Well, all things considered, the evening was just 'Brutally Boring' instead of "A Crushingly Boring, Tedious and Generally Yukky Pain in The You-know-where."
We left late, (through no fault of my own) so we missed going to McDs. However, when we arrived, the Pasta/Antipasto table was in full swing, so we scrummed the line and walked away with a decent plate full.
Sometimes it helps to look a bit differently than anyone else (and I'm finding I'm being a lot more aggressive as I get older) because a lot of people give way to you.
But picture this first.
I'm sitting at a round table with 10 people sitting at it.
There are:
4 Lawyers.
1 Banker.
1 Elementary School Teacher.
1 High School Teacher.
2 Spouses that talked fashion the whole time.
1 Me.
I had two lawyers directly to the right and one directly to the left. The teachers were sitting on the other side of the table, so any possibility of any Intelligent Conversation whatsoever with them was minimal. The fashion ladies weren't interested in anyone else. The Banker was, well, a banker...
The conversation level noise was pretty high and the dance band was playing. I couldn't hear anything, but I found if I kept nodding and smiling every now and then it seemed to satisfy a bulk of the conversation that I think was aimed towards me. (Of course, I really don't know whether or not I'd bought a lot of swamp land in Belize or agreed to become a priest so I'll have to wait that one out.)
That left me with only two reasonable options: 1) Eat. and, 2) Drink wine.
The food wasn't that good, so I compensated by drinking the wine. And I ate the buns. Without butter. I dropped the pasta off my fork and missed The Tie entirely, so my opinion of Ties has dropped substantially again.
Considering that the tickets were $300/throw, I was extremely disappointed in the meal. A small chicken leg, a piece of meat about the size of a soda can bottom, four pieces of asparagus and six teeny, tiny potato balls. Something else was put on the plate, but it smelled funny and I wouldn't eat it.
The firefighters were there again, but I was extremely disappointed that the Hooters contingent didn't show. They must have been double booked or something, but it was a shame. I did, however, spend some time watching a lady at another table who'd obviously had implants and a face lift, and then I spent some time trying to figure out who was wearing a hair piece or had hair implants... I saw a lot of ladies who were basically 'skin-and-bones'.
We left at 10:20, just in enough time to get to the local Tim Horton's Coffee Shop drive-thru just before closing.
It could have been worse. Like last year for example.
I'm owed Big Time for this.
Jim.
Hope you have a great day! 
)
