August 31, 2004
Catching Up
Well, I have a couple activities to catch up on writing about, but one that I want to mention especially was a great evening a couple weeks ago. In fact, the date was August 11th. The good thing about this evening was that I had dinner with some friends that I hadn't seen in a long time. And I have some pictures to prove it. See:
We ate family style at the Sampan restaurant adjacent to Southtowne Mall. At first, I was hesitant to join in the family style meal. This dates back to an experience I had with the same group of friends at Christmas time a couple years ago. We went to this restaurant styling itself as an immigrant Italian dining experience called Buca di Beppo. They serve meals family style there, and even let some lucky people eat in the kitchen and watch the cooking going on. Well, it was the most expensive meal I ever left feeling hungry. Family style didn't seem to be all it was cracked up to be. On this particular evening, I was pretty hungry. It was already late at night, and I had just come straight from a full day of school (my boring workshop on Africa), so I didn't want to be gypped out of a good meal.
Anyway, we did end up going family style, but it turned out fine. I was pretty full. Conversation topics of the evening: Republicans and getting an absentee ballot from a different state. Angle of Repose. Grad school. Europe. Houses. The Polar Express, and I'm sure there was much more. I had the sweet and sour pork. Cybill brought a "friend" and held hands under the table the whole time. And Evie was a treat. 
All in all, it was a successful dinner and really good to see old friends. It's funny how you can still stay connected even after months of not talking. One last picture of friends:
After dinner, I went to watch The Child Who Was A Keyhole play at Kilby.
They opened for the Minders. Lots of other friends from a different part of my life were there. It's funny how there are different facets to myself, like eating dinner with married friends and then going to concerts (also with married friends), and I feel perfectly at ease with both. I remember the first concert I went to after coming home from my mission. It was such a contrast to life as a missionary, but I loved it. There's something about the electric pulse of live music that satisfies me, just like there's something about the peace of the Gospel that also quenches something in me. I have to have both. After the concert, some of us went to Alberto's for some cheap Mexican food. The interesting thing about this dining experience (other than the transient man who kept asking for 50 cents for a cup of coffee when he already had one) was that single people outnumbered marrieds. That's a rare feat these days.
Well, I want to get home. Next time I'll write about bowling. (maybe).
Posted by kea at August 31, 2004 08:10 PM