Appetizers, Chicago, Tips, and Ice

     I have had myself one crazy weekend/week. Not that I've been partying or saving kittens from trees, but it certainly has been one of those abnormal series of days. It started when I was hanging with two of my guy friends, watching either "300" or "The Notebook" (I can't remember at this point) when we decided we wanted pizza. We call up and order and expect the pizza in about 45 minutes. It arrived 2 hours later. That's cool, I'm patient, my buds were less forgiving, so I'm picked as the guy that gets to go and pay for the pizza. I opened the door and there stands the delivery gentleman with a wide grin... naturally I grinned back. "That'll be $18.75, and for a $5 tip I'll throw in a box of piping hot buffalo wings I just found here in my bag." My grin became a chuckle... Not only did he give us a little "sorry I'm late" speech, but now he's bribing us for a tip?!? I told him unfortunately I had to pass on the wings...
    Long story short... we should have gotten the wings. I say this because a few days later we found ourselves at a wing joint. Nothing to exciting about this experience, but I just had a realization. Nobody (with the exemption of those who go in expecting to order one) is ever prepared for the question: Can I start you out with an appetizer? No one in the party wants to decide for everyone else. Occasionally you'll get one brave soul to step up and give an immediate yes or no, but chances are this individual will have a friend that does the same thing, but gives the opposite answer. Those that aren't quick to respond usually end up not getting an appetizer, yet they still pull up the menu as soon as the question is asked. Ah decisiveness... what a wonderful thing.
     This brings us to the next experience: pick up the hitcher or not? I was driving my car with my friend in the passenger seat... technically all the other seats are passenger seats, but this is beside the point. About half a block down I see a guy wave me down. I pulled over because I though the guy was going to give me good investment advice... anyway, the guy was an older African American (which usually wouldn't make a difference... but he greeted us with "Hey! White folks!" Like he has never seen white people before... lets be honest... hard to get away from white people in the US) I couldn't really make out what he was saying... my friend and i picked up:

1. Chicago
2. Auntie
3. Brother in a Wheelchair
4. Need help

Somehow... this ended up with me allowing him in the car. The ride consisted of me introducing myself... he responded with "Chicago." He asked us if we were the police. As much as I wanted to lie, I said no. When we stopped at a stop sign, he got out of the car and talked to a guy on the corner for about a minute and he then got back in the car... He asked us if we were the police three more times and the second time he got out of the car at the corner I fled. Since the incident, I have come under a lot of criticism from friends... except for one who commended it...
    So... naturally I felt the need to tell everyone about this experience. We had a bit of an ice storm the following night, so it was slick out needless to say. I was walking to class with a friend and having a conversation while walking on ice is difficult. You start of with a sentence that actually makes sense... but then suddenly all conversation is interrupted: "Chicago? The guy said his name was (slip) Oh $#!t!" It makes for very unproductive conversation.