Let's go to Lunch

Looking around me, enjoying my lunch I see a couple; one with a burger, the other with a sandwich. They are both hunched over the tabletop, biting into their food, with sauces dripping down their arms.
There is a man eating Chinese food. Noodles are hanging out of his mouth, and he is slurping them up loudly. A larger woman is devouring a pastry, while crumbs fall all over her and the book she is completely engaged in.
Eating is not an appealing feature, however it is something we see displayed again and again as, "the dinner date".
It starts with the awkward concern for price. Are you paying? Is someone else? If they are, what is their price point? Do you go for the steak or stick with a cheap sandwich.
This is followed with the fest. You try not to spill anything, or look foolish. Let's not forget that food can get caught in your teeth, or sauce could appear on your face. How do you have any way to know this without being told by the very person you are trying to impress?
Why is it we choose to eat out together?
Many years ago you could tell a persons stature, and manners simply by the elegance at which they applied to eating.
However now stature is slightly less important, and eating out is a social movement.
Eating out is as common with friends, as seeing them. Ever so popular is the phrase, let's go to lunch.

Life Lists

Earlier this week while reading a fashion magazine, I came across an article that spoke about life lists. Essentially a list of things you would like to accomplish in your life. The article said, "Life-lists are hot right now". Myself not being one to follow a trend did not feel immediately tempted to grab a pen and begin jotting.
This 'trend' came back into my head this evening as I grabbed some pizza. I got to a cute ma and pa operated place with a used familiar feeling to it. As I grabbed the pizza and choose my dipping sauce from pa, I noticed ma. She was sitting in an old wooden chair, watching TV, and scooping ice cream out of a Burger King cup. She looked completely content. I started to wonder... when she was my age, what did her life list look like? Did she get to accomplish all of her dreams or wishes? Is this the life she wanted?
However it turns out, my main goal has always been 'to be happy doing whatever it is I have decided.'
Seeing her, made me happy. There shouldn't be so much emphasis on doing every little single thing on that life list. Know that you will do these things with work, money, time and persistence.
Don't sweat it though; do like ma, enjoy yourself.

April Fools American Idol

I like to watch Jeopardy; if I can answer three questions on a show I feel a touch smarter.
After Jeopardy I left the tv on, not in too much concern as to what follow up the rear.
American Idol started with the worst April's fools joke... The show wouldn't be on, instead we'd watch an older movie starting Simon Cowell. Who's writes that crap? Viewers would seriously believe this? Or is this the kind of viewers that watch American Idol. For a show that millions of people watch, you could get some good writers, especially if you are holding a "talent contest". Maybe I'm knocking them to hard, and the idea came from above. Whatever the case, it was stupid, especially since in the bottom right corner of the screen, it said, "LIVE".
I didn't turn the set off, but rather distracted myself with other things, turning to watch the performances. It was the Dolly Parton special, where she had helped the idols to make her songs their own. I was unaware as to what a great songwriter she was, and how many classic and beautiful songs she had written.
The whole night Simon was giving terrible feedback, like a grinch of sorts. The host and other judges chewed him out for it, but I agreed with him. These weren't amazing performances, they were nice, they looked good, but that's about as far as it went.
The highlights of the night were Carley Smithson, David Cook and David Archuleta. Cook's arrangement and use of his falsetto was impressive.
Carley's voice really resonated and went well with the song of her choice. There were a lot of cute pretty performance from the girl contestants and a couple interesting arrangements and choices for the guys.
Personally I don't like Archuleta, however his amazing voice, and the feeling he put into the song brought a tear to me eye (seriously). He will probably win, because he is a fan favourite.
The rest of the performances were there to fill in the time slot.
The very last song "I will always love you", was definitely the hardest to cover. No one can pull of like Whitney Houston, but Syesha Mercado tried, and she gets a shout out for that. The first part of the song was great, soft, sweet and sentimental. Just the way Dolly wrote it, without the added flares and trills of the Houston version.
What did I learn? If I'm interested in seeing who wins than I should wait three or four more weeks to check the progress. The performances were not something I'd had the patience to watch week after week (they are just not THAT good).
And that Simon tells it like it is, that is why he's there. I felt the other judges being nice, almost too nice, especially with nine contestants left.