I Wish I'd Had A Camera

Last night, I met a friend at a sushi bar in Old Town. (Yes, I know, a sushi bar in Old Town San Diego...go ahead with the jokes, really. No. It's okay. It's not as if the guys in my office haven't made them all already: "Instead of seaweed, they use tortillas for the rolls." "I'll have the enchilada roll. Wait. Isn't that a burrito?")

While we sat talking at the bar, drinking sake-based martinis (though to be honest, what I had was Blue Curacao-based), the bartender went about her job, preparing for what I later came to realize was an onslaught of 20-somethings. At one point, my friend casually said something that sounded like, "sakeinabox!" If I were a quicker-witted man, I would have raised an eyebrow and said, "Gesundheit." (Unfortunately, I can't raise an eyebrow, either. Not even when drinking Blue Curacao.)

"Right there," said she, noticing that I was not looking the same direction as she. "Sake. In a box."

And there it was, sitting on the back of the bar.

Sake.

In a box.

And that was when I wished I'd had a camera.

I like to watch people. I am a people watcher. I will admit to a certain preference for young, beautiful people, but this is purely for aesthetic reasons and not because of any underlying perversion on my part. I also like to watch older people, like myself. (I don't like to watch myself, though. A man has to draw the line somewhere.)

At one point, when my friend availed herself of the on-premises facilities, I looked around and noticed a guy wearing a Jethro Tull concert t-shirt. From 1987. Had there been any reasonable excuse to converse with him, it might have gone like this:

Me: "Dude, cool t-shirt. (exaggerated head-bobbing nod) Tull. Right on."

Jethro Tull Shirt-Wearing Dude: "Thanks, man. Jethro Tull rocks."

Me: "So, like, that concert was in 1987, Bro'. You must have been, like, five."

Jethro: "I was four, Dude. But my mom's boyfriend is totally into them, and he took me."

Me: (incredulous) "Your mom let her boyfriend take you to a Tull concert when you were four?"
Jethro: "I got the tickets for my birthday. Someone had to go with me."

When I was a kid, I never got anything that cool for my birthday. Not ever.