last week's crumbs.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
2. Mark called me the night of his birthday to say he wanted to go out to eat, despite his earlier refusal to celebrate. I was cooking dinner at the time.
"I definitely want to go," I said, "but I'm in the middle of making spaghetti. Is it weird to finish making it and then not eat it until tomorrow? Ask Arielle if that's weird."
"I can tell you myself that's not weird," he said. "Haven't you ever eaten leftover pasta?"
"Sure. But I've never made spaghetti for dinner, waited for it to finish cooking and then left the house immediately."
"What the hell is her problem?" I heard Arielle yell in the background. Mark responded, "She's balls deep in spaghetti!"
(Once, at brunch, we decided "balls deep" is the worst phrase there is. At least until a couple minutes later when we remembered the phrase "balls to the wall.")
At the restaurant, I decided it'd be funny to order spaghetti and leave without eating it. Mark said I should try to wait for spaghetti to cook and leave without eating it in as many places as possible that night, working toward an incredibly dull and specific world record.
3. At the same meal, I had to explain to them what Luby's and Furr's are. Do Northerners not have cafeteria-style old people restaurants? Arielle was baffled by my explanation.
"There's WHEELS on the CHAIRS? And it's CARPETED?"
Yes and yes.
4. While sheepishly eating under the flourescent lights of an Indian buffet, Mari and I listened to the two people sitting at the table behind us, making awkward first date conversation. What a strange decision, I thought, to bring someone to a buffet on the first date. Such potential for shame. It occurred to me that it's a very intimate thing to shuffle down a buffet line with someone at your side, watching you choose what to pile next and how big a spoonful to take. No one gets full at a buffet on the first date. I imagine miniature servings of everything to make a dainty plate, and definitely no seconds.
5. I casually dropped an M&M into Lindsay's oatmeal one morning as I walked by her desk. We were amazed to discover the oatmeal eroding the candy shell, creating a yellow film that slipped off the M&M. We had this conversation on Instant Messenger afterward.
6. My friend Nicole said the following. Okay, to be perfectly honest, she wrote the following on Facebook. But still! I love it all the same.
Reader Comments (2)
There's a parking lot on the business loop of US 62 in Carlsbad, NM where you can see both the chain restaurant Furr's and the local restaurant Beavers (sic. [I think...the possessive "Beaver's" is a poor but grammatically traditional choice of name for a diner while the plural "Beavers" is irredeemably weird]).
It is, and especially when that word is Beavers.