Restaurant

There’s this funny little dynamic between my father and me where we try to gauge whether the other person actually needs to go to the bathroom or is just trying to sneak off and pay for the meal. This time, I managed to beat him to it.

The waiter told me it’s the same with him and his father, and that he likes it because he sees it as a sign of love. That was cute.

Then he came back to the table with me to say goodbye to everyone and told us that he’ll soon be leaving Germany because he’s worried about where the country’s politics are heading.

The fact that he feels he has to do that was considerably less cute.

Before I had the Year of Art, I had the Year of Friendship. It was actually two years, but who’s counting.

These yearly themes aren’t really supposed to end when the year does. Something always sticks. One of the things that stuck from the Year of Friendship is that I now tend to say yes when someone asks me to do something. Relationships are the most important thing in life, and I don’t want to look back one day and think I should have done more, tried more, or spent more time with the people I care about.

That being said, I don’t think this philosophy will extend to eating at fancy restaurants much more often. The food is delicious, sure, but I’m mostly there for the company, and by the next day I’ll probably have forgotten almost everything I ate. I have friends who can still tell me about that incredible mushroom steak they had in Copenhagen ten years ago or whatever. That’s just not me.

Food is very much an in-the-moment kind of thing for me. I enjoy it while it’s there, but it doesn’t have a huge impact on how I remember an experience overall, as long as it’s good and healthy enough.

Sorry, Pablo, I didn't really think you were weak. ONLY THAT YOU DON'T HAVE YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT. HOW DARE YOU NOT RUN WITH ME?

Anyway! Anna felt better that night, and instead of celebrating her birthday with all her friends at the party that had been planned for that day but was rescheduled because of her illness, we went to a nice restaurant and had a cozy little evening.

It’s sometimes hard to cope with the fact that all my friends improve so much at running in such a short time, even though I train three times a week.

At one point in the escape room, Mareen had to spank us with a leather paddle... it was definitely an experience...