Thursday, April 28, 2011

Our Date Night:
How to Kill Time & Not Kill the Date


Last night was Ramy's turn to plan our date night.  A friend of his offered us passes to see Tony Bennett at the new Austin City Limits Moody Theatre (which is beautiful I should add).  At first I thought these tickets would be better suited for a date with my grandmother, but as the night unfolded I was glad I didn't stomp my feet and demand something more contemporary (not that I would ever do that.)

When I asked him what time the show was Ramy said he didn't know.  So I quickly checked online and saw that it said 6:30pm.  I figured perhaps it was an earlier show for the geriatric crowd (no offense).  Ramy got home from work around 4, and I quickly gave him a list of things to do so we could both be dressed and ready, have the kids diaper bags packed for the sitter, both kids strapped in their car seats, and all out the door in one hour.

By the time we dropped the kids off, we had less than an hour to battle traffic and get to the show.  And since we were both hungry and not up for waiting til after the show to eat dinner, Ramy recommended stopping for what he likes to call Gourmet Express also known as the P Terry's Drive Thru.  We both ordered a burger and fries and ate in the car while trying to find the best and least expensive parking option downtown hoping we wouldn't be too late for the show.

When we got to the Will Call booth to claim our tickets, it was clear we were in fact not late but over an hour early.  Apparently the 6:30 time I saw online was the time doors opened...oops.  All that rush for nothing.  Thankfully Ramy is pretty laid back and wasn't upset about the unnecessary hustle and bustle.

Having time to kill is something I happen to really enjoy.  I looked around for a short time and leaned over and whispered with my Elle Woods enthusiasm, "Lets play a game!  How bout Snaps is the Name of the Game?"  After one round, he clearly wasn't into it.  That didn't work.  "Okay then," I said, "How bout another game... Name 20 Tom Hanks movies in 2 minutes, GO."

"Are there even 20 Tom Hanks movies?"

"Are you kidding me?" I replied

He decided to humor me... "Money Pit. (pause) Big. (pause) Forrest Gump. (longer pause) Sleepless in Seattle. (Zoning out)"

I promptly took over, "Philadelphia, Toy Story, Splash, Turner and Hooch, Joe Versus the Volcano, Green Mile,  Catch Me If You Can, Apollo 13, That Thing You Do, What's that one where he is on an island all by himself...you know WILLLLSONNN...oh Cast Away...What about the one where he was stuck at the airport?"  We both couldn't figure it out.  (But I remembered later that night when I couldn't sleep that it was The Terminal.)  By this point though it was clear that I was playing this game by myself.

I switched gears, "Do you want to play the quarter game? You know the one where you drop a quarter and take bets on who you think will pick it up?" The 'I've fallen and I can't get up' joke was inevitable.  Just as I slyly dropped my quarter, the nearby usher quickly ran over, picked it up and handed to me, "I think you dropped this miss."

"Don't you just like to people watch?" Ramy asked. "Lets play the game where we narrate what people are thinking."  I rolled my eyes. I am worse at that game than Ramy is at playing guess 20 Tom Hanks movies.

That's when I had an idea.  I grabbed my iPhone, choose the camera app, and we spent the next 20 minutes laughing and taking silly pictures with each other.  When in doubt, get the camera out!

Before we knew it the lights dimmed, and Tony Bennett changed my mind about this being a senior citizens concert.  It was definitely a show everyone should go see.  He is certainly one of the last living legends of his era.  The highlight you ask?  When he sang Charlie Chaplin's Smile...one of my favorite songs.  Overall it was a date for the memory book, and I have plenty of pictures to show for it.  We had a fantastic time!



3 comments:

  1. Uhhhh, excuse me but when we played my game I do recall you laughing so hard you could have peed your pants! Small detail you left out :-)
    -Ramy

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  2. Sounds Game
    Rules- at the beginning both players face each other and say "So you wanna play sounds do ya?" and then they high five
    - player one makes a sound
    - player two makes a sound
    - this repeats until someone can no longer make a sound without laughing, or they just take too long
    - at the end the winner says "I get a rewarrrd trophy"

    *Also it's fun to specify what kind of sound you have to make like: Under water talking, Japanese, or Star Wars characters... things like that - in which case the beginning of the game would start by saying "So you wanna play Japanese sounds do ya?" - you get the picture

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  3. That's funny about the Tom Hanks movies. Phillip and I played that game in the car like 2 weeks ago on the way home from Dallas, and I thought it would be easy! We only got through like 7 movies. :)

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