March 29 , 2004 - Pancakes, Culottes and Roses

We sat down and listened to two piano players. The first primarily did standards, and the second did jazz improvisations. Both were very good.

As an added bonus, The Gryphon and I might have ended up on Channel 10 news, which came by and shot some footage of our table eating pancakes. I tried to control myself and not act too strange.

When we told some of The Gryphon's female friends about the breakfast later, they joked, "Ooh! Firemen guys!" This, apparently, a reference from Seinfeld.

After our pancakes, we cruised around the Reading Terminal for awhile, checking out the stands. I bought several bags of bulk spices from a spice shop there, and The Gryphon bought me flowers at another stand. I finished up with six tangerines, purchased from the produce vendor near the door.

Back in the 'burbs, we made our way to Target for me to get some workout clothes to wear to the gym. I had realized recently that, except for some middle aged guys, I was the only person working out in shorts.

So we went in search of exercise pants, the idea being that I'll be more psyched about going to the gym. It was also my way of treating myself for getting back on track with my diet after the holidays.

I grabbed a few things off the rack and headed for the changing room. There were actually so many people there this time that I had to wait for someone to come out before I could enter and try on the clothes.

Most of the stuff I'd grabbed worked and looked great, so we weren't there long. At the end of it, I had a pair of antique pink yoga pants, a pair of culotte-length eggshell blue exercise pants with orange accents, a swirly pink and blue sleeveless top that can go with both the antique pink and blue pants, red culotte-length exercise pants (very comfy!) and a funky orange and red sleeveless top.

Usually, I have a thing about culottes: I don't wear them. I just can't stop thinking about the horror of accidentally wearing "floods" to school during my considerable awkward stage. But I had to admit, these pants were comfortable, and I know I've seen people wearing similar clothes at the gym.

Ah, the driving urge to fit in and yet to exert our own personality. I shall write an essay on women and their relationship at a later time, but for now, back to the weekend.

Because I'd applied for the Target charge card that day, I got a 10 percent discount and a really nifty looking mini-radio.

We went back to my place to hang out with my dog, Una, for awhile before going out again. That evening, we met up with some of The Gryphon's friends for dinner and a movie.

The restaurant: Bahama Breeze, which is a chain restaurant that tries to make you feel like you're in the Bahamas. Instead, it just makes you wish you were really there.

Still, they had good fruity drinks. I like fruity drinks.

We had some small weirdness at the beginning. One of his friends had called in reservations, but the restaurant had gotten the name wrong. And since we didn't know exactly how many people were arriving, we had to wait for a few more friends to show up before getting it all straightened out.

There were five of us, as it turned out. I hadn't seen many of them since the day after New Year's, so it was fun catching up.

It's good that I can get along with The Gryphon's friends. I've had strange circumstances in the past with guys who either would not introduce me to their friends (for whatever shady reason), or whose friends irritated the hell out of me.

The interesting thing is that, while most of my friends are male, most of The Gryphon's friends are female. I guess this is why we get along so well.

In between the dinner and the movie, we all stopped in Best Buy to look at the CDs. I ended up getting the new Edie Brickell, the new Johnny Lang and the new Ani DiFranco.

The movie was Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and it was incredible. Charles Kaufman, the screenwriter, is an absolute genius. He takes risks, yet makes it work.

In Eternal Sunshine, Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet have paid a company to erase their memories of each other. But after Jim Carrey's character makes this decision, he begins to regret it. Most of the movie is him reliving his memories of her and trying to save some portion of her so that he will remember her when he wakes up.

The movie raises some astounding questions about the nature of reality compared to our memories of it, as well as love relationships and why things work out or why they don't.

It got us all talking in the theater and the parking lot afterwards.

The next day, I did a little work in the morning and then we went to see Ladykillers, the new Coen Brothers movie. That was a lot of fun. As always, the scriptwriting was excellent. The cast was great.

Some people have complained the characters are more like caricatures, but that's the kind of comedy this was: it was not a subtle comedy.

Later, while The Gryphon was out at his monthly role playing game session with some friends, I drove to the grocery store and bought three dozen roses.

I came home, pulled off the petals off, and when he got back, I'd sprinkled a pathway through the apartment for him to follow. This was a suggestion from a pack of cards I bought for Valentine's Day. It lists 52 romantic things to do for each other throughout the year.

For example, another suggestion was to take a shower first and write "I Love You" in soap on the mirror.

I'm a sucker for sappy things like that, and The Gryphon enjoys them, too.

Even though we made a good effort to collect all the rose petals later so I could dry them and make a potpourri, I think I'll be finding rose petals for weeks.

Moral:
You can't beat a sappy guy.