Friday What?

I don't know what I'm doing here. Usually when I have nothing of interest to talk about, I do it on livejournal. But I fear I've been boring everyone over there too much lately. So I'll just babble here for a while and throw some links in at the bottom and we can all happily move along, 'k?

Last night was the Husband's birthday. He, the Second Wife, and I went to eat at Fogo de Chao, a Brazilian steakhouse. If you've never experienced this, you must try it once. It is like Vegas in a restaurant. The funniest part is when you're ready for your meat course and you flip over your coaster to the green side to let the servers know, you're suddenly inundated by all these beautiful men in baggy pants and boots, waving around giant skewers of meat. You forget they'll keep coming until you flip your coaster back over and have to fight the urge to scream "Stop!" Oh yeah, not a place for vegetarians, by the way. SW made a comment about having to challenge everyone to a duel if he were wearing those pants and brandishing sword-like skewers, which then lead to an Inigo Montoya quote-athon as we dug into our very delicious meat array.

Then we went to one of my favorite bars in Austin for a nightcap, which was about all we could handle while our digestive systems worked overtime on protein. The owner is very nice and always greets us like we're his favorite people there. I was therefore pleased when he announced that - after being open after only 7 months - Nomad was given a "Best of Austin" award. which is way cool, but at the same time not, because then one becomes afraid of who else will start showing up. Yes, I'm a snob like that. I get tired of Austin hipsters. I also avoid certain bars because of the high college student quotient. I went to college bars when I was in college. No need to relive that now.

Then again, who am I kidding? I "go out" about once every two months. I don't really like bars that much anymore, and I'm not really a drinker. Trust me when I say being the lone sober person surrounded by drunks is not amusing. It's actually boring as shit. The funny thing is, because I so rarely join the Husband at his watering hole, when I do I am treated like a Queen. Everyone is soooo happy to see me. I don't pay for a single drink. While gratifying - and a boost to my ego - it feels weird to have all the attention. Luckily, drunks have short attention spans and move on quickly. Tonight will be one of those nights, as the Husband's official b-day party is at...a bar.

In other news, I'm trying to write a ghost story. But I can't get the atmosphere right, so instead it's just a story narrated by a ghost. We'll see.

Linkage:
I enjoy watching The Big Lebowski more now than I did when it came out. I think it's because, as this article states, of the high quotability quotient.

What are your favorite words? I actually knew about half of these off the top of my head. My favorite word, for sound effect only, is bamboozled.

Banksy makes statements again. This time legally.

I have found one of my favorite new blogs. I can only hope I am this stylish when I get old. Or maybe it's in the carrying yourself with style that allows old people to pull off such things with style. No joke.

Have a great weekend, y'all.

In Avoiding Conflict, She Avoided Life Altogether

Last night, the better half and I had what may be termed as a disagreement over dinner about what I perceived as his cavalier attitude towards the behavior of his male friends. We were in a restaurant and actually having a pleasant time, talking this and that, but talk veered madly for about 20 minutes and I had to fight the urge to do what I usually do, concede and move on. I needed him to see how much it bothered me, even though I tend to back away from any sort of confrontation. In the past I would have filed his stories away as further evidence of his hypocrisy. His gentle allowance and seeming acceptance of his friends's boorish behavior was further evidence to me of an obvious character defect.

For some reason last night, I challenged this defect and let him know I intended for him to live up to the model he proclaims to be for others. This is important to me. I dislike three main types of people: bigots, cynics, and hypocrites. I believe we can all live as models of goodness for others. I know he is looked up to by his friends as the "good guy" model and I appreciate that about him. But what kind of model is he when he doesn't even appear upset by this behavior, even seems to act amused by it? What am I supposed to think of this man who finds cheating and over indulgence funny?

So I did the challenging. I'd had enough. I'd had 14 years of enough. And it felt fucking fantastic. He got defensive and I continued to state my case and we went round and round and neither of us won or lost.

And for the first time in ages, we sat at a dinner table for over an hour and talked to each other. We had a conversation. We chatted and shared and got annoyed, but we didn't once stop talking and allow silence to feel normal.

And it was nice.