At Chili's
It was a simple plan. Go to Chili's. Have a salad. Nobody needed to get hurt. But such was not our fate that evening. Yesterday evening.
"Please wait to be seated," the sign said. The hostess glared impatiently as the table was being cleared. "It will be just a moment," she said, her smile returning briefly. Once the booth was properly sanitized, we were seated. The bustle of the restaurant hummed around us. People were cheerfully talking or chewing. Some even did both at the same time. I tried not to stare.
We looked over the menu a few times to find that delicate balance between healthy and satisfyingly gluttonous. We settled on an appetizer made mostly of cheese and a salad made mostly of salad. It wasn't long before the cheesy queso dip and crumbled tortilla chips were placed on the table and began to disappear.
Then, it happened.
I can't quite say that the world began to spin in slow motion, since I only saw the movement out of the corner of my eye. I saw a young man twitch suddenly. Then, food was falling to the floor. There was an audible "pop" followed by a spray of red. I felt rather than saw the spray hit my chest, and looked around, surveying what had happened. The seat, the table, my shirt, my companion, were all newly decorated in red. I was stunned to look behind me and see a huge splatter on the wall, ten feet away from the impact. I was thankful that it missed my face, though by the angle, I don't know how.
An entire plate of catsup-covered French fries fell to the floor face-down. The impact caused a splash of catsup to soar across the restaurant and splash over our table, hitting shirts, pants, ears, hair, and most definitely the wall. The floor was littered with fried potato casualties. I wish I had taken a picture! It would have served as a warning: This is what happens when condiments attack.
The bus boy brought out a towel to help us clean up, and tried to hand me a towel to wipe the wall down. I had a better plan: let's give the customer a table that isn't slathered in catsup while the staff cleaned up the mess! We moved to another table and finished our queso dip while the rest of the evidence was removed from our former booth.
After a while, the manager came over to talk with us about the incident. He offered to either comp our meal or replace the clothes that got damaged, but insisted we have a receipt for whatever replacement we picked up. Rather than dealing with that hassle, we took the free meal.
All in all, we should've gotten the fajitas.
Labels: food
Doers versus Watchers
I have this theory. It's based entirely on something I pulled out of my ear, and I don't intend to actually test it. It revolves around doers and watchers, and the longevity of each.
If you go to a party, there are people who are out on the dance floor making fools of themselves, or occasionally looking quite good at what they do, and there are those that cluster against the wall watching those who are out on the dance floor, saying, "some day, I need to learn how to dance." Both are having a good time, but one is actively doing so while the other stands and watches.
So the theory is this: the doers tend to die younger than the watchers because at some point, they can't "do" any more. The watchers are content to watch, and reminisce on all those times they got to watch people do things earlier in life. The fact that their bodies are now worn out does not impact their favorite activities in the slightest. They're still acting like 20-year-olds and enjoying life. With all this youthfulness, why die?
Okay, it's not much of a theory.
Labels: life
A little TLC
If you ever happen to find yourself in Ft. Collins or Colorado Springs, and you're hungry, make your way to a place called Texas Land and Cattle. Seriously!
On one of our trips south, we were meandering our way through Colorado Springs looking for a place to eat. We were trying to decide between a diner and sushi place (yes, really) when fate intervened. We ended up leaving that parking lot and driving north up Academy Blvd. We passed a BBQ place that might have been good, but it was on the other side of the road and turning around is a pain in the ass in my truck. Just ahead, we saw TLC on the right-hand side of the road, so I pulled in.
The place was pretty clean and had a nice western theme. The tables were big enough and the seats were comfortable. Our waitress was in training and both she and her trainer were very nice - they took good care of us. And then there's the food. It was awesome! The manager came around and talked to people, making sure things were going well. And the price was not too bad! What more could you want in a restaurant?
Recently we went the other direction, to Ft. Collins, and visited the other location in the state. I ordered the smoked steak this time: medium-rare, please. When our food arrived, it wasn't the waitress with my food, it was the manager. She started out by apologizing because the meat was at medium, not medium-rare. She explained that a medium-rare entree was being prepared for me already, and that they would not charge me for my meal. I swear, in some earlier incident as a waitress, someone must've held a gun to her head when their food came out wrong or something.
I just about ate both entrees. It's that good! I should definitely not go there on Mondays when they have all-you-can-eat of that. Do yourself a favor and give 'em a try! (And ask them to open a store in Denver!)
Labels: food
Into the Dark
Death Cab for Cutie has a song on their album called "I Will Follow You Into The Dark." It's a simple arrangement: acoustic guitar and one guy on vocals. The first time I heard it, I kindof made fun of the opening two lines: "Love of mine, some day you will die." "Oh, that's real nice," I thought - and probably even said to whoever was listening with me at the time.
The lyrics themselves are poetic, and in places very clever, particularly when talking about the Vacancy signs. The guitar accompaniment is subtle and fits well with the song.
I've listened to the song a few times now, and pondered the meaning of the lyrics. I've come to the conclusion that it is a beautiful, moving song. It literally made me cry once, upon listening to it and understanding what he was trying to say. Since that time, I haven't been really able to listen to it without getting kindof misty - that's about as well as I can hold back.
To me, it exemplifies the kind of love that lasts forever, the kind that is so deep, meaningful and reciprocated that there is nothing else in the world for the one but the other. Everything else is just details, a common path to walk. It's a truly beautiful thing.
Love of mine
Some day you will die
But I'll be close behind
I'll follow you into the dark
No blinding light
Or tunnels to gates of white
Just our hands clasped so tight
Waiting for the hint of a spark
If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the NOs
On their vacancy signs
If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark
In Catholic school
As vicious as Roman rule
I got my knuckles bruised
By a lady in black
And I held my tongue
As she told me, "Son,
fear is the heart of love"
So I never went back
If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the NOs
On their vacancy signs
If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark
You and me
Have seen everything to see
From Bangkok to Calgary
And the soles of your shoes
Are all worn down
The time for sleep is now
It's nothing to cry about
Cause we'll hold each other soon
The blackest of rooms
If Heaven and Hell decide
That they both are satisfied
Illuminate the NOs
On their vacancy signs
If there's no one beside you
When your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark
Then I'll follow you into the dark
Labels: music
Happy?
Alright, I just realized I posted two blogs in a row that labeled me as "happy." This probably requires a little explanation.
In my other blog, I posted something about having dipped my toe in the dating pool, and then falling in. I had created a profile on some of the free online dating sites to see what there was out there in the dating world. Since my profile still listed me as "separated" or something like that, I didn't get a lot of interest from people. Apparently, some men will use these sites as a way to find people to sleep with while they're still supposedly happily married. Sheesh. I don't have a lot of respect for cheaters, and I'm a reformed cheater myself. Not that I slept around on Dana, because I didn't.
Through these sites, I chatted with a few different people. I'll use the short version of their names for this quick run-down, like "B" instead of Brett.
"A" was chronologically too young for me - 12 years younger - but it might have been unfair to dismiss her solely based on that. She is still a nice girl. We did meet in person. She started out by teasing me about my profile. The site asked "favorite food" and I listed out about 9 different things. What can I say? I like food!
"A2" was nice enough, but we never met in person. She posted one of those silly MySpace bulletins that tells you what to put in the subject line under different circumstances. Well, what she put in the subject line indicated that she was taken. When I asked her about it, she told me she was now engaged! Well, good bye, good luck.
"C" and I actually met, but I knew it wasn't going to go anywhere. She got kindof "Fatal Attraction" on me, but did eventually go away. I know I pissed her off. But honestly, what do you do when someone says, "tell me we are just friends and I'm okay with it," then you tell her you're just friends, and she goes postal on you?
In terms of actions, "J" reminded me waaaay too much of my first wife, so that was a non-starter. It's odd, though, since she and I still chat once in a while to keep up on what's going on in life. That's cool.
"E" and I talked over IM and on the phone, but never met. I actually ignored her completely when I started talking to the girl who has become my girlfriend, which annoyed "E." She took a couple cheap shots at me in what became our last IM conversation. I didn't tell her why I didn't talk to her, but she made an assumption that it was because I met someone else. She was right. To be honest, I really didn't think of her while I started seeing...
...Ray. This would be the "falling in" part of my dating pool experience. She and I have been together for a little over two months now. Most of the time, she is the other part of "we" that I keep writing about and not defining (intentionally). Then again, if you haven't been in touch lately, you may or may not know that Dana and I filed for divorce, or that she moved out three months ago.
There are some who thought that Ray and I started seeing each other before Dana moved out, before the divorce was filed, etc., but they would be wrong. The timing was interesting, to be sure, but it wasn't until shortly after I returned from my vacation in New Jersey with the kids that Ray and I started seeing each other. Sure, we have known OF each other for six years or so, and spent some time together on IFGS stuff, but we never REALLY got to know each other in all that time. We have a lot in common, and we have differences. It's been fun trying to sort out which is which. The end result: I've been a lot happier.
...but now it's getting late. I'm off to bed. :-)
Labels: love
Keep it to a dull simmer, would you?
The day is Sunday, August 26, 2007 -- the day after Price of Victory (which was pretty much physically exhausting in a lot of ways). The weekend before, we were in Manitou Springs and talked to the guys at the Dulcimer (dull-simmer? Get it?) shop. They told us about a music festival that was happening this weekend, and we decided to skip NPC'ing for Price of Victory on Sunday and go to the music festival instead.
When we arrived, there was almost literally no parking at all throughout the entire town. We parked on the far side of town right on the road and walked back to where the stage was. We happened to see Bing Futch up on the stage getting stuff ready for later in the day. He told us that we had until about 3:00 before he and the other dulcimer players would take the stage. So we wandered around the town, looking at the various shops.
There was an herb shop that seemed pretty well stocked with stuff (though no rose oil) that we browsed around in for a while. They had some neat jewelry, too. We had seen this shop the last time we were in town, but it was closed. Looking in the window, we could see a cat lounging in the middle of the floor. "Cool," we thought, possibly even in unison.
There were other, mostly unremarkable shops that we looked around in. There was a candy store (no RC Cola to go with the nostalgic candy) where we bought a single dark-chocolate-on-dark-chocolate truffle, the museum replica place with the $7,500 T-Rex skull casting, the pet-centric store that had just about every breed of dog in several different souveniers, etc., etc. One place that we enjoyed was Black Cat Books, a book store with an interesting basement. There was a loveseat, a couple chairs, and lots of pillows in the window area to just sit and read should you so desire. There was also a logrus painted on the floor in one area, or at least what I imagined the logrus to look like (see the Amber series by Zelasny). I couldn't walk it because it went under walls and such. Besides, I'm not sure I want to leave this dimension just yet. That might be awkward.
At shortly before 3:00, we headed back to the stage area to see the dulcimers play. As we sat and waited for Dakota Blond to get finished talking about the mouse that someone wanted dead and someone wanted alive, and waving her gloved hands around with her fans, we noticed that the crew getting ready to go on stage looked remarkably NOT like dulcimer players. None of them was Bing, either. Alright, so maybe we have some time to get food? Maybe. There was a moment where we thought we would have to give up our front-row seat, but looking at the guys on stage, we knew we had little to worry about. We wandered to the back of the seating area and found the festival food guy. Nothing was cooking, and the prices were kindof steep, so we figured we would have enough time to go sit somewhere and eat, then come back. They were useful for one thing, though - they had the schedule of events on their table, which showed the dulcimers going on at 4:00, not 3.
We ended up at Marilyn's Pizza. It's easy to remember because they have nothing but pictures of Marilyn Monroe on the wall. Good pizza! Good beer, too! The cook really listened when asked to put extra cheese on the pizza, and even came out to see if we liked it. "That was the heaviest pie I ever took out of the oven," he told us. As we ate, we got to hear the vocal talents of the group on stage - it was just on the other side of the creek from us. "Talents" is a loosely-used word here, since they really weren't good. Not good at all. After we ate, we went to the counter and got a knife, splitting the truffle into several pieces. We shared it with the cook, the waitress, and each other, then headed back to the park.
We sat in the front row to watch the talented bunch exit. We weren't surprised when they told us the only reason they were on stage is because they knew someone, not because they auditioned. Then Bing and Robert and the rest of the crew began setting up their set. Yay! They opened with Sloop John B from the Beach Boys, then hit a few other songs on the way to a really funky yet well-done finale. The music was great. Robert and Bing are awesome showmen. At one point, Bing came down off the stage and performed right in front of the audience, whirling around with his dulcimer strapped around him. It looked like he was really enjoying himself and, after having talked with him a bit before and after the show, he probably was. I shot about 40 minutes of video on my phone, which totally killed the battery. I'm hoping it turns out, but I'm guessing there will be a lot of noise and little actual music picked up by the phone's microphone.
We picked up a CD of Bing's music and talked with him for a little while before heading out again. He said that we "looked so cute!" We've been hearing that from lots of different people, but to hear it from him was kindof unique.
We drove down through Colorado City with a quick stop to peer in the windows at Magic Town (closed at 5:30). After that, we went to the movies to see the Last Legion. It was alright, but really predictable. Then a drive home up I-25 again.
Labels: travel
