All Hallow's Eve Eve

All Hallow's Eve Eve

We didn't go to lunch at Olive Garden today, but as we walked into our Leisure World Olive Garden for dinner, there were five black clad figures standing at the hostess podium. An ominous greeting on all hallow's eve eve. Granted, Olive Garden employees are always clad in black, and there are always three, often four, people manning the hostess podium. For some reason five just seemed excessive though.

When we went to be seated, Ariel spotted some friends of ours at a corner table. They have three little girls, and as we talked with our friends, the youngest pooped at the table. In her diaper of course, but how weird is that, no one else could get away with pooping at the table while everyone else was eating. She later used her hand to drink, by dipping it in her mom's glass, and licking the liquid from her fingers. We really lose our freedom when we grow up.

We were served by Unconvincing Accountant, so named for her thick glasses and ponytail, she served us a few times last year, but this was our first time with her this year. I got the salad with ranch, instead of italian. It was a nice change, but when Unconvincing Accountant brought it out to the table, and we could smell the ranch, Ariel almost upchucked. The whole place seemed particularly pungent last night. Maybe just because it was all hallow's eve eve, so Ariel and my werewolf senses were heightened. 

We were seated next to a large family, at least three generations. The patriarch, the creepy grandfather, had a digital camera with a zoom lens. He occupied his time taking up close pictures of his granddaughter at the other side of the table. Weirdo.

On the other side of us were two geeky guys. Maybe father and son, but they were both gamer stereotypes. They could have hosted a radio show called, Geeky Guys Gossip About Girls. My favorite line was, "Yeah, but she hugged you, and said you were a good guy. So you've got that." Poor guys. 

I ordered the Rigatoni with Pesto Alfredo and Crispy Chicken Fritta. What was brought out was the wrong rigatoni. I think it was called sausage rigatoni. It wasn't brought out by Unconvincing Accountant, but by someone else. I said I'd eat it, but Unconvincing brought out my real order quickly. She made sure that we knew "for the record" that it wasn't her mistake, because she knows we keep a record.

As we ate I came to a terrifying realization about the creepy grandpa family. As I watched, the teenage son used the digital camera to snap pictures of his mother's eye up close. They both laughed, and tried to get the better pictures, the way 12 year old girls did the first time they had their hands on digital cameras. I then realized that this family was a family of halloween risers. That is to say, they are dormant for 10 years, then rise from their hibernation state on all hallow's eve. As I watched, I saw more evidence. Their fashion choices were outdated. the father had a smartphone out, had his nose almost pressed into it, trying to figure out its function. They all had ordered specialty drinks, raspberry lemonade, smoothies, and the like, sparing no expense. But no alcohol, it must mess with their supernatural sleep. Then, the smartphone user showed the grandfather new guns that he'd looked up on the internet. Definitely halloween risers.

Visit 38

Monetary value: $32.35

Total: $1,282.98

Weight Fluctuation today: -1.8 lbs

Total:  + 4.4lbs 

Day 26