Youngins

last night i went on a second date with a nice, adorable guy. 

who is 5 years younger than me. 

seriously, he's like a baby compared to me.

admittedly, when i went on my first date with him, i was more enticed by the restaurant he had picked vs. him. i had been reading a restaurant review for Psari and happened to get a text from the Youngin asking me to go to dinner at the same restaurant. and that's how i found myself on our first date. 

side note: Psari is off the hook good. if you like seafood, then absolutely run there. it's affordable and the food is very well cooked. the service is also affable and homey. we had the most adorable woman as our waitress. she was like my cool aunt giving us winks and nudges since we were obviously on a date. 

Seafood Combo ($30)

Grilled Octopus ($15): this was so good.

the date went well: he was easy to talk to and kind of adorable. 

which brought us to our second date. this time he came to my neighborhood (i won the coin toss) and we went to Brooklyn Buschenschank for some pizza (yes, it's a German bar. but it has a wood-fired oven and makes incredible pizza).

The Villager ($13)

Pretzel with Bier Cheese ($8): epic bier cheese, a little spicy, but the pretzel can get a little salty.

i forgot how perfect this bar is for a date. during the daytime/afternoon it's not bad either, but is suitable for both friend outings and dates. at night time, the place is dimly lit with only the candles on the tables providing the ambient light. très romantic. 

it was a pleasant date with nothing to really complain about. and i haven't really thought too much about where this whole thing is headed, since part of me considers him too young to be thinking about anything seriously. hence, we haven't had the "expectations" conversation yet.

what i did find interesting was the obvious "boldness of youth" that he had. most dates i go on, who happen to be closer to my age or older, tend to be reserved in the initial few dates, and that's fair, because so am i. 

so i was little surprised when, after we exited the bar, Youngin reached out to hold my hand for the walk back.it's a bold move for a second date. but also kind of sweet. people don't go for the simple hand-hold anymore during the casual dating phase of getting to know each other. it's usually one extreme or the other e.g. no physical contact at all or too much too soon.

but then again, Youngin is young enough that he still sees everything with rose-colored glasses. he hasn't experienced too much rejection and can still shake off bad experiences because they're few and far between. and that allows him to be bold and act without fear. it's adorable but also a stark reminder of just how far apart we are in age and our experiences.

but for now, i'm just gonna enjoy the ride and let myself get swept up a little in the capriciousness and straightforwardness of youth.

the 1st snowfall

it's snowing in NY! and i was actually awake to see it! of course it's because i've been sleeping at insane hours (basically vampire-like sleeping schedules) and now it's exams-time so i pretty much imagine being up virtually all the time now... regardless, it was nice to be up and see the 1st snowfall in the city (well ok, brooklyn, but let's not get technical).


it being my last wkd before disappearing into the dark, dank hell of reading period i decided to spend time w/some of my favorite ppl (tho i couldn't w/ALL my favorite ppl, after all i'm only 1 person). i had a mini-slumber party w/Bubby and Kiks at their apt in Astoria where we gorged out on fondue and tapenade, flourless chocolate cake and wine. i love doing that w/them b/c it reminds me of my Smithie days (it was an all girls school so every day was a slumber party). there were highs and lows to the night: we watched Spiderman 3 (low) and talked about going to Taipei for my spring break (very big high). i really really really hope that works out b/c i'm dying to go again. it's 1 of my favorite places in the world. anyone else interested in going? i'll totally go w/you...


next morning i got to see Bubby's dad who was visiting her from Albany. it's been a long long time since i've seen him but he's always fun and since he's a lawyer and successful too, definitely someone i aspire to be like so seeing him's like seeing a mentor-he helped me in deciding law schools, gave me a summer internship, wrote me a recommendation and was always there for advice. Kiks and i went to Costco which is always so addictive for me. i just can't help myself from buying stuff when i'm there. plus Kiks got to see 1st hand my "get out! shut up! no way!" shopping attitude which she also found hilarious. hmm...if only i could see myself doing it b/c everyone seems to find it so funny.

that night i also had a really fun pseudo-date w/1 of my favorite ppl. we went to Kenka and had a really late dinner. i always have a lot of fun w/him but this was 1 of our 1st times out together 1-on-1 (hence the term pseudo-date). i miss the days of being friends w/guys like i was w/O-Henry (once we became platonic-ish) and O. there's only 1 downside about dinner which was that our pseudo-date had to be a secret. it makes it really weird when i truly think about it. i mean, we're not doing anything. i mean, literally, nothing. we ate dinner and talked. is that really something that's got to be under wraps? ok, so yes we are a guy and a girl and yes, other ppl might not get it and those who don't might have their suspicions, but for me it's always been a "who cares" view about all that. people are always gonna talk regardless of what you do, but when you start keeping things secret, you make yourself look suspicious right? o well...maybe i'm just overthinking it and it's his choice plus since we're not anything romantic i'm not gonna make a fuss-but if we were that would be very bad