Falafel, baby gifts, movies... welcome to another random post.

I carelessly forgot to mention in my post yesterday that we will also be meeting our friends in Greenville for lunch before we head to Florence to begin the St. Patrick’s Day festivities. We’re going to meet up at the Pita House, one of my top three restaurants of all time, and pig out on falafel, shawarma, and hummus. YUMMMM!!! Also, we have a couple of gifts for them, as they’re expecting a baby in May and we probably won’t be able to get down there again until late summer. One is a pack-and-play for their kiddo, with Winnie the Pooh (classic style, not Disney style) on its trimmings. The other is a surprise… and as my friends from Greenville read this blog, I won’t say what it is here. But it’s cool. I’m pleased with it, anyway. All in all, it will be a fun time, preceding the fun time with our friends in Florence.

Why does Greenville have so many better restaurants than Indianapolis? Why is it that I’ve lived here for two and a half years and haven’t found a decent middle eastern restaurant? Why, why, why??? I can count on one hand the number of restaurants I’ll miss when we move, and there’s not one that I’ll pine away for like I do with the Pita House. There’s a Mellow Mushroom in Greenville, and if I want greasy New York style pizza, I’ll go to Tito’s. It won’t be the same as Bella, but it’ll be close. On the flip side, there are so many good places to eat in Greenville that I probably won’t get around to missing Indy food for quite a while: Capri’s (mom-and-pop style Italian), Henry’s (killer barbeque from a little hole in the wall), Panda House (the best Chinese food I have EVER had in my whole life), Subs and Clubs (my favorite steak and cheese sandwich place), Zaxby’s (buffalo wings and chicken fingers kinda place), Bojangle’s (the best fast food chicken, ever… beats KFC by ten million miles), three or four different Mexican restaurants (Monterrey’s, Don Juan, Corona, El Matador), Sushi Masa (tiny little sushi restaurant that has some of the most amazing food), and of course, the illustrious Pita House, they of the orgasmic falafel, shawarma, and hummus. Two and a half years, and I can still name these places and pine away for them… *sigh* …now I’ve made myself hungry, LOL!

On another note, I think we’re going to go see the movie “300” this weekend. It looks good. If nothing else, it looks like it won’t be boring. I’m looking forward to it… I was a big fan of Gladiator, and while I know this isn’t going to be Gladiator, it is in the same vein as that kind of movie. I love all kinds of movies, but action movies have to be catchy to hold my interest, and it looks like this one is. I got bored with Mission Impossible, I’m possibly one of only two people on the planet that doesn’t care for “24”… with action movies and such, it’s really kind of a case-by-case basis with me. Unless of course there’s some sci-fi mixed in with that action… then it can be as ridiculously stupid as Starship Troopers and I will STILL eat it up. With a spoon. That has a plastic light-up lightsaber handle.

I know a lot of people that refuse to go to movies, saying that they can purchase the DVD for less than the price for two theater tickets, and they’ll just wait for the movie to go to video. I totally understand this point of view – don’t get me wrong! – but I adore the whole movie-going experience. There’s just something about sitting in a darkened theater, watching the movie on the BIG screen, an open box of raisinets in the cupholder and a bag of disgustingly buttery popcorn on my knee. If the movie’s a good one, I become enchanted with the illusion before me, and lose myself in the story. Even if it’s a bad one, I’m still normally relatively entertained. I think I can count on one hand the number of movies I feel that were a waste of money. I’ve only gotten up and walked out of two movies, ever. It’s just something I don’t do (unless, of course, the movie is so bad that I just can’t stomach it any more – Battlefield Earth, anyone?). And one of the things I also love about movies are the previews. I HATE coming in late and missing previews – it’s like missing part of the movie for me!!! The more previews, the better! (OK, fifty or so might be too many, but those movie theaters that don’t show previews *cough* 96th street REGAL CINEMAS *cough* at all really chap my hide!!!)

I’m also one of those people that will go to a movie multiple times. I think my record was 14… that was with one of the Star Wars movies. Interview With the Vampire was up there too… of course, that was because I got a student discount at the time. If I really like a movie, I’ll go see it more than once in the theater, then buy the DVD and watch it several times. I know people that just don’t understand this. Of course, they’re the same people who can’t fathom reading a book more than once. How do these people survive? Some of my movies and books are like old friends to me. They’re a comfort.

OK, enough random rambling for now…

~Becky