Walkin' on Suuuuunshiiiiiiine

For a moment, I thought my streak had ended. Ever since Friday and my 12 laps, I've been living on a cloud. Things just cannot go wrong, and every day I cannot feel better, but then something happens, some unforseeable awesomeness, and I reach a new level of euphoria. But when I got to the door of Redbones Monday evening, at 7, and saw the sign Closed on Monday 12/12 for a Staff Party I thought it was over. All Colin and I wanted was to meet for a degenerate barbecue feast, and we were being foiled by a staff party. Staff party, what the hell was that? They should be partying by serving me ribs! Unbelievable.

Colin is a good friend of mine that I met when I trained Kung Fu here in Boston my first year. He went to MIT, but finished grad school last May (at the tender age of 21) and relocated to San Diego. Colin and I are very into the martial lifestyle, which to us means doing things like putting extra hot sauce in our beef noodle soup. Since he left for the pastel coast we obviously haven't been able to hang out much, but he was back in town, so we decided to be very martial and go challenge our stomachs at Redbones.

Going to Redbones is sort of like a pilgrimage. It's not far, only 15 minutes from my house or campus, but it's just expensive enough to make eating there a special occasion. And the food...oh my. Everything at Redbones is big: big ribs, big plates of meat, if you order a coke it comes in a mason jar, even the waiters are big. One of the guys there has to be at least 6'5". The only small things are the napkins, but that's ok because you don't need to clean your fingers, you just dry them when you finish licking them. Redbones was actually where I learned the meaning of the phrase "falling of the bone." Their ribs are like meat cotton candy. Just thinking about it I need to go take a cold shower.

Naturally, after fantasizing about the food all day, and putting myself on a near starvation diet of only eating once between lunch and dinner, I almost cried when I saw the sign. There aren't many things that bring tears to my eyes, but the ending of It's a Wonderful Life and Redbones being closed always get the waterworks going.

Our second option was a Tibetan restaurant that I'd eaten at a few times before, but it was closed as well; it always closed on Mondays. I was starting to worry that my cloud was turning into rain.

"Are there any bar-type restaurants around?" Colin asked.
"Sure, there's the Joshua Tree," I said. To be honest, I wasn't thrilled about going there. I'd had lunch there before, and it was decent enough, but I just don't normally go for that style of restaurant. However I figured that the atmosphere would be closest to Redbones, and besides, Colin and I are guys and we needed to have guy conversation, and you just can't do that at an Indian restaurant with soft lighting.

We walked in and I asked the host if they had a table for two.
"It's a little different today guys, can I see your ID's?" We handed them over. "Ok, here's the deal. We're not serving food until 8, but until then we have a free buffet and free drinks. Find a seat and take as much as you want."
...
...
...
Both Colin and I were a little confused. Free food and drinks? How was this possible? We stumbled around the restaurant, like mice looking for cheese in a maze. Eventually one of the waitresses told us to sit anywhere, so we found ourselves a nice table for two, dropped off our coats, and attacked the buffet like wild dogs.

Ribs, chicken, meatball spaghetti, salad, it was all there. And the ribs were actually pretty damn good. Not Redbones, but very acceptable. And it was all free. Then a waitress came and asked us would we like anything to drink? We'll of course we would.
If there's a better time than eating some ribs, drinking some beer, and swapping tragi-comic stories about women with a good friend, I don't know what it is, except for maybe when you add flirting with the waitress, which we did. I was having a great time. Cloud 9 was the cloud that people not having as much fun as I was were on; I was on Cloud a googol.

Desiring to know the source of the night's awesomeness, I asked one of the waiters what the occasion was.
"It's customer appreciation night," he said. "We do this once a year, usually around the holidays."

Once a year. Of all the days in the year, on only one do they have free food and drinks, and Colin and I just so happened to walk in on that day. And only because Redbones was closed. What are the odds of that?

Well, 365:1, obviously. But I don't think it was random chance that led us to the Joshua Tree; I believe it was this beam of light in which I've been walking, that has been blessing my steps and charming my words. It's like I'm some sort of demi-god, where I have unconscious powers that I can't control, but work for my benefit anyway. Fathers hide your daughters; I'm working with a higher power now, and I can't control it. Sons, you might want to hide your mothers as well, just to be safe.

Eventually we took off, leaving a healthy tip for the waitress. I'm a lightweight with alcohol, so between the free food, good conversation, and a little bit to drink, I was about as happy as I've ever been. When I get older, I'll probably reminisce about the time I went to the Joshua Tree. "Ah, those were the days," I'll say. "Things just aren't like they used to be."

We headed back to my place, played some Mario Kart, and watched Iron Monkey. It just doesn't get any better than that. But the beauty of it all is that it will. I don't know how, but I believe. There are no shadows on my street, I'm walking on the sunny side any way I go.