Playing Cupid

So, the weekend papers were filled with nothing but pages after pages of Valentine's gift ideas (of course they were the same old chocolate and flower gimmicks, only packaged differently this time around, as they always are each year apparently), restaurant recommendations, jewellery ads and so on and so forth. But much to my surprise, there were also articles on the increasing percentage of single people in today's society - therefore, in addition to the pages of V-Day specials for couples, this time around there were also write ups on local matchmaking agencies like Lunch Actually.

Actually, the paragraph above doesn't really have anything to do with what this post is all about - a fab dinner I had last night - except some of us took it upon ourselves to play matchmaker to a friend. So, why pay RM100 for an agency to arrange a date for you when you have friends like us?

Apparently my guy friend, X (friendship at stake - no names will be disclosed) was set up by our mutual friends on Sunday night at a party. At the end of the night - whether by choice or by force, I know not - X and the young lady had each other's numbers programmed into their phones.

Last night at dinner, my friends and I decided to help X make the first move - actually, I decided it was time and conveniently took his phone out of his hand while he was showing me the young lady's number as proof of being set up. We assumed that he was probably interested but was too embarassed to do anything about it. So, I took it upon myself to send her a text message asking her out to dinner this week. Nothing wrong, yes? Well, to my horror, my other friend, Y, had accidentally sent the first message I typed asking the young lady out to dinner "tomorrow" - which is today - Valentine's Day. WHAT AN IDIOT (yes, and if you're reading this, it's your fault!). He thought he had only saved it, but what he actually did was SAVE AND SEND. So she received two messages from X, minutes apart from each other asking her out. How desperate does that look? Honestly, we should have been blacklisted as friends.

But, what's funny is that she had responded to the first message - I will not repeat what it is here - but lets just say that it was nothing less than saying "Yes", only in a very indirect manner. Seconds later, she called (after receiving X's 2nd msg). I don't think I have ever seen X sweat so much. It will be mean of me to say it was funny, but I'm going to anyway. It was funny. By the end of dinner, Y and his wife and I were having a jolly good time speculating the results of our matchmaking efforts. We'll see what comes of it.

The moral of the story - when in doubt, give it a shot, you never know (and if you're too embarassed or afraid, get a friend's help. Just be sure to get competent ones.)

Oh, and Happy Valentine's!