Straddling the Line of Normalcy

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you've probably come to know me fairly well. You know that my life is a relatively average one that doesn't differ too drastic from other peoples' my age. As I write this, I'm simultaneously enjoying/mourning the last Pez from my Incredible Hulk dispenser, listening to Ben Folds Five's classic debut record, coaching someone through a wireless router setup, and reading an article about how scientists have created indestructible robot forearms. It's not exactly glamourous stuff, but c'est la vie. That said, sometimes chance has it that my life veers from the path of normalcy, and I get treated to unexpected pleasures. It's always nice when that happens, but the laws of averages say that if something good happens, something bad has to happen to set me back on course. The past few days illustrate the principal nicely, so why don't we just jump into a story.

After all, at the rate technology is progressing, we're going to have T-101s hunting us down in the robot apocalypse soon enough, and this will all be a moot point anyway.

Last Friday, I met up with my friends Allison and Miriam (codename: Mar Dogg) for dinner at East Side Mario's. I don't particularly care for Italian food, so Mario had a strike against him going in, but I'm not picky when it comes to eating, so I was fine with the choice. Actually now that I think about it, there was that past Mario's experience where the server forgot to put our order in to the kitchen and we were left waiting an hour and a half before our food came...

Well, it's hard to go downhill from that, right? Surely our dining experience would be better than that this time.

Alas it wasn't to be, and out of the gates, the meal was off to a rocky start. Our server brought our salads and proceeded to shave parmesan cheese onto them for us. As she reached over me to get to Mar Dogg's plate, her keys-- which were strung around her wrist on one of those dangly keychains-- gingerly danced over my salad as she worked the mechanism of the grinder. They didn't actually go in my salad (as this would have been cause for me to send it back), but let's just say the key-to-lettuce gap was uncomfortably close.

Things only got better when my steak arrived sans the shrimp I ordered on the side. I asked about the shrimp, and was told that they were on their way. Kind of odd that they would arrive separately, but okay. Then they did arrive, and what a sight they were. I should note that these shrimp, which were pictured on the menu, were supposed to be huge, beautifully grilled pieces. What arrived to our table was this abomination:

They say presentation is everything, right? My perfect jumbo shrimp were lost somewhere in the ether, and in their place, I received these two skewers of measly refrigerated shrimp-ring shrimp. Not bad for the $5.50 extra that it cost to add them to my meal!

But enough chirping of East Side Mario's. The meal itself wasn't great, but it was a fun night anyway thanks to a save by the good company I had. (Awwwww)

With every negative, there is a positive though! Fast forward to Monday, when a run-of-the-mill texting conversation with my boy Craig revealed itself to be something special as I was offered a free ticket to see that new Jason Statham joint at a special pre-screening of the film. You may be aware of my love of Jason Statham, so it was pretty awesome to a) get to see the Mechanic for free, and b) see it before anyone else. I'm not exactly clear on the details, but I guess there was some sort of contest for the tickets or something? Either way, this was some exclusive business, and it was kind of exciting. We were holding out hope that Mr. Statham himself would put in an appearance, but that was one wish that remained unfulfilled (despite a false alarm when we saw a bald man). We almost won a free screwdriver with "The Mechanic" branding on it though!

The movie, by the way, was great. If you're a fan of action movies, this one doesn't hold back, and it was very enjoyable all the way though. Some gutbusting laughs were wrought from it too due to its lack of realism! And since this is officially a pre-release review, here is my quote that CBS Films can feel free to use in their ad campaign: The Mechanic is a revelation; Jason Statham is at the top of his game. Is that generic enough?

Anyway, all has been set right again in the world as my life has returned to its usual level of excitement. What adventures will this week hold? Keep checking back and maybe I'll deem some of them worth your time!