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Time for some fun! I went for a morning ride. I even considered not wearing my leather jacket or helmet since it was so hot but that was just a fleeting thought. No way do I trust other people on the road that much!
I met up with Mando for lunch again. Ever since we were in high school, Mando and I have been close friends even though we were pretty darn different in most ways. While, I was a small kid in high school I didn't stay that way long. I used to complain about being a small guy and my mom would always tell me "just wait till you turn 18, you’ll grow". Boy, did she hit that one on the button. I actually grew several inches right out of school. Mando was a smaller guy than I was then so now the size disparity is really apparent! Funny side note here is that I was with another friend at a club a year after graduating when we ran into some friends from high school. They all greeted my friend very warmly while pretty much ignoring me. When my friend asked why they were not acknowledging me, they looked at me and said “that’s not Fred, Fred was this small and this skinny”. It actually took a little work to convince them, I had actually grown! So back to the Mando and I comparison. Mando is very quiet and rather shy. I had definitely gotten over my shyness and loved embarrassing him, which we both laughed about all the time. Mando worked with his hands all the time, I was more of the office work kind of guy. Most ways you could think of, we were different in but somehow that worked well for us. We did share a love of movies so we went to movies at least once or twice a week! It really worked out well when he met and started dating his wife, Norma. The three of us did all kinds of stuff together and they remain some of my closest friends to this day.
So, Mando and I had lunch at Luby's cafeteria. Yes, old people food! We used to meet up there for lunch when we were younger because we could get a quick lunch and back to our day. We laughed a lot about how we were ahead of our time by eating there when we were young instead of waiting till we were old like everybody else there! The food may not be the greatest but it’s good enough and its fast.
Mando had to go back to work so I rode the countryside a little and found another spot where cotton had blown off the plants and was everywhere. It was in huge clumps right along the road. I pulled over because I had remembered to bring a sandwich baggie with me to collect some. I stuffed a baggie full and threw it in my saddlebag. I wanted to bring some back to show my wife what raw cotton looks like. Some of the cotton had bits of the plant attached so it looked a little dirty. Now, this is raw cotton so not something you really want on your skin too long cause it can make you itchy. This is the stuff my dad would go pick before his regular job started and after it ended for the day to make extra money.
I met up in the afternoon with Mando and his wife, Norma, for a movie. We chose the Starplex for today's movie. This is a 16-screen movie theater. I still remember when they built this place many many years ago. I could not believe we were actually getting a theater with that many screens. Up to that point, the four-screen theater was a big deal in my eyes! We chose Guardians of the Galaxy for our show of the night. I guess the old theater has seen its better days. Mando and Norma say the place has really gone downhill in recent years not just in appearance but clientele as well. I guess there have been several gang fights there and a couple of shootings in the parking lot. We were there early in the day so not much to worry about.
Its evening and time to meet up with my old high school friends! We met up at TGI Friday’s for snacks and beer. Diana gave me a couple of T-shirts she rescued from a box. It seems our old classmate, Georgie, was now a screen printer and had made some t-shirts a few years back with the neighborhood name on it. She had contacted him and asked if he, by any chance, had saved a t-shirt or two. He checked some old boxes and found a couple of shirts. Diana got them from him and luckily they were my size. I like these shirts so much; I have decided that I will find someone to draw the rat from the shirt on the side covers of the motorcycle. Everybody except MaryLou from the BBQ was there including Iris who I did not get a picture of then. We all decided to only order never ending appetizers and beer. It got hilarious because for some reason, they kept bringing plate after plate of fried green beans to Iris before she could even get very far into her plate. We ended up making her pack a box full of the fried green beans to take home. This was after we all tried to help out by eating some of them! So, we had a great time and we were laughing so much they were seating people away from us. Sorry, but we couldn't help it. I guess we are just the fun obnoxious bunch for the night! We were talking about our lives and what we had missed from each other's lives and how different we all went from where any of the others would have expected. The whole time I am hoping nobody in my group has noticed the wall behind us. Alas, they noticed all right! On the wall is an old movie poster of Saturday Night Fever with John Travolta in that damn dance pose. I refused to save any of the pictures they insisted on taking of me in front of that poster! Now I kind of wish I had saved one of those pictures. I think my wife and kids would find it very humorous.
Dinner was over so we head outside. Not wanting to leave without another picture of ourselves, we opted for a group selfie which was hard to get us all in. After much funny rearranging for the picture and a poor attempt at a group selfie, a waitress came out and offered to take our picture for us. I can read her mind now, "Poor old farts don't know what they are doing". Of course, we had a good laugh about that and we all agreed, we weren't that old, more like aged cheese. Of course, Ted, my perv friend, had to pose with my helmet. He said this was the only way he would ride a motorcycle. He had to be properly protected! We had lots of fun and lots of laughs. We agreed that next time I am in town; we are doing this all over again!
Off to the house for some rest! Following is some detail on the pictures:
Pic 1 - Old People Food: Lunch at Luby's with my friend Mando. This place is packed. Good for a quick lunch though. This picture sucks!
Pic 2 - Picking Cotton: Picked a small bag of raw cotton right out of the field. My dad used to wake super early to pick a bale before work and then after work would go pick another bale for a few extra bucks. That's what having 7 kids took. He never complained once either.
Pic 3 - Movie Time: The Starplex Theater to see Guardians of the Galaxy. My friend says the place has gone downhill in recent years with some gang shootings in the parking lot.
Pic 4 - MoTown: My good friend Diane remembered that another classmate of ours did screen-printing and she asked if he had kept any of the old designs he had done. He had! She got this and another for me and he had my size. These are awesome!
Pic 5 - Dinner with the Gang: Gang selfie. Had a great time at TGI Fridays on never ending appetizers and beer. Like a bunch of old farts, we had to compare illnesses, pains and such. We laughed the night away! I can't wait to see these guys again.
Pic 6 - Help with a Picture: A waitress volunteered to get a decent picture of us since I stink at photography. We are all a little older but same personalities and wicked sense of humor.
Pic 7 - Pervert: My pervert friend Ted insisting he will only ride my bike if he is properly protected!
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