didn't take much for me to get past her beauty, and appreciate her as a human. I was sincerely rooting for her, even though we just met.

After two bowls of tofu were had and a bulgogi was shared, we walked around ktown twice, just finishing up. She gave me her email on the back of our bill. Then she left.

I started fantasizing about inviting her out to California sometime. Visiting her in the summer.

Then, somewhat tragically, I lost that bill on my cab ride back to hotel. I know, I couldn't believe myself either.

I tried sending about 50 emails based on what I had remembered of the address. None of them worked.

Over time, funnily enough, this memory turned fonder and fonder.

It remains fond for what it could have been. And I'm glad that all of the emails bounced.

Hoa Vu

My best date is also known as my most awkward date. But holy shit, it was so awkward because the feelings we had for each other were ridiculously overwhelming that we didn't know how to put them into words.

So, I knew this guy from a facebook group for people who play Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. It's the most awesome 3DS game, just so you know. I'm not overrating it at all. Go try it out, if you already own a 3DS. Opps. Off topic.

By the way, after 2 months talking and playing together, I decided to fly from New York to San Francisco to see him. Well, he was not the only reason since my best friend and a few good friends of mine lived there, too. So yeah, why not, right? Good thing he lived in San Francisco. Because I wouldn't risk my life for a guy who's from...hmm...let's say Detroit. Lol.

Sooooo. Let it begin!

First, we went to watch Furious 7 at AMC Metreon 16.

I was there half an hour early. Or more like I was 15mins early whilte he was 15mins late.

I sat at the park outside waiting for him. There was a pond between where I was and the cinema. And that pond was covered with a short wall. So if you are looking out from the cinema, you wouldn't expect to have a pond there.

And that was exactly what happened to him: he didn't know there was a pond.

So when he saw me, from inside the cinema, he ran out, and jumped over that short brick wall.

Into the pond.

He even dropped his glasses. Luckily, somehow it landed on my earphones string. And both of us were wet, since he also splashed me with the water.

It was our very first awkward moment. Wow man. That was one heck of a first impression that I'll never forget.

After a few awkward laughs, we gave each other a tight hug and went into the cinema. I can't believe that I actually could enjoy the movie with my wet pants. But I did. Hah.

After that, we had a long walk in the botanical garden. There was this moment when we sat on a rock on the side of a pond and he read a passage from John Steinbeck's "East of Eden" to me. Yup. I brought him books as a gift.

It was quite nice. And the weather was perfect.

Then we went to dinner. Oh I forgot to mention that we didn't even talk that much the whole time. We were super quiet. We may call it a very awkward silence. But we loved it, because it felt so nice being together without having to make up a conversation.

After that, we got some drinks from Starbucks then he took me home. On the way home, I couldn't control my feeling anymore so I reached out and grabbed his hand.

"Wow. This is weird, you know. I've never held hands with a girl before," he said.

I smiled back. It was one of the loveliest moments I've experienced in my whole life. Us holding hands, on a chilly San Francisco evening.

Even though none of us wanted to part ways, we eventually had to. So we gave each other a long, tight hug. Then I found myself smiling the whole night.

***

After our first date, we officially became something.

Though he really should have made it formal and asked me out, he did that a few months late and I, sadly, couldn't do anything but forgave him.

Now we've been dating for 9 months and in my totally biased opinion, our dates are always the best of best. :)

Here's a pic of us from another date in a Build a Bear making our T-Rex's, because we can.