Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Girls Night Out

After work tonight, I went to IHOP with four of the bankers from our team. Three of them are mothers and the fourth is married, but has no children.

We sat in a big booth, laughing and telling stories. I have to share one of the moments from the evening that had us in stitches. Granted, we were all tired from working all night long and the sugar (from the syrup) went straight into our brains, but I found it funny.

Char: I have a story about my roommate. He doesn't have a lot of friends.
Me: What's his name? (I have no clue why I ask for these type of details, but I do.)
Char: Matt.
Me: Nat?
Kelly: Gnat? With a name like that, you can see why he wouldn't have a lot of friends.
Maria: Did his parents hate him?
Me: Is it Nate?
Char: No, Matt.
Me: Oh.
Kelly: That makes more sense. What kind of name is Gnat anyway?
Char: Like Nat King Cole.
Maria, Kelly, and I (in unison): Ooooh, yeah.
Char: So Matt, ...
Corrie: Is that short for Nathaniel?
Char: No, it's short for Matthew.
Me: I think I'm going to start calling my big brother Nat. (Okay, not going to do this.)

Char did eventually get to tell her story, but we had just been having a blast already and we made it goofier (is that a word?).

A manager filling in at IHOP comes over to the table (at this point, it was just Char and I).
Manager: Do you girls mind if we sit over here and verbally women bash?
Char: You've already opened your mouth as a jerk.

He proceeds to tell us that he thinks his girlfriend is an idiot. My question is, "If she's that stupid and you think she's that stupid, why are you with her?" He obviously doesn't respect her. He kept coming over to our table to talk to us. It was quite strange. When we were leaving, he felt the need to tell us that he makes $8 an hour. Now I wonder if his girlfriend is the primary source of income to his home. Maybe that's why he's with her.

Sitting with mothers (one who is pregnant right now), I can honestly say, I'm freaked out about EVER becoming pregnant. I heard more about epiderals, water weight, stretch marks, and birthing than I ever needed to.

We also had a conversation about the recent earthquake and resulting tsunamis. It was a sad moment, thinking of the loss of human lives. The entire thing is quite scary. We talked about how Minnesota is a pretty decent place to live. Even though it is extremely cold, the worst that ever happens is that it gets cold and it might snow. Every once in awhile there is a minor flood or tornado, but there is usually some warning to this (well, unless it's a flood of butter, I don't know how one can prepare for that). The cold even helps kill off really big bugs. There is only one poisonous spider in this state and it can't even bite people because its mouth is too small. Sometimes, when I walk outside to -20 degrees, I think, "At least we don't have really big bugs." This makes me feel better. It also makes me feel better to know that this week has been warmer than last week. I'm happy to see the thermometer displaying 24 degrees. When I saw the -12 on my car last week, I almost cried. And that was without wind chill. 24 degrees feels like a heatwave. I like that.

2 Comments:

At 7:31 AM, CarpeDM thought...

I'm glad you had fun last night. I ask for these details because I get tired of people being referred to only by their "titles" (my roommate, my boyfriend, my girlfriend, etc) and want to put a more personal touch to the story. Not that'll I'll remember the information but it shows that I care. Maybe. Oh, hell, I have no idea why we do it.

"You've already opened your mouth as a jerk." I like Char.

Ooh, you make 8 dollars an hour? Ooh, you talk to strange women about how stupid your girlfriend is? Wow, I want you already.

Since I talk to people from all over the country, at least once a day I have someone say to me "You're in Minnesota? What's the temperature there?" Yesterday I spoke to this man who responded to my "Oh, it's about 20 degrees here" with "It's only 55 degrees here." Only 55 degrees. I've just told you that it's 35 degrees colder.

This is the same guy who says "Oh, I used to be from Wisconsin and our Green Bay Packers beat your Vikings last Sunday."

Dude. Enough already.

At 2:26 AM, brooksba thought...

DM,

Are you calling Char and I strange? Just kidding. =)

Do you own the Vikings? I'm shocked. I never knew that about you. Why don't you share these things with your friends? Maybe you could explain football to me then. Oh wait, please don't.

What causes them to ask, "You're in Minnesota?" Are you talking about doing "warsh"? Okay, I'm in silly mode right now.

I was talking to Char again tonight about that guy from IHOP. I think what was said was, "That guy was really f-ing weird, wasn't he?" The reply, "Oh yeah, really, REALLY f-ing weird." I love Char. She's just great. She's like you. Great.

Beth