Stepping Out

I've been thinking about something Sarcasmo once said, namely "I prefer to do things with friends, but will not let myself miss a chance at a new experience if it means doing it alone." I've turned into a near hermit over the years for a variety of reasons, but the most prominent of which seems to be because my friends are unavailable due to the nastiest of social diseases, namely marriage. If you're unfamiliar with the rules, they are:

1. You are no longer allowed to go out and do things.
2. Especially with your unmarried friends.
3. And, even if you could, you wouldn't be able to afford it anyway.

So I've decided to start doing all the social things I want to but have avoided since I once considered them group activities. It sort of feels like I'm dating myself, which would be pathetic if I wasn't so damned sexy.

So today I took myself to the movies. Construction cost me a few minutes of travel time, and when I arrived at the area I couldn't find the theatre (it's one of those sprawling areas with every kind of restaurant and retail store imaginable, separated by winding roads and vision-obscuring trees). I found the theatre too late to see the early show of Shaun of the Dead, but I salvaged the situation by turning it into a shopping and dining adventure. Shopping went quickly since I didn't need anything and the price tags put a real damper on any rampant consumerism I might be harboring (I saw a life-sized statue of Frankenstein's monster for only $500 - okay, $499.99).

I decided to have lunch at a place called Rafferty's, because I had never been to one before. It was your standard Applebees/Chilis/Lone Star/Fridays type of clone chain. The servers wore black casual shirts with khaki slacks, always a good combo. The menu offered the standard huge burgers, Caesar salads, and other dishes laden with at least a half pound of meat. Most of the side dishes were potato variants (fries, baked potato, mashed potatoes, etc.), but they did have a single (undescribed) vegetable medley. I had the Kona chicken, which is a fatty chicken breast (don't ask me where they found a chicken breast with so much fat on it) soaked in soy sauce and grilled with ham, Monterey jack cheese, and pineapple. It was good once I trimmed away the fat. The garlic mashed potatoes were decent, but the vegetable medley turned out to be broccoli and cauliflower with absolutely no seasoning. I ate about half of the meal (portion sizes are outrageous in this country), which was still enough to stuff me to the gills. A couple of things I noted - I ordered a lemonade, which they brought to me in a smaller glass than anyone else got. I also noticed that the dining area had hardwood tables, but one in every section had a tablecloth on it. I was seated at the tablecloth one. Did the hostess identify me as being more likely to blow chunks than her other customers?

I returned home, promising to take myself to the movies tomorrow (Sunday is a better day for zombies anyhow) and spent the afternoon cleaning, reading and dozing, and waiting for enough to digest so I can go to the gym. Gotta stay in shape, or I might not want to be seen in public with myself.

Out, out