Operation Incognito

No one will recognize us in these foolproof disguises!

In addition to trying to entertain all of you, we here at FAL will attempt to educate you through our own life experiences. So here’s a little piece of advice from Goth Girl and Fruity Pebbles – if you are trying to go incognito for any reason – let’s say you are trying to scope out a perspective date – it’s best if your disguise doesn’t include matching hats.

See how generous we are? We are about to share our own foibles with you, in the hopes that you’ll be better prepared than us. That’s just how we roll. So here’s the background. Fruity Pebbles mom is the bomb diggity – seriously, she’s one cool lady. She also happens to think that her daughter is totally awesome and should be in a relationship, so she’s taken it upon herself to find a suitable suitor.

Which leads us to this past Friday night. FP’s mom had two possible candidates. Both are in bands, and one happened to be playing this past weekend. After the usual Facebook stalking, which really didn’t have the best results, we decided to launch Operation Incognito and go see Suitor #2 live and in person to truly judge if he had potential.

What’s tricky about a stake out is being discovered. After all, the whole concept of a set up or blind date is that both people come to the dance equally blind to the other. We were attempting to circumvent this without being discovered, or, more importantly, remembered. Can you say awkward?

So now you understand why we thought going in disguise was a good idea. Get in, observe, and get out as quickly as possible, with no possibility of recognition down the road, say on your first date. We decide that before going to see the band, we needed a little fortification in the form of sushi. We arrive at said destination, and quickly ascertain a few things – one, that we both own the same style of hat. Two, we both think black blends well into the background, as we both had on black tops. Three, eye wear makes or breaks the alteration of our appearance, as I took my glasses off and FP brought her reading glasses to complete her disguise.

Hmm. Maybe we didn’t really think this all out. The wigs probably would have helped, but we didn’t have the energy to go there. But you make due, so we set out for the bar, which according to FP’s mom, launched the careers of many successful bands. But I digress. So Suitor #2’s band was supposed to go on at 9pm. After gaining a little liquid courage at our favorite tikki lounge, we head over, fashionably late. The band was already in full force at what could only be generously called a dive bar. Very small. We had to slink by the band who was, we soon realized, ¾ of the way through their set.

We order two diet cokes and vanilla stoli, which puts us in direct opposition from the PBR crowd. I think we both knew that it was going to be mission impossible when FP asked what the guy looked like, as her reading glasses didn’t allow her to see anything in the distance. Whoops. I did my best to try to describe him over the loud emo-alt music (you know the kind. Not terrible, but nothing to write home about. Very Nirvana meets Oasis with a touch of My Chemical Romance thrown in for good luck.) In the middle of my description, the set ends.

We instantly are silent. Not suspicious at all. The suitor comes and sits directly behind us, blissfully unaware of our sneakiness. FP finally gets a closer look. After some initial concerns about the lack of socks with sneakers, a decision is reached. One date won’t hurt. Success!