Monday, March 28, 2011

drama at the drive-thru

I took Kara up to Iceberg tonight, only to discover she hates ice cream... and was fasting?? Convenient coincidence... Anyway. We peeled out, I kicked her to the curb and headed over to Little Caesar's. A large pizza and a bag of Crazy Bread for only $6? Yes, please. Hugely long line and stupid drivers clogging the entire parking lot? Never mind. How about Arby's? An expensive, but reliable, choice. And no line! How convenient.

Girl: Welcome to Arby's. May I take your order?
Me: Yeah. Can I have a #9?
Girl: Can I get you a Pepsi with that?
Me: ...Uh. Well it IS a combo, right?
Girl: Yeah.
Me: Oh. Well can I have a Root Beer instead?
Girl: Sure. Would you like to upgrade that combo to a medium or large?
Me: A medium's fine.
Girl: Would you like to try some of our new, delicious CinnaBites for just a dollar?
Me: *sigh* Sure.
Girl: Alright. That'll be $7.95 at the window.
Me: Thanks. (drive up to the window, and three or four other cars are soon following)

Girl: Welcome to Arby's. May I take your order? Out of twenty? Would you like fries with that? (she disappears for a moment for no apparent reason).
Guy: Hey, that crispy chicken is gonna be about five minutes. Is that okay?
Me: *sigh* Yeah.
Girl: (reappears) So that's two number sixes and a four? Would you like to upgrade those to mediums or larges? Here's 10, 11, 12 and five cents. (re-disappears)
Guy: Um... would you be okay with roasted chicken instead?
Me: Sure.
Guy: Want me to add on lettuce and tomatoes for the inconvenience? (I smile and nod, slightly shocked a chicken sandwich wouldn't come with lettuce or tomatoes, and he starts walking away) And maybe some onions?
Me: (to myself) Onions?! Nooooooo! (commence sitting with my bymyself for a minute or two, moping about the impending onions and less-fatty/tasty chicken... a long time to be in a drive-thru, especially while you're hungry and moping)

Guy: Did she give you your CinnaBites yet?
Me: No. (the guy is clearly frustrated now)
Guy: (hands me a bag). Sorry. We're really understaffed tonight, and she forgot to drop your CinnaBites, so here's what we're gonna do. I obviously upgraded your fries to a large and we're also gonna give you that crispy chicken. And your CinnaBites, but those will be a minute.
Me: (think to myself "How delightful!" and I offer to pull into the parking lot on the other side to wait)
Girl: (mysteriously re-appeared in the middle of our exchange) Yeah, you could do that.
Guy: We can't have the customers pull out. It's night (motions dramatically towards the ceiling with his hand).
Me: (totally confused)
Girl: (to Guy) Okay, but there are, like, three cars behind her and it's already been six minutes! Do you realize I could get fired?! (turns to me, and sugarcoats her voice) Yeah, if you could pull into the parking lot that would be great. Oh, and would you like a shake for the inconvenience?
Me: (after making sure Guy isn't close enough to hear) Yeah! That'd be great.

I pull around and the girl comes out a couple minutes later. I leave for campus, where I take inventory:
2 chicken sandwiches, 1 roasted and 1 crispy
2 large fries
1 large drink
1 small shake
1 thing of CinnaBites

The CinnaBites were really gross, but considering the upgrades and entire extra meal I got for ordering them, totally worth it. Kelly and I dined like queens, and I waited for less than ten minutes altogether. Not bad, not bad. Arby's? A new favorite.

saving lives... one pint at a time

I used to think that the worst part of donating blood was that prick they give you on the end of your finger to check your iron levels. While that vicious little episode is no longer in first, it's a close second to them leaving you hooked up for a good few minutes after you already filled the bag. My arm started feeling really heavy and like it might've been bloating. I got really squirmy and was very uncomfortable, but at least I didn't get sick/pass out like others who have been hooked up too long. Who knew I'd bleed so fast? 3:59. A new personal best, I believe. Think you can take me?

Friday, March 18, 2011

the concrete jungle

In response to popular demand, a post on my recent trip to New York:

It was great. I took my camera but didn't feel like using it much. Instead, I got other people to take pictures of me on their cameras... a much better plan than lugging around my own. If any of their pictures of me are really super amazingly life changing to behold I'll post them once I get them. In the mean time, some random pictures I took on my phone. They are in no particular order.

I saw several nationally recognized monuments... from a distance.

We went to the Cloisters one day. Apparently it's a medieval-ish type of gallery. Has the unicorn tapestries and such. There was awful music playing in the museum store, which was overrun with unicorns, unicorns and more unicorns. And was, oddly enough, occupied by mostly men.

It was a lot of walking and standing. We got tired.

We rode the subways a lot, and it was just like in the movies. Minus the movies that involve firearms and explosions and such. This was, like, the only empty stop we were ever in. It was creepy.

We stopped at Washington Square to watch a couple street shows. This guy crammed himself in a box, and afterward one of his buddies jumped over five people lined up shoulder to shoulder (four of which you can see on the right). He did a flip at the same time.

We stopped at Strand, a really cool bookstore that has over 18 miles of books. Ca-razy. I found a couple books I wouldn't mind getting for my birthday in a few months...


This is Burt Silverman's place. He's kind of a big deal. We also visited the studios and/or houses of Brett Helquist (best known for illustrating A Series of Unfortunate Events), Brad Holland (one of the very top illustrators of today), Kinuko Craft (crazily rendered stuff), and Paul Zelinsky. We were supposed to visit Blue Sky Studios (they did Ice Age and stuff), but they canceled on us since our group turned out bigger than we thought it would. I was super bummed since no Blue Sky meant no Peter de Seve. :( Most of you guys don't know, so I'm gonna tell you. These are all really big-name illustrators. I mean, they're all on Wikipedia and everything. It's really awesome that BYU has such a good relationship with these artists and that they were all so willing to let us poke around their studios and ask them questions and stuff. Kind of a once-in-a-lifetime type of thing.
After meeting all those awesome artists we got to meet with an illustration agent named Richard Solomon, who represents not only Kinuko and Brad, but also C.F. Payne (who came and visited BYU several weeks ago), Jon Foster (who visited BYU last year, and who I admire greatly), Gregory Manchess (who came last semester), Sterling Hundley, and Gary Kelly. All hugely famous and successful. He also represents other excellent artists that are still working their way to the top. He blogged about our visit.


Gotta watch some pros play the Big Piano at FAO Schwarz, then take my picture next to a Lego C3PO. Did it for Sim and Hil. Giant toy stores are great fun. :]

Nan had a birthday while we were there. I made her ride a duck.

Built an extremely accurate version of me at the Lego store. I would have bought it.... but art of that caliber is expensive.

The quaint, quiet parts of the city were a nice break.



Subway posters are nine bajillion times more effective at informing me than TV commercials. Maybe because my house doesn't have cable...

Now wasn't that fun? Everything you hoped for and so much more? Thought so.