Mild Amusement

I was in a big group of people today, and somehow we got onto the story of how this other guy & I went to a Zumba class recently. I got talked into it, but I said I'd go, so I showed up. As it turned out, we were the only two men in the room. Oh, and the way the class was taught, it was definitely aimed at women, so there was a lot of hip movement & booty shaking. It was definitely an interesting experience, let's just say that. Anyhow, back to today's story. This one lady heard about this, and she immediately scoffed, "Really? Sam danced? I'd like to see that. I didn't think that was possible." She's a bit of a jokester, so it wasn't malicious. I laughed, but I was going to let it slide. Another guy I knew overheard this, and *he* decided he wasn't going to let it slide. Ergo, he fired back with, "Ha! Sam can dance, trust me, he can get down." Now, I appreciate the effort. And we've both headed out to ...

I had a friend from New York who was in town, so we got the gang together to hang out. Given that she was flying out on Monday, we let her pick what kind of food she wanted. And apparently, it's hard to get good Mexican food in NYC (I've heard the same about Chinese food; from my experience, it's true). Anyhow, we decided to go to Underdog , because it was convenient & a different friend swore by their tacos. We were actually a little worried that it might be packed, because the place was a sports bar and there were a couple of football games on that day. Luckily, we didn't get there until the games were over, so we didn't have to deal with humongous crowds. When I sat down, the waitress asked me if I wanted something to drink. Seeing as how we were in a sports bar, I figured I'd get a beer: Me: "Sure, can I have a Sierra Nevada?" Waitress: "Hm, we're out" Me: "Hm, how about a Newcastle?" Waitress: "Sorry,...

An old friend of mine decided to have a poker night recently, and yours truly was invited. Now I'm not a great poker player, but that sounded like a very laid back way to have a good time on a Friday night, so I readily accepted. I showed up a few minutes late, so there were already a few other people there when I walked in. Even better, when I went to take off my shoes, I accidentally yanked on the wrong side of the shoelace. So I basically just knotted it tighter, and since it had been raining a little bit, my wet hands took a little longer than usual to fix this problem. There's no way for me to confirm this, but I do suspect that this dashed any psychological edge I may have potentially had for the rest of the night. After I dealt with my shoelace mishap, I took a place at the table. It was a $10 buy-in, and there were 5 people at the table. There were going to be 2 more coming a little later, though, so the total payout was $70. That's right, they were playi...

The last time I went to get my hair cut, I bumped into a childhood friend who I haven't seen in a while. She moved farther to the East Bay a couple of years ago, and she has two kids to deal with, so it's understandable. Still, she was there, so we caught up a little bit. Her kids are about 10 years old now, so they're starting to show distinct preferences in the manner that they dress themselves. For the younger girl, this isn't a problem. The mom has decent taste, so the little girl trusts her, and they can bond over it. For the older boy, though, it's been a struggle. In fact, she just flat out told me, "I don't know how to dress boys." That made me laugh a little bit, because I've always thought guys' clothing was far simpler. I remember going years with a very simple formula, jeans + t-shirt = outfit. And while I have added a bit to my repertoire since those days, it's not like I've added entire categories to my wardrob...

On New Year's day, my (female) work friend & I went to go visit another (male) mutual friend of ours. The tentative plan involved the three of us going to the shooting range, but we figured we'd at least grab something to eat. I've never fired a gun before in my life, so this plan both worried & excited me. Heck, I don't even really like first-person shooter games , so I'm only vaguely aware of things like weapon calibers. Still, I was game. The friend we were visiting had done his homework by the time we got there, so he had found a shooting range that was open. The tentative plan was going to happen. So, he & his buddy started assembling the guns they wanted to bring to the range. The first thing I noticed was that they were all universally black, with no silver or wood color anywhere. That surprised me a bit, but I suppose that's the difference between real life and video games. Anyhow, they let me handle one of the guns before we lef...