I’m sitting here at the reliable iMac on a lazy Sunday afternoon, listening to Norah Jones’ “Come Away With Me” (on iTunes) reflecting on my Saturday night. Time to record the happenings no matter how trivial they may seem to others.

Brad and I were meeting my friend David for dinner tonight. We decided to go shopping first. I picked Brad up at 4:00 and we drove the back roads from his house to Landmark Mall. Now, I’ve lived here for 38 of my 39 years and I could not tell you the way Brad directed me to get to Landmark Mall from his house. It’s so strange that I have lived here so long and don’t know the back roads to get to places without having to go on the beltway. Brad is amazing that way. He’s been here half the time I have and knows so many more ways to get places. I guess I should get out more. Anyway, we get to Landmark Mall and begin looking for a store called “As Seen On TV”. I have been looking for this goofy product that puts lotion on your back for you. I can never reach the center of my back and never have anyone around to do it for me. So I end up having an itchy back often. For years I’ve been looking for something to put the lotion on my back for me. My friend David found such a product and sent me the link to it. I thought about ordering it but he told me that there is an ‚”As Seen On TV” store in Landmark Mall. So Brad and I went there looking for the Lotion Applicator. We breeze through the Mall and find the store and I go ahead and buy one, not knowing if it will work or not. I’ll give it a try. We then cruise the rest of the mall looking at other stores and seeing what all they have there. A few things come to mind while walking the halls of Landmark. First, there are very few national chain stores in this mall. It seems like the mall has gone down hill. Most of the stores are junk shops. It’s like all the good stores up and left. Second, Brad and I were two of maybe 10 white people in this mall. I couldn’t get over how many nationalities were represented in the mall. If you have a liking for ethnic men, you would have a field day at this mall. And not only is the mall now filled with foreigners, but the only other white people in the mall had to be transplanted white trash. This is not the mall for people watching. Everyone was ugly or fat or ugly AND fat. Not that I’m a prize or anything but I know good looking people when I see them. These people were not. With our little bit of shopping over, we left the united nations mall and went to the Wal-mart in Kingstowne. Yet another place filled with white trash and foreigners. When I first began going to Wal-mart at Kingstowne a good 6 years ago, there wasn’t anyone there and the traffic and parking were acceptable. Now you have to fight for a spot and wait in long lines at the traffic lights. I can’t believe how much that area has changed. I go there so rarely. Usually my friend David, who lives over there, usually comes by my place or picks me when we do something together. I rarely go to his place. After our adventures in shopping, Brad and I decided to head over to David’s house and pick him up for dinner.

We got to David’s place a little early but that’s okay because David knows I’m always 10 minutes early. He met Brad and gave us a tour of his house and told of the latest projects he’s been working on. We then decided to go to Macaroni Grill for dinner. We drove over to Macaroni Grill and parked. The lot was packed and it didn’t look good for an easy seating. We checked and sure enough it was going to be a 55 minute wait. I was already hungry and didn’t want to wait. We decided to cross the street and walk over to Uno’s. We got there and there was only a 15 minute wait. I put my name on the list and we sat and talked while waiting. I took a few pictures of Brad and David waiting to be seated. They both hate having their pictures taken. I think Brad hates it more though. In just a few minutes we were seated and ordering. We had a very cute waiter. A very young blond thing that couldn’t have been more then 22 or so. I didn’t comment on the waiter at the time but I am now. Brad and I shared a pizza and David had some salmon. The meal was good and we enjoyed some nice conversation. Brad got to know David and David got to know Brad. Since this was their first meeting, Brad was very nervous to begin with. Approving of a new boyfriend is what good friends are for. They will also tell you if you are making a mistake. Luckily David hasn’t had to tell me too often of my mistakes but I know he’d be honest and tell me if he thought I was making a mistake. After paying the check, we settled on going to Dairy Queen for ice cream (how appropriate for 3 gay guys to go to Dairy Queen, even though we are not queens at all). We drove the short trip to DQ and went inside. Brad and David had blizzards and I just had some chocolate ice cream with caramel topping. We sat and enjoy the ice cream even with the chilly wind blowing outside. Brad asked me to help him finish his and I agreed. Ha Ha Ha. While Brad went to the restroom after we finished, David and I went outside and he informed me that he approved of Brad and thought he was a very nice guy. I knew he’d approve. After the ice cream we went back to David’s house. He showed us some fun things on his computer and all his new gadgets. I also wanted him to show Brad my web page and blog on his computer. Brad still has dial up at home with an older computer and things don’t look as clear or load as fast as they do on other computers. It was getting late, for Brad and I, so we thanked David for getting together with us and for the ice cream and we left. Going home I took the beltway to get back to Brad’s house. The traffic was nothing at that time and I knew the way. Back at Brad’s house I wasn’t going to spend the night because Brad was very tired and really needed a good night’s sleep without me in the bed kicking him or snoring and keeping him awake. But he talked me into staying over. Again, I slept well and Brad didn’t. I told him I felt so bad that he wasn’t sleeping when I stay over. He said it would get better with time. I hope so. I hate I’m keeping him from getting a good night’s sleep. I mean, it’s wonderful holding each other and chatting before falling asleep and then again when we wake up but if he doesn’t sleep in between, he’ll be tired all day. So after dressing and putting a hat on my bed head, I left Brad to attend his long standing breakfast group and to do his taxes. I’ll call him later to check on how his day is going. Brad gives me a good feeling. I like it.