This weekend started off in a memorable way. First, my boss called me into his office and told me that the firm is bringing me onto the "staff payroll" instead of being paid through an agency. This means that once again, I have to fill in paperwork to get my job. This time, HR (and some others) may be a little surprised when they see paperwork in Mario's name instead of Marian's name. Luckily, I've always used an informal version of my name that's androgynous and can be used by either sex.
But Friday was much more than being given the job that I thought I'd be given the following week. I finally was able to talk to the contractors who have been fixing up the apartment below me for sale. Hopefully, I'll be able to see the bathroom once they are done, and get an estimate (time and money) of what it will take to do the same thing in my place. Then, I drove to see FH for dinner.
FH was in rare form on Friday. Going to a busy area to eat at a chain restaurant will likely end up resulting in a long wait when NYC is still under pandemic restrictions. She wanted to eat at the Cheesecake Factory in Rego Park, Queens. So I drove to the shopping center, got the parking ticket, and proceeded to the restaurant where we were told it would be a 2 hour wait for a seat. Next, we walked across the street to the Olive Garden where we were told it would be a 1 hour wait for a seat. And then, we walked to the Longhorn Steakhouse where we were told it would be a 2 hour wait for a seat. Guess where we ate - the Olive Garden.
There is a good reason why people choose to eat somewhere other than the Olive Garden. Most of the food is excessively salty and excessively starchy. (What do you expect from a pseudo Italian restaurant chain?) After 45 minutes waiting on a chilly park bench, we walked to the restaurant and had a mediocre meal. And that's where the fun begins. When trying to use the parking lot payment machine, the machine refused to accept my credit card. I had no way of knowing that this lot accepts payments at the exit gate. So I started getting frustrated, and asked FH to be quiet for a moment so that I can deal with my frustration. She kept talking, only making it worse. Eventually, I got mad at her and told her to shut up. She got mad as well, and we escalated things to the point where I said that I wouldn't bother calling her again. Eventually, the parking lot attendant told us that he had to reset the machine and that we should pay at the exit gate.
At this point, all I wanted to do was get out of the parking lot and drop FH off at her place. She started up her argument again, saying that I was wrong and that she would speak whenever she wanted to - even when the person next to her needs a little bit of quiet for a minute. She even brought up Marian, and I told her that this part of me is not up for discussion as it is not germane to the argument. So I was glad to get her out of my car quickly, and then call a friend. Thankfully, Vicki was available. She noted that it is easy to understand why someone who has as little empathy as FH has never been married. And then she said that this makes it much easier for me to start dating people who have a better chance of meeting my needs for a mate.
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Saturday came, and I just didn't want to get out of bed. I knew that today had to be laundry day if I wanted to go on my date with APJ (as I'll call her for now - it could change). So I decided to get up and finally start my day around 10:30. But that didn't mean that I'd start any chores then - that was around 1:00 pm when I brought my laundry downstairs.
Once I was done with my laundry, I got ready to go meet APJ in Hackensack. I did a quick shower and shave, and got dressed for the second day in a row as Mario. Then it was off to Jersey. Both of us fought the usual Saturday traffic to get to the diner, and we chatted for almost 2 1/2 hours. So far, so good. But I will have to tell her about Marian before we get intimate. And I only can imagine what she will think when I do so.
Since I know that I'll need lunch for Monday and Tuesday, I stopped by Shop Rite on the way home. While there, I looked for a cheap succulent plant to leave a friend as a gift. I couldn't find one in my price range. So, I decided on buying a "lucky" bamboo plant, and will leave it on the friend's doorstep on my way upstate tomorrow.
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In many ways, I wish I could have been one of the women who wore uniforms like the one above. Sadly, the market for women's baseball died when the men came back from WW2, but a good movie came from it. (By the way, what do the movies "A League of Their Own" and "The Green Mile" have in common? Answer below....)
I knew that I was going to have less time in Cooperstown than I wanted, as I woke up later than planned. But I figured that I had enough time to drop off yesterday's gift, and then go to Cooperstown for a 3+ hour visit to the Hall of Fame. So I got in my car and wasted time at the local Mickey D's before getting on the thruway. Usually, it takes me about 45-60 minutes to reach the thruway, and based on the time I budget to reach Catskill, it would be another 2 hours to reach Cooperstown by back roads from there. During the daytime, this is a beautiful drive. Yet, I wouldn't recommend doing it at night, as these are rural roads with little traffic and no cell phone service. Eventually, I made it to Cooperstown, and found free parking without trouble, then had no problems buying my ticket for the museum. (Later on, I was told by a local NOT to visit Cooperstown from Memorial Day to Columbus Day, as the crowds ruin the place - something I experienced when I visited with my (now) ex girlfriend a couple of years ago.) It would be easy to go on and on about the exhibits at the museum. But for baseball fans, it's a shrine worth visiting at least once.
Around 4:30, it was time to go home. And I didn't want to take those back roads at night and in the rain. So I drove North to Route 20, then made the mistake of taking more side roads to reach the thruway. This must have added at least 30-45 minutes to my return trip home. Once on the thruway, it was a lead footed drive home. With one stop at the local supermarket for tomorrow's lunch, I was home in 4 hours. Not bad, considering everything.
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Answer to above question:
Both movies have a scene where Tom Hanks' character urinates off screen. In "A League of Their Own", the duration of his urination is mentioned. In "Green Mile", the character has a UTI that ends up being cured by the wrongly convicted man on death row.
