main quest: dinner
when my partner J and i plan for our dates, we make it happen around dinnertime, which is currently the best solution for:
- me, who finishes her shift by 5 PM
- J, whose shift starts at 9:30 PM
that and combined with the fact that our free time doesn't align anymore (mine are on weekends, his are on monday and tuesday), but we pulled it off somehow! most of our dates happen on his rest days so we have more time to spend together
for one of our dates, we visited this year's Big Bad Wolf, an annual book sale event that a lot of people look forward to (us included). we left the venue having spent zero money 1, which meant we have extra cash we could spend at the food stalls (but we didn't, because waiting in line wasn't worth it)2
after mulling over where to eat, J suggested to have dinner at my favorite restaurant! i agreed, and we went on our merry way
it was probably 9 PM by then; the restaurant wasn't as busy, and we already gave our order. we watched reels together while waiting
- 35 minutes in, J noticed it was taking too long
- 15 minutes later, we discovered they lost our order somehow (they were apologetic)
- by 10 PM, it finally arrived
feat. our late dinner with labels and doodles
this is gonna be sappy, but going through these mishaps together made it less annoying and more fun! ironically enough, we ended up waiting longer for our dinner, but it's an experience we can look back and laugh about
instead of dwelling on the things that annoyed me, i'm actually focusing on the things i'm enjoying at the moment? whether it's goofing around each other, telling awful puns, or even just sharing about each other's day, it's all these little things combined that makes it more meaningful
also it helped that the food was good