Those Conversation Lulls

My buddy invited me out to dinner the other night along with a couple other people. I got there early because I am very anal about punctuality. I don't care whether or not my socks match or whether or not my shirt is ironed, but I do care about being on time. I do care about the smell of my breath and I do shower twice a day (cause I do care about the way I smell).I wear cologne, the kind you have to get from a hot chick behind the counter, but not the fruity smelling cologne. I like my cologne to smell a little bit musky. It makes me feel more manly, having chicken legs for arms certainly does nothing for my ego.

Anyway, way off track, I got the restaurant about the same time some of his friends did. I hate when the only thing I have in common with people is a common friend. So I sat with the husband and wife team that I have had the pleasure of meeting a couple times. They are kind of boring and the first thing they talked about when I sat down was their children (and they always show me pictures). After our initial salutations, the wife reached for her purse. I thought great pictures of the kids. I wouldn't mind so much if I actually liked this couple, but I don't. They are the type that if they could put up a projector, we'd have a slide show.

I guess I appeared bored because after awhile, and after they had gone through their photo album, the husband says "This month went by so fast huh"? Why do people say things like that to keep the conversation going? Things like "Funny weather we are having right?".

At the end of the night, the wife handed me this small envelope with an invitation. It seems like little Charlie is going to be six.

P.S. I'm glad I can be the meeting place for Cher and Shife.

Maybe It Was Cold Out

I just embarassed myself in the most unusual way. Maybe it's not big deal, maybe I'm just being paranoid. Maybe I'm just a dork.

Yesterday I went to work out at the gym. It was a pretty good workout too because my arms are still a little sore.

Anyway, as I was leaving the gym one of the members started talking to me. He was talking about another gym that was opening up and maybe it would be newer and have more amenities and all that other gym talk stuff. Afterwards, on my way home, I decided that I should just get some groceries.

I walked into the grocery store and decided this would be the day that I would start eaing better. I bought yougurt for breakfast, I bought whole wheat bread and roasted turkey. No mayo to put on the sandwich, but I purchased mustard instead. I bought granola bars for snacks and for rewards I bought those little 100 calorie packs of goodies.

I noticed that people were staring at my basket (yeah I hate pushing around a cart, so I get one of those little blue baskets). I was wondering if it was because it had all those healthy foods in there. Even when I went to pay for the groceries the cashier stared at me. As I pulled out my wallet and grabbed the cash. I realized why people were staring. I had forgotten to take off my work-off gloves!!

I have been wearing these gloves while I filled up for gas and also shopped at the grocery store. So maybe my excuse was I was chilly. Dammit that excuse doesn't fly in the state of sunshine!!

How Do I Get Out Of This

I went out to dinner with some of my friends the other night. One of my friends was visiting from out of town and had called all of us within a 100 mile radius to come and meet him for dinner. Drinks and dining were on him and his newly-wed.

Because the wedding was such short notice (they did a fun Vegas thing), I was not able to attend. I had not met his wife prior to the wedding. I had however, talked to her on the phone several times since she would sometimes answer my buddies cell phone when I called. So I had spoken to her, my buddy mentioned her every time we talked ( "I'm in love....She's the best....I've never felt this way...The best.....).

When I walked into the restaurant, I was taken aback by her beauty. She was gorgeous. And when we conversed, she was was eloquent. She was funny, she was charming, and she could hold her own when it came to liquor.

My first blunder was while asking who needed something from the bar (and I was not drinking, but passing it on my way to the bathroom) was to ask "Amanda" if she needed something too. My buddy smiled, glared a little and said "You mean Kathy". I bit my lower lip. Amanda was his girlfriend from undergrad. They had dated all four years of college, but broke up the summer after we graduated. She smiled and said "the designated driver is allowed to blunder, besides all you guys had so many girlfriends it's difficult to remember all our names". Wow, I can see why he married her.

When saying good-bye later on in the night and making plans to meet the next day for lunch. Again, I said something like, "It was great getting to know you Amanda, I can't wait for lunch tomorrow". My buddy again corrected me, this time with a swift kick to my ankle.

"Amanda" smiled, kissed my cheek and said "Good night...I'll see you tomorrow".

I think I'm going to have to take more gingko biloba!!! Something is going to have to jump start my memory.

Technology

How much better can things get?

I still have my first iPod--my 30GB 3rd generation iPod. Within 9 months of my purchasing it, they came out with a fourth generation that could hold pictures and also album covers. I was thinking of getting one, but then within a year they came out with the video iPod and then now the iPhone.

I have over two thousand songs downloaded into my iPod. Some of the songs I had downloaded were in an older laptop which is now defunct and so I no longer have copies of the song elsewhere. And I'm not sure if you could transfer music from one ipod to another. So I am very afraid that I would lose some of the music which I got from iTunes.

So anyway, one of my siblings recently purchased a blu-ray disc player. And yes the imagery is incredible!! It's crystal clear!! You can see every grain of sand and every blade of grass in a scene. Very cool. So these gadgets were high priced about a year ago and now are fairly affordable. Does it coming down in price mean that there is some new gadget along the way? How much better can it get? I'm wondering if they will ever create that television that they had on Willy Wonka--the television where you can reach it and grab the candy bar. How cool would that be?

Resolutions

How did the idea of New Years resolutions get started? And how did it become part of my New Year's Eve routine? Every year I make resolutions and every year by the 10th or 20th, I break them. Well this year is a new record, I've broken them all by today.

One of my New Year's resolutions was to eat more healthy. Well, we can axe that one. Last night while catching up on email, I managed to eat a king sized Butterfinger. I had all but licked the wrapper by the time I had finished it.

And I am suppose to exercise more. I still have to get to the gym. So that one is broken.

And I'm suppose to read more books and watch less television. There is nothing on television to watch anyway--remember the writer's strike. But yet, I found something to watch last night--it is the DVD of the movie "The Four Feathers". I fell asleep during it, but I do know that it was interesting, up until I did fall asleep. Anyway, there you have it I broke many of my resolutions. I even wrote them down on paper and put them in my Treo to do list.

How is your New Year's going?

You Never Really Grow Up

I just thought I would share this fact of life.

My five year old nephew asked for a Nintendo D.S. and a Nerf bow and arrow from Santa. My cousin's sixteen year old also asked for the same thing. When my cousin went over to my sister's house on New Year's Eve, her sixteen year old laughed at the fact that he had asked for the same things as his younger cousin. And that they both were playing their D.S. at the same time.

My sister and cousin laughed about it. I don't really see any irony or any funny little twist. Personally at my age, I think those two things are great gifts. Plus who couldn't use any gadget by Nerf. Those are really fun toys. I remember my first Neft football. I thought it was the greatest toy ever. You could hold onto it much better and I had less fumbles after my friends and I started using it.

That's my story.