Friday, January 26, 2007

Failure to Lunch

It was a perfect plan that was arranged since Wednesday.

My friend and I were tired of the usual Chinese and Vietnamese noodles for lunch, and we decided to have a hearty, special and proper Western lunch today. The restaurant was set - Dan Ryan's Grill - chosen for their wonderful selection of steaks and entrees. Dan Ryan's is something like Ruby Tuesdays, Friday's, Chili's and Fat Angelo's combined, and you can never go wrong with a combination like that.

Knowing how Dan Ryan's can get a bit crowded on Friday, we decided to book in advance. Table for two at 1 p.m. - check!

We arrived at the mall around 12:50, so we had 10 minutes to spare. On our way to Dan Ryan's, we passed by a Zara store. Wanting to maximize our time, we decided to go inside and check for new merchandise. What we found was something better - Final Reductions! Jeans that used to sell for $450 are down to $130. Suit prices are slashed from $2000 to $800. Dresses that used to go for $1200 are now selling for $250!

My friend panicked! Like a crazy woman, she started to grab dresses left and right, and went straight to the dressing room. Meanwhile, I meandered around and looked for something that my sisters would like. There were a lot of promising finds - jeans that Ate Lissa can wear to the next PTA and dresses that Ate Bullet can wear to her next exhibit. Not long after, I found myself carrying a couple of hangers.

The next time my friend and I saw each other, she was carrying 8 dresses, while I had 2 pairs of jeans and 3 dresses tucked under my arms. While queueing at the cashier we both made a realization that startled us:

"OUR RESERVATIONS!!!"

Yup, it was already 1:50pm, meaning we were very, very, very late. Paying for our purchases took another 10 minutes, and when we got to Dan Ryan's, our table was gone. (But of course!)

We looked at each other and smiled. After planning and anticipating this lunch for the past few days, we missed it on account of a sale. But seeing how each of us had big Zara bags on hand and satisfied smiles on our faces, we didn't mind. After all, Dan Ryan's will always be there, and the Zara sale won't.

Lugging these bags, we looked for the nearest and most convenient place to eat.

And we had our hearty, special and proper Western lunch at McDonald's.

(McDonald's is Western, right? One out of 4 ain't that bad.)

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And yes, I learned something new today. I learned that I can write in Thai!



(I don't know what I wrote though.)

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