I HAVE A DATE!!!!

I have a date I have a date I have a date = )

Can you tell I'm a little excited? Is it weird that I'm so excited? Maybe I'm too excited.

I got home tonight and ran in the house to tell my roommate news. However, her "enthusiasm" left me wanting. I wanted her to jump up and down giggling with me, but all she did was sit on the couch with her sister and say, "Good!"

Ugh. Whatever. Thankfully I do have other friends who know how to love and how to be happy for someone other than themselves. Not that Isa is totally consumed with herself, I just expected her to be more excited.

ANYWAY.......I freakin' have a date!

It happened after Cru tonight. I was walking out of the weekly meeting when he (I haven't thought of a code name yet. i guess I could use his real name. He used to read this blog, but I changed the url so he couldn't see it anymore. sneaky? maybe not) followed me out the door and said, "Hey Rachel."

About the same time, my friend Dana hit me on the arm. I looked at her, then looked at him. In my mind I uttered a feeble "Uuuuuuummmmmmmmmmm...." Then walked over to Dana.

"Hey!" I said and gave her a hug. "How are you?"

I don't really remember what she said. I feel kind of bad because I half way ignored her knowing that "he" was standing right behind me, waiting to talk about something.

I had a feeling he was about to ask me out. On Monday I had gone to Kaldis to work on my prayer letter and prepare for this week's Bible Study. "He" walked in to say hi to a friend then sat down at my table to chat (btw...its really awkward saying "he" all the time).

We talked for an hour. Chatted about this and that. A lot to do with ministry and what we're planning to do next year and blah blah blah blah blah.

"So do you have any big plans for the weekend?" he asked.

"Yea. Saturday we have fellowship dinner and my parents are coming into town for that."

"Oh ok. So are they coming in just for that on Saturday or will they be here on Friday too?"

"Yea," I responded, "they'll be here Friday."

"So on Friday night you're hanging out with your parents and Saturday night you'll be at fellowship dinner?"

What's with all the clarifying?

"Yep." I said. "What are you doing?"

Pause.....

"Oh, I don't know. I don't really have any plans, but I hope to be outside since its going to be so nice."

Another pause.

I wonder if he was going to ask me out on a date?

We continued talking for a while longer then his sister called and he left to go meet her.

So I'm standing in the hallway after Cru. I turn my back on Dana and look at him who has been patiently enduring the awkwardness.

"So what's up?" I ask.

Chris and Eric are a few feet away on my left. Katie is on my right, talking to some friends and waiting for me to take her to her car.

"Well," he said. "I was just wondering if you had any plans for next Saturday night?"

I knew it!

"Nope," I answered. "Not as of yet."

Not as of yet? Who talks like that?

"Cool." he said. "Well I was wondering if you would let me take you out. Ya know, maybe go to dinner or something."

He was very intentional with his words and with his eye contact.

"Umm...yea! That would be really fun!"

"Cool," he said. "So next Saturday night?"

"Yea! I'll see if I can pencil you in."

Pencil you in? That's exactly what I made fun of Jim for saying. ewe. Why am I so weird.

I don't exactly remember what his response was. My brain sort of went into over drive as I anylyzed everything around me.

I hope Chris and Eric didn't hear what just happened. Oh my gosh! What will Elizabeth think? Do you think anyone is listening. Oh crap. What are we going to do? Am I actually excited about this date?

"Well," his voice interupted my thoughts, "I already talked to Caleb and I thought we could go on sort of a double date with him and Maria. How does that sounds."

Wishing I would stop smiling so much I said, "Oh. You know I love MAria so that would be awesome." (and hopefully I didn't actually use the word awesome. I don't exactly remember).

"Alright then. Next Saturday it is."

"Yea! Thanks!"

"Well," I continued motioning towards Katie. "I guess I better get going and take this kid to her car."

"Alright. See ya!" he said.

"Bye."

And that was the end. I now have a date for next Saturday. My second date in 4-and-a-half years. Maybe now the posts will start showing up more frequently. Thanks for reading!



Okay.....so I need to confess a little facebook stalking incident that happened prior to the ask out on date incident.

On Wednesday night I was up late working on stuff for our East Asia Summer Project. Naturally, my the internet signed on to facebook so I could browse around and innocently catch up on my friends' lives.

Maybe I purposefully searched for this persons profile and maybe I was reading his wall just to see who was writing on it, or maybe I accidently clicked on his picture in my newsfeed. Either way, I found myself reading a post by his friend Mike that said:

"dude. i bought some of that delicious fresh peppered turkey from Hyvee and I can't stop eating. Please save me."

Now, you should know that last semester, Isa introduced me to HyVee's fresh peppered turkey and it is delicious. By far the best deli turkey I have ever eaten, and I've eaten alot of turkey. My mind was so focused on the fact that someone else appreciated HyVee fresh peppered turkey as much as I did, that before I knew it, i was commenting on the post:

"maybe it's weird that I'm commenting on this, but my roommate introduced me to that turkey last semester and I think its my favorite turky ever."

Innocent enough right? Well, on Thursday afternoon I signed onto facebook again to see that "he" had replied to my comment.

"no. not weird at all....until I realized that you must have been facebook stalking me to read this."

"maybe I was," I responded. "or maybe I just saw it on my newsfeed. you can choose to believe whichever you want."

Unfortunately for me, he's choosing to believe I was stalking him (which actually is the truth), but it must have flattered him because that very night he asked me out = )

Article # 2!

There is one thing I really don't like about writing for this online magazine and one thing I really do like.

The thing I really don't like is that I can be shallow in my writing and still get my work published. I don't have to work to hard or research or do anything like that and they still want it.

The thing I really do like is that I can be shallow in my writing and still get my work published. I don't have to work too hard or research or do anything like that and they still want it.

This article could be so much more....info on eharmony and match.com, more statistics, more interviews. It could have been really fun and really insightful. Unfortunately, I don't have time for that. And that is why this job is perfect right now. Because it just has to be good enough. And I'm not sure how I feel about being okay with that. Oh well! Happy reading.

http://www.gradmagazine.com/2010/02/love-eharmony-style/

Bleh!

5 reasons Why You Want to Learn How to Pick Up a Stripper to Improve Your Dating Game

Step 1: Click the above link

Step 2: Read the article

Step 3: Join me in being pissed off at this Bonsai Dating Coach guy.

I mean, seriously? Seriously? He has got to be joking.

Unfortunately, he's not. If you read far enough, you will see a number of comments from other assholes who actually gave his crappy advice a shot.

"Don't give up!" says Mr. Asian Dating Man. "Anyone can be good with women. It just takes practice."

Well, you know what I think--if you have to learn how to act around women by going to a strip club, then you're screwed. First of all, strippers can read you a lot better than that. They're not dumb. They're just using you to make money; so all your little tricks to get them to think you are interested most likely won't work.

Second of all, you'd be lying. You're not interested in them for anything other than their looks so basically all your doing is teaching yourself to be a prevaricator. And you're probably not even smart enough to figure out what that is (of course neither was I until I used my handy dandy thesaurus...but that's beside the point).

Likewise, I can only imagine the sort of pride and arrogance that accompanies successfully screwing a stripper, and that type of attitude is generally not attractive. What are you going to do? Approach the cute girl at the bar next weekend and impress her by telling her that not only did you go to a strip club, but you made friends with the stripper and now you two are besties? Yea....that'll win her over. NOT! If I were her, I'd throw my drink in your face.

The worst part about this little blogger is that he has over a thousand followers. That's a thousand (times at least ten because they probably discuss this crap with all their friends) men who are being brain washed to believe that this is what women want. And the reality is, they will probably land some crazy girl whose too insecure to say "no" to a fabricating jerk who not convinces her that not only is she the prettiest girl he's ever seen, but also the smartest.

Oh man....it's articles like this that only make a girl like me more critical. Thankfully, I've somehow managed to find myself in the company of a few good men who can counteract this sort of thinking and that there are actually nice guys out there.

Ugh...now I'm too mad to think of something worth writing. Good night!

Yay!!!!

Nothing Important.....just my first article for grad magazine!!!!

Just click on the link on the left to read a little advice about texting during a date. Sorry....not nearly as interesting as the crap on this blog, but read it anyway. Who knows...one of your quotes might show up!

Words of Wisdom from Ursula the Sea Witch

Okay....I know you've all been anticipating the link between my dating life and Ursula the Sea Witch. And I can almost bet that when I reveal it to you, you will be shocked to know that you were getting such scandalous advice as a seven-year-old. Nevertheless, I am not opposed to unveiling Disney's questionable methods of exposing children to subtle innuendos.

About a month ago my friend Michelle pointed out that a guy was interested in me (I think we've already established that I've spent 4 years training myself to be oblivious to these things).

"How do you know?" I asked.

"Because," she answered, "he was totally leaning into you! His shoulders were turned towards you, his body was open towards you. It was obvious.

"You, on the other hand, stayed completely closed off."

Then she proceeded to re-inact the way I kept my arms crossed and my body turned away from him.

"Did you think he was attractive?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Then show it! It's all about the body language..."

And immediately I remembered sitting on the floor of my living room, a child of the '90s, watching The Little Mermaid, and giggling as Ursula placed a hand on her hip and said,

"And don't underestimate the importance of body language...HAA!"

Then she gave her butt a little shake and sashayed away.

I remember wondering what the heck body language could mean. I never dreamed it would be useful 15 years later when I would need to know things like touching a guy on the arm was a , or turning your body towards him, or looking in his eyes are good things.

Now, before you think I'm a total prude (not that that's a bad thing. In fact, it would probably be better than what's actually true), you should know that I do actually know all of those things and then some. The problem arises when I try to figure out what's appropriate and what's not. I spent my entire high school career living on the side of inappropriate, lacking any self-respect, then moved to the land of self-righteous goody-goody who didn't want to touch a guy with a ten-foot pole.

Okay, maybe that's a little over dramatic. But you get my point.

Anyway, all I'm trying to say is that next time you watch a Disney movie, pay attention. You might learn a thing or two from your favorite princess....or sea witch.

For more information, please click the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCaMgGIeVVI

I'm officially an expert!

Well friends, I did it. I got a freelance writing my job (just one check off my list of things to do and risks to take in 2010). GradMagazine.com...check it out! The official launch is March 1st, and I, Rachel Henderson, will be your dating and relationships contributor.

"We would like you to post 3-4 articles per week," the editor said in a letter to all contributors. "The article topics are up to you. After all, you are the experts in your area..."

Expert! Ha! That's the funniest thing I've ever heard. I start a blog about dating, give a little advice here and there, and suddenly I'm an expert? I think my life should be turned into a romantic comedy...light on the romantic, heavy on the comedy.

But I'd like to say a quick thank-you to all you faithful friends and readers, for reminding me that despite my lack of skill in the dating arena, writing is one thing I can do well. That, and blogging a bunch of BS about the dos and don'ts of dating = )

Speaking of which, I'd like to take this time to repeal a few things I said about the one and only date I went on this semester. Yes, I know, I've already apologized for being too critical, but I just want everyone to know that "Jim" is actually a great guy and some girl will be lucky to have him one day.

No, LeeAllie, I am not falling for him. I just recognize that I was a little too harsh for the sake of entertainment. And while I don't think that Jim and I would actually ever hit it off, I'm glad that we are friends now.

There....that's the end of that. And being that nice felt a little weird.

I suppose I could continue on and give you some more of my expert advice on dating, but that seems a little out of place right now. I've got an entire article sitting in my back pocket, waiting to be revealed to the world, but that will be for another day.

For now, I suppose all I have to say is, get out there and take some risks. Go hangout with people--guys and girls. Don't put all the pressure on "finding" a date. Just do what you like and be who you are and the right person will come your way.

Oh....and one more thing....my friend Elizabeth would tell all you girls to make sure you're alluring. Just because you're not "on the prowl" (that's weird) and looking for someone doesn't mean someone isn't looking for you. So if you want to get a date, dress in a way that makes you feel confident.

Okay, that's about it for now. Oh yea...and the barista from the "eye flirting" article sold me a vanilla latte on Thursday and told me he liked my earrings. I don't know if he remembers me, but the whole looking alluring thing at least worked a little!

Hope you all a good weekend! And if you need advice on how to be alluring....I'm your girl = ) After all, i am an expert!

Haitians like dating too

"So uh do you like Celine Dion?"

I'm walking up the gravel path after an evening of watching a game of pickup soccer and singing songs with girls who

don't speak English. They braided each other's hair

while I picked up the tune on

the keyboard. We snickered at each other's mistakes.

It's dark outside now. Crickets chirp, and the Caribbean heat hugs my skin. Jasmine, Katherine, and I are walking with Simon and the guy with one shoe. I can smell Elise's Cajun cooking as we near our temporary home on the Seminaire Theologique Nazareen de Haiti campus in Port au Prince.

"Near....far....wherever you are!" Simon's Haitian accent clashes

with memories of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. He puts his left hand to his heart and lifts his right in bravado. "I believe that the heart will, go on and on..."

"Hehe," Jasmine giggled. "Yea, we know that one."

"What what about 'it?" Simon asked.

"It?" she asks.

"Yes, 'it."

The three of us give each other side glances.

"You know....'it!" Simon throws a rock at the school bus on our left.

"You mean throw?" I say.

"No!" he says. " 'it me baby one more time!" he moves his hips in motion with the song.

"Oh my gosh!!!" the three of us burst out laughing.

"Brittney Spears!" the five of us shout in unison.

"Yes! Yes!" Simon says. "Brittany Spears. We learn English by watching American music videos."

"Well, those are someold videos." Katherine says.

"So," Simon says turning to Jasmine. "You study psychology?"

"Yes," she answers quietly.

"Well, when I am a pastor I will need a good wife. A pastor's wife

must be good and love the Lord so she can help others and maybe counsel people."

Jasmine's eyes widen at the emphasis put on counseling.

"And maybe she will need to sing too because I will be pastor and I cannot lead the church in music. The will be wife's job."

"Jasmine," Katherine says. "You sing."

"You do?" Simon's facelights up.

"No!!!" she says.

"Well, we should probably get going," I say. "I think dinner is ready."

"Goodnight Jasmine," Simon says as we walk away.

The next day Jasmine and I walk the short distance to the college library. It's

small and bare--a meager collection compared to those we have in the U.S. Simon finds us there and brings Jasmine his favorite book on marriage.

"That's nice," she says. "Rachel, don't we need to go back to the house now?"

I smile and lead the way to the door.

"I will see you later, yes?" Simon calls.

"Maybe!"

Simon....one of over a hundred people I made a connection with last March in Haiti. Simon, a man, a person with--a dream of being a pastor, a dream of helping others, a dream of finding love.

I know my blog is usually humor filled and packed with wit. And I hope I made you smile tonight. But sometimes, things get serious. On Tuesday, things surpassed serious in HAiti. I write to you this little snippet of my experience in Haiti in hopes that you will find a way to connect with Simon and others like him.

We all long to make a connection with that special someone that we will spend the rest of our lives with. We thrive off the hope of love. Although Simon's techniques may not jive with our suave American ways, his desires are no different ours. Haitians are people too. They're strong, they're fun, they're loving. And they will accomplish their dreams. But right now, they need your help. So don't forget about Simon. Don't forget about Haiti. Help them overcome this hardship and accomplish their dreams.

For information on how to help visit:

http://www.caribbeannazarene.org/wmcaribbean/Ministries/CompassionateMinistriesNCM/DisasterResponse/News/HeresWhatYouCanDo/tabid/934/Default.aspx