COLUMN: Improvising keeps things fresh

Everyone is busy in college. Maintaining a good GPA, social life and keeping your bank account full can be very difficult.

My date for this week got thrown a curveball. Initially, I had made plans to take my date on an outing Thursday night, but she had to cancel at the last minute because of an upcoming midterm and offered to reschedule on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday.

Unfortunately, I work on the weekends, so instead of passing on an opportunity to go on another date, I did what most successful college daters do; I improvised.

I, too, should have actually been studying, but everybody has to eat. Altering my previous plans, I called in a favor with the wonderful staff at RED Steakhouse and picked up a fantastic dish prepared by chef Kirk Phillips.

I then met up with my date in the Muenster University Center and we went upstairs to eat our meal. I even brought an electric candle, because I am cheesy like that.

Dinner went really well. The conversation was delightful and the company was more than pleasant. It was refreshing to go out with someone who just owned her quirks. Frequently, people seem to put on façades to cover up who they are. Granted, it is probably not ideal to pass gas and show up to a date without showering, but why do we painstakingly hide who we really are?

The upstairs of the MUC provided a much more relaxed atmosphere than a restaurant. We found a somewhat quiet corner, with the exception of an open mic in the pit and strollers practice. When we opened the food, we discovered I had stupidly forgotten the forks. I felt like an idiot and it could have ended badly, but luckily my date quickly established it was no big deal and ran off  to grab some from downstairs.

I think people quickly judge others on dates, whether they’re good or bad, and it is important to keep in mind that the other person is probably just as nervous as you. If a chance arises to relieve some of that tension, it will probably be appreciated.

She even went a step further and returned not with two forks, but with four, which I ended up needing cause I broke my fork.

For years, Verve featured a columnist who I think insulted the entire male population at the University of South Dakota. She claimed they were not capable to provide suitable dates for women. I realize I have many flaws, and don’t get me wrong, my date had some ideologies and personality traits I did not share, but she just owned it.

My past experience has provided me dates with several USD girls who act all tough with a devil-may-care attitude, but after peeling back a couple layers of make-up, they are just scared little girls with a daddy complex.

Case in point, my date was a dog person. She was the first to admit she is a little over-obsessed with her dog. This may not seem like a big deal, and it wasn’t, but if she would have pretended not to be that obsessed and I later found out she was, it would be an issue. I would argue that if more people worried less about what others thought and more of what they thought of themselves, dates would go much better.

Rule number two: Be ready to improvise your plans, but own your personality. People are busy in college and things will go wrong on dates. There is no way to plan for everything, so prepare to roll with anything. Furthermore, we are all flawed, but it is our impurities that make us unique and interesting.