Date Night Dilemma
May 30th 2009Julia LondonJulia London & My Life As A Plebe
Jack London and I try to plan a date night each week, but as I told him earlier this week, I almost dread them. Not because I don’t love my husband and want to spend time with him. Because we have the weekly battle of where to eat and what to see. I do not have one of those harmonious marriages where we both love all the same things. Sometimes, I just shout “BLACK!” to see what he says, and he always comes back with “WHITE.”
The first hurdle is the restaurant. I like places that offer at least one healthy option, like fish or chicken. He likes places where you can get down and dirty. Greasy burgers, Mexican food, enormous sandwiches. Hey, I like that food, too, but I would be a whale if I ate it, whereas he can put away anything and stay the same size. And he doesn’t like table cloths. Seriously, he’s got something against places with tablecloths and will only go when I make him.
Then comes the movie or show battle. I have to give him props–he actually surprised me with a trip to see Pride and Prejudice when it came out a couple of years ago, so he at least gets what I like and will sacrifice himself from time to time to make me happy. Sadly, I have no such compunction when it comes to him. I have never surprised him with a trip to see a terminator movie or what I call bloody movies. What can I say? I have a weak stomach. We often end up at foreign or indy house films because neither of us know what they are and we can’t argue about it.
We have the same trouble at home. The shows we have watched together are American Idol, Amazing Race, and In Treatment on HBO. That’s about it. We got over the arguing about baseball or HGTV a long time ago and now have separate viewing rooms. Fortunately, we don’t have a lot of time for TV, or it might be a bigger problem, because we have only one good high def TV.
So tonight, we are going to restaurant with tablecloths (score one for me) and then to see In Defense of the Caveman, a broadway play (score one for him). But it took some doing to get there and I am already dreading next week’s date night.
Are you and your significant other on the same page when it comes to dining and entertainment? What drives you apart? What keeps you together? Did you ever have a date where the guy’s choices were so wrong for you that you didn’t see him again?
I had one of those “I can’t believe that just happened” moments yesterday when my doorbell rang. Turns out it was a high school girl who introduced herself as the daughter of my next door neighbors – which probably was true, except that I’d never met her or her parents in the three and a half years we’ve lived here. Never even got a “Hello, welcome to the neighborhood” from them when we moved in, even though all the other folks in the subdivision were lovely and welcoming.
but that she got all huffy when I declined. And made me feel guilty for denying her my hard-earned dollars!
Have you been surprised or taken aback by what other people said or did? Behavior that left you shaking your head? Something that made you say, “I can’t believe they did that!”
About a year ago, Mr. G and I moved out of the city and into a more rural area. We picked out a piece of property that is between two channels of the Boise River and is beautifully landscaped with waterfalls and ponds. Every morning, I look out my window and see Herons fishing in the pond and five different families of ducks and geese. Every once in a while, I see a mink swimming by. It’s great, really. I love it . . . Well, I would love it but the bugs drive me crazy. I’m talking crazy insane. The mosquitoes are very aggressive and the gnats move in dense clouds. It’s so bad, I don’t go outside at night.
I know what you’re thinking. Gee Rachel, you moved onto an island between two channels of a river and you’re surrounded by ponds. Didn’t you think it would be buggy? NO. I didn’t think about bugs. I used to live within half a mile of the second busiest intersection in the state of Idaho. We didn’t have bugs. We had bank robbers. There were five different banks within a two mile radius, and they were always getting knocked off. The whole neighborhood would get locked down and the swat team would get sent in wearing full body armor. Ahh, those were the days. Men in black Kevlar, carrying assault rifles.
I spent a good part of the day yesterday watching the all-day Land of the Lost marathon on the Sci-Fi channel. It was silly, hokey, and the special effects were absolutely terrible. And yet, some of my fondest memories as a kid are of watching and playing Land of the Lost with my sisters and cousins. We made my youngest sister be Chaka the ape boy. She still hasn’t forgiven us. I’m delighted that it’s going to be a hopefully campy movie this summer.
but once it started I could name all the dinosaurs, the friends and enemies of the Marshall family, and even Uncle Jack who took over for Rick Marshall in the third season.
What was your special TV show when you were a kid? The one you remember most fondly. Did any of you play Land of the Lost? Who was your Chaka?
Happy FROS, one and all!
