Date Report.

Who: Nephi Frank Tanuvasa, Canoe Pusher.
When: 6:45pm
Where: Mililani Town
What: Dinner at Tasty Korean BBQ (mmm, chicken Katsu), pit stop at Wal-Mart (got headphones!), Circle-Island drive in his truck, stop for Slurpees at 7-11, detour to the temple, prayer while parked right outside, home by 11.30pm. Talked a lot, laughed a ton. Cheeks sore afterwards. Great time.


Background

I mentioned briefly in a previous blog about the rumors that have been spreading at work, about a certain canoe boy who has been interested in me. I spend a good amount of time kicking it with the canoe boys at work when I can which is where I learned about it. I wasn't sure whether to trust them or not, so I just laughed it away. Miraculously, every time I've been there, Nephi would be on the other landing so I could never be sure.

Well, on the day of Fall Ball, I was asked by the boys at the landing if I was going to the ball.

"Oh no, I haven't been asked so I'm not going."

"What, you mean Nephi hasn't asked you?"

They then tried to ask me for him. It was ludicrous, really, but very funny to watch. I let them know that if Nephi was to ask that I would not turn him down, but that without sufficient time to plan, going on a date to the ball that very evening would be a pretty bad idea.

Then there was the wild goose chase. They radioed for him to come down to the landing where I was, but I had to return to my guests before he arrived. Later, I went to the other landing while he was there to send off one family on a canoe ride, but we missed each other in the chaos. I went back to the first landing to pick up the guests from their ride and learned that Nephi had been informed of his "duty". That he had said that he didn't have money for the ball, so the guys pitched in their quarters to help out. Gotta love them canoe pusher boys. Have you seen them minus a shirt? Oooh.

Anyway, they asked where I would be next so I let them know. Nephi finally caught up to me at my last stop for the day in the island presentation of Samoa. It was rather awkward. As he walked up to me, I knew exactly who he was and what he was going to do. Yet we had never really spoken before.

He stuck out his hand. "Hi, I'm Nephi."

Handshake. A giggle from me.

"Yeah, I know you. I've heard a lot about you. Hehe. I'm Faye, but you already knew that."

Wink.

"So... I'm supposed to ask you out on a date. When are you available?"

Hey, it was better than the one date he had told me about with a girl he had liked and was set up with in a situation similar to this one (so she was totally expecting it) for a dating etiquette activity. He had said "So... I guess I'm assigned to you."

It was cute and I had a good laugh. I enjoy tormenting a nervous guy with butterflies and find it absolutely amusing (in a good way) when they say the wrong things in their awkwardness. Makes me feel like some sort of evil goddess.

Somehow we managed to establish that since I pretty much had zero definite plans for the entire weekend, Saturday would be a good day for a date. The exchange of phone numbers soon followed. Ok, so it was more of me trying to write my phone number down onto the inside of the tag he was wearing for the Voyage of Faith donation drive.

It worked. He called me. We had a date tonight. A good one too.



The Guy

Samoan, born and raised in LA, moved to Laie when he was 10, served a mission in Las Vegas, just got home recently, that makes him 21 years old I think, eldest of 6 kids – he’s very pleased that we have that in common, as am I. Except that his is inversed. There are 2 boys and 4 girls in his family. Best friends with the guy I last went on a date on. Very much into football, something I know nothing about at all.

What else you wanna know?

All in all, very nice guy, very funny, easy to talk to, we have very little in common as far as background goes so I see no potential (could just be my preconceived notions, but I’m unsure) but I feel I can trust him and we get along well.

We also established on the way home, that his father was the 1st counselor in the bishopric of my last ward. It all made sense after that.



The Date

It was inexpensive, which was how I wanted it to be. Very casual. He was good at calling the shots and I like that because I hate deciding on where to eat and what to do when I’m not the one paying. We did have to flip a coin once though. I will always bring a coin with me on a date from now on.

Most of our date was spent in the car – driving around and talking. We exchanged embarrassing stories and laughing about them made the atmosphere very comfortable. I told him my farting-while-with-Richie story. It made him laugh.

We also addressed the issue of dating etiquette: door-opening in particular. When he first picked me up in his truck, he hesitated for a minute, as did I, but by the time he was getting ready to get out, I had laughed and said “It’s ok, I can save you the trouble and open it myself.” It really doesn’t bother me when guys don’t think of it.

After dinner though, he paused outside his truck and asked me if I wanted him to open doors for me and such. I explained that it really didn’t make a difference to me, but it’s always a nice gesture. I told him of how I would fight Mark to open my own door every time. He almost always got the door for me when going in, but I hardly ever had the patience to wait for him to open the door for me on the way out. Since some girls are picky about things like that, I advised him to make it a rule of thumb to always open the door unless told otherwise. He didn’t miss opening a door for me afterward. I also learned that it helps to take longer to gather up your stuff when leaving the car so you can give the guy a chance to get the door for you. What strange ways we have.

Some of the other topics of conversation included family, school, football, friends, work, the mission, corporal punishment, older siblings, Malaysia, LA, soccer… I don’t remember. We talked about a ton of things.

Oh, we talked about taking up new last names some. I told him of someone I knew who had the last name Gay and her step mom who had the first name Gay, then became Gay Gay. We had a good laugh over that. He said that if he had to take on a new last name, anything would be fine as long as it didn’t rhyme with his first name. We both concluded that Fei Gay would be the worst thing that could ever happen to me, but it was definitely worth laughing about until our sides split.

I better not write down every single thing we talked about. 1) It would take to long. 2) I still need to go on other dates, I may need to reuse this conversation and it would suck if someone read it here already!

Saying goodnight was kind of funny. We hugged, but then took a little longer to finish our conversation so we ended with a handshake. Hehehehe.



In conclusion, it was a great date. A++ I’d totally do it again. According to him, that was one of the best dates he’d ever been on. What can I say? I have my magical ways… I won’t be modest: I do make a good date. And girlfriend. And wife. Any bidders?

I’ve made a new friend, but am really nervous about what’s going to happen from now on. Am not sure I am interested in pursuing anything more, even though we hit it off really well, and am afraid that he will want more. I won’t know what to do then. However, that’s not something I need to worry about quite yet so I won’t.

I have now been on more official dates than I can count on one hand! Yippee! I didn’t even need to use my T-shirt as a cue card this time. The men just want me.





A date in which I have the lighter skin and he has the wider nose.