It went well, considering.
He was another medical professional, so I figured we'd have something to talk about. I actively worked on not noticing things that I would ordinarily notice that might typically bother me. Like... his silverware hitting the plate! Totally ignored it. Mostly. Well... halfway. Some of it. OKAYSOIALMOSTFLIPPEDOUTANDFORCEDHIMTOLEARNTOUSECHOPSTICKSSHEESHPEOPLE. >.> I was very delicate in my chopstick education, though, and we did get to "hold hands" a bit, and that was nice... until I realised what we were doing, and I got all awkward ha!
Then he asked the dreaded question... you know, that one question you hope your date, or the person at the party doesn't ask? Yeah... about your obsession... the ONE question that's going to trigger the hypermouth: he asked about my research. I got... wide-eyed. I thought to myself, "Don't do it, don't do it, don't do it." HA! I proceeded to stuff my mouth with sushi >.>
So, I guess he took the "cue" and said, "So I hear you're presenting at grand rounds tomorrow." Gnaaaah.... More research talk. So finally the dam broke, I even got into some equations (which, actually, made the waiter stare at us for a moment before walking away), and he didn't balk!
I think my only real problem with the date was me feeling like I need to "pretend" to be "normal." I place a lot of pressure on myself to look as good as possible, to hold things together as well as possible, and to keep everything in check. I get home and I'm *exhausted*.
Anyway, we didn't really make plans for another "date", though he is coming to my presentation tomorrow. My vacation has started (yes, I'm one of those science geeks that signs up for this type of thing and calls it "vacation"). He said, "Maybe we can grab a bite after grand rounds?" I think... he's not meaning at Panda Express.
I've never actually been able to talk about my experiences this openly before now. It's kinda weird having a community full of people kinda like me, or that can at least relate to some of what I go through. In any event, I thought I'd post.
_Bloom