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From Christine's Viewpoint: It was the summer, and I was alone at college for summer courses, living on campus. I had 3 men suddenly email me in a single week about my bio, the third and last being on June 4th 1998. The first guy never struck my fancy, the second I didn't like too much, the third sounded interesting. I took a chance and gave my campus phone number (hey I don't have it that long so if anything happened..). Soon I received two phone calls. Guy #2 called me first, and my feelings were increased from before. He was a huge sports fanatic and couldn't stop talking about sports, his favorite teams, how much he works out, what sports he plays, etc. He kept on talking about himself and sports. He never asked me about myself, and whenever I interrupted to say a word or phrase, he just kind of ignored it and went on talking. I didn't get a word in or get to talk about my interests, and I'm not a big sports fanatic. Finally he had to go, much to my relief. (Though I was polite and didn't audibly react as such.) After I hung up the phone, I sighed in despair. Then later I got another call. I thought it was #2 again. (And believe me I wasn't looking forward to another conversation about how fantastic he is.) I answered the phone my usual way to find guy #3 was on the phone. At first I was shy, but then the conversation hit a cord of one of my interests. I began to talk freely and even laugh. The conversation hit off, and I felt comfortable with this man. We talked again and again, day after day. Finally I asked when we would meet. It seemed quite obvious that we were definitely in sync here. The date was set for June 13th, 1998 at noon. We would meet at Stanley Park, near my college. I was very eager and very nervous. Time passed by and the day came. I dressed in the T-shirt I described to him in an email, and took my umbrella. It was really raining that day. I decided to walk to the park early, so I could see this man, named Giuliano, come into the park. As I walked near the spot we agreed upon, I saw a car similar in color as to which he described. Couldn't be him. Not this early. I thought. All the time though, I kept thinking perhaps it was him. Perhaps he was looking at me walking in his rear view mirror. I felt a blush come on and became nervous once again. I shook it off and convinced myself that he would have to be over 15 minutes early for that car to be his. I walked into the parking lot, starting to go toward the car. The door opened and I felt my heart leap in my chest. Couldn't be him.. not this early.. don't get overexcited.. don't get nervous.. it can't be him.. I was nearing the car when a man came out of it with a smile on his face. It was him, it was Giuliano. He smiled and hugged me. Then he reached in the car and gave me a lone red rose. I didn't expect such a gift, I didn't expect any gift at all! I blushed again and smiled. Then I looked at Giuliano, who was smiling also, despite standing in the rain. I laughed as I said that we were "Grinning like idiots". (On a previous phone call, Giuliano said he bet we'd be "Grinning like idiots" when we met. He was right.) The rain began to slow down as we walked down to the Japanese garden by the parking lot. We walked toward the large duck pond, and the rain began to stop. I took out my bread to get the immediate attention of the ducks and geese around. I gave some to Giuliano. We soon found ourselves being chased not only by ducks but a half a dozen large geese. I joked that I would hide behind Giuliano. He sarcastically, jokingly said 'Thanks..' as I dashed behind him. We ran toward the covered bridge that spanned the pond. As we ran, I said in Monty Python style, "Run away! Run away!" We lost the geese and laughed. Then I got an idea. The covered bridge we were talking shelter in had holes in the sides of it. We began to throw bread out the holes. We joked that the ducks and geese must be confused, thinking the bridge was giving them bread. Giuliano wondered if the geese were gone. As soon as we ran out of bread, he went out to look. Giuliano was quickly chased by the geese again. This time they crossed into the bridge. I eeked and we ran quickly up the stone stairs nearby, agreeing to get out of there. As we neared the top of the stairs, we looked at the small church there. Ironically there happened to be a wedding taking place. I laughed and Giuliano just shook his head. We went to the car and decided to leave the park. I would later refer to this as the "Attack of the Killer Geese". I tried to go to the bank for money, and then for food at the local supermarket. Turned out I could only do the later. However after shopping together, we finally went to a small Friendly's nearby. We ordered the exact same thing, chicken fingers. Giuliano though added a salad to his order. As we waited for food, Giuliano held my hand and ran his finger up and down my fingers. I smiled and blushed. He complimented me and my smile and I blushed more. He seemed to like to make me blush a lot. After the meal, we finally went to my college. Giuliano brought in his TV and some anime tapes. We sat and watched anime together. Later, as I grew a bit tired, Giuliano offered to make some food for me. As I watched him, I felt happy and fell fully in love with this man. I thought to myself, I could get used to this.. I would be very happy to be like this forever. Well as you can see, our first date was a complete success. The next big bash we had together, was the 4th of July, our 1st month email anniversary. We had a great time together, and still enjoy each other's company today. But all that is another story. :) |
