Will Ford: Third-year College student
Dream job: Being the dude who yells “crazy good” at the end of Pop-Tarts commercials
If you could describe yourself as a movie/album title, what would it be?: “Good Will Hunting”
If you were an animal or plant, what would you be?: Anteater
Pilar Jimenez: Third-year College student
Dream job: Webkinz developer
If you could describe yourself as a movie/album title, what would it be?: “Up All Night”
If you were an animal or plant, what would you be?: Raccoon because they’re evil but cute
Will and Pilar met at the IX Art Park Sunday evening
Will: To start from the very beginning, I decided to sign up [for Love Connection] because I'd seen the articles in The Cavalier Daily, and I just thought they were kind of funny, weird and awkward. I just thought that it'd be kind of interesting to try it out. The last date I went on was a Tinder date, and it was such a disaster that I deleted the app and everything. So it could only go up from there.
Pilar: I tried looking him up on social media, but I couldn’t find him because his name is Will, and I didn’t know his last name. But my name is Pilar so he had the upper hand, so I thought that was funny.
Will: I just reached out and introduced myself. From the start, she was super nice, and we discussed what we wanted to do. We wanted to do something out of the box. We didn't want to just go to Bodo's or Asado or do something like everyone else is doing. We threw out some ideas and decided to go with [“The Looking Glass”] art exhibit [at IX Art Park]. Neither of us had been to that specific exhibit.
Pilar: We were just texting and looking at different options until we landed on the art gallery and tacos. It was nice, it was good, I thought he was very nice. He also triple texts which is a good sign in my eye.
Will: Basically, when we were discussing where we wanted to go, we thought about going to a winery and tasting but I’m not 21 for about three weeks. I follow the law, so I wasn't going to do that. I just thought [the art exhibit would] be a new experience because I'd heard about it, and it sounded super fun.
Pilar: I basically picked him up at his apartment, and I had no idea what he looked like because I couldn't look him up or anything like that. Just this random guy walked up to my car so I was like, ‘OK cool.’ The car ride was fine. I had aux [cord], and I was nervous about what music to play but my friend had just shared a music playlist with me so I was like, ‘OK cool, I can just play this playlist.’ I don't know why I was nervous about that.
Will: She came to my apartment and picked me up when we went. From the start, she was super down to earth and super easy to talk to. We began with our names [because] we hadn't met each other before.
Pilar: So at the start I had Harry Styles playing, and I was like, “OK yeah, this is not the vibe,” and then I changed the music. He was like, “Yeah I agree.” So it was funny.
Will: Very quickly we realized we're both history majors which is kind of fun. We knew some of the same professors and stuff, and we actually took the same class last semester which was super cool. Basically on the ride over involved basic introductions, major, how our semesters are going, stuff like that.
Pilar: We walked [into the exhibit], and it was very “Alice in Wonderland”-like. So there was a lot of interactive art. There was a maze where you could follow it with a light. It was pretty cool.
Will: At one point, we were looking at the exhibit, and some lady walked up to us and asked if we were part of the exhibit. I was like no … I don't know if that's a compliment or not ... sorry to disappoint you, but we're not part of the exhibit. I don't know if that was her way of calling us a work of art or not.
Pilar: There was this one part where there were bean bags and a movie playing. He sat down to look at the movie thing, and then I sat down too. It was pretty trippy. So we were just sitting there talking and this woman came up to us and was like, “Are you guys for real?" and we were like, "Excuse me?” and she goes, “I thought you guys were like part of the exhibit … I didn't know you guys were real,” and I was like, “No, yeah, we're real.”
Will: The most interesting part [of] the date was when a guy cursed us out for talking too loud in the exhibit. So not word-for-word, but he basically said, “Can you guys shut up because you're f—ing up the sound quality of the exhibit.”
Pilar: I tried to be very nice, and I was like, “Oh yeah sorry.” Will was more confrontational [and said], “We're just trying to have a good time,” so I thought that was funny, like the disparity of reactions.
Will: After that we decided to go get food because it was around dinner time. We were going to go to Brazo's Tacos but it was closed.
Pilar: I had suggested Brazo's Tacos, which is across the street from the art exhibit. It was closed, so then I just looked up taco places nearby, and we went to the closest one. And we went there, and then I paid for dinner because he had paid for the tickets.
Will: The conversation went well. We talked about a lot of things — what we're doing this summer, spring break. She said she was interested in teaching as well, so we talked about that a little bit. We actually had a lot in common, so [the] conversation was pretty easy.
Pilar: We talked about our roommates and how we love our roommates. That was a good point of conversation. Also we both lived in Lambeth last year, and he talked about how his apartment was the one that caught on fire. So I thought that was pretty funny because I remember hearing about that and having to be evacuated out of Lambeth because of that.
Will: [There were] no red flags or moment where I was like, ‘Oh gosh this is so awkward.’ So in that case, it went pretty well. Even when that dude cursed us out and that woman felt we were part of the exhibit, it was not that awkward. We approached it with a sense of humor and were like “I guess that's what’s happening now.” I think we both had the same mindset which made it not awkward.
Pilar: One thing is that he didn't believe in astrology. I just asked him because he was talking about his birthday or something. And he was like, “I don't, I don't understand that stuff.” And I was like, “Okay.” It's not that I'm super passionate about it, but I feel like everyone should know their horoscope at least.
Will: Overall, it was a solid experience. I enjoyed trying something new. I never had my date [through] The Cavalier Daily or something like that … so I’m glad I did it. She's super nice and stuff. It's more of a friend vibe which [is] fine. We just both wanted a new experience. We did talk about hanging again perhaps sometime in the future, but I think it's more like we just want a new experience.
Pilar: I would just say we're just friends now. If I see him around, I'll say hi. I think that the Love Connection process is so fun, just an easy way to meet someone new, and [it’s] kind of silly, kind of crazy.
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