Awww! Even the sweetest boys still get shit wrong!

My dear friend Grad School Reject has written up a report of our first in-person meeting. Most of it is lovely and complimentary. Some of it needs a beat-down. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I've enjoyed replying. GSR in regular text; JW in italics.


Hello readers of Jill Writes. I apologize for interrupting your regularly scheduled posting, but I promised Jill I would report on our first meeting. As a long time reader, commenter, and “chatter” I was very excited to meet Jill in person. Some of you readers have had this pleasure already. Others of you will undoubtedly have a chance sometime in the future. Here are a few things that I learned in my brief, 6 hour, meeting.

Needless to say, I learned a lot.

1. Jill Likes Ice Cream
I know, I know. You all who have been reading for a while think you already knew this. Jill talks about ice cream almost as much as she talks about se…..um, her iPod. But still, until you meet her in person I don’t think you can understand the depths of her passion. Case in point: She showed up for our dinner meeting with an ice cream cone. Mind you, we had never met in person before. Her first words to me were the following:

"Yeah, I got an ice cream cone. And I’m still going to order dinner."

After that I knew we were in for a good night, and my respect for her grew by leaps and bounds when she ordered a cheeseburger. You gotta love a woman who orders red meat with cheese AFTER finishing her ice cream.

There are women who don't? Glad I don't hang out with them.


2. Jill Likes To Win
Shortly after we got seated we noticed that there was a DJ playing songs from the mid-late 90’s.

It went back a tad further than that. And I'm only making that point because I clearly remember the songs that freaked me out the most.

This led the two of us to place some bets on what artists and songs we would hear. Every song that came on that had not been “called” by either of us was followed by the following statement from Jill:

“I was totally going to call that one. I thought that, and now they are playing it.”

I do not dispute that I am a tad over-competitive at times; however, in this particular situation it was not the "wanting to win" that was driving my statements. It was the fact that DJ Jock Rock had apparently lifted some mixed CDs from my brother's college baseball team. Seriously. I mean, did you think I pulled "Blinded by the Light" out of my rear? "Centerfield"? I still assert that if we had stayed until closing, we would have heard "Dust in the Wind". You know that Schlock Jockey was getting to that.

As a gentleman and a scholar I rejected these overtures and called bullshit. This happened 8 times, and each time I lost the battle. I am still pretty certain that I won.

No, of course I'm the winner.
*batting eyelashes*
Because I get you to be my friend.
*sigh*

(Barf.)


3. Jill Likes Cider….But Not as Much As I Like Beer
So we were out for a while (5 hours?) and I learned that Jill likes her cider. I think she had 3 pints (respectable), but at the end of the night I realized I had consumed 6 pints of beer. I honestly don’t think I made an ass out of myself, but Jill gets the opportunity to respond/disagree. Regardless, I was impressed by her 3 ciders.

While I appreciate the sentiment here, as you know I am a tad competitive. And "brewed beverages" are honestly not my game of choice. I mean, yeah. Cider. Yum. For breakfast. Bring it. (SERIOUSLY, bring it. If there is a man out there who will happily bring me cider for breakfast in bed, let. me. know.) But... my stomach gets full, dammit! Ice cream cone, cheeseburger, fries, three ciders. I can't fit anymore! It wasn't the alcohol content holding back my happy place... and I like my happy place! Next time, it's stuff I can consume in mass quantities... rum and fruit. Guaranteed I compete far and away above my weight class. (ALSO, a man who is willing to bring me rum and fruit for breakfast in bed? Sign me up in perpetuity.)

4. Jill Likes My Wife And It Freaks Me Out
Did I mention that I am married? My wife was with me in NYC and she decided to meet Jill and me for at least an hour of our dinner. After meeting my wife, Jill very politely pointed out that she is attractive and fun.

I believe what I said sounded more like hot bubbly brilliant and damn, she'd be fun to go out with. I believe I also mentioned if I didn't value our friendship so much I'd be trying to borrow her. But that's okay. I'm a patient woman. I can wait until Literary Elysium. That eternal ménage à trois with Hamlet is going to be hot.

I translated this as: How in the world did someone as ugly and boring as you end up with someone like her?

Uh, yeah. Whatever. I see through the self-deprecation act, Mr. "I'm the cute-funny-charming one".

Still, I took it as a compliment.

Gosh, GSR, have I mentioned how cute-funny-charming you are?

5. Jill Is Awesome
Getting to meet Jill in person was a lot of fun. She schlepped from Staten Island to Manhattan

It's not that bad. I do it nearly every day. A few hundred thousand people do as well.

to meet for a few hours on a random Thursday,

Isn't Thursday party night? And, um, really, do I have anything better to do? (Heh. I meant... of course... you're my friend, dammit! If I'm not hanging out with my friends, what the hell kind of social life do I have?)

and she was a very gracious host.
Aw, thanks!

We talked music, life, and bullshit the entire time and it was like sitting down with someone I had known forever. I hope she and will get to do it again (despite her gross inability to get to D.C.),

Can I blame that on Kat? Every time I try to schedule a trip to DC...

and if you have wondered if she is as cool in person as she is on her blog….she is, of course, cooler.

Okay, I really can't beat that. Let me just say, GSR is a fantastic person and the type of friend I wish for all of you. He's helped me through some seriously crappy stuff. Plus, he makes me laugh every day. Plus plus, his musical recommendations are killer. Plus plus plus, in the middle of deadly serious audiophilia, he will totally let me go off on a tangent about how much the lead singer's vocal delivery gets me all hot and bothered. It's gonna break my heart when I have to steal his wife in the afterlife.