Thoughts to Make Up For Not Posting Last Night

I suck.  I know.  I'm working on it.

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Prom

There's been a lot of things in the past week that have reminded me of Prom 2010.  Walking into the same basements where we planned, the friend's house we went to afterward to change for After Prom.  I wanted to upload a picture of all of us in our finery, but then I realized I don't have any on my computer.  Instead, the photo above is from the beach on Fire Island where we spent the day after.  It wasn't conventional - no huge parties, no drinking - just staying up late, watching movies, eating, laughing, talking, walking on the beach in the moonlight.  Then ultimate frisbee on the beach the day after, some swimming, some tanning.  My date taught me how to play chess that day.

Yeah.  I think about it a lot.

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Thoughts on Afternoon Applebee's, Quotes, & Babies

Though any 'Bee's is a hoppin' place around dinnertime and Happy Hour, there's something more magical about a late lunch or an early dinner at the Neighborhood.  There's no line, no putting your name on a list, no fighting for a seat in the lobby while your stomach growls for half-prince appetizers.  The waiters and waitresses are all standing around the hostess, who grins and leads you, immediately, to one of the booths near the window.  Ah, the good life.  You get drinks, appetizer, meal, desserts, in rapid succession.  Maybe the waitstaff isn't as peppy and, maybe, the atmosphere loses a little something without a rowdy crowd of sports fans seated around the bar.  But seeing the place so quiet is both unsettling and wonderful.  Every person, place, and thing has an undercurrent they don't show the world; every side has two stories.  And the story of Applebee's in the late afternoon includes eavesdropping, laughing, and eating as much as you can in as little time as it takes to do so.

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