This past Sunday, James Wei called to have dinner with me yesterday.  I don’t know his intentions, but I figured one dinner would be okay.  He didn’t want me to feel “awkward” haha.  I am not romantically interested in him, but neither do I want to cringe when I’m around him.  And I feel that we’ve hung out enough in groups that I could tell him about my diagnosis since I’m not terribly secret about it.  I’m writing this because some people say that I didn’t give this guy “a chance.”  Au contraire.  I had barely seen a handful of times that guy who wanted to ask me on a series of date to see where we would go.  I am not in a state to be seeing anyone.  James just asked me to one dinner.  Yes, he may be planning future appointments, but my answer is to his direct question and not to my assumptions of his “ulterior motive.”  I figure this one meal would be a good time for me to share what I have to share about my depression, and for him to personally let me know what he wants to tell me–in person. 

So I was clear with him, saying dinner would be fine but I really am not a planner and am not sure how I would feel that night (perhaps too tired) or if I would be working on homework for the next day.  He called Wednesday night to confirm, and I said I would actually prefer Friday, so he said that would be fine.  And then it turns out today I got off work later than usual, so I had to call him again to let him know that I was running late.  I told Vickie that I felt like I was a girl trying to say “no” but had the inability so I keep putting it off, but I’m not!  By the time I got home it was already 6:15 so I hopped out of my car in my stiff work clothes and hopped into James’s car.  He took me to Nan Mang Korean Restaurant?  It’s very close to Ko-Mart and WHCC.  We kind of had to eat fast because we wanted to listen to the descendent of James Hudson Taylor (the missionary) speak!  We left the restaurant around 7:45 p.m.  We were late (bumped into Mrs. Lin), but Vickie came later, too.  Linton, Jonathan Eng, Greg, and Faye’s husband Simon were there as well.  I could barely stay awake by 9 p.m.  Afterwards they had different mission opportunities set up in booths in the gym.  Braden’s sister was there (wow, sure different from the last time I saw her as a teeny girl camping).  There’s a poster with EPCBC; the only people I recognized in the photographs were Linton’s parents and Sunny’s brother.  We snacked on Christmas tree cookies…?  They were talking of hanging out afterwards but I was too tired so James took me home by 10:30 p.m.

I enjoyed our time at the restaurant (non-date?) because I realized that I knew next to nothing about James.  We talked about our families (his father and sister are in Taiwan but his mother, who’s his greatest support, lives in Houston).  We also talked about church and God, a general idea of how we came to know Him.  It was mostly “surface” topics, but still necessary information in my opinion.  Also, I felt the conversation flowed pretty well.  I’m not good at asking questions.  He doesn’t appear to be an expert on it, either.  But we both are also not exactly guarded individuals.  He’ll offer some information, and then I’ll offer some stories in response/relation to what he said.  He allows me to talk all the way through, and I pay him the same respect.  Now I can say I know him as well as I know…celebrities I hear about in the news, haha!

date1      [deyt] 

–noun 

6. an appointment for a particular time: They have a date with their accountant at ten o’clock.
7. a social appointment, engagement, or occasion arranged beforehand with another person: to go out on a date on Saturday night.
8. a person with whom one has such a social appointment or engagement: Can I bring a date to the party?