Monday, June 30, 2008

Pot Lucks

Recently I went to a pot luck full of single people. It was yet another eye opening experience. The food was good. I think only a couple people brought store bought cookies. I was impressed. There were find out questions on the paper covered tables, to help spark conversations and crayons scattered around in case the conversations lull.

While our conversations freely flowed, we grabbed a few of the questions out just to see what we could’ve been talking about. One was “What are you wearing that best represents you?” The best thing I could come up with was my plastic bracelets. The rest of my clothes actually almost looked grown up. My roommate was lucky though, she was wearing a tshirt with a skeleton kid on it saying “Nobody wants to play with me”

Another question was “If you were on a long flight, who would you want to sit next to on the plane?” I stated that I didn’t want anyone to sit by me. I’d rather have the elbow room. I hate being squished on a plane. A friend across the table kept saying “The plane is full, you have to sit by someone!” but since that wasn’t stated on the paper, I stuck with my initial answer.

The two guys next to us were characters. Every time I would say something, one of them would just stare at me as if he was checking off something in his head. Finally, I asked him what he was doing and he told me he was profiling me. Some profile. I’m sure it was incredibly shallow. Who’s going to discuss deep things like the state of the union my personal feelings on child development while eating meatballs and fruit salad?

At the end, I started rolling up the paper tablecloths to help clean up. As I neared the end of the table, I got close to a guy drinking a soda (let’s call him Eddie) who was just watching the cleanup and a girl who was folding chairs. I had to stop a couple feet away from Eddie because there were some bottles of water on the table. With my arms full, I looked up at Eddie and said “Hey, can we throw these bottles away?”

He looked at me, shrugged, and said “I don’t care, they’re not my drinks. You can do whatever you want.”

The girl with the chairs looked up at him and said “She was asking for help.”

It was at that point that I realized yet again how different men and women are. It’s funny how one can have a reoccurring realization, as if it doesn’t stick the first two thousand times. I smiled as Eddie took the bottles and threw them away then continued sipping his soda while we finished clearing the table.

I keep hearing that we have to be very direct with men. Eddie was a testament to that. Ladies, if you want a man to throw water bottles away, just tell him. He’ll do it. He just needs exact direction, not hints.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

New York City

I just came back from a trip to New York City to visit my sister with my mom. Other than the 100 degree weather, it was fabulous. The city is crazy beautiful, full of people of every race, background, and situation.

It was interesting to see the different parts of Manhattan. We stayed in Karley’s apartment, surrounded by high rises and not too far from all the ginormous office towers.
We ate at Tao, a very chic restaurant (Karley told me they filmed a scene from “Hitch” there) and my mom started dancing to the house music being pumped through the room. Who knew my mom was so cool? She had gone shopping beforehand, buying a lot of black and white clothes to “New York” herself. . . She fit right in. In fact, she got six boyfriends at the Bagel place the next morning. The crusty old men there were flirting up a storm and giving her free cookies. They weren’t about to offer me any.

We walked to the bizarre world of Times Square, where although it was crowded and lit like a Christmas tree, it was surprisingly quiet. Everyone was walking around agape and no one was watching where they were going. The signs advertising Coke, Broadway shows, and stupid movies starring Adam Sandler and Mike Meyers illuminated the streets and captivated the crowds

SoHo was so posh, everyone advertising their D&G or Prada ensembles and greeting each other with kisses on the cheek. The beautiful people were out in full force. We almost ran into pretty Dax Shepard and his arm candy as we were window shopping. I felt very out of place in my Kohl’s shirt, Target sunglasses, and large pant size. After a stop in Chinatown to pick up a knock off D&G purse and glasses, I felt better. (sadly, the vendors in Chinatown could do nothing about my pant size). The fancy cupcake from some super famous bakery didn’t help either.

I tell you what, walking around NY really makes SLC very tiny in comparison. But, in retrospect, New York’s got nothing on us. . . They may have Saturday Night Live, the Today Show, the Beastie Boys, Sean Puffy Combs, Vince Lombardi, Jerry Seinfeld, and James Cagney but we’ve got the Osmonds! Take that, Brooklyn!