Food, fun, sleep

[edg]

The events of last night, in chronological order:

• Went to the Rainforest Café with Dave. Will never ever go there again. Although nothing of the food was particularly awful (i.e., no mold or mildew), I eventually decided that I just wasn't going to be able to finish my "shredded beef wrap" (again, it wasn't bad; the sauce on the shredded beef was simply unpalatably sweet, the chips served with the "sandwich" were stale, and it was overall not a positive food experience). In addition, the ambient noise was at way too high a level; where we were seated, there was the constant hiss of a waterfall, "tropical" music from overhead speakers (including, inappropriately, the Beach Boys), various random animal and "jungle" noises, and the odd simulated thunderstorm (sans, thankfully, actual rain). The dessert we ordered, though - the unexpectedly huge Volcano, which consisted of four chocolate-and-something-tasty brownies arranged in a pyramid, a lion's share of vanilla ice cream inside the pyramid, and an equal amount of pure, non-fat-free whipped cream atop the pyramid - was also unexpectedly good, and I wholly blame the too-sweet half-sandwich I'd just tried to eat for my inability to finish the Volcano. (I feel obliged here to note that I've mentioned twice the sandwich I returned; I didn't actually send it back, just told the waiter when he asked if I needed a box that no, in fact it just wasn't to my taste and might I start on dessert instead? However, the management were nice enough to take it off the bill, which meant that my portion of the $60 tab (including tip) came out to about $13.50.)
  
  End verdict: the Rainforest Café suffers not so much in concept as it does in execution. Had one of the constant sources of random noise (all of which combined made it nearly impossible for Dave and I to communicate over the gaping gulf of about three feet) not been present, I think the noise wouldn't have been worth mentioning, and the trouble I had with the food was likely simply due to the fact that I chose a meal that simply wasn't to my liking. Despite what I said earlier, I may go back, but only in order to get a Volcano to go; those are excellent, and should be tried if you have the opportunity. Beware the sparkler, though.


• Directly afterward, we stopped by Electronics Boutique. In fact, the reason we attended the Rainforest Café in the first place was not because we actually wanted to go there but because it was in the same mall (and, in fact, on the same floor) as EB. (Thinking back, TGI Friday's was also in that mall, and would have been overall a much more positive experience.) I actually went to EB to see if - by some miracle - they had a used copy of Brave Fencer Musashi, and also to pick up a PS2 multitap; alas, they did not have either BFM or a multitap, but I wound up grabbing copies of Final Fantasy 8 for the Playstation and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure on DVD, and at the last moment also picked up Kingdom Hearts for the PS2. Unfortunately, my stay at EB was about 20 minutes longer than it could have been (and easily 30 minutes longer than Dave would have preferred), thanks mostly to the rapper in front of me who insisted on performing the following actions in succession:
  
  
  • Ask the sales associate whether Knockout Kings 2002 or Mike Tyson's Heavyweight Boxing was the better game.
    
  • Debate this heatedly with the associate.
    
  • Calm down.
    
  • Repeat.
  
  I think he finally bought Knockout Kings; by that point, I was really too annoyed to care, as were the five people in line behind me. It took me five minutes to finish my transaction (mainly, I think, because the associate had trouble finding one of the games I was buying in the pre-owned section), which gathered more frustration, and by the time I had the receipt in my pocket and the bag in my hand, I was distinctly ready to leave the store.


• Next stop: library. I've always been a big fan of libraries; they tend to have more books, on a wider range of subjects, than the small bookstores we used to have around (now, of course, that Borders and Barnes & Noble are on every corner*, that's simply not true anymore), and they'll give them to you for free (for a limited time). I had wanted a book entitled The Dragon Seekers, about the folks who initially discovered and began to classify dinosaurs, which is apparently checked out until the 5th of next month; I ended up leaving with Komarr (a Vorkosigan novel), Steven Brust's new novel whose name I can't remember, and a book on the history of hoaxes.


• Then, home. Not much after that; I felt that I'd had enough excitement for one day, so I sat in front of the computer and did nothing at all for three solid hours. It was easily the best part of the day - aside, naturally, from going to sleep directly afterward.

* Not actually every corner, unfortunately. In fact, except for a lonely Gordon's Bookseller (remaindered and overstocked books; nothing new on the shelves, but 70% off everything), there are no bookstores within 20 miles of my house, which is rather a sad affair considering that five years ago, there were four, three of which were within five miles.