Marty is a 39-year-old “record store jerk” who lives at Bloor and Ossington. He says that his friends think he is easygoing and laid-back, “but I fear that I’m actually moody and uptight.” He likes to hang out at shows, visit the library, collect comic books, magazines, and records, and play with his cat. Before he met Amanda, he says his dating life was “disastrous, confusing, and drunken.”
I first met Amanda at a music festival a few years before our first date. She was sunburned, dead drunk, and waving this giant bag of Funyuns in my face, demanding that I eat some. I can’t remember what was said, but she established that I was a fool, then wandered off. I hated her.
A couple of years later, I ran into her at a house party. Her hair had grown out and she sort of had this ’50s librarian thing going on. We actually had a decent conversation. Another day soon after that, I passed her having coffee on a patio with a mutual friend. Later that night, our friend g-chatted me, saying that Amanda said I was looking good. I started liking her immediately.
I was working on my email strategy for asking her out, but Amanda got the jump on me with an email peppered with caps lock. She mentioned an upcoming staff Christmas party, so I basically invited myself. The party was at The Docks and the theme was Doctor Zhivago. We were promised an open bar, ice sculptures, free sushi—even a room made out of candy.
As we decided on the details of where to meet, we discovered that we lived right across the street from each other. I took that as a good omen. We met at the subway and trekked down to the party. It seems weird to say, but from the moment our date started, everything just felt so natural in a way that’s never really happened with anyone else before, like there was never really any choice in the matter.
Once we got to The Docks, it was utter mayhem. There were so many people and things going on that there was no way to have a proper conversation, so we just stood around pointing and laughing. One room was made to look like an ice castle, with giant beds draped with furs hanging by chains that were attached to the ceiling; young, shirtless men were wearing water-gun backpacks filled with booze; the cast of Degrassi: The Next Generation was dancing to “Jump Around” by House of Pain.
Near the end of the night, Amanda and I ended up walking through the room with the beds again. I decided it was only appropriate to wrap myself in one of the furs and walk out of the building into the night. A security guard eventually caught up with us at Polson Street, retrieving the fur while shaming us for our behaviour. When we finally stopped laughing, we trudged to the bus stop and made our way home. Once we were back in our ’hood, I walked Amanda to her door and never looked back.
Marty rates his date (out of 10): 10
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