The White Horse

Even though The White Horse is a Rock Hill staple, it wasn't until the Spring of my junior year at Winthrop that I first ate there. I don't remember much about it though. I remember it was on Valentine's Day and I was taking Brandi there. I remember buying a flower for her from whoever was selling them in the Winthrop cafeteria that year. I also remember having said flower crushed by the time I gave it to her because it was in the inside pocket of my jacket.
I also remember that my grandfather had died earlier that morning. That last fact is probably one of the reasons that I don't remember much else from that night.

The second time that I went to The White Horse was tonight, again on a date with Brandi. We walked in and were immediately greeted and led to the back of the room, through a short hallway into the further back where it was a little more secluded. Actually, one of the things I enjoy about the restaurant is that they have tall seat backs. I didn't feel like I was having to share dinner with the people behind me. Service was quick and friendly and the food was delicious. I tend to judge a restaurant by the quality of its burger and The White Horse passes the test.

If you haven't been there yet, or been there in awhile, you should really go.

Deatlhy Hallows Part 1

I have to agree with Brandi, there are really no movies that are worth going to a midnight premiere of. What are we really gaining if we see the movie at midnight instead of going opening weekend or opening week?
"Dude, what's wrong with you?"
"Watched the midnight showing of (insert new epic movie here) movie last night. I didn't get to bed until after three. It was awesome though!"
We're begging for this response, "Yes well, I can still function correctly. I'll be watching it this evening. We can talk about it tomorrow."

That said, I've been known to go to midnight movies on occasion. The first one that I saw was in high school with some friends. We went to see the second Matrix movie. We also went to see the third one at midnight as well.
Harry Potter 6 and now Harry Potter 7 part 1 I can add to my list of midnight movies.

So, what is the point of staying up past an unreasonable hour to go see a movie? Because my friends go. Because now, not only can we talk about how great the movie was, we can also talk about our friend that got a free ticket. We can also talk about how when the guy was talking to us before the movie started his walkie-talkie went off quite loudly announcing "Theater 3 has no sound" followed by someone in the crowd yelling, "Which theater are we in?" (We were in 10 by the way, so no worries). We can talk about all of the people that dressed up. Heck, some of us even dressed up.
We can also talk about the awesome trailers that we got to see before the movie (like this one).

Also, we can now joke about how out of it were the day after, sort of like a midnight movie hangover. So, maybe the movie itself, though fantastic, wasn't worth staying up late, but hanging out with friends was.

One Big Table

When it comes to meeting college students, I've come up with a fool-proof plan. It involves a bright orange shirt with a spork on the back (I even met my wife while wearing that shirt). But when it comes to meeting older folks, I tend to freeze up. And if said older folk has any sort of fame attached to them, the more awkward I can be (the phrase "You're number one in our book" comes to mind).
And yet, Friday night, I found myself at Erin's Restaurant torn between enjoying my dinner and wondering what I was going to say to Molly O'Neill when she finally showed up. She's spent the past ten years traveling around the country in an attempt to determine whether or not America really has stopped cooking for themselves (thankfully she has come to the conclusion that it hasn't). The result of her travels is a cookbook containing 600 recipes. Weighing in at 5.5 pounds this is quite possibly the most intimidating cookbook ever. I mean, I wouldn't want to meet it in a dark alley at night.
After my food was eaten and the bill was paid I made my way over to her table and we began to chat. Well, mostly she asked me questions about myself and Brandi (who wasn't there at the time, but she signed the cookbook to her). All in all, it was a good experience. Brandi ended up being able to meet her towards the end and after quasi-swapping contact information we parted ways.
Who knows, maybe this positive experience in meeting a semi-famous person and not making a fool of myself will lead to other opportunities. There is a Relient K concert in about a month....