Second date: Dec. 23rd, 1997. Dinner goes well except for the minor fact that she doesn't seem quite comfortable. She's dropping forks... She's not at ease and that puts me slightly off. I mean, am I coming on too strong, not strong enough, what's going on... But I guess I am coming on too strongly. I can see it now. At the time, I was rather blinded. So I rushed things and ended up asking her out that night. And she actually accepted. She explained later that, "I didn't really know you, and I didn't want to hurt your feelings." If only all girls were so nice, right? And so started dating Alyson.

Things went really well. The first month, as usual was bliss. Then, once school started and the new show started (Damn Yankees) and she decided to try out for the show, things got complicated. It started at auditions. See, Alyson didn't go to the all girls school which supplied most of the girlpower required to make up a cast at an all guys school. But she was trying out anyway. I knew that I was going to be late going to watch the girls try out for the parts and I didn't want her to feel alone so I asked my friend Joe to sit with her. After tryouts, I drove her home and we had coffee and talked about our relationship. And I realized then that I'd gotten into a situation that my director said was the dumbest thing any kid could do which was date someone in the cast. During the show. I resolved to handle my situation better than the examples I'd seen go before me. Because it's no fun watching other people's angst unfold while you're trying to concentrate on blocking and memorizing lines.

Here comes the Angst!