Date Lab A date with
lip-to-cheek action Sterling Smith, 29, soſt ware engineer consultant Jamie Rodriguez, 31, fi nancial reporting assistant
THREE FOODS FOR A DESERT ISLAND ... Sterling: Large jar of peanut butter, granola bars, Craisins. Jamie: Chocolate-covered pretzels, peanut butter, strawberries.
FUNNY IS ... Sterling: Off-color but not raunchy. Jamie: Seinfeld or Dane Cook-type humor.
YOUR TYPE ... Sterling: Outside of intelligent, attractive and respectful/-able, I don’t discriminate. Jamie: Tall, intelligent, funny, enjoys sports or being active and is ambitious.
BRAG A LITTLE ... Sterling: I’m cultured, grounded, attractive and humble. Jamie: I’m pretty adventurous with sports, and I love to cook.
INTERVIEWS BY STEPHEN LOWMAN
Darlington House, 8 p.m., Dupont Circle Sterling: I got there about 10 to 8. I was just sitting there for a long time, feeling pretty nervous. I ordered a Scotch. Then I put in an order for calamari. Finally I was like, Is she standing me up? Jamie: I had been at work, then I went to school, then I had to race to D.C. from Fairfax. Once I got into the city, I got turned around. I was frazzled when I got to the restaurant, about 20 minutes late. I hate being late. I was worried he was going to be so annoyed. Sterling: I could tell she was anxious. I tried to let her know it wasn’t a big deal. I liked the fact that she was apologetic and just didn’t blow it off and say, “I’m
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late, whatever.” She was really pretty. On a scale of 1 to 10, I give her a 9.5. Jamie: I could tell he liked me, because right at the beginning, he said I looked nice. I’m pretty tall, so I did like the fact that he was taller. He looked like he exercised, too. His calamari order came out when I got there, so we talked for 30 to 40 minutes before ordering food. Sterling: We’re talking about backgrounds, our families. I told her I had a daughter who moved to D.C. from Texas a month ago. She is 6 years old. Jamie: It made me feel so relieved, because I have a son. I fi nd that it is one of the hardest things to mention to somebody else. A lot of times, people look at you like you have three heads or something. Then their eyes really stand out when I tell them that my son is 11. I am only 31, so I had him young. Sterling: My stance on disclosing that information is that it should be done at the outset. Being a parent is not something I’m ashamed of; it’s something I’m proud of. I admire how she’s raising her son. She’s in school, she’s working and she’s being
8 THE WASHINGTON POST MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 14, 2010
a mom. That was the heaviest part of the conversation, if you could call it “heavy.” We were laughing and having a good time. We were being especially immature with the [Date Lab] cameras. Jamie: During dinner, he would take pictures of me when I had my mouth open, when I was talking or when I was eating. I would do the same. It kind of turned into a game of who can take the funniest picture. It lightened things up and de-stressed me. In one picture, I pretended like I was going to kiss his cheek but was still 3 or 4 inches away from him. Then, right when he took the picture he pushed the side of his face into my lips. It was funny. Sterling: She defi nitely kissed me on the cheek. That is for the record. There was lip-to-cheek action on her part. Throughout dinner, she seemed interested in me. I could tell by her laughing and the way she was having a good time taking pictures of me. I liked it. Jamie: Then he was like, “Do you want to go dancing?” He said he had some friends at 18th Street Lounge we
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