My First Speed Dating Dinner

Last night was my first speed dating dinner experience. It started on the right note. John was being very nice by picking me up from my workplace. He works in Mandai, drove all the way to Tai Seng Ave and then to Orchard. He even agreed to send me home after dinner. The rest of the night should go on well, I thought.

Speed Dating at Hans, Park Mall

We went in and were given our sticker numbers. Coincidently, John and I were placed on table G. Jeffery was sitting there having his dinner already. We had exactly 35min to finish our dinner. We took our orders. Food was yucky. Then Marianne came. She's a fun girl. The dinner for the four of us were great. We were the loudest group of four, laughing and chatting away, while the other tables the guys and girls were having a silent dinner.

The Merry-Go-Round

It's time for the guys to move around. As some of the guys came late, they had to bring their dinner plate around. The first guy came with a plate of spagetthi. The rest came with their coffee. Most left their cleared cups and plates on our table. :( The guys have to move around every 10min.

The Opening

1. The guys sit down and look at the number pasted on my left side of my dress, look down the list and pointed at me, "You are Maggie." and pointed at Marianne, "You are Marianne." Looks up and say, "Pleased to meet you."

2. The guys sit down and look at our number and used a pen to make a mark on the name to remind them how many tables to go.

3. The guys sit down and stick out the hand and self introduce themselves.

4. The guys sit down and said, "please introduce yourselves."

Self-introduction

Surprisingly, no one was interested in asking the age. The usual self-introduction contents are name and the occupation. But there were men who actually wrote down our occupation beside our names on the namelist.

Self-introduction was pretty boring after the 5th round. We started out saying more about what we do. First round, Marianne self-introduced,"I'm Marianne and I work in the treasury of a private company. I handle cash." Fifth round, "I'm Marianne." When asked about occupation, "Treasury". So we decided since we know each other's opening so well already, we will introduce each other. The guys were quite surprised with the change. I guess we did right.

The guys (you girls must be waiting for this right?)

I cannot remember their names but these are some of the memorable guys.

1. Jeffery: A nice chap who shared a dinner table with John, Marianne and I. He was quiet at first but joined in the fun after breaking the ice.

2. The medical trainer: He trains new doctors in paramedics skills like CPR and etc. He continued by sharing the morbid truth of the training of new doctors. John wants to get to know him. But I forgot his name.

3. The "dao" auditor: He looked very distant when we were sharing. His partner, also Edwin said that he doesn't need to do auditing. Just supervise.

4. NUS linguistic lecturer: A round chap with a happy face. He kept saying he has been to many countries. He plays the piano and had many recitals. He has an upcoming one in NUS. Remembered him cos of his accent. He's an Australian Chinese who was born in Taiwan.

5. The telephone number guy: After self-introduction, he says, "let's exchange numbers first." Marianne and I pai seh to say no, so we put down our number along with those of the previous numbers he has collected.

6. Malcom: Look like in mid twenties. I remembered him cos I might need freelance designer for work. So I tell him if I got lobang, will look for him.

7. The very tired auditor: Self intro "I am . I am an auditor, sorry, I am very tired, old already. You all carry on with self introduction." He is turning 30 in a few months time. See his sian face, I also sian. We were his last table, can't he just try to pull through with a smiling face?

8. Jerald, The Organizer of Speed Dating: He was very long winded. He kept saying, "please hold polite conversation and don't ask sensitive questions." The rest of his speech was dotted with,"blah blah blah SHHHHH blah blah SHHHHH blah blah be quiet, let me finish, SHHHH.....SHHH....." and he is probably talking at a speed of 10 words per sec.

9. The "dao" woman: She is not a man to deserve to be part of this list. But she happens to sit just behind me. I can't help but listen to her converstation. She did self intro and continues to talk about women status in society in the past and present. John was totally put off by her.

We are supposed to submit our paper to say whom we are interested in. My paper was blank. I ended up helping the Marianne see the numbers of the guys she is interested in. I have three numbers on my paper; guy number 5, the lecturer who has his number printed in the paper and Marianne's.

Girls, let's go together again. Actually quite fun if you want to experience and see different men within the short 3 hrs.