Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Oklahoma: PF Chang's, Central Time and me

Ladies, I'm in Oklahoma. As in, "where the deer and the antelope play." However, I've seen neither a deer nor an antelope. I did accidentally run over a red squirrel on the road today, and that's actually the only wildlife I've seen. God rest his little squirrel soul.

It's really flat here. I expected it to be more flat than it actually is, but it's still flat. No hills, no mountains, no curvy roads. My favorite thing about OK so far is the speed limit on the interstate: 75! Perfect for someone with a lead foot who drives with her knee. If I can do it on a curvy backroad, I should be golden in a state where every road runs parallel and vertical to every other road.

The weirdest I've seen since I've been here is the field of cell phone towers. I mentioned this to my OK-born-and-raised boss and she did not see what was so weird about it. We have cell phone towers in WV, right? Yes, but not in a big field. They're up on mountains and we can't see them. In Morgantown, they're even cleverly disguised as pine trees. In Oklahoma, there's no way to hide them. So, they just put them in big fields, and at night they look like really tall, really skinny year-round Christmas trees.

If you know me well, you know I love to eat. And that I have a policy while traveling: consume no food that you can have at home. So, tonight I adventured to P.F. Chang's China Bistro. Why, oh why, do we not have one of these somewhere in the Mountain State? That was the best meal I've had in months. Grilled Lemongrass Garlic Prawn with Noodles. i.e., giant, garlicky, buttery shrimp with equally garlicky, buttery noodles. I finished my meal two hours ago and my belly is still all full and happy. It was so delicious. I also had the nicest waitress ever, who more than made up for the two bitches (or hostesses) at the door. They wanted to seat me at the bar b/c I was by myself. When I explained that I wanted a booth so I could read while I eat, they told me that they were encouraged to seat singles at the bar for "social proximity." In a not-so-rare moment of equal bitchiness, I told them I wasn't there to pick up a man, wanted to eat my meal in booth and speak to a manager. I was seated before you could say, "Moo Goo Gai Pan." The manager was extremely apologetic and offered me a free dessert. Tiramisu it was, and although delicious, not as sweet as the taste of victory.

Oklahoma is on central time. Although I'm only an hour behind my regular time, it's really effing me up. I wake up an hour early and get hungry an hour early, but unfortunately do not get sleepy an hour early. I should be in bed since I have to get up at 4 a.m. for my flight to Dallas, but I am not sleepy. I'm still enjoying the full belly feeling of dinner. My central time co-workers have made fun of me for bringing snacks to fill in my cravings, but what else am I supposed to do? I NEED Pringles Stix at 2 p.m. It is pitiful that this one hour can mess me up so badly.

In non-OK related good news, I've reached a new level of my breakup phase. Last week, Pat unexpectedly stopped calling or emailing me. Although this was wonderful for one whole week, he has started emailing again. This morning's said, "You ever miss me?" I ignored it, even though I am secretly doing an internal dance of joy. I can honestly say, for the first time, "NO. I do NOT miss you. (you piece of crap, or insert your own derogatory term here.) I really, truly, don't miss him. I have this weird ability to block people out and pretend they never existed, and I'm starting to do that to Pat. I've already forgotten what it was like to be his girlfriend. With any luck, I'll soon forget he ever existed.

I have a lot more to share about Oklahoma, but I will save it for the photos. I got some reat ones!

1 comment:

KS said...

"I can honestly say, for the first time, "NO. I do NOT miss you. (you piece of crap, or insert your own derogatory term here.) I really, truly, don't miss him. I have this weird ability to block people out and pretend they never existed, and I'm starting to do that to Pat. I've already forgotten what it was like to be his girlfriend. With any luck, I'll soon forget he ever existed."

-I LOVE this. Go you!!