Kevin
U.Va. involvement: Bhakti Yoga Club, Community Garden
Ideal date (person): Preferably somewhat athletic, but, like most human beings, I’m keen on a relatively symmetric face — can’t go wrong with that. Personality? As long as you have one — it’s crucial, actually. But if we’re shooting for the silver bullet — I would dig: grounded yet outgoing, very open-minded, absolutely fun with enough quick-footed or mindedness to pass around. Share. Be chill yet intense. Way too much fun yet simultaneously centered around core convictions. Sniffing what I’m stepping in?
Ideal date activity: Long, handheld walks on a moonlit beach, then back to the bungalow for some scotch with no ice — though pulling shots from a $15 handle of whiskey while watching YouTube videos of the beach in action is much more likely. Honestly, anything that involves movement — hiking, copious amounts of coffee, concerts, skeet shooting (kidding), going to a Nascar race (not kidding — seriously, I’ve never been before. It would be interesting). To be completely contradictory yet honest, anything that is still; silent. There’s a spot down by the Rivanna River where we could just sit and not talk for a long time — that would make me just as happy as going to a Nascar race.
If you could date any celebrity, it would be: Kanye. …It’s not that I want to date him. I just want to be in Homeboy’s world for a minute. His ego fascinates me; what would it be like to be in a completely different reality?
Deal breakers: Whether you prefer crunchy over creamy peanut butter (and whether you can eat it out of the jar with a spoon — this is important). Can you go three days without showering? Could you bust a joke out to a room full of my friends? Do you dance at concerts? Is your humor self-deprecating? Are your interests diverse? Are you as creative as your list of interests is diverse? Do you do things? The list goes on …
Hobbies: Music, basketball, jumping from a bit too high into water, tennis (actually just headbands), analyzing the s*** out of things that probably don’t deserve it, people-watching, walks, woods, writing s*** that I myself can’t really understand.
Brag about yourself: Prince Charming and some change. No, honestly, you’d have to be a complete a-hole or work really hard for me not to be interested in you in some way. That doesn’t mean we’re getting married, but I’m open to most anything. My life revolves around the zany combo of literally anything entertaining (minus Metallica and cute animal videos) and anything spiritual; meditation ranks as high as raging face.
Describe yourself in one sentence: Positively infectious.
Claire
U.Va. involvement: I am involved in FIFE [Feminism is For Everyone], the Living Wage Campaign, Sustained Dialogue and QSU [Queer Student Union]. I am also involved in the campaign to re-elect Obama.
Ideal date (person): I am open-minded, but in general, I like tall people, brunettes, confidence, humor, determination and people who carry themselves well. I also appreciate conversationalists and people who are direct.
Ideal date activity: My ideal date could include eating good food, exploring, going on an adventure, seeing a show, going dancing … I am not picky, just as long as we’re relaxing and having a good time!
If you could date any celebrity, it would be: Orlando Bloom
Deal breakers: Closed-mindedness, lack of personality and lack of appreciation for good salsa (the dip, not the dance).
Hobbies: Reading, writing poetry, swimming, yoga, activism, eating and spending absurd amounts of time in coffee shops.
Brag about yourself — what makes you a good catch: I am funny, attractive, confident and I have goals in life, one of which is to be a poet. I work hard, but I also know how to have a great time. I am relaxed and open to lots of different experiences, and this has helped me grow as a person. I love adventures, and road trips often inspire me. I am opinionated and passionate because I think life is more fun when there’s passion and excitement. I believe it is important to live a well-balanced life that contains elements of work and play, adventure and restraint, and chaos and quietness. Overall, I am a strong woman who wants to live life to the fullest.
Describe yourself in one sentence: “I loafe and invite my soul. I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.” — Walt Whitman
The date: Thursday, Oct. 18, 8 p.m. at Revolutionary Soup
Kevin: When I heard about Love Connection, I got really excited. It’s always fun to meet new people. Not knowing who it was going to be or how they would react was exciting because you can’t dream up any sort of scenario. It’s a totally raw experience — you just have to be present, almost like it’s some sort of test of self.
Claire: I went on the date because a friend encouraged me to. I figured, “I’ll just go and hope that he isn’t awkward.” The worst-case scenario for me was that it wouldn’t go well and I would come home and do my homework. It was a low-stakes situation.
Kevin: I got to the Rotunda 15 minutes early. I had made this sign like a homeless guy that said “Down on my luck, spare a blind date?” I tried to make it obvious and funny, but it was dark so it was hard to see. There was this big, fat guy with a beard who walked by, looked at it, and laughed. Then Claire walked up and was like, “Hey, are you Kevin?”
Claire: I spotted him right away because he was the only one sitting on the steps of the Rotunda. He had this little sign that said “blind date” on it. He seemed friendly, just seemed like a good person. I would say there were good vibes. We just started walking towards the Corner and making small talk. We weren’t sure where we were going to go at first, then decided on Rev Soup.
Kevin: The beginning was just get down to business: What’s your sign, tell me everything about you. We just started talking about college and it turns out we have a lot of mutual friends, we’re both English majors, both transfers. We had a lot to talk about and ended up getting along really well.
Claire: We started doing the basic questions: What’s your major, where are you from, what year are you — and immediately realized we had tons and tons of stuff in common. We have a million mutual friends and talked about how we’re both transfer students and English majors. It’s a little bit surprising that I didn’t already know him.
Kevin: We ended up staying at Rev Soup until they closed. Then we ended up getting into really, really intense conversations pretty quickly. She’s very honest and open, which was one of my favorite things about her. We could talk about anything. We talked about relationships, music, religion, politics, different experiences we’ve had. I really liked the way her mind works. It was always like, “Oh s**t, what’s she gonna say next?” since everything she said was really interesting. I definitely fed off that. It was a cool dynamic.
Claire: After dinner, we went to Seven Day Junior and got some wine. We were brown paper bagging it on the steps of the Women’s Center when these homeless guys came up to us. They were really funny, especially this one who thought we were married. He was really drunk and slurring his words so we couldn’t really understand what he was saying, but he kept repeating himself until we slowly got it.
Kevin: He was a total character. He assumed we were married, so he was giving me advice on how to be a good husband. He had this great big red nose with all these cracks in it and these big, dope Professor Trelawney glasses.
Claire: Then he started talking s*** about Ronald Reagan, so we all sat and talked s*** about Ronald Reagan. It wasn’t a serious political conversation, we were just chilling for a while. I was worried the date was going to be really fancy because that would’ve made me uncomfortable, but it was really chill. I wasn’t trying to rush home and neither was he, so then we went to get fro-yo. On the way, we ran into two of Kevin’s friends and talked to them for a good 15 minutes.
Kevin: We had decided as soon as we met that we wanted to get a big tub of fro-yo. So we went to Berry Berry and loaded up with cappuccino and pistachio and three inches of whipped cream. It was pretty impressive. By then it was pissing down rain, so we exchanged numbers, caught the bus and went our separate ways.
Claire: After going chug for chug with the wine, there couldn’t have been anything better than the fro-yo. I would say the night was pretty awesome. I think we had a friend connection. It was great to meet someone I can just hang out with. I would invite him to bro time. I would totally rate him way, way, way up high on the scale of having a good time. It was awesome to make a new friend.
Kevin: We are totally going to hang out in the future, I had a really fun time — little things we would say would strike a chord and we would both bust out laughing. I was close to tears at one point. I would rate it smashing. It was wild. On a 1 to 10, it was just awesome. I don’t know if I could do numbers.
Update: Kevin and Claire have kept in touch since the date. “We’ve been texting and he sent me some positivity for my Monday morning, which I definitely needed,” Claire said. But as of yet, they haven’t gotten together for bro time.
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