Smooth

Song on the radio? "Smooth" by Rob Thomas and Carlos Santana. I used to LOVE this song, though I am not a fan of Matchbox 20, they're always so maudlin. Maybe Rob Thomas should go solo, but I think the time may have passed.

Recent adventures. . .Thursday night we hit up Cemeno's for a while for a change of pace. Unfortunately the kitchen was closed, but it was quite entertaining, though there was a couple in the bar that was getting just a little too up close and personal for public viewing. Personally, I don't really think Cemeno's bar (which is pretty well lit compared to other bars) is the place for a guy to plunge his hand down the back of his girlfriend's pants, but apparently he felt otherwise. After a while they couldn't stand the heat and had to get out of the pizza place.

Friday night I went with Melanie and Murphy to see Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood from Whose Line Is It Anyway at the Rialto. It was a great show, though the quality of an improv show always depends partly on audience suggestions, and this audience wasn't too skilled. We were up in the balcony so we couldn't give suggestions, so for the skit where the comedians would act out a scene using lines written by the audience, the lines were not too creative. I think the funniest ones were, "Who farted?" and "Bite me," and when that's the funniest. . . There was also a skit where the audience had to suggest the name of a nearby town with an Indian name. One person suggested Elwood. Another time someone had to suggest a crime. "Biting your toenails" was suggested. The comedians had to tell the audience member that that wasn't a crime. Despite the shortcomings of the audience, it was a great show.

After the Rialto, we walked around downtown Joliet to do some barhopping. Just typing that sentence is amazing, the fact that we are starting to have a downtown that could be successful is really great. We didn't go to Crabigale's or Sapphire yet, but we checked out Eo Vannus, the Cuban bar (awesome inside, just needs publicity so people will go there), and McBrody's. We hung out at McBrody's for a while until my hunger became overpowering, then it was Potato Mountain time at the Truck Stop.

Saturday was Brian's birthday, so a bunch of us went to the city to celebrate. We ended up going to Zentra because Rob's friend was DJing. I'd never been to this club before, and I really liked it. It was less "clubby" and more loungelike than other clubs I've been to, but not touristy. I was also amused that they had hookah pipes. I did not partake, as I did not want to catch mouth diseases from other bar patrons. The decor was very nice and I liked the couches. The most remarkable Zentra patron of the night would have to be a man that we nicknamed "Phone Man." The man, who circled our area often, spent much of his evening staring at the screen of his flip phone, his face eerily illuminated by the glow from the phone. We couldn't figure out just what he was doing, maybe playing Tetris, text messaging, or checking sports scores? There was also the suspicion that Phone Man had a camera phone and was using it to take pictures of us. Kelly and Melanie supported this theory and thus would pose when he entered the area, which was hilarious. Later on in the evening Phone Man acquired a female companion (Cell Phone Celine?), and the two shared some quality time staring at the phone together.

At one point in the evening Melanie, Courtney and I had a discussion of long lost stores from Louis Joliet Mall. Vanity, Capezio, Ups and Downs, and, of course, Merry Go Round were discussed, with special recognition given to the lovely Looney Tunes leather jackets at Merry Go Round, also sported by Horatio Sanz on the "Jeffreys" skits on Saturday Night Live. Sunday afternoon I stopped by Quizno's to get myself some toasted goodness, and I a large motorcycle man was on the premises. When I exited the store, I passed his table and noticed that he was wearing a TINY TOONS LEATHER JACKET. I never even knew such a jacket was possible and yet there were Babs and Buster Bunny in all their glory. I, personally, am holding out for a Muppet Babies jacket.

Later on in the day Shannon, Amee and I went to Plainfield for a "Cemetery Walk." This event was like something out of "Gilmore Girls," "Newhart," or another tv show that has a small, wacky but lovable town. Basically they had people dressed up as former Plainfield citizens who had their graves in the cemetery, and the people told stories of the historical citizens' lives. It was pretty interesting stuff, though some of the "acting" was unintentionally funny. Later on in the evening we went to Barnes and Noble, where I had one of my oddest B&N encounters ever. Shannon tells the story well on her new website, but I'll give the basic details. We were hanging out in the children's section of the store chatting as the cafe was completely full, when a random man and his wife came up to us. The man began asking about our careers and telling us about "career opportunities" in the company for which he and his wife are employed. Shannon and I told him we had jobs, and that I'm in school, but he still kept saying that he wanted to meet with us and see if we were a "good fit." I was kind of confused about the company that they worked for, but they informed us that they made a leading competitor with Red Bull in the world of energy drinks. I asked which drink, and the woman whipped out a can to give us. They asked for our numbers to contact us about meetings. I was inclined to give a fake one, but when Amee and Shannon gave their real numbers I gave my cell number, figuring that I could just not answer if they called. Luckily Amee informed them when they called her that Shannon and I were NOT interested in jobs, and we, taking the advice of McGruff, did not take low-carb energy drink from a stranger and threw out the mystery beverage.

In other news, I'm actually finding myself interested in politics this year. I never thought it could happen, but I have to watch the debates for the Herald News. I wasn't home for the VP debate or the last presidential debate, so with the aid of TIVO I've been catching up and I find them very entertaining. It's also fun to watch the Saturday Night Live parodies and see how frighteningly close they are to the truth. Some advice to Bush: your competitor's name is Senator Kerry, not Kennedy, and Kerry, the term is OB/GYN, not OG/BYN. I was reading Newsweek this week (and not just the entertainment articles in the back), and I LOVED this column by Jonathan Alter. He very eloquently summed up the debate in a manner I definitely agree with: "In the first two debates, it was the yapping terrier[Bush] against the stately basset hound [Kerry]." Though back in the days when my family had dogs, we always had terriers, these days I am definitely a fan of the basset hound.