About speed dating...
This is the essay i wrote for English writing seminar which got me an A. Heh. It was basically entitled "Describe a moment that for some reason stuck vividly in your mind".
I would describe myself as a reasonably adventurous person, one who is pretty much willing to do anything once just for the heck of it. So when my friends decided that it would be rather amusing to sign up for speed dating at Cornell, I considered going along for the ride. Of course, they had signed me up without my knowledge, somewhat deciding my fate for me.
During the course of the week leading up to the event, I tried a myriad of ways and means to back out. “What if the guys are weird and creepy?” I argued. “What type of desperate guys do you think would go for this?” I tried. Nothing worked. In the end, my grousing and moaning only attracted other willing participants. So I went. And it proved to be a truly memorable experience. Not because I met any potential boyfriends, mind you, but it was justly put, an event to remember!
As usual, something had to go awry. One of my friends basically made it mandatory for us to dress up. She had on a black dress, heels and all. My other girl friend wore a flowery skirt while my two guy friends were decked out in dress pants and shirts. And I, like an idiot, appeared in a luminous pink blouse. The rest of the people, however, turned up very casually in jeans and dark colored tops! “Ha! Just bloody great”, I griped to one and all, whether I knew them previously or not. “I’m bloody luminous!” I declared. Of course, we had to make an entrance...of course. The very same menace who had caused the “dressing-up epidemic” decided she just had to curl her hair before the event, leading to the bunch of us being the latest ones to arrive.
And that was when I thought one of my greatest fears was going to be realized. Basically, each girl sat at a table, and the guys each got four minutes with her and then had to move on to the next table when the bell rang. (Which, for some reason, reminded me very much of cattle being herded) And because of my friend’s tardiness, I registered last and got table number fourteen. The trouble was, there were only thirteen guys. Immediately, I panicked. I certainly did not want to sit there by myself - alone - for four whole minutes! Imagine the shame, the humiliation, the absolute and utter ignominy in that! As an international student from Singapore, a country almost a million miles away, where speed dating is not a common phenomenon at all, no less, this was a horrifying prospect! I remember almost vividly how my heart sank, my cheeks brightening almost in a bid to match the color of my blouse. Sinking my fingernails into the arm of one of my girl friends, I swore profusely. Thankfully, when it actually began, one of the “organizers” sat down and proudly proclaimed himself the “seat-warmer” for the others.
The guys, were, to put it plainly, not exactly date-able. However, the entire experience made for a thoroughly good laugh. My two girl friends sat in tables twelve and thirteen and basically every guy had to go through them before they got to me. The hilarious thing was, when we compared conversations later, it was decided the guys had had the absolute weirdest conversations with me. I suspect it had to do with the hair twirling. Very early on, one of the guys we went with, sat down at my table and being the very versatile people that we are, we naturally pretended that we did not know each other – which led me, shamefully to say, to mad fluttering of eyelashes and hair-twirling, which turned some heads, presumably not in a good way! Two of the guys actually sang to me, another jumped up excitedly, twirled thrice, flung his chair to the side and danced for me! It was most shocking. And I had the most remarkable conversation with one of them about his pet deer called “Fu-Fu”. “Fu who?” I ventured, suddenly bolting upright in my seat. “Fu-Fu…as in out of control in French” he replied. “You mean like loco?” I asked, my eyes widening in semi-disbelief. “Yeeeahh, like crrrazzyy…” he said. Fortuitously, I was saved by the bell at this juncture. OH. MY. GOD. And the deer was snow-white in color at that!
Because I was not taking the “speed dating” seriously at all, I somehow managed to mess up the system. We were given sheets with numbers and options of “hit” or “miss” and if both participants “hit” each other, they would be matched up. Not only did I not pay attention to the numbers the guys had on, I also managed to convince my other friend, when he sat down at my table, that his system was erroneous. Evidently, he was right and I was wide of the mark. I ended up shamefacedly “hitting” everyone because I had no idea which guy was which. My friends declared I was “cheating the system”, which then became an insanely humorous catch-phrase for us. To top it off, when I handed in the sheet, I had to explain to the organizers that I really was not as desperate as it seemed but that I had merely managed to bungle the system. I am sure they did not believe me. And I was too weak to protest.
When the whole thing was over, my friends and I nearly collapsed with laughter sharing side-splitting stories and bizarre moments of the night. I can safely say that as ridiculous as it was, and as bad as it was, the experience of actually participating in something of this nature was a turning point for me. Now, not only do I have more people I need to assiduously avoid, I have also had an epiphany of sorts. Firstly, now that I actually came out this catastrophic event relatively unscathed, I am sure I can do anything. Hell, I managed to survive a solid hour with a few of the strangest and most eccentric guys, who in their own rights, should remain bachelors! Also, it has made me more open to things I would otherwise completely write off. Back in Singapore, I would probably never do anything of this kind, but as I am being exposed more and more to the American culture and way of life, my perspective on issues and certain beliefs have changed. Somewhere along the way, some time during the night, I cut loose, let myself be free of self-imposed restrictions, released myself of apprehensions and uncertainties and plunged headlong into simply the enjoying the moment.
I feel truly more adventurous.
***
7 of the 13 guys hit me back. OMG it was sooo bad... i have to hide frm SO MANY MORE FRIGGING PPL ITS NOT EVEN FUNNY!! I had to grab my friend and hide behind a tree just yesterday... gah!
