Ward Date Night

A few lessons learned from my Ward Date Night Activity:
--throwing a bunch of single people together and pairing them up is a good idea in theory
--yeah, we get it, we should be dating
--even though I was the same me all night long, each "date" was decidedly very different and netted different feelings
--when you sit down with a girl/guy, don't immediately bombard with these questions in rapid succession: what do you do for fun, where do you work, what can I know about you?
--the best dates are the ones where you just talk about whatever, without having to pin down every single rudimentary question in the first few minutes
--don't come on too strong
--I have very different ideas about dating than some girls
--if there are awkward silences on the drive home, and you don't care about it enough to try to make conversation, it's not a good sign
--dating is really about finding that person you have some sort of connection with, and unfortunately it doesn't always happen on the first, second, third, fourth one

And the single greatest thing I realized last night was that I am an awkward hugger. Regardless of whether I like you or don't, I can't seem to get the hug just right. If I like you it's awkward because, well, I like you and I'm thinking about it too much. If I don't, then it's awkward because I don't want to be that close to you.