And the Oscar goes to... Part 1 2002-05-16

"I want to do something romantic before you leave to New York. Doesn't have to involve money."

These are April's exact words to me about a week and a half ago.

And then, the same night as the last entry, she tells me of Mr. and Mrs. Bates (friends of her family) and how they are always romantic towards each other, and she loves that so much.

So obviously the pressure's on.

So I think about what I can afford. Not much... So I put together an evening down in Laguna, watch the sunset from a particularly pleasant spot I've found, have a light and cheap dinner (Wahoo's or something), then walk PCH looking at all the art galleries, stopping for coffee along the way. I figure there's plenty of opportunity for romantic moments there.

Here's how the evening went:

April calls me while I'm at work to find out where we're going. I tell her Laguna, and she says, "Ooh, let's get sushi!" Not really what I had budgeted, but I thought she was worth it. So I say okay, I'll take you to this great place on Lido. Best sushi I've had.

She says, "Well, I know of this great place in Laguna, I'd rather go there."

No problem.

So I get off work and drive home to get ready, and she was gonna meet me at home. She gets there while I'm changing, and she keeps looking at me funny. Like she wants to forget going out and lock us in my room. I don't think my mom would have appreciated that, so I pointed out she was looking at me funny and finished getting ready.

So while we are going to my car, she says, "I feel nausious."

I shrug it off because we are going to get sushi, and they serve ginger with sushi, and ginger cures nausia. But then she says, "It's your cologne. It's making me nausious. Can you wash it off and change?"

Did I tell her that she bought the cologne for me, that it was her favorite cologne, that I wore it just for her? No. I changed. I felt she was worth it.

We get to sushi, and she asks if I want to have champagne. No. Wine? No. Beer? No, I don't want to drink tonight. I would have thought most woman would be pleased to hear a comment like that. She got disappointed and a little frustrated that I didn't want to get drunk with her. I find out later she wanted to spice things up.

We finish eating, then go for a walk. Things are going pretty good. We pass a chocolate shop, I buy us a couple truffles to munch on. Again, I felt I could work it into the budget cause she was worth it.

Then we pass a store with a couple manequins in the window. And like most manequins, they are positioned to display their "assets". Only these looked a little funny. Their hips were pulled back and their chest pushed out at an awkward angle. Then I noticed that the mannequins had little in the way of curves and that the pose emphasized curves. I thought that pretty cool, since most companies have been marketing a stick figure look. And April immediately starts insulting the mannequins. "Why are they doing that? It looks stupid. Who would want to look like that?" Blah, blah, blah. So I try to explain the rationale behind the awkward pose, and she get's pissed that I start defending them, when it's apparently obvious that she's lashing out because it's insulting to women to market a picture perfect look that she could never attain. "Why can't you just agree with me and make fun of it too?"