3 posts tagged “friends”

I am a complete wuss when it comes to horror movies. I like a few of them anyway, but it's hard for me to get through them. My favorites are the Friday the 13th & Halloween sagas.

Anyway, for me to get through a horror flick, I need a few things. Well, one thing- I need something to bury my face in and scream. My friends laugh at me, but I don't care- when it gets too gory, I just can't look. My former best friend and I used to stage movie marathons at her house on weekends. Her mom & little sister saved what they called my scream pillow, just for me to shriek into.

I'm apparently a fun date for this reason. Take me to a horror movie, boys, and I'll probably wind up in your lap with my face buried in your neck. I also tend to stick my fingers in my ears- seeing icky stuff doesn't bother me nearly as much as hearing it. Sounds stick around in my brain longer and I tend to imagine worse stuff than I see onscreen.

Anyway, one weekend Cassandra's mother & sister were gone for the night. She & I had watched wrestling and a couple of the Halloween movies, and were about halfway through an episode of Tales From the Crypt. I don't remember a lot about the episode other than it took place in a supposedly deserted house during a storm. It was actually storming where we were, too, which made it even more unnerving for me. The duplex apartment they lived in was surrounded by trees (which were whipping around in the wind, occasionally banging into the windows) and the neighbors on either side weren't home.

At the height of the show, just when the killer was about to strike, there was a loud crack and the power went out. (We later found out lightning had struck the transformer down the street.) Right as that happened, there was a terrific pounding on the door, like the TV killer was trying to break into the house. I start screaming like a banshee, Cass (also screaming) runs to the locked back door and tries to tear it open without unlocking it. Still screaming and unable to see, I tried to join her, only to trip over every conceivable piece of furniture in the living room before falling flat on my face on the kitchen floor.

The front door flies open-

Her mom & sister were standing there with my sort-of boyfriend. He'd dropped by to join us for the late show. (We WERE the late show) They had come home early due to the storm. The pounding was him, first attempting to scare us (boy did he ever succeed), then trying to get in because he thought something was wrong when we started screeching. (Yeah, my heart stopped beating, jerk!)

As mentioned in an earlier blog, my friend Cass & I used to get together and watch horror movies. We were also wrestling buddies- we went to just about every WCW show in NC from 1989-1993. It worked out nicely- I had a crush on Road Warrior Hawk, she liked Animal. I wanted Scott Steiner (before the steroids ate his brain); she had a thing for Rick.

Our birthdays were 3 days apart- hers was August 11th (she got stuck sharing with Hulk Hogan), mine is August 14th. (I got Bobby Eaton- hah!) WCW was doing a show in Charlotte on the 12th one year, so of course we had to be there.

It was a fun trip. We got a hotel room- brought our own co-birthday cake (aka my infamous, lethal rum cake) - and were ready to party. Some of the local boys had given us a number to call when we hit town, so we called them up.

Now, I had promised Cass we would go see the movie of her choice for her birthday. (You think I'd know better after she wanted us to go see Michael Bolton the year before....have I told that story yet?) Sure enough, a new Friday the 13th movie was out- guess what she wanted to see? So we rounded up a few of the boys and headed to the theater.

I should mention here that Cass had spent a great deal of time describing my reaction to horror movies to the boys who were dying laughing at me. I retaliated by imitating her "death dance"- this little move she would do when she sensed a character was about to get snuffed- but still got the worst of the ribbing. On the other hand, I got to sit between 2 hunks who were fine with the idea of me burrowing into them when I got freaked out.

So the plot of this one, besides Jason killing everyone in sight, is that Jason is actually blown to pieces by a bomb or something. He gets reincarnated when the doctor examining his remains does the grossest thing I've seen in one of these movies: he picks up the suddenly beating heart and eats it. The whole theater saw it coming- I had literally slid out of my seat and was crouched on the floor with both of the guys crouching over me, and a lot of the other moviegoers were covering their eyes and making sick noises. Then I realize I'm not alone on the floor- Cass is down there too!

This is the woman who normally drinks cherry soda, eats hot dogs/pizza/whatever during the sickest scenes in any movie we watch, and she's freaking out at this scene. I couldn't help it, I pulled an Eddie Murphy. (from one of his old stand-up routines) "Bitch, I paid $5 for you to see this movie; you better get up there and watch it!"

She never lived it down. And now the story is on the web for the world to see....hee hee.

Well, after pulling an all-nighter at work- and it was ungodly busy-I dropped by the grocery store before I went home and crashed for a few hours Saturday morning. The cats were not amused.

Called Chad to confirm our standing Saturday night plans only to find out that he was being summoned to a command preformance at our friend Bryan's house. B's wife actually WANTED him to come over....because she needed his help with drawing up their budget. Chad is good at that sort of thing.

So, left to my own devices, I went to the library. Turned in a ton of books and checked out a bunch more. I currently have 45 out, which is about normal. But the sad thing is, I have a dedicated shelf at the circ desk for my holds. And the newbie working there has already learned to recognize me and heads for the shelf before I even get to the counter.

That done, I headed over to Whole Foods for my biweekly cheese pickup. I'm kind of in a rut- bought Havarti & Drunken Goat again. I like them, but I really should branch out some more. I wanted some of the goat gouda, but it was a little too pricey for the budget this payday.

After a quick stop at Aldi's (a discount grocery store near home), I managed to get everything put away. Since Chad wasn't going to feed me dinner, I had to cook. I'd bought a nice looking package of pork spareribs, so I thought I'd give them a go. They turned out OK, but didn't have nearly as much meat as it looked like they did. And Nightshade got her first spanking- the little snot snuck up on me when I was watching Felicity, snagged the meatiest rib on the plate, and tried to make off with it. She'd never done that before- it's usually the other two that I have to defend my dinner from!

I spent the rest of the night reading.

Sunday was a lazy day. I spent most of it sprawled out reading. We had good weather for a change- it was around 70 degrees, so I opened the doors & windows to let the house air out. Got some of the laundry done too.

Then I went to dinner with my friends Brent & Jessica. We went to an Irish pub, Brendan's, that had Woodchuck cider on tap. I rarely drink- don't care for the taste of most alcohol- but Woodchuck is one of the few things that I DO like. I only had one since I had to drive myself home (and they were $4.75 a glass), and that was almost enough to do me in. ( I was good and giggly) The food was terrific-I had Shepherd's pie and Jess let me try her fish & chips- and there was a celtic band playing, so it was a fun atmosphere. The highlight of the evening was our server hitting on me as I was leaving.

After dinner we went back to B & J's house to watch Stardust. I love that movie. Then we talked until the wee hours of the moring and it occurred to me that I DID have to work today. 

So there you have it. My weekend in a nutshell.

My friend Chad & I are very different people, yet we are also very much alike. But grocery shopping together is not a good idea for us. While I do make out a list of things I definitely need, I also like to browse and sometimes pick up off-list items to work into a meal. I also tend to shop for different items at different stores. He simply makes a list, decides what store he's going to, period, and does not deviate from this. In, out, boom, he's done. Chad refers to this as man shopping. "We only browse in hardware stores and the electronics department."

We both suffer from forms of obsessive-compulsive disorder. At least, I'm willing to admit I do, he is in firm denial. We get together nearly every Saturday night, make dinner, and watch movies. We used to take turns cooking, but he has pretty much taken the job over. I don't object too much because it's nice to not have to feed myself at least one day of the week. But in the interest of trying new things, his OCD has taken over. Chad buys cookbooks and decides that we're going to work our way through them. Which would be fine if we could vary the routine every now & then or skip things that just don't look good, but he insists on trying EVERY recipe. Which is why we've eaten some form of pot roast almost every week for the last 6 weeks. (guess what chapter we're in?) There's not much difference in these recipes, but he won't hear of skipping to a new chapter.

I had to laugh at him last year. I was allowed to skip a meal because it was a crab/egg/cheese casserole of some sort. My seafood alleriges prevented me from eating it. Chad doesn't like crab. But he spent a ridiculous amount of money on the ingredients, made the casserole and spent 3 days eating it. (he couldn't halve the recipe because "I have to make it the way it's written") Did I mention that he hated it? But it was the next recipe in the book, so of course he HAD to make it. I did finally convince him to throw the leftovers out before he gave himself food poisoning.

Anyway, he's found another recipe in the casserole cookbook that we never got around to doing because the Kroger store where we usually shop didn't have the specific apples (don't ask) that it called for. Never mind that he could use another type of apple- it HAS to be what the recipe lists. I suggested driving over to Whole Foods- they have a much more extensive (and expensive, alas) produce section. "I'm not driving to a store across town (we live approx 10 minutes away from nearly everything in Louisville) just to buy apples." I pointed out that he could browse and pick up new things to try, just for the hell of it. See his comment above for the response to that idea. And then he told me that tryng new things was the whole point of going through the cookbooks. I couldn't get him to understand that I meant something like trying a new-to-me fruit or a new chocolate bar or some of Whole Foods' inventive homemade sausages. "Why would I want to do that if it's not what I went in for?"

Yes, he makes me crazy, but I have the same effect on him. He doesn't understand my need to forage through the odds-n-ends cheese bin. I've found some terrific new favorites that way, and a few icky ones, but didn't have to spend a lot of money to try them...or get stuck with a large chunk of cheese that I hated. (Roomkaas is not nearly as good as the Fromage steward made it sound, but goat gouda is yummy) Or why I can look at the produce section and suddenly decide to skip my original plan for dinner and grab assorted fresh veggies to make a stir-fry instead. But the next time I make a trip to Whole Foods, I'm dragging him along. Maybe a bite of Drunken goat cheese and a few winesap apples will convince him!