I was actually parked in my local gym’s parking lot yesterday evening, gabbing on the phone w/a friend, when my long-lost friend Dwaine called in thru call waiting. I had been trying to track this guy down for a year, so when he said he was in the local area and asked if I was free to meet him, I scrapped my workout plan.

I met him at BJ’s and since I was there first, sat down at the bar and ordered a bottle of Belgium Kriek Ale. (I wasn’t classless; I poured it into a curvy glass.) A man approached me to my right. “Everybody’s betting that you’re waiting for a guy friend,” he said.
It sounded like a line to me, so since I’m kind of an ass, I said, “Who’s everybody?”
He looked put on the spot and turned and pointed in a general direction of a large table behind me. “So, are you waiting for a guy friend?”
I looked at him again. “How much is at stake?”
“What?”
“What are you betting?”
“Oh, just a beer.”
I waved my hand dismissively. “That’s nothing. That’s inconsequential. I’m not going to answer the question.”
He badgered me a little, and I finally admitted I am waiting for a male friend I’ve known since junior high whom I haven’t seen in years. He said, “You look like you’re barely out of high school!”
I laughed. “I just missed my 10-yr reunion.”
“I just missed my 30-yr,” he said. And then he went on about how he was at his daughter’s wedding last weekend instead. So wait. You’re 47, 48, you think I’m in my low 20s and you’re HITTING on me? Nevertheless, he insisted on talking to me until my friend arrived, which he did, and Dwaine admirably simply introduced himself to this guy and shook his hand. I smiled at the stranger and thanked him for making my day.

Dwaine and I hit up a few different bars in Fullerton, in search of a place with good drinks and some form of entertainment that isn’t so loud that we can’t hear each other. We do have some great conversations; in a restaurant years ago after the two of us exchanged incredulous looks when the next table’s conversation traveled over he’d said, “Just once, I’d like to overhear a conversation that’s half as interesting as ours.” We ended up at a restaurant/bar that had a live jazz band, and a guy happened to be there filming a documentary on the bar. I wish I remembered what the bar’s called. Anyway, Dwaine and I charmed our way thru (as usual) and we were interviewed, signed releases, and we may see ourselves on TV sometime in the future.