Early last summer, I signed up for an online dating site. It was short lived and only managed to generate a total of 2 lunch/coffee dates before I wisely abandoned that fool-hearted idea within the span of a couple of short months. There's nothing wrong with dating sites. A lot of people use them these days to meet people, but for me specifically, it was the wrong time to go down that particular path. I was just so anxious to meet someone outside of my regular circle of friends (or outside of the horror "scene") that I jumped the gun when I obviously had more pressing (personal) matters at hand. And so I gave that up quickly. Went to NY in November. Made a record. Got re-inspired. And put my head back on straight. But alas, I was recently reminded of that first blind date from that online dating experience, and one specific detail that to this day continues to stand out for me.
And yes, of course it involves a mixtape. (Or a mix CD in this case!)
Naturally, this was technically a "first date," a blind one at that in the sense that we never even talked on the phone beforehand, so I arrived nice and early. Ya never know with LA traffic. Then again, it was on a Sunday morning, so the roads and streets were fairly quiet and empty. I parked a few blocks away and as I walked over to the restaurant, something caught my eye. A few stores down, sitting right on the bench outside a bar/pub/restaurant was what appeared to be a mix CD. I can't confirm that for sure, but when I see a CD in a little white envelope like that, it's the first thing that pops in my head. It had written in marker across it "10,000 Reasons." I looked around and there was literally not a soul in sight. Did someone just leave it? Forget it? Was it given as a gift and then abandoned by the recipient? My mind raced with a dozen scenarios. And then of course, I started thinking, well.... what's on it? Is it even a music mix? What does "10,000 Reasons" even mean? Is it reflective of the contents within? An inside joke or story for the person this was intended for?
Well, with no one around and complete disregard that I might be late to my lunch date, I took a picture of it and immediately texted it to my fellow mix making enthusiast Joe Maddrey. "Dude, take it!" he encouraged. But a mix to me is sacred. You don't just take one if it wasn't intended or made for you. So... I just left it there and made my way to my date.
Thankfully, I was early and when she arrived, we took my usual table in the back over by the divider for the restrooms and skipped lunch opting instead to go right to the pie! Now, here's the thing. It was a great date. I thought she was extremely lovely and smart and beautiful and sweet. I got the sense that she thought the same of me. But here's the rub. We didn't have a single thing in common. And when I say not a single thing, I literally mean not a single thing! No similar movies that we both loved, no similar tastes in music. I ordered coffee. She ordered tea. She didn't like horror movies at all and was unimpressed when I told her my friend Mike just texted me from the set of the movie he was making and that if she really wanted, we could go meet Steve Guttenberg that afternoon. OK, so what was the reason this silly dating site paired us up? Because we both liked "food." But in retrospect, that's like saying, "Hey, I really like air. Isn't breathing awesome?" But regardless of all this? We had a really great conversation that lasted 3 hours. We spent the first 2 hours nursing our hot beverages and talking about our families, our backgrounds, schooling, our in progress careers, exchanging jokes, ambitions, dreams. Every thing. Then we spend a bit of time walking around the streets of Pasadena and checking out a Halloween shop much to her dismay.
Despite being on the complete opposite spectrum's in terms of tastes and in just about every capacity, I rather enjoyed her company and would've gladly entertained the notion of getting together again. I mean, do you really have to have the same things in common with your partner? Isn't it more about supporting each others passions and goals? I was ready to do that. I myself have a lot of crazy, far fetched ideas of things I'd like to accomplish. But a few days later, she sent me an email saying that although I was a good guy and she too had a lovely afternoon, we probably weren't the right match and shouldn't get together again. She was right. Probably for the best. At least we had one really great date, which I guess is all that you can really hope for!
A few days ago, I went back for lunch to Pie 'N Burger for the first time since that date. It's funny, with the exception of this story above, I have nothing else to truly remember that afternoon with. She took a picture of her pie right before we dug in. Part of me wishes I had asked her to text it to me, so that at least I could have that same picture to remember that day with. But instead, all I have is that above photo of that "10,000 Reasons" mix CD.
And now, I regret more than anything not taking it! What was on that blasted CD? Would it have made my day any different? Any more memorable or special had I taken it and discovered some new music intended for someone else? Or was that just the way it was meant to be?
I guess I do have something to remind me of that lovely afternoon. It's that picture of someone else's mix CD and the wonder of "what if?"
