The Monroe Street Journal

Issue date: 2/4/08 Section: Entertainment

Shveta is looking for a tall, sensitive, intellectual gentleman. We found her someone tall. Are giant babies in the mix?

Date: 7:00PM, Gratzi (Downtown)

Dan: I called ahead of time to say that I was going to be a little late - wanted to get properly lubed at happy hour. As it turns out, I made it on time and had a drink at the bar waiting eagerly for my date to arrive.

Shveta: I received notice that my date was going to be late, so I rolled in around 7:15pm. Much to my surprise, he made it on time and was already drinking.

Dan: My initial impression of Shveta was that she was cute and tall. Yeah, tall. She was wearing all black. Not like goth or anything, but a lot of black.

Shveta: Dan was wearing jeans, a collared shirt, and a sweater. I feel like that might be the MBA uniform or something. Anyway, he was tall. I was pleased because I always end up meeting guys who are short. He was tall.

Dan: Initially, things were a little uptight. It didn't help that Shveta had an exam the next morning so she was drinking waters. I was drinking for two, which was good by me. Eventually, she started to feel more at ease.

Shveta: The date was very casual from the start. He didn't seem nervous and I certainly wasn't nervous.

Dan: A buddy once told me that you can get drunk from drinking too much water. I don't think that's true because Shveta was totally sober and she drank a lot of water.

Shveta: We talked about our families, our upbringings, our paths to Michigan, etc. We talked a lot about who we were as individuals. The conversation was going smoothly.

Dan: There were no lulls in the conversation. We talked mostly about surface-level stuff, but we used a lot of big words so it seemed intellectual. She seemed nice and smart.

Shveta: Dan was very talkative and outgoing. Not sure if it was the alcohol or just Dan, but he had a lot to say.
Dan: I did most of the talking, but I like to hear myself talk, so I was having a good time.

Shveta: When the food arrived, Dan cranked up the talking, which was fine by me because I wanted to concentrate on my chicken dish. It was just ok.

Dan: She had the chicken, which she didn't seem to be enjoying. I ordered the seafood stew, which was awesome. I cleaned my plate, but still felt hungry.

Shveta: After killing the stew, he moved in on my chicken.

Dan: I warned her at the start of the meal that I would eat any unfinished food. She seemed receptive to it.

Shveta: I didn't have a problem with him eating the remainder of my meal. I don't like to waste food and he did forewarn me. He didn't have to grab the dinner rolls from the neighboring table, though. That was too much.

Dan: In between bites, I convinced Shveta to give me a free cleaning. Apparently I should floss daily. Who knew?

Shveta: He seemed excited that he negotiated a free teeth cleaning. I was happy to oblige. My tiramisu was so good, I would've agreed to just about anything at the time. Well, not anything.

Dan: After dessert, we decided to call it a night. She had a big test the next day and needed a good night's sleep.

Shveta: I called my friend to come pick me up because my car was in the shop.

Dan: I decided to be a gentleman and walk her to the car. I told her I would get her info. from the match makers. She seemed satisfied with that, but she's kind of hard to read.

Shveta: Had he asked for my number, I probably would've given it to him outright. I don't know how to be mean.

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