Project Get-a-Date
And now, my friends, for the fun part! But first, a little background:
Given all the drama that's occurred in my romance department lately, getting a date for Liberty's Winter Formal was something to worry about. Let me explain . . . The first thing you need to know is that there are a bunch of cute Mormon girls up here. My mistake was to focus in on one of them, a course of action that, after a short period of happiness, only caused me pain, and lots of it. It's not that the others weren't or aren't cute. It's just that my cousin sort of hyped-up one in particular and I lost my head, especially after I found out she liked me. I should've known the situation was too good to be true. ::Sigh:: Childish naivete crushed by the harsh realities of life. At least our friendship survived . . . In any case, I learned my lesson.
I'd been worried (and I still am, though not quite as much) that in focusing my attentions on this one particular young lady I had alienated the rest against me, to some extent at least. No one likes to feel that they are only second-best, which, unfortunately, was exactly the message I had been sending. I don't know exactly what to do about that perception these days. We're not "together" in any sense anymore, but it may still be perceived that we are, or that I still view us in that way. I don't know exactly how I can go about dispelling misconceptions about the situation now. The damage has been done.
In any case, it was clear that Michael and I needed Formal dates, preferably of the cute variety. I'll let Michael relate his story later. I'll stick to mine.
In making my choice of who to ask, I really didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings, but I realized that a situation like that was probably inevitable. After considerable deliberation I decided to ask Jess (short for Jessica), but the plan of attack was not in place yet. Just walking up to her and saying, "Will you go to Formal with me?" was out of the question. It was simply not creative enough. I knew I could do better.
I was inspired by good old Napoleon Dynamite and decided to try the Pedro Sanchez method, that is, "build her a cake or something." So on Thursday, December 1, (after considerable problems in pursuing the plan, which I won't go into) I succesfully baked a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. In big frosted pink letters on the top I had written "JESSICA!" and her name was surrounded by little frosting stars, etc.
I also prepared a cheesy but awesome computer-made card. On the front was "JESSICA!" in big letters again, with a man hauling a huge cake around and the quotation, "I'll build her a cake or something . . ." near the bottom. When she opened it she would be greeted with the following message: "Going to Formal with Steven would be pretty SWEET . . . just like you!" On the back was the typical copyright message for "Super Gardiner Bros. Cards, Inc."
After ding-dong-ditching Michael's date that night, it was my turn. I approached the house, feeling quite nervous because of all the lights being on. I set the cake and card down but didn't ring the doorbell yet, as I still couldn't (and can't) really run due to my crippled-ness. I got back to the car as quickly as I could. Then, Michael, who was hiding in the bushes, lept out and rang the doorbell. After this courageous deed he sprinted to the car and we made our escape.
We swung by the house once more on our way out of the neighborhood to check on the cake. It had been taken inside the dwelling. Now the amusing suspense started.
I got a call in about twenty minutes that Michael picked up. He said, "Sure, I'll get him for you," and grinned as he handed me the phone. "Why, hello!" I exclaimed into the phone, acting surprised . . . to make a long story short, the official answer was a "HECK YES!" from a very excited young lady. I was thrilled. :) I don't know how many high-fives I gave Michael that night, but it was enough to annoy my parents like mad.
Hopefully this isn't misinterpreted. For the record, I'm not playing psychological games or trying to hurt somebody. I asked Jess out because I wanted to ask her out, it's just as simple as that.
Someone's gotta tell me what happens in Archer's class when this gets brought up, assuming it hasn't been already. :) I wish I could spy on COHS just to see the silliness that news from Michael and I must create sometimes.
So much to write about, and so little time. (it's 3:00 in the morning, people!!!) I'll stop at just this topic, but I'll have to tell you about the shotgun-shooting trip, the gig, and maybe even "thingy-hunting" in a later entry.
To sum up, Project Get-a-Date was a HUGE success, and pretty much the most awesome thing I've ever done. I'm going to LHS's Winter Formal (a "Masquerade Ball" this year) on January 7th with a lovely young lady who is loads of fun just to be around. Yes, everybody, believe it or not, Steven Gardiner got a date!!!
Given all the drama that's occurred in my romance department lately, getting a date for Liberty's Winter Formal was something to worry about. Let me explain . . . The first thing you need to know is that there are a bunch of cute Mormon girls up here. My mistake was to focus in on one of them, a course of action that, after a short period of happiness, only caused me pain, and lots of it. It's not that the others weren't or aren't cute. It's just that my cousin sort of hyped-up one in particular and I lost my head, especially after I found out she liked me. I should've known the situation was too good to be true. ::Sigh:: Childish naivete crushed by the harsh realities of life. At least our friendship survived . . . In any case, I learned my lesson.
I'd been worried (and I still am, though not quite as much) that in focusing my attentions on this one particular young lady I had alienated the rest against me, to some extent at least. No one likes to feel that they are only second-best, which, unfortunately, was exactly the message I had been sending. I don't know exactly what to do about that perception these days. We're not "together" in any sense anymore, but it may still be perceived that we are, or that I still view us in that way. I don't know exactly how I can go about dispelling misconceptions about the situation now. The damage has been done.
In any case, it was clear that Michael and I needed Formal dates, preferably of the cute variety. I'll let Michael relate his story later. I'll stick to mine.
In making my choice of who to ask, I really didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings, but I realized that a situation like that was probably inevitable. After considerable deliberation I decided to ask Jess (short for Jessica), but the plan of attack was not in place yet. Just walking up to her and saying, "Will you go to Formal with me?" was out of the question. It was simply not creative enough. I knew I could do better.
I was inspired by good old Napoleon Dynamite and decided to try the Pedro Sanchez method, that is, "build her a cake or something." So on Thursday, December 1, (after considerable problems in pursuing the plan, which I won't go into) I succesfully baked a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. In big frosted pink letters on the top I had written "JESSICA!" and her name was surrounded by little frosting stars, etc.
I also prepared a cheesy but awesome computer-made card. On the front was "JESSICA!" in big letters again, with a man hauling a huge cake around and the quotation, "I'll build her a cake or something . . ." near the bottom. When she opened it she would be greeted with the following message: "Going to Formal with Steven would be pretty SWEET . . . just like you!" On the back was the typical copyright message for "Super Gardiner Bros. Cards, Inc."
After ding-dong-ditching Michael's date that night, it was my turn. I approached the house, feeling quite nervous because of all the lights being on. I set the cake and card down but didn't ring the doorbell yet, as I still couldn't (and can't) really run due to my crippled-ness. I got back to the car as quickly as I could. Then, Michael, who was hiding in the bushes, lept out and rang the doorbell. After this courageous deed he sprinted to the car and we made our escape.
We swung by the house once more on our way out of the neighborhood to check on the cake. It had been taken inside the dwelling. Now the amusing suspense started.
I got a call in about twenty minutes that Michael picked up. He said, "Sure, I'll get him for you," and grinned as he handed me the phone. "Why, hello!" I exclaimed into the phone, acting surprised . . . to make a long story short, the official answer was a "HECK YES!" from a very excited young lady. I was thrilled. :) I don't know how many high-fives I gave Michael that night, but it was enough to annoy my parents like mad.
Hopefully this isn't misinterpreted. For the record, I'm not playing psychological games or trying to hurt somebody. I asked Jess out because I wanted to ask her out, it's just as simple as that.
Someone's gotta tell me what happens in Archer's class when this gets brought up, assuming it hasn't been already. :) I wish I could spy on COHS just to see the silliness that news from Michael and I must create sometimes.
So much to write about, and so little time. (it's 3:00 in the morning, people!!!) I'll stop at just this topic, but I'll have to tell you about the shotgun-shooting trip, the gig, and maybe even "thingy-hunting" in a later entry.
To sum up, Project Get-a-Date was a HUGE success, and pretty much the most awesome thing I've ever done. I'm going to LHS's Winter Formal (a "Masquerade Ball" this year) on January 7th with a lovely young lady who is loads of fun just to be around. Yes, everybody, believe it or not, Steven Gardiner got a date!!!