Night at the Mexican Restaurant

One of my favorite things to do as a writer is to go someplace by myself, get a good drink, eat some good food, eavesdrop on conversations around me, and write about them. Tonight, I went to a Mexican spot that’s known for good cheap food and AWESOME guacamole. And margaritas. I decided to share my stream of consciousness while listening to conversations. Stop and pay attention to your surroundings the next time you’re out in public. It’s very amusing.

It’s Friday and I feel pretty good. I decided to come down to XXXXXXXX for a margarita and a taco. Maybe some of their awesome guacamole. I’m tempted to put my headphones in, but the conversations are so freaking interesting. There’s one going on right now:

girl: How do you get so TAN?
guy: Well, I work outside every day.
girl: And you LIKE what you do?

She keeps asking questions like, You do WHAT? She talks about her father’s family being very manipulative. She sounds a little drunk and that was just confirmed when she about fell out of the chair. This is why I love people. Darn, they’re leaving. The people at the other table glance at her as they leave. It’s hard to miss her.

Now, I’m listening to the other group at the next table. They’re a bit boring. They’re planning what to eat for Christmas, traditional Christmas breakfast, lasagna for lunch. Hearing them talk about traditional Christmas breakfast makes me think back to years ago when my boyfriend’s father took me to their friend’s house early that morning to their Christmas breakfast. I’m not sure why my boyfriend wasn’t there – why it was just him and me. I enjoyed myself. I like the idea of a traditional Christmas breakfast. I may do that with us, especially this year since it’ll be a while that day before we eat again.
Another group just sat down, this group consists of two girls and a guy. One girl is getting what I got: a double margarita on the rocks and the other girl is getting a white house wine. That seems to be an odd thing to get at a Mexican restaurant.

Oh, another group has come in- two guys and a girl. They look boring, too. She’s passing out squirts of hand sanitizer. Dear Lord. Oh, wait a minute, they just ordered a pitcher of margaritas. I may need to introduce myself.

Wine girl has perked up now that she’s gotten her wine. They’re talking religion. And about how law school will help someone with that. WTF? Another employee is coming out. Apparently, the bartender doesn’t know what the fuck the dude ordered – a whiskey something or other. It’s okay, honey. Law school will help that. Double margarita girl, in the meantime, is insisting religious dude is normal.

I can’t wait to hear what the conversation will entail once the pitcher is half empty at the other table. I have totally given up on the group planning Christmas breakfast.
Now the philosophical table is labeling something as social Marxism. Uh-oh, y’all are starting to get boring. Someone bring this dude his WTF-whiskey, quick. The waiter has come out with bad news on the WTF-whiskey. He’s now limited to Jack Daniels. Whatever. Just bring it, man. Because this table is too damned sober to be waxing philosophical right now. Wine girl is feeling good, though. She’s talking excitedly and talking about “Acadeeeeeeemia”. The waiter is back to take their order. Margarita girl isn’t ready, WTF-whiskey dude isn’t ready, but he’s rationalizing how he needs to be ready because the waiter is ready so they all need to be ready. He really is too rational for a Friday night. He just got his WTF-whiskey so there’s still hope.

Later – now the conversation is turning delightfully drunk:
Whiskey guy: She went to school and started playing softball.
Wine girl: I got diarrhea in school.
Whiskey guy: That’s not a sport.