Thursday, October 28, 2010

Would you have stayed or left?

Last week Buddy and I went to lunch together, which is something I would never have done back in my days of full-time employment but now that I'm free as a bird I can meet my husband for lunch and watch movies in the afternoon and go for jogs whenever I want.

Employment is so seriously over-rated.

Except when the time comes to pay the bills, then it seems like a pretty good idea.

This is me right now, at 10:40 on a Thursday morning in Starbucks.



Anyway at lunch two interesting things happened.

1. A mouse scampered across the dining room floor. We debated for a few seconds about whether we should leave or not but I had ordered this Cajun shrimp wrap and I really wanted to eat it so we stayed. Which just goes to show that although I got married and changed my last name, deep down I am still a Parsons.

The wrap wasn't actually that great.

2. Just outside the window there was this 2-story building with something like a 2,000 square foot footprint. There was a bulldozer next to it. As we ate lunch the bulldozer started to tear down the building. By the time I finished my Cajun shrimp wrap the building was gone. GONE. In the time it took us to order, debate the wisdom of eating in a restaurant that clearly had a rodent problem, and eat our lunch - that building just disappeared.

Things can change so fast. Yes in China, to be sure, change comes quickly. But lately I've been noticing changes in general and appreciating them. I don't know if it's the fall and the turn of the seasons, or the fact that I'm transitioning between careers now. But for some reason I'm in awe right now of how dramatically things can change.

And how quickly.

And how nice the new can be.

9 comments:

Dalton said...

that is hilarious, and sounds like it might have been element fresh? with fresh rodents too?

its ok you didn't leave, when i got glass in my salad that time, i was ready to go back about two days later. Dom was furious. But I really wanted the salmon salad. Perhaps we're distant relatives...

Melanie Gao said...

No it was that South African place that's in Lane Bridge Villas... The name escapes me right now and I'm sure the manager of the restaurant is happy about that. Because who would want their restaurant's good name trashed in the comments section of such a widely-read blog?

I bet we are related somewhere not too far back in our family trees. It's too bad Southerners didn't record these things better.....

An said...

Hahaha, I would have stayed as well. When I am looking forward to eating something, not much will keep me from it.

Enjoy your time off! I'll be joining you pretty soon!

globalgal said...

I honestly can't believe how blase I am about rodent sightings in restaurants, but it has happened more times than I care to remember and I hardly bat an eye anymore. Finding a hair in my food, however, sends me into spasms of dry heaves and forces me to write off the restaurant forever. I'm not sure what to think of that.

Melanie Gao said...

An maybe we can have a latte together one day while the rest of the world is working! :)

Globalgal I agree, rats are one thing but hair in my food is quite another. :)

Unknown said...

I guess I'm in the minority here, but I would definately have left. Cajun shrimp in an african restaurant? Do you order chicken in a steak house too?

Melanie Gao said...

It's worse than that Jane. I order veggie entrees in a steakhouse. :)

BTW being in the minority at the Downtown Diner probably means you're normal. (No offense to my regular customers. You guys know I love you just the crazy way you are.)

Isa said...

Your post is really a good summary of where we are:
Taitais looking for sublime treats in pseudo-luxury while the rest of Beijing is changing its costume and erasing its past!

A few months ago, while I was getting a foot massage with girlfriends, a cockroach just walked across my then one-month old sleeping infant... I will not name the reputable establishment here!!!

Melanie Gao said...

Walked *across* your baby? Oh my. Did you stay for the rest of the foot massage?