Sometime in December 2018
We match on coffee meets bagel
My roommate Julie bullied me into getting Coffee Meets Bagel. His interests are bare: "Driving, skiing, video games, Ariana Grande." I like none of those things, but I swipe yes because he is cute.
His first message to me, after seeing I hated bananas, says, "I hope strawberries have been kinder to you." I laugh. Good sign.
Planning our first date
He asks about my New Years Day plans. Because it is going to be an unsual 60+ degrees in January, I plan to bike around Brooklyn. He suggests we bike to a midpoint cafe and hang.
Oh no: He wants to meet at like 9 in the morning though? On New Years Day? like
December 31st, 2018
The Night Before (New Year's Eve)
My friends and I party late, then decide to stay up until 8:30 AM to order Dominican breakfast. We watch movies until El Castillo de Jagua opens -- except they do not open. Dejected, we order IHOP and my friends leave. I'm exhausted and I need to sleep, badly.
I text that 9am is not happening, he reschedules to 12pm. I skeptically agree. When I wake up and say that 12 is unlikely, he offers to bike somewhere closer to me.
January 1st, 2019
First Date: Coffee shop
YESS. I pick a cafe literally 2 blocks from my apartment so I can sleep longer. We agree to 3pm and I fall back asleep. I wake up late (LOL) so hop on a bike to save me some minutes.
I walk in, and remember feeling like we've known each our whole lives. Greeting him feels like greeting an old friend. We talk for 2 hours. That good, deep introvert kinda conversation where we talk about our values and hopes in life. Yeah he's super cute.
January 7th, 2019
Second Date: Careless whisper
We part ways at Union Square train station after our second date and SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE IS PLAYING CARELESS WHISPER ON THE SAX. I immediately break into the hugest smile. There is a running joke that whenever good things come into my life or are meant to be, Careless Whisper plays in the background somewhere. (This has happened multiple times.) I take this as a blessing from the gods.
January 9th, 2019
Third Date: Emmy squared (Pizza)
2 days later, I attend a workshop in James's neighborhood (Williamsburg). I ask if he wants to high five on my way to the train, embarassed that I want to see him again so soon. (I'm usually a bit more aloof.) He insists on meeting for pizza and drinks.
I am surprised that after a full workday followed by a 2-hour workshop, talking with him energizes me instead of exhausting me. I realized how much fun we have every time we get together and talk.
That night he sends me a New Yorker article about bees that ate so many maraschino cherries that they produced red honey and accidentally revealed a weed operation inside of a maraschino factory. I send him a New Yorker article about how figs are made by wasps crawling inside and dying.
January 23rd, 2019
Fourth Date: Our First Kiss
We make out for the first time at Union Square and his hat falls off and the next day my boss tells me he saw me.
February 14th, 2019
Valentine's Day: Ice Skating
I ask if he is down to ice skate (my favorite ice rink in NYC is closeby). Turns out he LOVES skating (played hockey). This guy's skating backwards, dancing, we're zooming really fast, having a great time.
He gives me a present. It is 5 tubes of paint, carefully select from a photo I said I wanted to make into a painting. I accidentally cry.
March 11th, 2019
He farts in front of me for the first time, many times.
He is in Austin to present at SXSW, and I join him for a weekend. We have a great time. Our plans form seamlessly, hours stretch and go on forever, we explore like kids and share everything.
He eats a tub of Ben n Jerry's Americone Dream by himself at the motel. We discover he is lactose intolerant. While he is curled in agony and I am burping his lower back so he can release more gas, I realize how much fun I am having.
May 6th, 2019
Catsitting LOL
I am going to Korea with my family, and I ask if he can catsit for 10 days. James very nervously and reluctantly accepts. They become best friends. He stages an 80's style portrait photoshoot with Spooky, and I laugh and laugh and fall in love.