I always get a laugh out of a good bet. I've been partial to a few good ones over the time that I've been blogging, so I've written about bets for finishing one's meal, running during vacation, and making it to work on a Monday morning. Win, lose, or draw, the bets have always made me laugh. Well, I made another bet that made me laugh, only this time, I ended up laughing at myself.
Actually, I made a pair of bets. I was having dinner with a friend who generally doesn't like to be adventurous with food, so somehow we settled on a bet: she had to eat what I ordered for her for one meal. Remember, I'm the kind of person who will intentionally order items on menus that I haven't had before (and being able to roll with the culinary punches has been helpful on at least one occasion), so she really was taking a chance in making this bet. Ultimately, I ordered something fairly tame for her, a fish dish that she normally wouldn't have ordered. Still, it all worked out, and she won the bet.
That wasn't the end of it, though. The dinner bet was entirely dependent on my friend's actions, so she suggested that we had to make a second bet that involved me having to complete some sort of task. Well, that seemed fair. Also, I hadn't been particularly mean with the dinner bet, so it's not like I expected her to make me walk through hot coals barefoot or anything like that. That left it to her to come up with the task.
The problem with this plan was that I am generally fairly open about all sorts of things, including my likes and dislikes. That meant that this friend had once heard about my movie preferences (I like movies with clever plots and twists, and I tend to dislike overly simplified movies like romantic comedies), and she had once heard me make fun of that chick flick about the pants. I actually think I called it the "Yaya Sisterhood of the Pants" because I didn't actually know what it was called. Still, the implication was clear: this movie was very, very low on my list of movies to watch.
Luckily for me, she remembered this fact during the course of the meal, so thus the bet was born: I had to watch this movie and then prove that I had actually watched the movie. In order to prove that I'd watched it, I had to answer five questions correctly, all of which would be administered by my friend. She also threw in some comment about how guys tune out and don't pay attention, so the question bit was an extra dig at my entire gender's movie-watching habits. All in all, though, it was a fairly-well thought out bet, so I agreed. Better yet, the movie was supposed to be on TV in the next few days, so I could just plunk myself down at the appointed time, and get it all over with. There was quite a bit of laughter at my expense about all of this, let me say.
Unfortunately for me, I didn't realize that some of the channels will play on Eastern time at my house. This meant that when I sat down at 11AM, I was actually watching programming for 2PM. The movie had already passed. Well, crap. It wasn't playing at all again in the next two weeks (I checked), so I had little choice but to rent it or otherwise find a copy of it. I found it on the Google Play store, so I rented it there (further messing up my online browsing history). Now, I knew that my friend was going to ask me questions about the movie, so I had to pay close attention to details that I would have otherwise ignored. When there was a shot of a house, I noted the house number. When one of the characters mentioned that he had moved, I had to make mental note of which city he used to live in, as well as the new city in which he lived. These details didn't really have anything to do with the actual plot, but I had to pay attention. This was quite possibly the most stressful movie-watching experience I've ever had. All for a movie that I would never had paid to watch. Try to keep your laughing to a minimum, okay?
The best part of all, though, was that my friend hadn't watched the movie herself. That meant that she had to watch the movie, too. However, she got busy that weekend, so she didn't get around to it. For all intents and purposes, the bet was on hold until she watched the movie. It has now been a few weeks, and I am starting to worry that there is a legitimate risk that I will forget all of those details that I used to know. Let me repeat that, just so I'm clear: I'm worried that I will forget details about the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants."
Clearly, the universe has a sense of humor.
Actually, I made a pair of bets. I was having dinner with a friend who generally doesn't like to be adventurous with food, so somehow we settled on a bet: she had to eat what I ordered for her for one meal. Remember, I'm the kind of person who will intentionally order items on menus that I haven't had before (and being able to roll with the culinary punches has been helpful on at least one occasion), so she really was taking a chance in making this bet. Ultimately, I ordered something fairly tame for her, a fish dish that she normally wouldn't have ordered. Still, it all worked out, and she won the bet.
That wasn't the end of it, though. The dinner bet was entirely dependent on my friend's actions, so she suggested that we had to make a second bet that involved me having to complete some sort of task. Well, that seemed fair. Also, I hadn't been particularly mean with the dinner bet, so it's not like I expected her to make me walk through hot coals barefoot or anything like that. That left it to her to come up with the task.
The problem with this plan was that I am generally fairly open about all sorts of things, including my likes and dislikes. That meant that this friend had once heard about my movie preferences (I like movies with clever plots and twists, and I tend to dislike overly simplified movies like romantic comedies), and she had once heard me make fun of that chick flick about the pants. I actually think I called it the "Yaya Sisterhood of the Pants" because I didn't actually know what it was called. Still, the implication was clear: this movie was very, very low on my list of movies to watch.
Luckily for me, she remembered this fact during the course of the meal, so thus the bet was born: I had to watch this movie and then prove that I had actually watched the movie. In order to prove that I'd watched it, I had to answer five questions correctly, all of which would be administered by my friend. She also threw in some comment about how guys tune out and don't pay attention, so the question bit was an extra dig at my entire gender's movie-watching habits. All in all, though, it was a fairly-well thought out bet, so I agreed. Better yet, the movie was supposed to be on TV in the next few days, so I could just plunk myself down at the appointed time, and get it all over with. There was quite a bit of laughter at my expense about all of this, let me say.
Unfortunately for me, I didn't realize that some of the channels will play on Eastern time at my house. This meant that when I sat down at 11AM, I was actually watching programming for 2PM. The movie had already passed. Well, crap. It wasn't playing at all again in the next two weeks (I checked), so I had little choice but to rent it or otherwise find a copy of it. I found it on the Google Play store, so I rented it there (further messing up my online browsing history). Now, I knew that my friend was going to ask me questions about the movie, so I had to pay close attention to details that I would have otherwise ignored. When there was a shot of a house, I noted the house number. When one of the characters mentioned that he had moved, I had to make mental note of which city he used to live in, as well as the new city in which he lived. These details didn't really have anything to do with the actual plot, but I had to pay attention. This was quite possibly the most stressful movie-watching experience I've ever had. All for a movie that I would never had paid to watch. Try to keep your laughing to a minimum, okay?
The best part of all, though, was that my friend hadn't watched the movie herself. That meant that she had to watch the movie, too. However, she got busy that weekend, so she didn't get around to it. For all intents and purposes, the bet was on hold until she watched the movie. It has now been a few weeks, and I am starting to worry that there is a legitimate risk that I will forget all of those details that I used to know. Let me repeat that, just so I'm clear: I'm worried that I will forget details about the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants."
Clearly, the universe has a sense of humor.
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