The Adventures of Team Parker

So I’ve been in bed for the past, oh five days or so. Needless to say, Sameer is totally bored out of his mind. I’ve just been drifting in and out of sleep so it seems more like three days in bed, hence I’m not quite as bored as he is.

I told Sameer I was happy to go out with him later this evening so we tried to book Pablo Francisco tickets. But the online booking thingy didn’t want to accept his non-US credit cards and the trip planner outlined a walk-train-bus-walk strategy that wound up being about an hour either way. And that I was not so enthusiastic about. I couldn’t quite hide my lack of enthusiasm from Sameer (he knows me too well) and he didn’t go to extreme measures to find an alternate way to book the tickets. So here I am again, in bed, watching the umpteenth episode of CSI on Spike TV. (At a certain point it starts to feel like you’re just watching one looonnngg episode.) So we’re staying in again and having toasted sandwiches and orange juice for dinner.

Anyway, let me tell you about how completely disappointed I am in McDonald’s. I mean, I thought McDs was supposed to be all about standards and standardization. The beauty of McDs is that if you’re in a foreign country and can’t read the menu, you can order your meal and still know exactly what will be in it and how it will taste. Well I’ve just found out that this is a complete fallacy! McDonald’s has differences!

As some of you may know, I am super addicted to MacDonald’s apple pies. They are the most divine, most delectable desserts. I have even on occasion been known to make special trips to McDs to buy nothing but milkshakes and apple pies. They have the thick, cinnamony syprup, the tender apple cubes, and the best part - the crunchy, bubbly, philo-like pastry. Heaven!

So last night I ask Sameer to get me an apple pie from the McDs downstairs, and settle in for coffee and apple pie. I open the box and the smell of apple comes wafting out - hmmmmm… Then I removed the pie from the packaging and - horror. Dull, powdery, non-crunchy pastry! I took one look at it and knew what it would taste like. I steeled myself for one bite, too many! Ugh!!! Sameer wouldn’t even taste it, it looked that gross. It tasted flat and doughy. There wasn’t even the telltale crunchy sound when you bit into it. The filling didn’t even ooze! I was totally grossed out and had to toss the remainder of the pie.

I could not believe that McDs could drop their standards this way. Surely they wouldn’t trade in the fabulous South African/British McDs apple pie for this pretender? Or what, is this just standard American pie? Please God, no! Not after watching Waitress and dreaming of Nathan Fillion and hundreds of different types of pie - peach pie, banana caramel pie, cherry pie. The list goes on as does the visual imagery. My dreams are shattered…

Quickly, change of topic.

I’m reading: Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
I’m listening to: nothing!
I’m playing: Gears of War on Xbox Live in black and white (long story) by proxy ie Sameer is actually playing and I’m just watching. I refuse to play until we get this darn PAL/NTSC thing sorted out.
I’m watching: YouTube videos of people playing Guitar Hero, way too much CSI and season 2 of 30 Rock