The Search Continues

Location: East Salt Lake City

A few weeks ago while sitting in institute class awaiting another inspiring lesson, an upcoming opportunity to hang out with other young single adults at dinner was announced. The activity is called 8 at 7. You sign up and then they (whoever ‘they’ are) randomly assign you to a group of 4 girls and 4 guys. Someone chooses to host/be the group leader. That person then chooses a place for us to meet for dinner at 7:00. I thought “hey, why not?” It was an easy and convenient way for me to get out and meet some more people in a smaller, less intimidating environment. My friend and I each decided to take a risk and add our names to the list of other would-be minglers.

A few days ago I received an email and a text from our group leader. From what I could tell, he was male. Since I had his full name I decided, what the heck…lets Google image him. I just wanted to see what we were in for. From the picture, I couldn’t tell much but he seemed fairly average. My friend ended up in the same group as me so we decided to follow through with our previous commitment.

That brings us to my Saturday night. I picked up my friend and headed across town to the TGI Fridays where we were to meet our random group of strangers. Thankfully we arrived at about the same time as our trusty group leader. He and one other girl were there to greet us. The others were not far behind though. We ended up with a group of 4 girls and 5 guys. After everyone trickled in, I looked around and assessed the group we were in. I sat in the middle of the table so that I wouldn’t miss out on any conversations. As for the group…they seemed like okay people, just out to try something new like the rest of us.

I didn’t feel shy in this group at all. You know how sometimes you assess people and conclude that you are not well below their league so it’s okay to just be yourself? Anyway, I felt comfortable with who I am, is all I’m trying to say. I was fairly outgoing and tried to mix with several different conversations. The one that seemed to overpower the rest however, was the guy next to me from, “the middle of the world.” That’s how he introduced himself. He is from Ecuador. He loves me…I can tell. I wanted to talk to some other people but he mainly hoarded my attention. That’s okay because the guy next to him was LAME! The basketball game was on during dinner and he couldn’t pull himself away enough to mingle. I understand being obsessed with basketball but if it was going to be an issue for you to miss the game, why did you come?? Besides, if I can’t pull a guy away from something for a few minutes for him to get to know me, he is not worth of my time. He was obnoxious and mostly, socially retarded.

Moving on…the girl across from me was a little socially awkward as well. It’s good she came out though. She seemed pretty nice, just slightly awkward to talk to, ya know? The girl next to her loves Tucson and that’s mostly all I remember. She was super nice at first but as the evening continued on, she became more and more annoying to me. I may have been overly tired, who knows. By the end of the night I found her to be somewhat shallow and just generally annoying. Next to her was a very nice Chinese guy from the city where I served my mission. It was hard to talk to him across so many people but I enjoyed the brief conversation we had. He seemed super young, although a first year medical student. Next was our trusty group leader. In person he left a bit to be desired. His overall demeanor was a bit too formal for me. There was just something about him that didn’t seem to click with me at all.

Finally, as we circle back around we come to the guy sitting next to my friend. He has big lips. I hear those are nice for kissing. His mouth was strange though, yet he had good teeth. Anyway, not the point. I would say he was probably the best looking of the group, despite my first judgment of him that he was kind of awkward? He had nice shoes and when he stood up after dinner and I noticed that, I silently praised him in my head. Unfortunately, I think his shoes were the only thing going for this one. He was strange. Oddly, most of these guys work in money. Maybe that’s not really my field of interest?? Who knows…

After dinner we headed over to the host’s house to play games. There, we met up with several members of another group. I quickly realized that we had somehow gotten lucky with our own prospects. As it turned out however, there was an empty seat next to my new boyfriend Mr. Middle of the world. He was quick to invite me over and I dutifully went, sharing the small seat with him. I did it to be social. I soon wished I hadn’t. Some things aren’t worth it. He was a bit too familiar with me, like we were old friends. I was uncomfortable. Another stupid boy pointed out my discomfort. How old are we anyway? I quickly became extremely annoyed with everyone there. They are just not my type of people. They were shallow and obnoxious and talked about stupid things. I’m sorry to be so harsh, but that’s how I felt. My friend and I left as soon as we felt it was acceptable to do so without being rude. Thankfully my dinner was good, so…not a wasted night after all.