burp...

so last night, wednesday night, i went to dinner at maggiano's at old orchard for a friend's birthday. ugh! i am not sure if i enjoy eating "family style" with western food. although i was not sick when i finished my dinner, i was uncomfortably full. with chinese food, we almost always eat "family style"- you know, you pass around the various dishes, rice, noodles, soup...etc etc. the portions are always a lot smaller and less filling per dish. 10 people, 10 dishes later, you are pleasantly full. with italian food, the portions are too big; you feel bad not trying some of everything, yet eating some of everything causes your severe volume expansion; you feel compelled yet impolite to loosen your buttons; you come to deep post-meal food coma. worst of all, when you get your check, you are unhappy with the amount because too much food also translates to too much money. same story as present the last two times i ate at bucca di beppo. AARRRGGHHH. oh well, happy birthday, sara. :)

hypothetically...

so this is a "hypothetical" story of imagination:
say, you are a 20-something, healthy, fairly good-looking individual with good education, good common sense (like all of us here). occasionally, or a few times per week, you come to the same quiet bar such as webster's or coffee house such as starbucks to read a book, do some demanding assignments for work. this bar or coffee house of your choice, though busy, is quiet for the cutomers and if you keep coming back, the bartenders eventually recognize you as a "regular."

so one day one evening, you ordered your usual drink. you and your bartender/barista got to talking, through some commonality. :) the exchange of words was limited because your bartender/barista was at work and you've got better things to work on and of course, you barely knew this person. however, you decided the brief conversation was, hmm, pleasant, and that the bartender/barista was not as scary looking as the neighbor next door. right before you went home, you stopped by and said HI and such again, and introduced yourself.

days later, as a "regular", you came back to this bar/coffee house again. you saw the same bartender/barista that you chatted with that other evening about to get off work. as a nice person, of course, you said hi again and attempted to make some small talk topics.

however, the next time you went back to the same bar/coffee house and new issues arose. for example, what if your bartender/barista also think the brief few conversations you had were nice? what if your bartender/barista took your attempts to make small talks beyond the professional level and asked if you'd ever want to grab dinner, drinks, or coffee at settings other than the bar/coffee house yall were currently at sometime? you, as a customer and a nice person-- would you be weirded out? would you feel stalked or flattered? if you were a single, unattached person of confidence and decency and self-respect, would you actually consider the offer and go out with your bartender/barista? or would you feel disgusted and never visit your "regular" place again? really, hypothetically, what would you do if you were approached by your bartender/barista?