Picking Up Chicks

I've been married for a few months, and I've known my wife since mid-May 2007. Before we met, I was stuck in the BYU dating scene: I was single, and painfully aware of it. Not having a girlfriend, or even having something past a second date, made me feel like there was something wrong with me. Thankfully, those days are over.

When you're single (whether or not you're stuck in the dating atmosphere I was in), you have some kind of plan or approach for how you flirt. There are several things about yourself that you like and try to emphasize to the opposite sex, while trying to hide those things you're insecure about. For instance, among the people I knew, being outdoorsy was really cool. When my roommates would meet women, they'd find ways to bring up all the hikes and campouts in Provo Canyon they had done recently. I didn't do this at all, because I, like my sister, am "Indoorsy". I had to find other things to discuss, to emphasize ME. I'm a DORK. A HUGE dork. I'm 66% Geek, according to one site. I've been spending some of my spare time this summer reading one of my immunology textbooks, for fun. I read all 1500 pages of Les Miserables when I was in ninth grade, and it wasn't for a class. When I was in high school, I was President of the Band and the German Club (twice), and I regularly played Dungeons & Dragons. As you can probably imagine, I struggled a little bit in my flirting.

I tried emphasizing my major (Molecular Biology) and my career goals (Lab research in infectious diseases), but this always led to details about my research, or questions people had about specific diseases. This caused trouble, because, as my wife explained to me after we got together, most people aren't comfortable speaking casually about genital warts, anthrax, or 'bloody sputum'. Who knew?

Earlier tonight, I pulled "Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim" by David Sedaris from my shelf, and it reminded me of a technique I only used once before I met Lauren (so I'm not completely sure how good it was). Rather than doing something on a date that I hate, like hiking or bowling, I decided to do something I enjoy: reading books. Before going to pick the girl up, I'd take this book and pick out a story or two that I enjoyed and that was safe (some of his writing is a little too risque' to read with someone you don't know very well). After dinner, we'd sit down somewhere quiet, like my living room, and read to each other, taking turns at every section break. Those were my favorite dates I ever had. As I opened the book tonight to read it, several stories still had the corners of the pages folded in, to mark an 'appropriate' story to read.

These days, now that I'm married, I can do more shameful things, without fear or retribution. For instance, guess what I did this weekend, while I was sick, and my wife was busy reading silly books about vampires and teenage girls? Here's a few hints:

I saw this...


Also this...


A little of this...


And some of this every once in a while, too...


I played Super Nintendo on my computer! A lot! I beat Final Fantasy 2 (#4 in Japan, it's the source of the top three images), and dinked around a little with Super Mariokart.

Isn't Lauren lucky to have a winner like me?