kapachino

Category: conversations

  • Sharing The Gilmore Love

    If you don’t know this about me, then you need to: I am a die-hard fan of Gilmore Girls. I am not ashamed because it is an excellent show. Even my brother admits it.

    Anyway, I was vaguely aware that my new roommate, Courtney, had a distaste for the show, but I suppose I chose to block it out of my memory because I didn’t want to believe it. The other night we were sitting at the dinner table and she said, “I’ve been eyeing your Gilmore Girls DVDs lately,” and she had this look on her face as if she was about to confess to me that she prostitutes herself at night once we’ve gone to sleep.

    “Have you ever seen it?” I responded brightly.

    “No, I have never watched a single minute of it,” Courtney admitted.

    “Oh! Well let’s watch it! I think you’ll really like it,” I said optimistically.

    “Well here’s the deal,” she said seriously. “My friend Katie and I from college used to hate the show. We would tell each other, ‘Yeah, maybe we do watch Dawson’s Creek, but at least we don’t watch Gilmore Girls.’”

    “But how can you judge it if you’ve never seen it?” I asked sweetly.

    “I know, I know. Anyway, now Katie watches it. She even had a whole party for the series finale. She said to me, ‘Courtney, it’s good! All these years, we were wrong.’ So I’ve been thinking that watching the first episode can’t hurt.’”

    I was so excited to hear this, because getting someone hooked on Gilmore Girls is one of my favorite things to do, up there with eating ice cream and sleeping in. And I just knew that once she gave it a chance, she would like it. (That philosophy hasn’t exactly worked on my boyfriend, but there is another whole obstacle to get past there called Man Pride.) But just in case she wasn’t as thrilled with it as I would like her to be, I told her that she was not allowed to make fun of it if she didn’t like it. She would have to be respectful. And she agreed.

    Well, she likes it. I knew she would. We watched two episodes that night. I definitely could have kept going, but then again this is coming from a girl who watched an entire season in two days. The only thing I wasn’t pleased about was that Courtney kept asking me questions about how things end up on the show. I didn’t want to tell her because I wanted her to watch the entire series and find out the right way. But then again, I didn’t want to upset her by holding out and thus turn her off.

    “So neither of the characters really end up with a guy in the end, do they? I mean, not really?” she asked me at one point.

    “Courtney, the focus of the show is the pair of mother-daughter relationships. It’s about the Gilmore Girls. So no, there’s no big wedding at the end or anything, but that’s beside the point. You just want to know that the girls are OK.”

    As I gave this little speech Courtney couldn’t help giggling.

    “What?” I asked.

    “Nothing, nothing,” she said, stifling a smile. “That was just very heartfelt.”

    I am very loyal to my friends…even my fake ones.

  • Overheard Waiting For The Bus

    Guy #1: What time does this bus come?
    Guy #2: A quarter till three, man.
    Guy #1: Does that mean 25 minutes till three or fifteen?
    Guy #2: Fifteen, dude.

    A few moments later…

    Guy #1: Do you think reading minds is wrong?
    Guy #2: No.
    Guy #1: So you think it’s OK to read someone’s mind?
    Guy #2: I don’t have a problem with that. But right now I’m just waiting for my bus, OK?

    Guy #2 was pretty annoyed with Guy #1…I don’t blame him.

  • Jack and the Beanstalk

    The other night I went with my boyfriend David to meet his best friend Barry and his wife Andrea. They have two children, a 5 year-old girl and a 1 1/2 year-old boy. The girl, Gwen, is a bundle of energy and gets so excited every time David comes over.

    When it was time for Gwen to go to bed, she asked if David would tell her a bedtime story. She requested Jack and the Beanstalk. David whispered to me, “I don’t know if I remember that one, do you?”

    “I think so,” I whispered back.

    “You’d better make it silly!” Gwen warned.

    I started speaking, hoping to inspire David into taking over the story, because his versions are always much more interesting. “Once upon a time,” I began, “There was a little boy named Jack who lived with his mother.”

    “He lived with his mother because he never finished college,” David interrupted. “And one day he found some seeds in his garage, but he didn’t know what they were and he was afraid he might get arrested for them. So he buried them in the backyard, and then a giant beanstalk grew up above the clouds. Do you know what happens when you get above the clouds, Gwen? You’re in heaven. And that’s where Jack found a college degree.”

    About this time Andrea walks in the room, and Gwen bounces up to her and says, “Mommy, mommy, Jack was going to arrest the seeds in his garage because he didn’t know what they were!”

    And oh yes, all of this happened AFTER Gwen requested the re-telling of the story David had told me downstairs about a homeless Vietnam vet he had worked with who had done a lot of recon. Gwen was especially interested in the part where his leg turns black from gangrene.

    I never expected bedtime stories to go quite like that, but I must say that it was entertaining.

  • Weekend Trip to Lubbock

    Well, it was a quick trip but I’d say it was definitely worth it.

    We left at 6 a.m. on Saturday morning. I was sitting in the back seat. I pretty much slept for the first few hours. I meant to only sleep until it got light enough outside to study, but it’s just very hard for me to stay awake in the car. Eventually I got my textbook out and started to read. Then after a short while of that, I began to have a strange sensation that can only be described as car-sickness. I was in denial at first, but when my mom finally insisted that I take the front seat I did not say no. Shotgun was mine for the rest of the weekend! At one point we were listening to some talk radio. Here is a snippet of a conversation that ensued between us:

    Dad: I know how to take care of those suicide bombers. It’s an excellent idea, but I don’t think they’ll listen to me. Just have everyone walk around in bathing suits. Then if you see someone with a raincoat on, you pretty much know there’s a bomb in there.

    Me: Well not everyone wants to walk around in bathing suits.

    Dad: Not everyone wants to be DEAD, either. I’m telling you, it would work.

    Mom (piping up from the back seat): In a few years you’d see a dramatic rise in the instances of skin cancer.

    Dad: Well you’d just have to teach everyone to use sunscreen. Listen, I KNOW it’s a good idea.

    My parents are pretty great.

    Right outside of Lubbock there is the Llano Estacado Winery, which is the second-oldest in Texas and supposedly one of the best. We stopped there in order for my mom to pick up some of her favorite wine, and we went ahead and took the tour, along with its complementary taste-testing. I tried a bunch of different kinds, and I can still say with certainty that I CANNOT STAND WINE. I’m not even going to pretend. Anyway, Barry and a few of his friends met us there:

    Then we headed to Lin’s Asian Buffet, which also happened to serve Mexican food and steaks. The place was kind of ridiculously over-the-top with its decorations, but in a funny way.

    Mom and Barry at the buffet:

    Dad and me:

    Next stop was to check in at the good ole Rodeway Inn that we always stay at, and then head to Barry’s house. I took some pictures there, but you really don’t want to see them. Most of them I took just to show Boyfriend that his place really isn’t that messy after all.

    Me on the couch:

    Ewok, Barry’s stuffed animal from when he was a kid. I walked into his room, saw him on the bed, and squealed with delight. There are many fond memories of Ewok. I asked Barry if he sleeps with him, and he said, “He’s around.”

    We hung out there until it was time to go to the play. Unfortunately, no pictures of the performance because it would have been illegal to take any, and I am a law-abiding citizen. We went straight back to the motel afterwards, and sleep soon overtook us all.

    The next morning we met Barry at 9 a.m. for our regular meal at Denny’s. I stuffed my little belly because I had an inkling that we wouldn’t be stopping for food on the way home. Here we are:

    The drive home consisted of me, once again, sleeping a lot more than I had planned. It also did involve me studying quite a bit. And I viewed some scenery:

    Yeah it’s not really interesting except those windmills in the background are kind of cool in real life. Anyway, the only thing out of the ordinary that happened on the way home was that we stopped to pick up a couple a little older than my parents who were stranded on the side of the road. We ended up taking them home, about a half hour out of our way, but it was really no big deal. They were nice, and they gave us some frozen meat to thank us.

    So that was my weekend. How was yours?

  • A Slight Mix-Up

    Remember how my brother’s name is David? And my boyfriend’s name is also David? And how that can be confusing to me at times?

    Take the following text message exchange as an example, which occurred just after I arrived home from spending the evening with Boyfriend.

    Me: I’m home…what a great day! And I got to finish it off with a little David lovin’–which is of course the best kind. :-)

    Brother: Oh god im not so sure i wanted to hear that

    Me: Hahaha that is hilarious that I sent that to you! I’m sure your lovin is great too, just not for me :-)

    Brother: HahaHaha you meant to send that to david f! Im glad your name isnt brandi! [The girl he’s dating]

    Me: This is so funny. Don’t worry he didn’t give me TOO much lovin.

    All I can say is that I’m glad I’m such good friends with my brother.