Wednesday, May 30, 2007

IF NOT FOR FULL TUMMIES WE WOULD HAVE BEEN DOOMED

I have so much on my mind today I don’t even know where to begin. First of all I have decided that although it is nice for my supervisor to have me scheduling the volunteers to come in and do stuff while other people meet and greet them and take them to the classes, it seems a little incongruous. I’m ok with it though. It gives me about 10 minutes more time to do my job every day.

After work yesterday Monica took me to Standard Indian Restaurant for dinner. She rules for that. One thing I will say about that restaurant is that it is real standard. The dishes are all tasty but none are particularly exceptional (although they make a mean cauliflower). I always know exactly what I am going to get when I go there and I am never disappointed because it always tastes the same. It’s standard and sometimes that is good. I really need to hit up some of the Indian buffets on the Devon strip. I found the ever divine Hema’s and now tend not to go further down to where the buffets are. I bet I’m missing out on some good buffeting.

I’ve kind of gotten ahead of my story. On the way to the restaurant we had to ride a train that was full of people going to a Cubs game. I know I have said it time and time again but riding the train with Cubs fans is one of the many things that make me hate them. The other was living in Wrigleyville for two years. I realize there are some great Cubs fans out there, some that read this blog, and I am not talking about them. I’m talking about the jerks who don’t realize that stepping all the way in is an option on the train. I’m talking about the ones that flip their hair all around on crowded trains and slap your friend in the face with it. This includes the ones who press their entire bodies on a railing so you can’t get a grasp on anything. I can’t leave out those who are so drunk before the game that your commute smells like a keg. These are the ones I hate. They weren’t actually all on the train yesterday but, whatever, they suck.

The bad thing about getting off at Belmont before a Cubs game is that you don’t get to enjoy the serene peace of post Addison ridership. Then again, you get to eat Indian Food and that is always a plus. When we got to the restaurant we had a hard time getting in because some “band” type folks were just standing in front of the door. They decided to enter shortly after we did, this later became a problem.

We were debating if we should go and get food or wait for the waiter so that we could order Mango Lassis. We opted to get food. This was a mistake as we didn’t get to order our Lassis until midway through our second, and final, plates. As we were eating we noticed that the “band” was French. I don’t know if this is at all a relevant fact but it is a fact all the same. Because I tend to watch people, I noticed that as they went up to the buffet for their second plates, they took their first plates along. This is something I am NOT ok with, how incredibly unsanitary and gross. I kept looking at the owners expecting them to say something and being sad when nothing happened. Eventually the owner mentioned it to one person and he got a new plate but there were five others just piling it on.

Although Monica and I were utterly full, we would have liked the option to go back for one more spoonful of something incredibly delicious. Unfortunately, that was just not an option. The possibility of “band” germs was simply too great. We also noticed that there were a few other people who seemed to have adopted the “band” rule and were also not getting new plates. Did something happen where that became the norm? What is this world coming to?

Ashwanganda, Metal Fingers- This would be the most awesome video game music ever. Why did I not know that it existed on my iPod until now? I apparently have a good deal of Metal Fingers on my iPod. Who knew?

Bombs, The Impossible Shapes- I really like this band but I also really like actual impossible shapes. They are so fun to look at and seem utterly possible in some cases. Then you look closer, impossible.

Foxy Lady, Jimi Hendrix- Wayne’s World made it utterly impossible for me to even conceive of taking this song seriously. That is kind of too bad because it tends to rock.

5 comments:

kim said...

That's not the Indian place off Belmont on Sheffield is it? Husband loves that place. When I eat Indian, I have to go to a restuarant and have it served. Part of it is I think all of the buffet food looks like messy diapers. The other part about buffets is, if I am going to go out and eat, I don't want to serve myself.
You are correct about the Belmont stop before a Cubs game. I used to live at the Addison stop and I always dreaded those night games!

Johnny Yen said...

Kim beat me to the punch. When I met her, she lived right down the street from Wrigley. Although she and her daughter loved going out on the back porch and singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh inning stretch, night games were mostly bad news.

Recently, my stepdaughter was telling me about why she likes living where she does now. One of the biggies is that drunken Cub fan comic geniuses do not ring the doorbell at 11 at night where she lives now.

Kim and I differ on buffets. I love them-- they allow me to eat all kinds of food, and as much as I want of them.

Traveling Matt said...

Kim, you're thinking of Star of India Buffet. Standard is betweeen Wilton and Clark next to Sinbad's.

Natalie, I am STILL full and it is 2 days later. Did you notice that the guy in the band who looked like Jerry Cantrell spoke PERFECT english without an accent? I noticed this on the way out. Talk about pissed. Why oh why didn't the owners say something. They totally blew it. I ought to make them a sign to put up ver the messy diaper food.

Johnny Yen said...

BTW, that was a violation of health codes-- by all means, next time, speak up about it and get the owner to enforce it.

Foofa said...

Kim- When it comes to Indian food I rarely care how it comes I just want to eat it.

Johnny- Drunk Cubs fans are the worst. When we lived at Belmont and Sheffield we would go on the porch and count how many drunk cubs fans peed in the alley. Sometimes we would yell things at them. Good times. Serious violation of health codes. We really should have said something.

Monica- I haven't been hungry since but mostly because I have kept eating. MMMM eating. I did notice that as well. We can't blame it on a cultural difference anymore.