ANNA: 25 / graduate student
FIRST THING PEOPLE NOTICE IN HER HOME: Ukulele or keyboard
HER PERFECT MATE: Someone musical with an adventurous spirit
CHRIS: 23 / nonprofit director/student
HIS INTERESTS: He’s a history/science/music/poetry nerd.
WHEN HE IS HAPPIEST: Having a deep conversation about life
7 P.M. RAINBOW SUSHI & ASIAN CUISINE, BROOKLINE
TUNING UP
Anna We were both on time. He was already seated when I arrived.
Chris I was nervous so I texted friends while waiting for my date to show up. I had a book with me that I thought about reading, but I mostly sat staring at the door trying to guess who my date might be.
Advertisement
Anna I thought he was cute/good looking. He was dressed nicely. I do remember thinking at first glance that he seemed friendly and kind.
Chris She’s tall! Or, a bit taller than me, which is cool. She had long hair, and seemed friendly.
TAKING NOTES
Anna I discovered my date was also from the Bay Area. I had fun talking to him about our experiences moving to Boston for school. We discovered that during COVID we both went home to California and lived with our families.
Chris We were from the same area. I was a music major and she asked me if I knew what [live music events company] Sofar Sounds was, and I did some work for Sofar. She persuaded her parents to help organize a Sofar event in Palo Alto, California, in their backyard.
Anna We both enjoy music; he is much more into classical music and is classically trained. I have a keyboard, but I only know how to play basic chords. He did a lot of arts in high school. I played a lot of sports growing up. He did mention he ran cross-country. We talked about running for a bit.
Advertisement
Chris She played and still plays volleyball and pickleball.
Anna Playing sports is a pretty big part of my life so I was a little bummed to not be able to share that, but it was not a deal breaker.
Chris For me, it felt that we are both at different points in life, and while we had a lot we could talk about, there were not very many common interests.
Anna We shared appetizers: crispy tofu and Japanese fried chicken. He ordered a sashimi dish and I ordered a maki sushi combo. The food was tasty and the service was good.
Chris I thought the food was pretty good overall! We were both pretty full by the end.
Anna Personally, I didn’t feel an emotional connection with him as the night went on. He is definitely a very ambitious, driven person, which is an attractive quality. The conversations stayed pretty surface-level, which is to be expected for a first date.
Chris I could see her as a good person to know. But for me there wasn’t any immediate chemistry.
DENOUEMENT
Anna Toward the end, I was getting tired and was ready to wrap up. I called an Uber, so we made small talk while we waited. I wished him good luck with his poetry reading the next night and he wished me well. When I got up, he stayed seated.
Chris I said it was nice to meet her, and best of luck. We said goodbye from across the table.
Advertisement
SECOND DATE?
Anna I do not think so. I wish him all the best!
Chris I don’t think so; we didn’t exchange contact information.
POST-MORTEM
Anna / B
Chris / A
Go on a blind date. We’ll pick up the tab. Fill out an application at bostonglobe.com/cupid. Follow us on Twitter or Instagram @dinnerwithcupid.