Ok, I know I said I was going to focus on the good things that happen in a day, but today has just been too weird -- mostly in a bad way. Honestly, it had so much potential to be a good day too. I woke up, and it was sunny outside; I had nothing I had to do today except lounge around. Surely, these were all makings of a fantastic day. Sadly, it was not to be.
It started off with a trip to the Original Pancake House in Los Altos. I was pretty excited because I haven't been there in a long time. I think the last time I was there, it was after opening practice sometime last year. I really like the food there, so I was looking forward to it.
When we got there, there were a bunch of people waiting for a table -- way more than I'd ever seen in all my visits there. Must be because I had never eaten there on a Sunday. We had to wait for about half an hour before getting a table. Ok, waiting for half an hour wasn't so bad -- I didn't mind it too much, it didn't seem like all that long. We were quickly served our drinks and the waitress was friendly. As we waited for our food, Evan and I chatted about the decor and how the place really lacked character. From the outside, it had so much more potential. Then we pondered whether there existed diners where everyone knows everyone else -- like Luke's place in Gilmore Girls. I speculated that such places existed in small towns, like Star's Hollow.
Each time the servers came out of the kitchen, I hoped it was our food, but each time I was disappointed. I'd finished half of my Chai Latte, and still no food in sight. Tables that were seated after us had gotten their food. The table next to us was served, had finished their meal, paid and left, and we still had no food. All we had ordered was an omelette and some pancakes -- nothing too fancy, really. After waiting for about half an hour, the waitress came by to apologize that our food was taking so long and that it was coming momentarily. Momentarily meant another fifteen minutes of waiting. Honestly, someone should NEVER have to wait for 45 minutes before getting their food. By the time the food arrived, I wasn't hungry anymore because I had drank an entire Chai Latte. To boot, we had to be leaving because Evan needed to be at the start of his raid by 2:00. Really though, I couldn't believe that our food took so long. I felt bad for our waitress because she seemed really distressed about the situation, which was totally out of her control. When she brought the food to our table, we asked for her to box it up. She must have felt really bad cuz she comped us $5 on our bill. It was a nice gesture. We still left her a decent sized tip, off of the original amount because we could tell it was really out of her control. There's only so much yelling you can do at the kitchen staff.
I couldn't think of a single thing that could have happened in the kitchen that would have caused our food to be so slow. Especially considering that other people were getting their foods, but clearly not everyone. I was also really glad to see that all the other people around us who weren't getting food were taking it so well. It speaks to the good nature of people on Sundays, when they have no better place to be.
The second bizarre thing that happened today is that I received a random call (and somewhat inappropriate one) from a complete stranger. This person, in full vietnamese, started off asking me for details about a leadership camp for which I am a bay area contact. I first started to think that the call was odd because this person was not from the bay area. He told me he had seen ads for the camp in a local newspaper. I asked him if he had visited the website with all the information, and he said he did not. I tried to give him the url, but he didn't seem so interested. After providing as much information about the camp as I could, he started to ask me personal questions. It started innocently enough. He asked me if I was going to the camp this year. When I informed him that I was not going this year, he commented that there was no point for him to go if I wasn't going -- that he wouldn't know anyone there. Uh, hello, you don't know *me* either! He insisted that I go to the camp, and that he would even pay for my travel expenses if I went!!!! I informed him that it wasn't a cost issue, but rather that I could not get time off of work to go, which wasn't the complete truth. Now, though, if I had any thoughts of going to the camp, it was certainly extinguished by this guy. Who knows how many of these pariahs are signing up to go to camp.
Damn my politeness. I never learn that there are certain people you just don't need to be polite to. I somehow managed to stay on the phone long enough with this creep for him to ask me where I was from, what I did, and whether or not I had a lover. WTF!?!?! Enough was enough. I provided the url to the website and told him if he had any more questions, he could email the general distro. Then I hung up.
What I found more infuriating than this creep calling me was that I was put in this position by the organizers of the camp. I went to the website and there it was, my cell phone, name, and email address or the entire world to see. What was more worrisome was that this guy claims to not have visited the website. Was my phone number provided in the vietnamese newspaper that has national distribution? Why on earth is it necessary to provide ANYONE with my cell phone number when our non-profit has an office?!?!?!
I felt so betrayed.
Such has been my bizarre day. Surely it will get better. Evan's making dinner, so that's pretty exciting. AND there's a Grey's Anatomy. w00t.
My tea's gone cold, I'm wondering why
I got out of bed at all
The morning rain clouds up my window
and I can't see at all
And even if I could it'd all be grey,
but your picture on my wall
It reminds me that it's not so bad,
it's not so bad
I drank too much last night, got bills to pay,
my head just feels in pain
I missed the bus and there'll be hell today,
I'm late for work again
And even if I'm there, they'll all imply
that I might not last the day
And then you call me and it's not so bad,
it's not so bad and
I want to thank you
for giving me the best day of my life
Oh just to be with you
is having the best day of my life
Push the door, I'm home at last
and I'm soaking through and through
Then you hand me a towel
and all I see is you
And even if my house falls down,
I wouldn't have a clue
Because you're near me and
I want to thank you
for giving me the best day of my life
Oh just to be with you
is having the best day of my life