| November 18, 2006 - Overheard at dinner |
| Dear Friends, sometimes I wonder if my mere presence brings out the worst in people. Do I have a wicked aura about me? Am I a magnet for losers, a net for the uncouth? The other day I went to a restaurant for dinner. The place was rather crowded, so the host seated me at a tiny table between two other tiny tables. To my right was a man and a woman, and to my left were two men. The two men provided me with today's blog fodder. I can't really say that I "overheard" their conversation, because one of them was actually talking in quite a loud voice. I'm not going to record the whole conversation, just the juicey bits followed by what was running through my mind at the time. Man A: I will never live in a group house again unless one of the tenants is sucking my dick in the bathroom! Man B: Well, I know how shy you are. My thoughts: What in the hell? Why did the host have to seat me here? Man A: I'm almost 50, but everybody tells me I look 37. My thoughts: Your friends must be named Stevie Wonder, because I had you pegged for 45, honey. Man A: I will never say anything bad about that company, because when I worked for them, I made $18 an hour. My thoughts: Well, I hope that was in 1988. Because with the prices around here, if you're still making $18 an hour, it'll be you sucking dick in the bathroom just to afford your rent. After what seemed an eternity, they finally paid their bill and left. Whenever I sit in such an environment, I always get a little annoyed. But then it later occurs to me that I can write about it for all of you, dear friends, and I feel a bit better. Last weekend, however, I had a wonderful dinner at another restaurant where everyone was very well-behaved. A colleague from work and I went to see a fantabulous production of "Madama Butterfly". I really enjoyed it, although Madama Butterfly's costume and make-up made her look more like a vampire than a butterfly. Prior to the performance, we went to a lovely French restaurant for a pre-theatre dinner. I had duck liver pate with pistachio crust, salmon in butter sauce, potato puree with garlic, and asparagus. Then the restaurant took us in a Mercedes over to the theatre for the performance. At the end, the restaurant picked us up and brought us back for dessert; mine was crepes Suzette with blackberry sorbet. What a wonderful evening! I was actually depressed on Sunday going back to my normal routine of The Happy Heifer and my $2 vodka drinks. In the Big City there are just so many productions worth seeing, but I don't want to go to them by myself. However, over the years I've learned that if I want to do something, like going out to eat, I can't rely on anyone else. Otherwise, I'd hardly ever set foot out the door. So maybe I can start training myself to go to the theatre alone, because I do love it. I'm thinking of going to see "The Nutcracker" next weekend even if it means going alone, because I've never seen a live production of it. That reminds me though of a production I saw on TV one time, where I thought the dancers were parodying it. But I'll have to tell you about that another time. Ta for now. Next entry Previous entry Go to diary entries Go back home |