![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
15_the_circle) wrote2007-01-10 09:35 pm
an evening in Hell
[OT from cottage renovations]
the lodgings in this part of Mordor are a bit of a dump, though that's not really an issue as I don't require palatial accommodation. I have stayed here before on previous trips to corporate HQ, and it's familiar in a mildly unpleasant sort of way. not that I haven't stayed in worse -- much worse -- places while on the road.
for reasons of administrative expediency I have been encouraged to take meals in the establishment.
this is not a problem in the morning; the corporate rate even includes a voucher for a buffet breakfast that really isn't bad.
dinner, however, is another situation.
of the few who read this space, those who know me in the real world understand my deep aversion to sporting events, loud noises, and televisions. though I do have one in the cottage, it's a small unit used only for playing VHS tapes and is not set up to receive over-the-air or cable signals.
so after a long day evocative of Office Space when I wandered down to the eatery in search of a light repast my mind was more on grabbing a bite than on the setting.
the first problem was when I got to a table which had four chairs, and as is my custom walked around it to choose one facing away from whatever TVs the place might have.
they were more than ready for me: with several dozen sets in the place there was no direction in which fewer than eight or ten large screens could be seen, all of them turned on (to cable sports channels) and up (to a high volume, as if each was trying to drown out the others).
to describe it as dissonant cacophony would fall considerably short of the mark.
the menu had four pages: a cover, one page of appetizers, another of burgers, and one of subs and suds. I should have had the sense to walk out but decided, unwisely, to stick it out. when I finally got out of there it was on the verge of a migraine. it is mercifully quiet(er) in the room, but I found myself unable to face even the multimedia NJ orientation material provided by friends in these three volumes.
perhaps conditions will improve tomorrow. I'm absolutely making other arrangments for dinner. such as: fasting.
no subject
(Anonymous) 2007-01-12 04:06 am (UTC)(link)no subject
this (Friday) evening, inshallah. still lots to do today, and not all of it is going to have a way to get done, so the causal chain leading up to getting onto the southbound Amtrak train connecting to the last MARC train out to the Grove is a bit iffy, but even a later arrival is a mere inconvenience so long as it is possible to make it back to the Grove.
it could have been worse
this establishment's sports bar/eatery was not as bad as it could possibly have been, and I am remiss in failing to point out one significant measure of mercy: thanks to regulation, ordinance or law there was no smoking in there.
but then had it been allowed I would have had the sense never to have set foot in the place.
nj stinks
(Anonymous) 2007-01-12 05:20 pm (UTC)(link)