Scenes from a Restaurant & iPod Shuffle Part 2 & a Traumatic Experience

Grow up already

Monday nights can make me a bit stir crazy. Sometimes I will head to Perkins to pull myself away from Spider solitaire and the talk with Jen, the best server I know. I did that this Monday only to find Jen on vacation. What I did find was a group of twenty-something kids being as annoying as possible.

I pulled out my iPod, trying to shut out the idiotic pranks of these kids. Although legal adults, I use the term kids because that was their behavior. They fought at the table, the girls trying to show they were stronger than the guys to no avail. They poured coffee creamer on the booth and laughed when their friend sat in it. Then they started climbing around like monkeys.

Maybe I'm just a stickler for fun, but when a server has to tell a group to "stop beating up girls," "sit down," and "stop sleeping in the booth," it is time to grow up or leave. I was a bit annoyed with them.

Obviously.

iPod Shuffle Part 2

I decided to check out what mood my iPod was in on Monday night.

Song #1: Don't, Jewel

"Please don't let me fall in love with you." Ah, back when Jewel was good. I think this album came out when I was 18 or 19.

Song #2: I'll Stop the World (And Melt with You), Modern English

This song does, and always will most likely, remind me of a Burger King commercial. The evils of advertising. But I do like the line, "You've seen the difference and it's getting better all the time."

Song #3: Hit the Ground Runnin', Jonny Lang

"The biggest fool I ever was, I let you go ... I hit the ground, runnin' back to you."

Song #4: For You, BNL

"I have set aside everything I loved, I have saved everything for you ... It's your fate, but it's not your fault ... If I hide myself wherever I go, am I ever really there?" BNL does not have the typical lyrics that most find profound. I find more of their songs to be darker feelings, more about what people really think. My interpretation may be why I like them so. "I will give you all I could ever give, though it's less than you will need, could you just forget if you can't forgive all things I cannot conceive."

Song #5: Lean on Me, Bill Withers

A classic. "Some times in our lives, we all have pain, we all have sorrow, but if we are wise, we know that there's always tomorrow." This is a great song about friendship. "We all need somebody to lean on." I know that there are people in my life I can call on and want to be sure that they can always call me. Don't ever think twice about calling me. Nothing is as important to me as my friends are. I am sure they know that, but I am stating it anyway.

Song #6: I Get Lost, Eric Clapton

The beat of this song is almost Latin. "But you get lost inside your tears. And there is nothing I can do. 'Cause I get lost inside my fear, that I am nothing without you." This song, even if I don't normally listen to it, is rather good.

Song #7: Come to My Window, Melissa Etheridge

"I would stand inside this Hell and hold the hand of death, you don't know how far I'd go to ease this precious ache ..." I do love Melissa Etheridge's music.

Song #8: Your Wildest Dreams, The Moody Blues

"I wonder where you are, I wonder if you think about me, once upon a time, in your wildest dreams." Ah, memories. Random guesses, but who do you think I remember when I hear this? Who do you think of?

Song #9: Hello, I Love You, The Doors

When I was a child, my dad always had a "Best of the Doors" tape in the car. I remember singing along to this song when I was about five. A little bit of a mature song for a child, you think?

Song #10: Hang, Matchbox Twenty

A way to signal a sad mood for me is the consistent playing of this song. This song reminds me specifically of times living with Adam. The song reminds me of friends drifted apart and playing roles out of habit. "The trouble, understand, is that she's got reasons he don't ... she's been here too few years to take it all in stride, but still it's much too long to let hurt go ... If there's nothing there to make thingschange, if it's the same to you, I'll just hang."

Song #11: Runnin' Down a Dream, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

At least my iPod is not stuck on love songs tonight. All I can envision with this song is the video. Tom Petty had/has some messed up videos. This one was a cartoon and made me realize what a lot of drugs can do to someone's creative side.

Song #12: Giving Him Something He Can Feel, En Vogue

Do I have this song? Wow. This takes me back to age 13. I think my mom called this group, "Boob Jigglers." This is not a great song. Skip time.

Song #13: The Weakness in Me, Melissa Etheridge, cover of Joan Armatrading

This song always haunts me. The cover is brilliant, moving and packed with emotion. It reminds me of a recurring dream I had in high school. This dream stopped happening when I met Andriy, but it hit me hard every time in high school.

In the dream, I was married to an unidentified man. I was home alone and HE shows up. He is the one that affected me so much in high school. He asks me to leave with him, never looking back. I do, leaving a note on the fridge with the message, "I went to get eggs." When I met Andriy, I had the dream a few times. Every time, I was still married to an unidentified man, but when he shows up, I decline. I think it helped signal when I was ready to move past that part of my life.

Chatterbox

While I am listening to my iPod, an elderly gentleman enters the restaurant and picks the booth near mine. He starts speaking to me and will not stop, not caring that I'm listening to music or not responding. He keeps farting.

I wonder if he will keep talking without me here. I suppose he will. He starts telling me that no one should leave money on the table. People like to steal money from drunks. He tells me about every time he's ever witnessed money disappearing from a table or at a bar.

I can also inform you that he has problems with Sears. Apparantly, they over charged him for sockets. Twice. He buys a lot of sockets.

It does not matter to him that I have my earbuds in and that I don't look at him.

He then tells me that a woman my age can only work part time. I should say something back, but it will open a door I want to keep shut. The man is quite lonely.

In 1970, he decided to try and buy a pick-up truck from a Chevrolet dealership in the area. He put $150 down but then the sales guy wanted another $200 down a couple of weeks later. The man tells me to make sure to buy pick-up trucks in Delano or Hastings, not Brooklyn Center.

I now know too much information about this man.

Traumatic Experience

This afternoon, before work, I had a scary experience. As I left my apartment, I saw someone leaving their apartment. My first thought was, "Why is there a topless woman wandering the hallways of my apartment building?" That's when I realized it was not a woman and those were man boobs. Disturbing.