Everyone has bad dates in their arsenal. Fortunately some of mine happened at a young age.

215/365 - This Strawberrybananna smoothie is better than the Wildberry (:

Worst dates happen to all of us. For me it was my first date with my first boyfriend when I was fourteen. I was all set to have my first real date with my first boyfriend and my first opportunity for my first real open-mouth kiss with the possibility of tongue. I was so excited until my mother decided that she wasn't comfortable with the idea of me being alone in a movie theater with a boy. She told me I had to call some friends to come with me or I couldn't go. I was livid. Mary Ann was crushing my teenaged dreams and Lance, well Lance could't take the idea of his first daughter dating so he spent the night holed up in his office.

I was backed into a corner with no way out. I made the call and Kat and Katie met me at the theater. We met my boyfriend outside and got seats along the back of the cocktail section. It was opening weekend of The Return of the King and everyone we knew from school was at the theater so when we went to take our seats I felt like everyone was staring at us. It made for some very awkward opening credits.

This was the first time my friends met my boyfriend and so naturally they had a lot of questions about him. Of course being thirteen and fourteen they hadn't developed their skills of subtlety and decided that they needed to ask loud questions about the person sitting right next to me. I felt like I was on two different dates. One with my boyfriend and one with two teenagers who wanted to interview me. I set myself for a long night.

Naturally sitting through a three hour movie would make anyone restless so of course my boyfriend and I felt the need to move closer. The only problem is that this date was going on in the dead of a Vermont winter which means big and bulky. Our large coats made it hard to move around in our seats which meant that every time we tried to lean in to get close someone got bumped and my friends started to get annoyed with me.

Finally we got there. I got my first real open-mouth kiss with the possibility of tongue. From a fourteen-year-old girl's perspective it was amazing. All of the fireworks were happening. I had defeated my mother and got to see a Lord of the Rings movie. From my slightly more experienced and grownup self it was awkward and disgusting. When we first went in our teeth clinked and his lips were already very wet (mind you I still occasionally clink teeth with a guy). Right away he went for the tongue, awkward and gross. My friends sitting next to me also thought it was awkward and gross to have to sit bundled in the seats next me listening to us. Think "Mean Girls" when Cady walks into homeroom and the couple is eating each others faces.

The three things that I do that I just can't help and could probably live without.

Cloves.
Clove cigarettes are the only thing I ever really bother to put into my mouth and breath through. Or they are only things that I am willing to pay to do. Marg and I are addicted to these little bundles of cancer filled joy, but I use the term addicted loosely since we make a pack last a semester because we are still poor college students.

Gin.
I only ever drink gin unless I'm drinking some fruity beach cocktail. It's a family thing. I've only ever grown up with gin and red wine in the house and since my mother doesn't drink much I had to learn to drink from the gin drinkers of the family. Gin is by far the best, who doesn't enjoy the taste of Christmas in a bottle?

Biting my nails.
Not really a vice, but it is something that I do that I really shouldn't be doing. It's a bad habit that I picked up at a young age and haven't really ever been able to curve. I can go days without doing it and then something sets me off and I have no more nails. Right now my nails are the longest they've ever been, it's also a while since I haven't been stressed out.