Food and Drink (Humor Post #3)

   Seeking refuge from the hectic college studying setting last night, Elle and I went to Railhead BBQ in Willow Park, Tx – my family’s restaurant – for dinner. Good for my family (and my college career) the place was very crowded with families and parties boisterous with laughter. The bar area in Railhead, in particular, always seems to be brimming with laughter whether during a thinner lunch/afternoon crowd or a packed, elbow-rubbing mob. Come to think of it, a bar (if full) usually is a place seen filled with laughter and friendships both old and new. People are comfortable with their friends, telling old jokes and remembering stupid memories. Or people are very uncomfortable and trying to branch out, resulting in stupid conversations and self-embarrassment, resulting in awkward laughter (either at oneself or at others). Alcohol gave rise to civilization (it was safer to drink than the water, hence the daily consumption of wine/beer in Rome, etc.) so it has had a very long history of helping people bond and live and, simply, have fun with one another. As the fizzy carbonation bubbles up out of the bottle or glass so does laughter bubble out of the people drinking it, releasing stress after a long day at the office – its own type of Relief Theory. Just an interesting thought, thinking about the effects of alcohol on laughter when it is already a predominately social phenomenon.

        

    Anyway, as we sat down at our table, we were much too excited about food (something common for us) and filled with giddy energy at the mere thought of our Railhead fish tacos that would inevitably end up in front of us. And by giddy energy I mean I was acting like a five year old in a restaurant, and I found it hilarious at least. I was shooting the straw wrapper off my straw at Elle, I was dumping out the sugar packets and stacking them into towers, I was drawing pictures on paper towels with the squirty ketchup bottle. Finally, our appetizers came to ameliorate some of the wild energy and open arteries, and we jumped right into the healthy assortment of fries, beer-battered onion rings, and buffalo chicken tenders. We tore into the food like we hadn’t eaten in days (when it comes to appetite, hours might as well be days to me) and annihilated the platter.

          

   “So, what’s new with you?” she asked rhetorically.

            

   “Did you hear about that Reese actress getting stabbed?! Ahh what’s her last name…” I replied.

           

   “Witherspoon?!” she exclaimed.

          

   “No, with a knife,” I responded matter-of-factly. She busted out laughing at the randomness of my corny word pun and could not stop for quite a while; needless to say I caught her extremely off guard. Her laughing eventually got so hard that, even though I had said the joke, I couldn’t help but laugh along with her, and from there it only became a crescendo of laughter.