Dating Diaries Challenge: A Blind Date

Max and Jenn made plans to see Man on Wire at the Archives and then go out to dinner. The documentary was so popular that the Archives quickly ran out of tickets, so the two went straight to dinner.

“Max had made dinner reservations for 9 o’clock based on the movie,” says Jenn. “Instead, we walked up to Chinatown and ate early. He brought a rose, which was really sweet.”

As they walked toward Oyamel, Jenn commented on Max’s height. She told him he’d seemed kind of insecure about it in the Dating Diaries posts. “That was a good ‘know thyself’ moment,” says Max, who admits he read all of Jenn’s posts two days before their date.

At dinner, Max and Jenn talked about school and jobs, the other people who do Dating Diaries, and food. “Food probably consumed half of the conversation,” she says. “There weren’t any awkward silences. The conversation flowed, and it was fun.”
They got along well, but both said there was no chemistry and thought it was more of a friend date.

“She’s a lot like some of my very good female friends but less like women I’ve dated,” says Max. “I tend to be interested in women who are more hipstery than she is. I’m a big believer in irony and cynicism as a motivating trait. And a lot of the people who I’ve dated before are very wonky.”

Jenn agrees they have different interests: “He’s a vegetarian and very into politics. That’s different than the type of people I go out with. There wasn’t any physical attraction or chemistry. He was very nice, and we had good conversation. I’d definitely set him up with someone else. And I could see being friends with him, but that’s it.”

It might have been a romantic bust, but it was a successful friend setup—the two have been e-mailing since their date.

Kelly DiNardo