Throwback Thursday, Journal Style.

You guys, I was reading through some old (OLD) journal posts the other day, from like 2006. Back when I was still in college. (Yes, I know...it was a long time ago.)

Anyway, I though you might enjoy reading a snippet of my heart locket girl diary from back in the day, in honor of Valentine's Day. So, I bring you: The Worst Valentine's Day Date Ever.

Me in 2006 with the Bad Dater. Too bad you can't see his eyes. You would have fallen for him too.

First, some background. I met Kyle* while working at my part time job at KBYU TV. I remember thinking he was beautiful.  A "I forgot my own name and now I'm saying idiot things and staring at your perfect eyebrows" kind of beautiful. Anyway, somehow we struck it off at work and he asked me on a couple of dates. At first, it was seemed like it was really going somewhere. He was nice and sweet, and--did I mention--ridiculously good looking.

On our first date he took me on a double date to a cool Italian restaurant in SLC. It was a charming little restaurant, and the dinner was going swimmingly.

And then...he had to promptly leave the table during the meal because of gastrointestinal distress.

For 20 MINUTES.

So, it was just me and this other rando couple, and worse yet, I'm preeeetty sure they were engaged. Or married. I just remember there was a lot of me staring at them awkwardly while they looked at each other. Yech. The worst.

(I wish I could tell you that the Italian date (or the one I'm about to tell you about below) is the worst date I've ever been on, but sadly, it is not even in the Top Five. I'll have to tell you about those others some time.)

Anyway, he ended up asking me out for Valentine's day, and this was the result. Enjoy, and feel free to laugh at my naiveté:

Well, Kyle called around noon before I went to work and asked me if it was okay if we could go to his little brother's basketball game for Valentine's day.  I was spooning with Hana, Steph, and Becca at the moment**, so I just said okay. 

When I hung up I was almost sure he was faking me out.  After all, he knew I didn't like watching basketball!  Not only that, but this is coming from the guy who took me to Mahler's Symphony! He knows how to be romantic.  So I knew we couldn't possibly be going to his little brother's basketball game.  Plus, I looked up the basketball schedule for Lone Peak, where his brother went, and they didn't have a basketball game that night!  Why would they, it's valentine's, after all!  I was sure that this was just some fake out and that he was going to take me to dinner, or to Color Me Mine, or something.

So we got in the car and we started driving toward Orem (that's where his little brother's supposed game was) and I was daydreaming about when we would arrive at the restaurant, and I would tell him that I knew we were going to dinner instead of his little brother's game, and that it was a good trick, that I was TOTALLY fooled (I wasn't going to tell him I knew because I looked up the schedule online)…and then we passed Riverwoods Mall. 

That's okay, I thought. There's still plenty of places to eat in Orem.  Maybe he's trying to make sure I really think we're going to his little brother's game.

Well, my bubble popped when we walked through the doors of Eagle Elementary School.  Turns out my detective work on the dates of the high school games had come to naught, seeing as this was NOT a high school game. 

Oh, no. 

It was a middle school game. 

His little brother was in middle school, not high school! Well, I was bored out of my mind!  Half of me wanted to chew Kyle out for thinking that I would have nothing better to do on Valentine's day than watch his little brother's middle school basketball game (okay, so I didn't have anything better to do, but still!). I was literally about to poke my eyeballs out, fake appendicitis, ANYTHING to not have to sit through the next hour and a half watching clumsy middle schoolers sweatily squeak around on the gym floor while my buns suffered from hard bleachers with no back on them. Worse yet, he was so into the (MIDDLE SCHOOL) basketball game that he barely made conversation with me.

I tried not to completely check out as I stared vacantly into space, clapping halfheartedly when they managed to throw the ball into the hoop. What a "date." I'm not really one for watching some sweaty, prepubescent 13 year-olds run up and down the gym floor while their parents scream at them from the bleachers. 

So, after that, we went to the malt shop and I got a shake.  It was okay, I guess.  

And there you have it, folks.  Now you can add "little brother's middle school basketball game" to things that you should definitely try to avoid on Valentine's day.

Yeesh.



*Name changed to protect the innocent
**What? We were four roommates, we liked to spoon. Stop being weird about it.

***Also, I just Googled him and he is still single. Although it looks like he travels the world now for fun and sees lots of awesome places and takes lots of National-Geographic-level photographs...but whatever. You know. I'm not jealous. Pfft.