Just got back from a pleasant lunch with the crowd from
Inn of the Last Home at the Rainforest Cafe at Opry Mills (pictures to come later). It's always a pleasure to catch up with Barry, L, BrainBoy and GiggleGirl, though GG was pretty annoyed that I tried to convince she was an android. (You had to be there, I guess...)
I enjoy eating the Rainforest Cafe, but it seems as if every time we go there, the service is beyond slow. As in molasses in January slow. I swear there must be some hole in the space-time continuum that opens up near our area and every year our server falls into it. If I were a paranoid kind of person, I'd be worried that some space-time continuum event was following me around the universe.
Thankfully, I'm not that paranoid.
After lunch and looking around the Rainforest Cafe shop, I decided to brave the mall to look for clearance calendars. I always tend to wait on buying calendars until after Christmas to get them at half-off.
Man, what a zoo Opry Mills was. First of all, there is the cheerleading convention that seems to run at Gaylord from the middle of November until late March every since year. So, you have that group and their various entourages (we had to wait about five minutes for a steady stream of them to flow into the Rainforest Cafe before we could leave). Add to that the Kentucky and Clemson fans here for the Music City Bowl* and top it all with locals who are off from school and work who thought a trip to the mall would be a great idea. As I said before--a zoo.
I think part of my issue is (as I've stated before) we've forgotten how to use the phrase "excuse me." I've noticed that it's being used as an excuse for plowing into someone or if someone makes the mistake of using it, it means you can keep on barrelling forward, not caring if the person was there first or not. Of course, that assumes that someone might use it when they do something like come to abrupt halt in the middle of the human traffic pattern or plow right into you as they come out of a store with their treasure.
It certainly limited my time at the mall. I got my calendars and quickly left the mall, swearing to not go back again during the holiday season. Or at least next year when I meet the crew from Inn of the Last Home to only go to the Rainforest Cafe and not bother with the rest of the mall.**
* While in the Rainforest Cafe gift shop, a Kentucky fan came in making noises like a monkey. Which, you have to admit is pretty much typical behavoir for a Kentucky fan. I'm sure they are still stunned that their football team did well while their basketball team is doing, well, pretty poorly by Kentucky standards. Don't worry, UK fans, the Vols will make sure to remind you of where we are and where you were when we play in a few weeks.
** I will, of course, forget this next year around this time, leading to another such post about this subject next year. Shoot, I may just copy and paste this post into next year's entry and save time.
posted by Michael Hickerson at 12/28/2006 03:00:00 PM |
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