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September 10, 2000 |
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It's Sunday, and I went to work today. Not to say that this is
really all that noteworthy, but it has been a while since I've
worked on the weekends regularly… Not that I would call this
regular by any stretch of the imagination, but it certainly is
more frequently than I have been in many months.
They, at least, brought in lunch to work. It's a pretty nice touch, any
time that you spend that is overtime, work goes out of the way to
bring food. Of course, if I had the choice of overtime or a free lunch, I
would choose the former. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, my company
really is very good to me. I have little to complain about.
I talked to Pam briefly. She wanted to take her parents out around, and they were tired of the nearby (to them) mall, which is Bellevue Square. It is a very good mall as far as malls are concerned, but even it can get boring if that's the only one that you go to.
She asked about the place we went to only a few days before, which is Redmond Town Center. Not a bad place, it is a plaza rather than a mall, but it is a good place to shop. It is very easy to get to… if you use the freeway, which Pam doesn't, which meant that I would be giving her directions with surface streets. Naturally, this puzzles me, but I suppose that I'm accustomed to it. My mom is also a bit freeway phobic, but she might have been fifty when she learned to drive. Furthermore, she learned to drive in Florida, which would make most people a bit nervous as well.
Still, her mom had a cell phone which they would use if they happened to get lost, so I really wasn't all that worried. She had dealt with commutes for many years before she met me and I'm sure she can continue to take care of herself. We got off the phone, and I went back to work. More bugs; there are always more bugs.
It wasn't until evening when I got a call, or more accurately a page, actually two pages. The first one was related to a voice mail message I got, which was Pam. The second was her mom's cell phone number, so I could talk to them while they were on the road. I'm not sure why they left me a page, since was back to my desk within minutes of getting the first page.
I called Pam. She wondered if I was interested in joining them for dinner. I happily agreed. Now there was the daunting task of giving her directions from her current location to my office. Oh, and incidentally they got to Redmond Town Center without any mishaps; apparently I give good directions. It would be a few more minutes before they arrived, so I had a chance to do some last minute things.
Once they all got there, I showed them my office, which looks messier than before, if you can believe that. There are just more things in it. I suppose I'm somewhat of a packrat. I also showed them around the building, not that there were that many people there on a Sunday night, but there were some people there. After all, we were in crunch mode.
Naturally, Pam had seen this before, so she wasn't all that impressed (or shocked, depending on how you look at it). I don't quite remember what her parents had said about the place, but whatever they said was polite. I walked with them downstairs since we would be taking her car to dinner.
As we were driving away, we decided to go to Best Wok for dinner. They seemed to be in the mood for Chinese and this was certainly one of the better places. I'll warn you that it is not what many Chinese folks would call authentic, but it is good. Not that this argument ever really make sense to me either; the authenticity to the original recipe doesn't necessarily make it better. For instance, if you were into Scandanavian dishes, would you purposely seek out an authentic rendition of lutefisk or whichever happened to taste better.
Then again, if you were actively seeking a place that served lutefisk, you have bigger problems than this authenticity bias.
We were seated at a table near the far wall, right by the window, though the blinds were shut. While Pam and I have dined here before, this is the first time we come here with her parents. Not that they would (or should for that matter care), but I suppose I wonder a little about what they think. I suppose that while growing up I was encouraged to couple up with another Chinese person, and although this was never a hard-fast rule, it is still something that is generally shunned at. Not that I'm ashamed of being with Pam, on the contrary. We routinely show public displays of affection, I suppose I just wonder.
I ordered my usual, which is the orange beef. It is very good. I helped them pick out some dishes that I hoped would suit their tastes. I didn't want to get too adventurous with either the spices or the tastes; I ordered conservatively. I did order a Philipino punch, but alas they didn't have any more. Bummer. It is very good, and it has coconut, which as you all know, should be its own food group. I've never encountered anything made with coconut that I didn't like. I also showed them the correct way to use chopsticks, as well as pointing out that Chinese folks don't use chopsticks. Well, not with plates; we use chopsticks with bowls.
During dinner, Pam and I got a bit playful. The entrées are always served with a garnish of an orange slice and a semisphere of a cherry (or half a cherry for you non-engineers). She picked up one of these cherries with her chopsticks and fed it to me. Very cute. I did the same thing, but also taunted her with it for a few seconds. I suppose that's just me being me.
The one thing I didn't count on was Pam's being a bit curious about the whole thing. Not that they said anything at the table. They were polite enough not to say anything; though they got home, her mom kept following her around asking her how serious we were.
Life is nothing if not interesting.
September 10, 2000