HIPPIE

HIPPIE

This was around a time when I was not very self-confident. It was after an embarassing party and I felt that no guy would have a thought of wanting to date me. I guess my best friend felt pity for me, because she suddenly announced me that she had set me up on a blind date (she told me this a week before said event). At first I refused but she kept talking about how "confident" he was about himself and he was doing "everything to help the environment" and she even threw in he was a "really cool guitar player". After hearing her constant stream of begging and puppy-dog face, I finally agreed to give it a shot.

I wanted to impress whoever it was I was going to go out with, even if I didn't know much about him, and put on nice jeans and a pretty t-shirt. My friend gave me directions on where to go to meet "Bud" and me having zero social life I got there twenty minutes before actual date. To my surprise I found myself at this gazebo near the county river. I've never noticed the gazebo before, but it had vines curling up the sides and was really pretty. The date was supposed to be a picnic and I've never been to a quiet picnic, let alone one with a blind date. I sat down in the gazebo and waited for my date to arrive.

A few minutes before the scheduled time a guy came walking down the path near the gazebo. His hair was really long and he was wearing a flowery t-shirt and brown fringey pants. I thought that this weirdo was just walking to the nature reserve a quarter mile away, but he stepped down to where I was and said hi. After I said hi he asked, "Is your name Amy?"

"Uh, yeah." I said, feeling surprised that this dude knew my name. After putting a basket on the gazebo table he introduced himself as Bud and said a friend of a friend set him up with someone. All I said was "oh"; I couldn't get over my shock to say anything else. I was really regretting that I said yes to my crazy friend and decided to stick this out for an hour and just leave.

Bud, on the other hand, had other plans. After the awkward picnic I got up and tried to leave, but Bud told me to stay and he wanted to talk to me about something. Bud started chattering about "Mother Nature being the very core of our existence" and then tried to make ME become a hippie. "It's really calming to be one, and it gives you a meaning of life," he said this like ten times. Then he talked about that I have to (telling me, not asking me) help him with his protests against pollution and litter in the area and how we should protest about it at popular streetcorners and outside grocery stores. For me this was all too much so I tried getting away with the curfew excuse. Bud was just like, "I'm sure it'll be cool. I can take you home when we're ready to go home." After he said this I was inwardly panicking and just wanted to get away from him. After a few seconds of thinking I made my escape and ran out of there. I didn't know what else to do; and I could hear him yelling after me that Mother Nature will become my passion no matter what. I screamed over my shoulder some un lady-like words to him and ran to the nearest bus stop. I was so freaked out he acted like he belonged to a cult or something. DEMON HIPPIE!

I made it home and was pretty annoyed that my friend would ever think I would be attracted to anyone like Bud. Luckily Bud doesn't know my number or last name because I wouldn't put it past him to stalk me. I thought all hippies were nice, guess  I wrong. Lesson learned.