and so *the date* . . .

okay . . . so i ended up having not so bad of a time last night on the date with ray lewis. we decided to meet up at nami, a japanese hibachi grill restaurant, at 745pm. we were supposed to meet up earlier, but me being the dummy that i am, couldn't find my house keys and had to stop up at my roommate's job to get her keys and then take them back to her after i was done with them. and then i ended up finding my keys anyway but that's a different story entirely.

so like i said, we met up at nami at 745pm. and we waited for a hibachi grill to come available. and we waited. then we waited some more. finally, we got seated at one about 830pm, but the service was terrible. ray lewis ended up going to the bar and ordering us two waters since the server was taking FOREVER to come to our grill. finally she came and took our orders and then we waited for the chef to come out. and waited some more.

if you've never been to nami, it's actually quite the experience. the first time around. i've been there several times, but i'm not sure ray lewis knew that and i think that he thought that this would be an impressive / fun place to take a date. had i not been STARVING from the gym taking everything out of me, i might have enjoyed the show more. but i was pleasant and didn't complain, even though secretly i just wanted yoshi -- the hibachi chef -- to just throw my meat on the grill, cook it, and leave his japanese cowboy and volcano jokes at the door.

finally, we were able to eat . . . at 9pm. no joke. when yoshi got my meat cooked, i was the only one who had finished all the rice and vegetables, with only the meat left. he made a remark about that of course, but at that point, i really didn't care. even ray lewis, who is a big beefy dude, managed to wait to get his chicken, steak and shrimp before finishing the rice and vegetables. either way, i ate the steak and some of ray's shrimp and finally got full. at 930pm. haha!

but the conversation with ray wasn't so bad. he's not bad-looking at all and he dresses well. he's someone i could see myself hanging out with on a friendly level, but definitely not on a romantic level. he walked me to my car after dinner -- which he paid for and tipped generously, i might add -- and opened the door for me. and then there was that awkward moment of *is he going to try to kiss me?* but he was a perfect gentleman. i think he wanted to, but he hugged me instead. and i knew at that moment that he and i would never be romantic. the thought of me kissing him almost made me cringe. just don't like him like that.

we're meeting up on sunday to hang out since i will have jared and have no intentions of waking a 2 year old up at 730am to get ready for church. not sure what we'll do, but i am actually looking forward to the conversation. and i'm bringing jared along as a shield. he can't try to kiss me when i have a baby, right?