The Visible Woman...January 16, 2001

Why is it that I come out of meetings with 'to dos' and other people don't. And then I spend the day fighting Excel or something instead of thinking about my real work. Just happens that way.

A cold and rainy day. Had lunch with an old friend at Brio Vista. Nice salmon with couscous and green beans. She paid. I felt bad and then remembered, in flusher times, paying the bill at Chuy's for everyone who came to her going away party. Fifteen or twenty people. When I was spending a lot, I picked up a lot of checks. Now that we've decided to curb or spending and concentrate on a few things we want to waste money on, I doubt I can cash in all my karma. But one once in a while isn't bad.

In fact, we have been given free tickets to a Paramount show. An odd piece with three women on stools talking (one is Linda Ellerbee). For those of you with PG sensibilities, stop here.

It's called 'The Vagina Monologues.' But more on the show later (you can still bail), first we have to meet our friends

We go down Lamar to avoid Mopac. It works pretty well. We get there at 6:30. We are meeting three women to see the show. Two are already in the bar at Stephen F. Austin enjoying a glass of wine. We get some, too. The third gal shows up. We all go to the restaurant on the first floor. Just to get a bite before the show.

We get an app and a bottle of wine. The wine is poured into small glasses, even though it's a red and costs over $50. After the five small pours the bottle disappears. A just OK if artful breaded goat cheese and portabello mushroom app arrives, two of them, and we share. The food doesn't come. And doesn't come. It's time to see the show. We ask for the bill. We discover the bottle of wine on a sideboard with a good two or more inches in it.

In spite of the fact that they couldn't deliver the entrees, they charge us full-tilt for the apps and unpoured wine. Won't be visiting this soulless little coffee shop again!

So...you kept reading, though warned. Well...if there is an aspect of the female genitalia that was overlooked, I don't know what it was. Some things were sad or stomach-turning, some erotic, some hilariously funny.

And for those who missed the show but were at Four Seasons with us later...our conversation, if overheard, might have sounded funny. "How far into it was it before they said pussy?" "I didn't like the c word part."

But the Seasons delivered, after 10 PM, two large chopped salads, two pizzas, two orders of Satay chicken. And we needed it!