Is that on FaceBook?

Well, it's a snow day again so I don't have to risk my life to attend class today! Snow days are only exciting if you had somewhere to be, aren't they. I emailed my professor at 7:30am telling her that I know the university doesn't close for snow, but I drive 30 minutes and didn't know if I would risk it. She very promptly answered that she doesn't "do snow" either and had called off class. What a relief. I don't feel like such a wimp.

This past weekend hubby and I went with a couple of my girlfriends and one GH (girlfriend husband) to see a band in the nearby college town. Despite our differing ages, all of us grew up in this area, and most of us spent at least part of our 20's and 30's (if not longer) in and around the bars, nightclubs, and honkey tonks in the city. Hubby went to college here, and it is only 30 minutes or so away from our hometown. The occasion for the evening was mostly to get out of our little hamlet and see some new faces, but as an excuse, one of my bff's co-worker's son had a band and this was there CD release party.

We planned this outing a couple weeks in advance but as usual there was a last minute flurry of texting that day. "are we still on?" "what time are you going over there?" "we're eating out, are you?" I refrained from a "what are you going to wear?" text as I though, seriously, I am 40-something and should be able to pick my own clothes. Which then led to my exasperated husband getting an unsolicited 30 minute fashion show full of "OK, is this better than the other?" "OK, now this is the same one with a different shirt, better or worse?" "OK, this is the first one again, do you like it or the last one?" "Which shoes? I know they look almost the same but these are dressier." Poor guy.

The show was to start around 8:30 but I know enough about musicians to know they NEVER start on time. Apparently that violates some sort of universal rule, the addendum to which is "never play before 10pm". But hubby and I left the house early enough to stop on the way and treat ourselves to dinner out at a local restaurant before heading out to the show. I had ended up wearing the cutest pair of little red shoes with a bit of a heel, so when we got there and the ice and snow remained on the parking lot I was a bit dismayed. Walking like a 70 year old granny I carefully made my way across the snow and ice and into the door.

So our 2 friends were there and soon the other friend and husband arrived and we filled up our table. The early crowd wasn't bad, a lot of people our age, ok, I can handle this. As the hour got later and later, all the college kids began pouring in. The table next to ours filled up with chain-smoking, loud-talking, obsessive picture-taking, ants-in-their-pants twenty-something girls who couldn't seem to quit seat swapping and jumping up and down to go to the bar.

The smoke? Was bad. I can not WAIT for the city to pass their no-smoking ordinance. After living in places where restaurants, and sometimes even bars, are smokeless, it is tough getting used to the smoke again. But this was a bar, a live music venue, so what are ya gonna do? By the time we had been sitting for about an hour, one of my friends had a splitting headache and she and her carpool buddy had to go home. Before the music even started. I can't say I blame her, I was feeling the effects of smoke breathing in my lungs and I just new I would be sick the next day. So, we were left with just the four of us, two couples, and we shifted around so that we could all see the stage and still talk. Hubby and I who were across the large, round table from one another, had been text-talking all night because you could barely hear the music, much less each other.

My friend and I talked about how much we miss our youth. We talked about how different things are now days with the cell phones and texting and picture-taking. Every moment, good or bad, is now documented. I shudder to think of some of the pictures of me that would be out there had there been camera phones in the late 80's/early 90's. I remember just planning an evening out back then was so much trouble. If you didn't find out in the dorm where everyone was headed for the night, you'd spend half your night driving from bar to bar looking to see where "your" crowd was. There were no cell phones in 1987, not really on college students anyway. Now, they just text "where are you?" "we're at (where ever)", and problem solved. Again, there's something to be said for old school because if you didn't want someone to find you back then, you could avoid being found.

The girls at the table next to us got more raucous, smoked more, and took even more pictures as the night went on. The camera phone they used had a flash and it was about to set me off into a siezure they were flashing it so much. For some reason the girl with her back to us was having most of the pictures taken and everyone else was coming around the table to pose with her. She was also the chain smoker of the group. Seriously, it was getting on my nerves. Hubby was on my left and we were directly facing the table. Girlfriend and GH were on my right and sort of behind them.

As the non-stop paparazzi flash kept going off I noticed hubby craning his neck around. When I looked over at him I realized that he was trying to get his face into the background of their pictures! When they got the camera ready he would push up real tall in his seat and lean between the people hoping to mess up the picture. I laughed at him so hard, and then leaned over and said "I will give you a WHOLE dollar if you walk over there and stand behind them for the next one." We started laughing uncontrollably and had to share with GF and GH the reason why we were laughing. Then, hubby started holding up his hands in a peace sign or whatever, but he was still too chicken to do it. All of a sudden I look up and GH  is right behind the girls with his hands out to the side in jazz hands  like "WHAAAA-ZZZAAAAH!!!"  I don't know how to describe it but it is sort of like this:

Except without the top hat. Or yellow fur. So, yeah, not so cute as this. But you get the picture, though what we saw was only from the back so I can only guess about the expression on his face. He probably didn't have those cute whiskers and a pink nose. So maybe it was more like this:

I sure hope it was, JB looks crazy here.

Well, the three of us are DYING laughing as the flash goes off and GH calmly walks away and goes to the bar to order another drink. We finally stop laughing and just as we do, the girls look at the picture, look at each other, then look around at us, but the guy in their picture is gone. The looks on their faces? Priceless. We explode into laughter again and my GF walks over to apologize for her husband, in true southern woman fashion.

Now, I am one of those people? Once you get me laughing I can't stop. Can. Not. I kept giggling forever. After GH does this, you'd think it would slow down their picture taking, but no. They keep right on flashing. So with a prime example set, hubby decides he's got the nerve to do it to and quickly flashes in and out of a picture. By this time the one guy at the ladies' table (I think he was their token gay bff) notices what we're doing and starts laughing too, but doesn't warn them. This sends me off into fits of laughter again. Cause I'm mature like that.

Then? The topper? Some random guy, a 40-something in khakis and dress shirt looking like an off-duty news anchor. swoops in from behind us, poses for the next picture, turns around to hubby and says "I saw you do it and I wanted do it too!" He says, beaming from ear to ear. Hubby and I explode in laughter, hubs gives him a fist-bump and suddenly it occurs to me.

Even in a room of 20-somethings? We 40-somethings are still the life of the party. Or the troublemakers. Whatever. I really wish one of those pictures would show up on Facebook. Because you can't make this stuff up! My life? Honestly....