I had planned to go to pub trivia as I usually try to do on Monday nights, but plans quickly changed as they often tend to do. Upon arrival at the pub we realized they had moved trivia up an hour due to Monday night football and they were already half over with trivia. I was only slightly disappointed because we would not get to use the team name "Megan Turns 21 at Midnight!"
Dan, Kate and I head to Ben and Jerry's instead (we are in North Hills, for those of you who know the area). I got one scoop of Cherry Garcia in a waffle cone-- this reminded me of Dad because it is his all-time favorite :). Once we were armed with cones of ice cream and insanely tiny cups of water (WHY oh WHY do cups of free water keep getting smaller and smaller?? I'm a thirsty little girl most of the time and it is quite frustrating) we head to a table outside where I give Kate HER belated birthday present. I got her season 1 of Battlestar Galactica, but she is a really good present guesser and had already predicted that. We were sitting in the wonderful cool night air and a GENIUS idea occurred to us.
We had decided to play Monopoly (one of our favorite past-times when the 3 of us are together) on a patio table in the middle of North Hills shopping center. Dan ran to Target to get some batteries and returned with a birthday hat with streamers for me to wear!! It was wonderful and it made me feel super special! Inevitably I lost, but it was a glorious time!
After more than 3 hours of intense battle Dan won Monopoly! (usually Kate wins, but we got the new electronic banking Monopoly with slightly different rules and I think it threw off her game-- or she was going soft on me so that I could win for my birthday, but I am so miserable at being cutthroat that only Dan benefitted from her well-meant softness.)
Meanwhile some video game was apparently going on sale at midnight and Game Stop had quite a long line forming. I thought briefly about waiting in line and getting the game just because. I commented how this notion was not unlike people jumping in random soap lines during the depression without knowing what exactly they were in line for. Kate and Dan enjoyed explaining to me that people waited in line for soup, not soap, during the depression. It was while enjoying the imagine of a hot bowl of soap that we re-entered our usual trivia pub. I sat down at the bar and Kate ordered me a orange juice and Malibu (an old favorite of mine that I had to enjoy legally for the first time in the US). We screamed and cheered at the strike of midnight and the bar tender played along for a quick photo shoot of me showing her my ID and her handing me my drink.
This, my friends was a wonderful start to my 21st year and there is still so much to come. I have 2 more parties, a tailgate/football game, a night out in Winston and a triathlon still left in my birthday celebration!!
Check back later, cause I assure you, I will have much more to share in the near future.
