a ball of yarn and a remote control

33...

On Saturday, I turned 33.

I worked that day, but it was a fairly calm.  I tried to rest as much as possible because I had no clue what was to happen later in the evening.

Cristi had asked me what I wanted to do earlier in the week.  I thought that a nice dinner with friends would be fun.   She asked for a list of potential places to eat, along with potential people to invite.  She got in touch with everybody and arranged the specifics.

Four of my good friends met up and we had a nice dinner at Sticky Fingers, which is my favorite bbq restaurant in Charlotte.  (Their sauce is divine.. look for it in your grocery store!)

Here is a rundown of the guest list:  Corey is in black, Jonathan is above her, Jeanmarie has her hands on me and then Cristi is to my left.

As we were finishing our dinner, we were trying to figure out what to do afterward.  We decided to visit one of my favorite bars to have an adult beverage or two.  My friends Davey and John were going to be there, so it was a perfect place to hang for a while.

Petra's is essentially a piano bar, but they do a lot of varied things.  I go there on Tuesday nights for Trivia (my team generally wins.. I like to think that my TV knowledge helps!), plus they have lots of other things throughout the week.  When originally thinking of going, I was assuming that it would be a normal night with the piano going and the drinks flowing.

Oh.. how I was wrong.

Very wrong.

For that one night, Petra's was home to Big Momma's House of Burlesque.

Yes, kids, I saw boobies on my birthday.

Plus, there was alcohol.  I do not drink often, so it was a rare treat to be given a few shots and drinks to enjoy.  I did not really get a buzz per se, but it was enough to loosen me up a bit.  

Big Momma, our mistress of ceremonies, came out in this red sequin number and belted out a song of welcome.  It was.. interesting.  Then, the gals started coming out one by one to do their numbers.  They would start taking off layers of clothes piece by piece and eventually slip off their tops.

Then, we saw the pasties.   I was secretly hoping for some pasties with tassles, but I guess Big Momma's is too classy for that.

Oh well.

The girls were okay, I guess.  My only issue with them is that they did not do anything when their tops came off.  They just showed us their pasties and then quickly dashed offstage. 

There was no jiggling, shaking, pushing up, gyrating or anything.  It was sad. 

If I am going to see boobies, I want to see boobies.   (This is obviously not a normal occurence in my life.)

We sat through half of the show, but decided to leave before the second half started.

As Cristi (my driver for the evening) and I made our way to her car, it started to rain.  The downpour was really hard and we were soaked by the time we got into her little orange car.  We were laughing the whole way because it was so funny.

Turning 33 was not so bad, after all.  I really enjoyed spending the evening with friends and I thank everybody for making it such a great evening.

I could have done with a little more gyrating boobies, though.

Sigh.

Maybe next year.

Stay tuned..

A funny..

Several people on Facebook have posted this video on their pages.  I had been avoiding watching it for a while, but finally broke down and watched. 

For some odd reason, I found it to be the funniest thing ever. 

It could possibly say something about my current state of mind,  but I have watched this more times that I care to admit and laugh loudly each time.

If you need a Thursday pick-me-up, enjoy.

Now, if I could only get Christopher to do something as amusing as this!

Stay tuned...

Dating: A Cautionary Tale

Well... I went on a date Saturday night.

It has taken me a few days to write this out because I was still processing the events.  It was that much.. er.. fun.

It was my first date since breaking up with Adam three months ago. 

This guy and I have been talking online a bit.  We talked on the phone the night before and decided to go have dinner and see what happened.  He seemed like a nice enough guy. He had just moved from a small town in Tennessee and did not know anybody in town.

What could it hurt, right?

Since he is new to town, so he asked me to pick a dining spot where he has never been.  I thought and thought and came up with a few possibilities. 

I decided to drive, in case we ended up riding around or looking at parts of Charlotte that he had not yet seen.  Somebody did that for me right after I moved, so I thought it would be fun to return the favor.

When he hopped into my car after we met, the first thing I noticed was the odor.  I seriously think that he had taken a bath in his cologne.  It was a cloud.  That would be okay if it was something nice, but I honestly believe that he was wearing Brut or some other cologne that I have given as a Father's Day present in years past. 

I generally do not wear cologne and am kinda picky about the smells, so this was a bad thing.  Thankfully, my windows were already down or else I would probably have suffocated shortly after meeting him.

The first order of business was trying to figure out where to dine.  I had come up with a fairly impressive list of places to go.  I was trying to show him Charlotte and what it had to offer.  Every suggestion that I threw out was met by some kind of objection.  It was weird.

While I was hoping to go somewhere nice or whatever, we ended up at Applebee's.  We were gonna be eatin' good in the neighborhood.

The conversation was fairly easygoing on the drive to the restaurant.  When we got seated and after we had ordered, that stream dried up in a big way.  I used every topic from my vast repertoire within the first few minutes. 

Then, the massive cricket choir joined me and chirped their little hearts out.

It was sad.  I was asking all kinds of questions and basically receiving yes or no responses, which is not the way to get to know somebody.  Those questions were never asked back to me, so he still knows virtually nothing about me.

We finally got on the topic of housing.  He had moved into a weird Craigslist living situation like I had when I first moved here.  He was in a bad situation with scary roommates and a nasty house.

That day, he had started moving out and into a new place.  He had taken several pics of the old and new places and started showing me.  The pics were cool and he is definitely in a better living situation than before.

Then, he decided to text some of the pictures to his brother.

It took him fifteen to twenty minutes to do this.

During that time, I was not being talked to and not talking to him.  It was awful.  I have a strict no texting or doing anything with the phone on dates rule and I broke that.  I was texting everybody, hoping that somebody was having an emergency or needing me for something.

The cricket choir was certainly earning their tips that night, let me tell you.

When he had gotten all the pictures sent, the server brought our check.  It was one of those times where I am sure that she could read my expression and was hoping to bail me out. 

I pulled out my credit card.  When he saw me do this, he said that he would get his part.  I was sitting there thinking "yes, you will". 

I am on the broke side right now, so I had water with my dinner in an effort to keep it cheap.  The bill was under $10, so all was well.

He hemmed and hawed, but never put his money into the bill envelope thingy.   He went to the bathroom and told me to let her take my portion and he would get his in a second.  She did and I was cashed out and (very) ready to go.

When he got back, he realized that he did not have his card on him.  He thought that it might still be in the shorts he had worn when visiting the grocery store earlier in the day. 

He pulled out a check and wrote it out, which I knew was not going to be taken.  It wasn't.  Who takes checks these days, anyway?  I used to write tons of checks to restaurants... back in 1995!

(You can see where this is going, right?)

The inevitable question of "can you get this for me" came out then.

I must say that I did get a little bit of enjoyment over the idea of him scrubbing at dishes in the back with rubber gloves.  However, I figured I had to pay it if for no other reason than to get me the heck out of there.  

I paid for his dinner and his three beers, which was well over double what my bill had been.  When we were settled up and ready to go, I just about hit a sprint to get outside the doors to the restaurant.

When we arrived back at his car, he would not get out.  I wanted to push him out the door, but tried to remember my good Southern upbringing.  Finally, he was gone after about 10 minutes of stupid chatter.

He ended by saying "I guess I owe you dinner.  We should do this again."

Um.  No.

Is this what I have to look forward to in the dating world?

Grrrrr.

Stay tuned...

Smile of the Week..

I have kinda been a bit down lately. 

There is no real reason why and nothing is wrong.. just kinda blah.  It has been coming and going a lot lately, but thankfully never staying long.

For some reason, the blues hit me last night and held for a while.

During that little spell, I broke out my IPod and listened to a wonderful band.

Nickel Creek and a few of their songs really hit me the right way and cleared up a bit of my funk.  Isn't it amazing how music can really help with our moods?

Here is one of the songs that I enjoyed last night.  (This is a live performance because I could not embed anything else, so it is not perfect and the quality is not wonderful.  Here is the studio version, if you want to hear it.)

And yes, I am feeling much better today.

So what made YOU smile this week?

Stay tuned...

Something New..

A few weeks ago, I bought myself an early birthday present.

It's a Brother Innov-ís 40 and it is my first sewing machine.

Before this, I had never even touched a sewing machine.  My mom used to sew, but I was never interested.  She made tons and tons of "country curtains" for our house and many friends' homes.  I have also been around friends who were sewing bags and stuff, but never actually used one.

I did make some cat toys the other day.  Christopher seems to like his.  They must have been either too much fun or not sturdy enough because either Calvin or Ripple devoured the ones they were given.  Either way, I caught the sewing bug while making them.    

Since I know absolutely nothing about sewing or how to use the machine, I signed up for a basic sewing class.  We met for the first time last night and I truly enjoyed myself.

There are six of us in the class and it kinda reminds me of the Friday Night Knitting Club books or something.  I am the only guy and the five gals are a lot of fun.     Nobody else in the class has sewing experience, so we are a good group.  Together, I think we are going to have a blast!

We started our first project last night after talking about notions and getting to know our machines.  We are making a paperback book holder, which is a fairly simple project.  Part of it was finished last night, part will be done for homework and we will finish the rest during the next class.

Some of our other projects include a pillowcase, a pair of jammy pants and a bag.  She also mentioned doing another bag if we had time.  

This class is going to be so much fun! 

I am so excited to be learning a new skill!

Stay tuned...

Confession..

I watch entirely too much tv. 

If you know me at all or read this blog, you are well aware of this.

For the last few weeks, I have been practically drooling over the idea of all the new and old shows starting again.

I decided to really put myself out there and admit to my problem. 

I am going to share my fall viewing schedule.  Or DVRing and hanging onto until I can find the time to watch it schedule.

It might be painful or scary, but I am going to do it.

Here goes:

Sunday
The Amazing Race
Brothers & Sisters
Desperate Housewives

Monday
Gossip Girl
Greek
One Tree Hill

Tuesday
90210
Melrose Place

Wednesday
Glee
The New Adventures of Old Christine

Thursday
Flash Forward
Grey's Anatomy
Private Practice
Survivor
Vampire Diaries

Friday
Ugly Betty

Saturday
day of rest

I think my DVR is going to hate me.

Stay tuned..

Smile of the Week..

The biggest thing that has made me happy this week is easy.

The weather is finally starting to get cool.  It is no longer like the ninth ring of Hades around here. 

You can walk outside and get something out of the car without looking as if you have been swimming.  It is nice enough to sit on the porch and read for hours now, too.

I love this time of year.

What made you smile this week?

Stay tuned...