Day 15 - Mauren & Guy

Tonight I had my first official blind date! I had never met, talked to or seen “Guy” as he asked to be called, so this was a new adventure to me.

Guy works with Josh, a guy I dated in high school and who you’ll soon meet as Kim’s date this Friday night. I went to lunch with Josh last week and asked if he knew anyone I could go out with for this little project. Josh and I had of course been out before so he didn’t qualify to be one of my dates, but there’s no reason he couldn’t provide a referral! He mentioned his co-worker, Guy, and after a few emails back and forth explaining why I was a random girl contacting him for a date, he agreed to participate.

We had decided to go bowling for the evening and met at a local alley just a few minutes from my office. As I pulled into the AMC Woodlands Lanes I noticed a guy walking across the parking lot in a blue striped polo. I thought to myself “hey, he’s cute, maybe that could be him!” But I was pretty sure that wasn’t the case. I mean I didn’t know anything about the person I was meeting, but I knew he was shy and that I was the first girl to ever ask him out, so I was pretty sure it couldn’t be the confident, good looking guy I’d seen in the parking lot.

I was pleasantly surprised however to find parking lot man standing in the center aisle of the bowling alley waiting for ME! You can be sure I made a mental note to thank Josh. :)

After exchanging a quick greeting we headed to the main desk to rent a lane…except for the fact that it was league night so every lane in the place had been reserved. Awesome, I thought. I knew they had league night on Mondays, Wednesdays, too??

I probably would have been more disappointed in the crushing of my plan but I had already a backup in mind should we run into the issue of bowling league monopoly – we would go bowling at Main Event instead!

We headed over to our backup plan, only to find that all the lanes were taken at Main Event, too!! Seriously?? It’s Wednesday night people. What on earth are all of you doing out and about, taking up all the local bowling alleys?? We were told it would be at least an hour before a lane was ready and after a quick discussion of other possible date ideas in the area, we voted to scout out dessert at Red Robin (which shares a parking lot with Main Event) and wait out our hour enjoying one another’s company.

We quickly ordered drinks as we decided what we wanted to order, but in the end, we talked so much we never placed an order for food, despite the poor waiter’s attempts on several occasions!

One of our topics of discussion was about cooking. Last year, Guy decided to venture into the world of cooking and found that his favorite thing to do was invent new desserts. He told me about his most popular concoction that involves chocolate, peanut butter and bananas. People have actually paid him to make this dessert for them! He gave me permission to share it with all of you so for your mouth watering pleasure…here it is (pictures provided by Guy).

Guy started by making a double layer of Oreo crust using the mixes from two different Jello No-Bake boxes (Peanut Butter Cup No Bake and Oreo No Bake) and then slicing two bananas length wise and placing them on the mixture. Then, for the sake of making it “gushy,” he poured Hershey’s chocolate syrup between the bananas, topped it off with the peanut butter cup mixture (as directed on the box) and added the chocolate topping that comes with the box, as well. He put that in the fridge for about an hour so it would harden and then topped it off with Nilla wafers and banana pudding. That’s it. In his words “you can’t fit no more stuff.” He recommends letting it sit for 24 hours to turn the Nilla wafers soft and achieve the ultimate perfection. With a combination like that, it’s gotta be good! I just might have to try this one…

In addition to his newly found cooking fetish, I learned that Guy is really dedicated to his education. Though he’s slightly older than me, he’s just starting school at the local college. He didn’t really have the opportunity to do so earlier in life due to various circumstances so he’s taking advantage of it now that he has a chance and I really admire that. Good for him!

After we had filled up on water and passed the hour at Red Robin, we returned to Main Event where we finally managed to get a lane. As we put on our shoes, he admitted that he had been in a bowling league when he was younger…awesome. Now you have to understand that I’m not exactly pro when it comes to bowling. I’m not completely terrible either, but unless I’m Wii bowling, it’s kind of a big deal for me to break 100. As we started our first game, it was clear by his “bowling form” that he knew what he was doing. Needless to say, he thoroughly whooped me.

I had planned a little twist on for our 2nd game of bowling and though he wasn’t up for trying it out this time around (it may have involved some possible embarrassment in public, but fun, too!!) we had a good time – even if he did kick my trash.

All in all, I was grateful to have met someone new and enjoyed a successful first blind date. Thanks Guy for being brave enough to participate in our project and accept a strange request from some random girl who works down the street from you.