I saw a news article about this test developed at Harvard that determines how prejudiced you are. It first asks you how biased you think you are, then gives you a little match-game test to see what the real result is.
It's a little intimidating to take the test, because it's timed. It's actually the timing that they use to measure your bias.
I've only taken one of the tests so far (under the non-recorded version). It was for gay/straight bias. Take a wild guess what my result was!! Turns out I have a Slight Automatic Preference for Gay People. Hmmmm. I wonder why that might be...
They have a whole list of them, from blacks, asians, arabs, ageism, weight bias, etc.
Check out how racist you REALLY are...
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit
Friday, January 27, 2006
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Happiest Boy on Earth
I just booked a vacation to Walt Disney world. One week in early March. It's about $2500 for the two of us. I still have to schedule the vacation time at work. I'm thinking March may be the quitting month, so it'll be fun! :)
Ronny had mentioned that on his list of Things He'd Love to Do in America, visiting Disney is WAY up there on the list. Apparently the "going to Disney" thing is a major dream of children across the world, not just here in the US. Brazilians, anyway, all want to go there - so I'm told.
Last weekend I was talking to our friend about which casino to visit (see the Foxy Lady post), and he mentioned that he finishes his class in late February, so had just booked a vacation to Disney with Cris. When I mentioned it to Ronny as a passing comment, he immediately decided that we had to go, too! So, I called Brad and asked if he'd mind us tagging along, and he said that would be cool. I booked the exact same trip as he did (yet mine is apparently $300 cheaper). Ronny is SO excited about it. He had already taken the days off from work on Monday.
We're staying at a 'value hotel' on the premises, but to me, hotels are the kind of thing you don't splurge on when going on vacation. The trip is about everything ELSE. As long as the room is clean, and the bed in comfy, what more do you really need? On-premises is a plus, so it's costing like $130 a night just for the room, but we're skipping the rental car this way.
I noticed I haven't updated on the listing, and it's effect on Ronny. It's been about two weeks now that the condo has been on the MLS. I told Ronny about it all up-front. The day the lockbox for the key showed up on my door handle was a little rough for him, but he took it much better than I expected. The news of me meeting with the realtor threw him for a loop again, but the lockbox wasn't that bad. He asked "What is that?" as he came in the door. I told him. He kind of frowned and said it "doesn't make me happy". But that was it. Not really bad.
The other day he came over and said he had spoken with a friend of his from Oceanside, CA who told him that the southern CA area is full of immigrants, and he shouldn't worry about being down there. So, he kind of poked around the thought of coming along. But, as mentioned (see "Bettering") he got a second job because he would have nothing to do with his time after I left. So, I think that means he isn't really going to leave. His sister doesn't want him to leave, and she is his only family here in the States. I think that is a pretty strong tie for him.
The place has shown several times, and the realtor says he LOVES the place. He told me likes it more and more everytime he comes here to show it. I'm sure it helps to sell a place when the agent is bubbling over about how great it is! But no offers, yet. It's only two weeks, so I'm not worried. The thing that does annoy me, though, is that people don't take their shoes off when they visit, and the floor is actually getting scuff marks on it for the first time. Showing the place for sale is of itself going to make it less attractive. I'm sure I'm the only one anal enough to even notice the scuffs, so it probably won't affect the sale, but it does annoy me.
Ronny had mentioned that on his list of Things He'd Love to Do in America, visiting Disney is WAY up there on the list. Apparently the "going to Disney" thing is a major dream of children across the world, not just here in the US. Brazilians, anyway, all want to go there - so I'm told.
Last weekend I was talking to our friend about which casino to visit (see the Foxy Lady post), and he mentioned that he finishes his class in late February, so had just booked a vacation to Disney with Cris. When I mentioned it to Ronny as a passing comment, he immediately decided that we had to go, too! So, I called Brad and asked if he'd mind us tagging along, and he said that would be cool. I booked the exact same trip as he did (yet mine is apparently $300 cheaper). Ronny is SO excited about it. He had already taken the days off from work on Monday.
We're staying at a 'value hotel' on the premises, but to me, hotels are the kind of thing you don't splurge on when going on vacation. The trip is about everything ELSE. As long as the room is clean, and the bed in comfy, what more do you really need? On-premises is a plus, so it's costing like $130 a night just for the room, but we're skipping the rental car this way.
I noticed I haven't updated on the listing, and it's effect on Ronny. It's been about two weeks now that the condo has been on the MLS. I told Ronny about it all up-front. The day the lockbox for the key showed up on my door handle was a little rough for him, but he took it much better than I expected. The news of me meeting with the realtor threw him for a loop again, but the lockbox wasn't that bad. He asked "What is that?" as he came in the door. I told him. He kind of frowned and said it "doesn't make me happy". But that was it. Not really bad.
The other day he came over and said he had spoken with a friend of his from Oceanside, CA who told him that the southern CA area is full of immigrants, and he shouldn't worry about being down there. So, he kind of poked around the thought of coming along. But, as mentioned (see "Bettering") he got a second job because he would have nothing to do with his time after I left. So, I think that means he isn't really going to leave. His sister doesn't want him to leave, and she is his only family here in the States. I think that is a pretty strong tie for him.
The place has shown several times, and the realtor says he LOVES the place. He told me likes it more and more everytime he comes here to show it. I'm sure it helps to sell a place when the agent is bubbling over about how great it is! But no offers, yet. It's only two weeks, so I'm not worried. The thing that does annoy me, though, is that people don't take their shoes off when they visit, and the floor is actually getting scuff marks on it for the first time. Showing the place for sale is of itself going to make it less attractive. I'm sure I'm the only one anal enough to even notice the scuffs, so it probably won't affect the sale, but it does annoy me.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Foxy Lady
Two Saturdays ago, we were at my place, and Ronny said he wanted to go to the casino. He has never been, and I haven’t been to the ones near here. Having never been, I would need to look into details a little bit first, so said it was kind of sudden, maybe next weekend. I meant “let’s plan something ahead.” He heard “we’re going next Saturday.”
This past Friday, Ronny came over and at one point mentioned that he took Saturday morning off from work so we could go to the casino. I again was a little taken-by-surprise, so hesitated. He made some comment about being spontaneous. I said I had an appointment to get my tires fixed (one flat and one leaking) on Saturday. He thought I should reschedule, but ditching the appointment to drive on those tires down to Connecticut just seemed like a bad idea to me. Plus, Ronny had to work Saturday night (see the ‘Bettering’ post). So, I suggested we go on Sunday instead. He was OK with that.
Saturday we ran some errands anyway. While my tires were being fixed, we had lunch at the Chinese buffet next door that he really likes. I earned points for that idea! Picked up some stuff at Target, got a work shirt at Goodwill for that night’s new job, stopped by the Jeep dealer to ogle Liberty’s. I called our friend Brad to see which of the two near-by Connecticut Indian casinos would be better for a first-timer. He suggested Foxwoods. I invited him and Cris to come along, but they couldn’t make it, so we have Tentative plans for a trip to Mohegan Sun together some day. (Though, as this story unfolds, you may agree that Ronny might not want to go.)
We wandered around the casino for a while, taking in the sights. It is a large place – has like 5 separate casino areas. Although, most of them are still all slot machines. There is a separate Bingo hall and a dedicated poker room. The rest is mostly slots with some table games mixed in. Ronny went up to a nickel slot and tried to put in a dollar. They take 5’s and larger. Just then a coin change cart wheeled past, so he asked her for nickels. She gave him a dirty look and said the smallest she had was quarters. When he handed over the dollar, she gave another dirty look and even grumbled something about “only a dollar”. But Ronny didn’t much care. Unfortunately, the nickel machines don’t take quarters, either. So four “pulls” later at a quarter slot, his dollar was donated to the tribe. I noticed they actually have some machines that have a lever on the side for you to pull, but most of them are just little buttons now. I think it speeds up the cash flow…
Next we found a coin change counter. By now, Ronny has seen penny slots, so asked for a roll of pennies. Another dirty look, and the smallest she carried was nickels. That was fine with him, so Ronny got a $2 roll and headed back into the fray.
Forty nickels do last longer than four quarters, but it was still about 5 minutes until he had made his second donation to the tribe. As we wandered some more, I pointed out the $5 slots and mentioned that the speed he burned through his $2 roll was how fast they were burning through $200. That kind of made him mad. Knowing how hard he has to work for money, and having grown up in a poor family, it just is a bit insulting to see someone pouring that much money into a noise-making machine.
Ronny asked if I was going to play anything. I told him I wanted to do a little video poker, but hadn’t seen any machines for that yet. As we continued to wander around taking pictures of Indian-themed statues and such, we eventually came across the v.p. machines. I sat down at one of the machines. It had slightly lower pay-off levels, so it was actually available. But the pay-off level was to balance out the fact that it included jokers in the ‘deck’ so you were more likely to get a winning hand. I played for a little while, holding steady, to slightly losing ground. Then I hit a 4-of-a-kind. I had started with a $10 bill, and had climbed back up to $12 thanks mostly to the 4-of-a-kind. So, I decided to cash out. I like the v.p. better than plain slots because it involves “playing” instead of just feeding coins into the machine. It takes just seconds to burn through your money at a slot, while the poker machine can while away full minutes!
Ronny wanted to try his hand at the v.p. Seeing me win $2 had inspired that gambling itch in him. He was already down by $3, so wanted to play another five. He was going to seek out change again, but I explained that he could put in his $20, then just hit the cash out button when he was ready. So, in went the 20 dollar bill…
Lady luck had been smiling on me a little better than she smiled on Ronny. He hit a number of pairs and three of a kind, but nothing that paid out anything hefty. After a while, he had dropped to $15, so I told him he had spent his five, and could hit the cash out button now. He wanted to keep going! He wanted to get back up to his starting 20! (Uh-oh) Again, played for a while, won some one- or two-point hands, and gradually worked down to $10 left. Again I stopped him, and pointed out he was down to ten. He said he wanted to keep going. This time I got a little more adamant about having him stop, so he agreed he needed to finish. Reached over and pushed the ‘bet’ button, instead of the ‘cash-out’ button. At that point, you have to finish the hand. Lady Luck seemed to abandon him again. Now he was determined to get back to $10. He actually held steady for a couple hands, then won a straight, which brought him up to $10.75. I told him he was over ten, so should push THIS button to cash out. He started to get that glimmer in his eye and said he wanted to keep going. I fairly sternly pointed out that he would just keep losing more money the longer he played, so he agreed to cash out. When he got the two fives and three quarters back, it hit him that he had lost about another ten dollars, and got a bit remorseful. I tried to cheer him up a little bit by pointing out that he won 75 cents more than the ten even I had told him to stop at! He appreciated the gesture, but was still bummed about the $12.25 he had blown that day. It is a casino, though, so it shouldn’t have been that bad to walk away only twelve down, but I think my two dollar gain made it seem worse.
Then we went on to dinner. I was a little surprised that the restaurants were more Six Flags priced than I expected. I suppose this isn’t the Vegas strip, so there isn’t much competition on drawing in the crowds, so they have no need to make the food cheap. Entrees at the steakhouse were 25 to 40, and I could see the gloom across Ronny’s face as I checked out that menu. I had been scanning menus all day, so suggested the southern-cooking restaurant Amy Ruth’s. He asked what that meant. When I said Georgia and Louisiana, he said that sounded cool. Lady Luck again turned her back on him, though. The waiter mixed up the orders, and brought him the wrong food. They brought out the correct ones after I mentioned it, and they even let him keep the side of mac and cheese that they had brought by mistake. He had ordered the fruit juice. It is their own “special” mix, so they don’t tell you what is in it, but it was very good, and Ronny loved it. He saw them bring a doggie bag to someone, and he said he wanted one of the Foxwoods bags. So, when he said he had too much food and couldn’t eat it all, I pointed out that he needed to take left-overs home so he could get a bag, anyway. That pleased him! I had ordered the chicken-fried steak. I hadn’t had that since leaving Kansas, so thought it would be nice. I forgot this was Southern style, not Midwest style. Instead of the sausage-gravy on the side like in Kansas, this was smothered in beef gravy. Which I think ruins the chicken-fried coating and turns it to soggy mush. I also got the mac and cheese and the cheese grits. (Cheese!!!) The grits were only good if the spoonful was loaded with cheese. Ronny got the potato salad. I avoid ordering that because recipes can vary SO much you never know how it will be. This version had a lot of vinegar and mustard seed in it. We both thought it was gross. Since Ronny had suffered losses at the slots, and I had my wallet full of winnings (OK, so it was two whole dollar bills), I offered to buy dinner.
We walked past the Ben & Jerry’s on our way out. I was very tempted, but I was comfortably full, and that would have made me uncomfortably full. And I need to lose some weight (yes, it was my new year’s resolution), so we headed right on out the door. On the way home, Ronny said he had fun! That is the point of going there, so I guess it was OK after all. Still, I’m not sure if he’ll want to go to Mohegan Sun.
This past Friday, Ronny came over and at one point mentioned that he took Saturday morning off from work so we could go to the casino. I again was a little taken-by-surprise, so hesitated. He made some comment about being spontaneous. I said I had an appointment to get my tires fixed (one flat and one leaking) on Saturday. He thought I should reschedule, but ditching the appointment to drive on those tires down to Connecticut just seemed like a bad idea to me. Plus, Ronny had to work Saturday night (see the ‘Bettering’ post). So, I suggested we go on Sunday instead. He was OK with that.
Saturday we ran some errands anyway. While my tires were being fixed, we had lunch at the Chinese buffet next door that he really likes. I earned points for that idea! Picked up some stuff at Target, got a work shirt at Goodwill for that night’s new job, stopped by the Jeep dealer to ogle Liberty’s. I called our friend Brad to see which of the two near-by Connecticut Indian casinos would be better for a first-timer. He suggested Foxwoods. I invited him and Cris to come along, but they couldn’t make it, so we have Tentative plans for a trip to Mohegan Sun together some day. (Though, as this story unfolds, you may agree that Ronny might not want to go.)
We wandered around the casino for a while, taking in the sights. It is a large place – has like 5 separate casino areas. Although, most of them are still all slot machines. There is a separate Bingo hall and a dedicated poker room. The rest is mostly slots with some table games mixed in. Ronny went up to a nickel slot and tried to put in a dollar. They take 5’s and larger. Just then a coin change cart wheeled past, so he asked her for nickels. She gave him a dirty look and said the smallest she had was quarters. When he handed over the dollar, she gave another dirty look and even grumbled something about “only a dollar”. But Ronny didn’t much care. Unfortunately, the nickel machines don’t take quarters, either. So four “pulls” later at a quarter slot, his dollar was donated to the tribe. I noticed they actually have some machines that have a lever on the side for you to pull, but most of them are just little buttons now. I think it speeds up the cash flow…
Next we found a coin change counter. By now, Ronny has seen penny slots, so asked for a roll of pennies. Another dirty look, and the smallest she carried was nickels. That was fine with him, so Ronny got a $2 roll and headed back into the fray.
Forty nickels do last longer than four quarters, but it was still about 5 minutes until he had made his second donation to the tribe. As we wandered some more, I pointed out the $5 slots and mentioned that the speed he burned through his $2 roll was how fast they were burning through $200. That kind of made him mad. Knowing how hard he has to work for money, and having grown up in a poor family, it just is a bit insulting to see someone pouring that much money into a noise-making machine.
Ronny asked if I was going to play anything. I told him I wanted to do a little video poker, but hadn’t seen any machines for that yet. As we continued to wander around taking pictures of Indian-themed statues and such, we eventually came across the v.p. machines. I sat down at one of the machines. It had slightly lower pay-off levels, so it was actually available. But the pay-off level was to balance out the fact that it included jokers in the ‘deck’ so you were more likely to get a winning hand. I played for a little while, holding steady, to slightly losing ground. Then I hit a 4-of-a-kind. I had started with a $10 bill, and had climbed back up to $12 thanks mostly to the 4-of-a-kind. So, I decided to cash out. I like the v.p. better than plain slots because it involves “playing” instead of just feeding coins into the machine. It takes just seconds to burn through your money at a slot, while the poker machine can while away full minutes!
Ronny wanted to try his hand at the v.p. Seeing me win $2 had inspired that gambling itch in him. He was already down by $3, so wanted to play another five. He was going to seek out change again, but I explained that he could put in his $20, then just hit the cash out button when he was ready. So, in went the 20 dollar bill…
Lady luck had been smiling on me a little better than she smiled on Ronny. He hit a number of pairs and three of a kind, but nothing that paid out anything hefty. After a while, he had dropped to $15, so I told him he had spent his five, and could hit the cash out button now. He wanted to keep going! He wanted to get back up to his starting 20! (Uh-oh) Again, played for a while, won some one- or two-point hands, and gradually worked down to $10 left. Again I stopped him, and pointed out he was down to ten. He said he wanted to keep going. This time I got a little more adamant about having him stop, so he agreed he needed to finish. Reached over and pushed the ‘bet’ button, instead of the ‘cash-out’ button. At that point, you have to finish the hand. Lady Luck seemed to abandon him again. Now he was determined to get back to $10. He actually held steady for a couple hands, then won a straight, which brought him up to $10.75. I told him he was over ten, so should push THIS button to cash out. He started to get that glimmer in his eye and said he wanted to keep going. I fairly sternly pointed out that he would just keep losing more money the longer he played, so he agreed to cash out. When he got the two fives and three quarters back, it hit him that he had lost about another ten dollars, and got a bit remorseful. I tried to cheer him up a little bit by pointing out that he won 75 cents more than the ten even I had told him to stop at! He appreciated the gesture, but was still bummed about the $12.25 he had blown that day. It is a casino, though, so it shouldn’t have been that bad to walk away only twelve down, but I think my two dollar gain made it seem worse.
Then we went on to dinner. I was a little surprised that the restaurants were more Six Flags priced than I expected. I suppose this isn’t the Vegas strip, so there isn’t much competition on drawing in the crowds, so they have no need to make the food cheap. Entrees at the steakhouse were 25 to 40, and I could see the gloom across Ronny’s face as I checked out that menu. I had been scanning menus all day, so suggested the southern-cooking restaurant Amy Ruth’s. He asked what that meant. When I said Georgia and Louisiana, he said that sounded cool. Lady Luck again turned her back on him, though. The waiter mixed up the orders, and brought him the wrong food. They brought out the correct ones after I mentioned it, and they even let him keep the side of mac and cheese that they had brought by mistake. He had ordered the fruit juice. It is their own “special” mix, so they don’t tell you what is in it, but it was very good, and Ronny loved it. He saw them bring a doggie bag to someone, and he said he wanted one of the Foxwoods bags. So, when he said he had too much food and couldn’t eat it all, I pointed out that he needed to take left-overs home so he could get a bag, anyway. That pleased him! I had ordered the chicken-fried steak. I hadn’t had that since leaving Kansas, so thought it would be nice. I forgot this was Southern style, not Midwest style. Instead of the sausage-gravy on the side like in Kansas, this was smothered in beef gravy. Which I think ruins the chicken-fried coating and turns it to soggy mush. I also got the mac and cheese and the cheese grits. (Cheese!!!) The grits were only good if the spoonful was loaded with cheese. Ronny got the potato salad. I avoid ordering that because recipes can vary SO much you never know how it will be. This version had a lot of vinegar and mustard seed in it. We both thought it was gross. Since Ronny had suffered losses at the slots, and I had my wallet full of winnings (OK, so it was two whole dollar bills), I offered to buy dinner.
We walked past the Ben & Jerry’s on our way out. I was very tempted, but I was comfortably full, and that would have made me uncomfortably full. And I need to lose some weight (yes, it was my new year’s resolution), so we headed right on out the door. On the way home, Ronny said he had fun! That is the point of going there, so I guess it was OK after all. Still, I’m not sure if he’ll want to go to Mohegan Sun.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Bettering
One of the regulars at Ronny's Dunkin Donuts is this guy Mike. Mike works for the local newspaper, on third shift. Mike suggested Ronny work there, too.
Ronny thought this was a GREAT idea. Went in to "interview" one night (I came along). This is the kind of place where if you can fill your name into the application form they will hire you. Third shifts tend to be like that.
Ronny was very excited that he was working there, and his first night on the job was this past Saturday. He finished around 4:15am, so around 4:30 Sunday morning he crawled back into bed next to me.
When we got up (well, I got up first, and putzed online 'til he woke up), he seemed more blah. He said it was noisy and dirty and not much fun. He stood next to a machine taking bundles of papers off the 'bundler' onto a conveyor belt. Didn't speak to anyone. Didn't vary the tasks. Nobody had even yet told him how much they were paying him.
So, I looked up the phone number, and told him to call Monday morning, ask for HR, tell them he just started but wasn't told the pay. He had heard rumors that it was $7/hr, and for that he didn't want to stay.
Monday night I asked if he found out anything. Sure enough, it was only 7 bucks, so he told the HR lady (I had told him he could do this if it was only 7) he was quitting. She asked "WHY????" He said he didn't need that for only 7 bucks.
Ronny thought this was a GREAT idea. Went in to "interview" one night (I came along). This is the kind of place where if you can fill your name into the application form they will hire you. Third shifts tend to be like that.
Ronny was very excited that he was working there, and his first night on the job was this past Saturday. He finished around 4:15am, so around 4:30 Sunday morning he crawled back into bed next to me.
When we got up (well, I got up first, and putzed online 'til he woke up), he seemed more blah. He said it was noisy and dirty and not much fun. He stood next to a machine taking bundles of papers off the 'bundler' onto a conveyor belt. Didn't speak to anyone. Didn't vary the tasks. Nobody had even yet told him how much they were paying him.
So, I looked up the phone number, and told him to call Monday morning, ask for HR, tell them he just started but wasn't told the pay. He had heard rumors that it was $7/hr, and for that he didn't want to stay.
Monday night I asked if he found out anything. Sure enough, it was only 7 bucks, so he told the HR lady (I had told him he could do this if it was only 7) he was quitting. She asked "WHY????" He said he didn't need that for only 7 bucks.
Saturday, January 07, 2006
Kong versus the Mass Hole
(For the non-locals: a "Mass-hole" is an obnoxious Massachusetts driver)
Monday, 1/2, was a holiday for us at work, but Ronny didn't have off. I met up with Brad & Cris to go see King Kong. It was kind of a perfect opportunity, since I had wanted to see it, and Ronny had no interest at all in going to that one. The movie was pretty good. Cris had to go right away, so we parted ways at the theater parking lot. As I was heading home, I was heading down the road at around 45 or 50 mph (Not exactly sure). Some dumbass in a mini-van pulled out right in front of me. I SLAMMED on the brakes (and slammed on the horn). I could feel the anti-lock brakes shimmying and the car fishtailed ever so slightly, but stayed on course. Luckily it was sunny, and the pavement was dry, because the mini-van moron wasn't really moving that fast, and I was still gaining ground. I came probably within a foot of hitting the bumper. Doesn't sound so bad, but when you're bookin' along at a fairly good pace, a foot is not that much room.
It is said there is an average of 5 car accidents per day per state in the US. I had one in '04 (which wasn't my fault, but the state of MA screwed me over on it, so I'm paying for it through insurance premiums), so felt it was a little soon for my next one. Luckily, other than leaving a little rubber tread scraped across the road, nothing happened.
Monday, 1/2, was a holiday for us at work, but Ronny didn't have off. I met up with Brad & Cris to go see King Kong. It was kind of a perfect opportunity, since I had wanted to see it, and Ronny had no interest at all in going to that one. The movie was pretty good. Cris had to go right away, so we parted ways at the theater parking lot. As I was heading home, I was heading down the road at around 45 or 50 mph (Not exactly sure). Some dumbass in a mini-van pulled out right in front of me. I SLAMMED on the brakes (and slammed on the horn). I could feel the anti-lock brakes shimmying and the car fishtailed ever so slightly, but stayed on course. Luckily it was sunny, and the pavement was dry, because the mini-van moron wasn't really moving that fast, and I was still gaining ground. I came probably within a foot of hitting the bumper. Doesn't sound so bad, but when you're bookin' along at a fairly good pace, a foot is not that much room.
It is said there is an average of 5 car accidents per day per state in the US. I had one in '04 (which wasn't my fault, but the state of MA screwed me over on it, so I'm paying for it through insurance premiums), so felt it was a little soon for my next one. Luckily, other than leaving a little rubber tread scraped across the road, nothing happened.
Undescended
Ronny kind of wanted to go to Times Square for NYE. I tried to convince him that it would be a really bad idea. We weren't able to head to NYC for the weekend, anyway, so it didn't really matter, but he was a little bummed about it. I told him we'd watch it on TV, and that you get to see more of the festivities on TV then you would if you were really there, anyway. So, we went by my friend Phil in Quincy. He had a couple other friends over, and made dinner. It was homemade chicken tikka masala. I LOVE tikka masala. Ronny can't eat spicy food (allergic to hot peppers), so our one trip to an Indian restaurant was a disaster. But Phil was making it non-hot, for several people's benefit, so it was perfect for Ronny to enjoy the flavor without the mouth-swelling after-effects.
Then we played Catch-Phrase. Ronny didn't participate. Language-based games are a little tricky for non-native speakers. Then we played Scene-It. Ronny again didn't participate. In addition to the language barrier, there's the whole cultural thing about whether or not he ever heard of these shows growing up in Brazil. A few minutes before midnight someone noticed we were about to miss the big moment and raced upstairs to the (very large) TV. By the time we got Dick Clark's party on, the annoying couples were already kissing in the square. We missed the ball drop. So, poor Ronny didn't even get to watch the dropping ball on the television. So, we poured the champaigne and had a typical gay fashionably late New Years moment. I suggested doing the countdown anyway, even though we weren't really counting down TO anything. It helped bring the spirit back to the moment, even though it was 12:03.
There were these nice (probably expensive) metal DDR pads on the floor in front of the couch, so we ended up playing a little Dance Dance Revolution. Ronny joined in for that one! It's really not that hard, but I kept missing the down arrow behind me, which throws off your timing.
Then we played Catch-Phrase. Ronny didn't participate. Language-based games are a little tricky for non-native speakers. Then we played Scene-It. Ronny again didn't participate. In addition to the language barrier, there's the whole cultural thing about whether or not he ever heard of these shows growing up in Brazil. A few minutes before midnight someone noticed we were about to miss the big moment and raced upstairs to the (very large) TV. By the time we got Dick Clark's party on, the annoying couples were already kissing in the square. We missed the ball drop. So, poor Ronny didn't even get to watch the dropping ball on the television. So, we poured the champaigne and had a typical gay fashionably late New Years moment. I suggested doing the countdown anyway, even though we weren't really counting down TO anything. It helped bring the spirit back to the moment, even though it was 12:03.
There were these nice (probably expensive) metal DDR pads on the floor in front of the couch, so we ended up playing a little Dance Dance Revolution. Ronny joined in for that one! It's really not that hard, but I kept missing the down arrow behind me, which throws off your timing.
Almost mile-high
Friday, 12/23, I flew back to New Mexico for Christmas. I couldn't find a ride to the airport, so I took the 2pm commuter rail. I ended up at the airport around 4pm for a 6:10 flight, so I was wandering around a while at the terminal. After stopping at the newsstand for a Milky Way bar, I was heading past a bar and heard "Jeremy!" My first thought was that it was some other person being beckoned who happened to have the same name, but I turned to look anyway. There was my friend Brian! He asked what I was up to, and said wasting time 'til my 6pm flight. He said he was doing the same thing. Turns out he was on the same flight! Turns out he was in the row behind me! So, he switched seats with the lady next to me, and we sat together on the flight. I haven't seen him in several months, so it was nice to catch up.
So, if having sex on an airplane is the mile-high club, does it count for anything if you happen to sit next to someone you've already hooked up with in the past??
So, if having sex on an airplane is the mile-high club, does it count for anything if you happen to sit next to someone you've already hooked up with in the past??
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