Not twenty-four hours after I updated my okcupid profile photos to clearer, friendlier, smilier 
photographs, a woman from Fresno, California sent me a message saying she really liked the way I looked, particularly my smile 
I messaged her back, and eventually talked to her on okcupid’s instant messenger.
This transitioned into lengthly AIM conversations. The AIM conversations, in turn, transitioned into lengthly long-distance telephone conversations. The telephone conversations, in turn brought up the concept of meeting each other. She suggested a Mexican restaurant in Fresno, Sal’s. Thanks to some arm-twisting, I was able to get the day off from my tutoring job, so that I could leave for Fresno as early as possible (its a long drive, but doable for me). We initially agreed to meet at 6 PM. I had hastily written myself directions to get to the restaurant. Just GETTING to Fresno was a misadventure in itself. In the directions, I had incorrectly stated ‘Take 101 North’ when it should have said ‘Take 101 South’. Stupid me, in my excitement, didn’t even realize I was going the wrong way for some time.
Around when I was in Redwood City I began to get worried; San Francisco was 25 miles away, but I knew that Fresno was southeast of San Jose so I didn’t think I was going in the correct direction. I phoned my friend who pointed out to me that I had spent the last forty minutes driving in the wrong direction :eek: At first I freaked out. Not only would I have to go all the way BACK, I would also have to fight rush-hour traffic to do so. I had left at 3:45, and crawling my way back South, it was already 5:00. I called her up and explained the mistake, and told her that due to the delay, I probably wouldn’t get there until 7:30-8 PM. She was okay with it, and I tried desperately to make up for lost time once I got out of the Bay Area. This proved more challenging than I thought, as a dense fog made things difficult and once again there were many places where the fog was so dense I was crawling my way along.
EVENTUALLY, I made it to Fresno. It took me over 4 hours, due to screwups, traffic, and fog :mad: but I made it. I met her for dinner and even though the trip there was horrible the date was absolutely perfect. She showed me around Fresno, and we took a walk around her community college. Both of us are pianists, and she was very interested in hearing me play, so we found a practice room that was unlocked and I played her everything I knew by memory. She absolutely loved it. We were thinking about going to play pool after dinner, but we never made it to the billiards hall, heh heh. Even my huge mistake early on worked in my favor; she was really really pleased that despite giving myself what amounted to a 90-minute delay on 101, I was still willing to continue on to Fresno, despite all the difficulties in getting there, and when I finally saw her there, greeted her with a warm smile and a hello.
I stayed in Fresno very late; far later than I planned. I knew that if I drove the route properly, I could cover the distance in 2 hours. The reason I stayed late is…well…because I enjoyed her company very much 
. I left Fresno at 2 AM and made the long drive back, having to face the pea-soup fog once more. I finally got back here in San Jose at 4 AM. I am very tired, I’m going to turn in now because I have to get up for work tomorrow morning in 5 hours (crazy, I know. Some people have a way of doing that to ya ). Before I left Fresno, she invited me to meet her family, so I am going back Sunday after work (this time I won’t come back insanely late)
