Never had a good experience dining out with friends
I never in my life had an enjoyable experience at a restaurant -exception being with my parents, but I'm talking in regards to friends and socializing.
Also never really had any friends I have anything in common with; I'm talking about irl friends, not online, mainly because I have very unusual interests for someone age and it's very hard to find people who share these interests around where I live. But that's another story!
I never had a good experience at a restaurant. Anytime I ever went out to eat with these "friends" I get the person I'm dining with constantly insulting me about how "unhealthy" anything and everything I order to eat or drink is; "all the carbs", "how fattening", "all the bad things that go into it". I love pasta, and they like freak when I order a big plate of empty carbs. They also scoff when I finish my plate, but I only do so cause I am genuinely hungry.
They criticize my weight. I'm chunky, I'm a US size 10/12 I fluctuate between even when I try dieting. But this is really MY business and a REAL friend shouldn't judge a person on their weight and what they eat. Even times when I'm the one paying, they do this!
They also criticize me for other things (my choice to stay single, my lifestyle and interests, the fact I don't listen to normal music for a person my age, my being big into amusement parks and more specifically, roller coasters, ETC). I sit there with them insisting I be more like them. The whole dining experience is just me being ridiculed. All my life it's been this way and it hasn't gotten any easier as an adult! When you think of all this, it's almost like I never had a friend at all. *cries*
Just once before my 30th birthday at the end of the year do I wish I could have one lunch/dinner with a friend who doesn't insult me. But is was already extremely difficult to find people who share these interests and the pandemic has made it a thousand times harder. *cries*
Over the past year, among the online roller coaster enthusiast community -which I am new to actually interacting with others, I'd mainly just visit parks solo for the above mentioned reasons- I met this one guy through his coaster blog; We became facebook friends and did end up meeting up and hung out a few times, with a few other people in the community he knows (but limiting the number to CDC guidelines, really just a small "friend group, not a large gathering), last year at this one amusement park he frequents. He's a little younger than me, has a very likable personality, and we do have many common interests besides the roller coasters (classic rock being one of the main ones, eating "bad foods" too! LOL). I don't know if he would ever hang out with any of us outside the amusement parks, but it would mean the world to me if he would go out to eat with me when I'm in town on one of my next trips. Finally give me a dining experience that isn't so traumatic. But since he's pretty well liked and popular among the community, I'm afraid to even ask. I really do adore him as a person. Should I try telling this guy about my past traumatic experinces and how much this would mean to me?