Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Two girls ... and a guy!

Deirdre: We're coming up on the second anniversary of We Can Relate this summer, and Alisha and I decided to make some changes.
Alisha: These are good changes. It's kinda like when you decide you need to add a spare bedroom to the house. We're still living in the house, but now we've improved. Also, we think it's time to get the men involved.
Deirdre: Definitely. We have a lot of male readers -- thanks, guys! -- and we agree the blog needs male representation from time to time. Also, you're married, I'm solidly single, and Jason is in a committed relationship. So we've opened up the discussion even more.
Alisha: If you've read our blog, you know Deirdre and I try to emphasize keeping your relationships spicy, exciting and spontaneous, and Jason will undoubtedly bring some fresh ideas and his own experiences on love, dating and who knows what else to the table?!
Deirdre: I think it'll be good to have a male voice to temper us sometimes, don't you, Lish?
Alisha: My husband would definitely agree to that statement! It'll be a fun, new adventure; so check out Jason's first blog below and thanks for reading -- hope you keep coming back!

***

The girls asked me a while back if I'd be interested in throwing my opinions into the the mix. Why not? You can't have too many bloggers in the kitchen, can you? Now, I have absolutely no professional training in the ways of love, life or romance. Any of my exes would agree with that. So don't expect any "Dear Abby" advice from me. I've spent my 33 years learning from trial and error, lots of error.

For my first post, let's go racin'!

I'm not from The South and I was never a NASCAR fan. I actually grew up in the middle of the U.S. ...Wichita, Kan. I've lived here since '99 and just in the past few years I've learned to stomach the All-Star race. I'll still never say I enjoy NASCAR, but man, I do love tailgating! So on Saturday I threw on my finest AC/DC concert T, loaded up a cooler with cold brews and headed out to Lowe's Motor Speedway with my girlfriend and few friends. Giddyup!

The first race I ever went to was the Coca-Cola 600. It was spoiled because I didn't really tailgate and nobody ever mentioned I could bring a cooler of beer into the Speedway. You should never have to sit through a race completely sober, especially not one as painfully long as the 600. The experience scarred me and it took about four years before I would try it again.

I don't remember the race as much as I do the apprehension leading up to it. I think it was the Bank of America 500. My girlfriend wanted to leave early to meet up with some friends for some prerace partying and I was dragging my feet because I was less than excited about going anywhere near the Speedway again. Finally, we left, and of course hit bumper-to-bumper traffic. As the tailgating time ticked away, my girlfriend got more and more ticked. We did get there with enough time to have a few beers and get in a couple games of cornhole. All in all, it was a good night and I felt like crap for wasting half the day and not trusting that my girlfriend and I would have a great time no matter what the setting was ... even a NASCAR setting.

This Saturday was our second All-Star race. It's still early to call it a tradition, but it seems to get better every year and I'm looking forward to next year already. Everybody has traditions and the best ones happen unexpectedly. This memorial weekend marks another tradition for me and my girlfriend. I'll tell you about it another post. Until then, do you have any unexpected traditions?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

One of the best things about having a significant other or spouse (i.e. being in a serious relationship) is that he or she can introduce you to new experiences and challenge you to broaden your horizons. Good for you for giving NASCAR a try for your girlfriend's sake and sharing the positives!

Anonymous said...

Sunday morning waffles at Punchy's Restaurant in Concord has become an unexpected tradition. My boyfriend and I did it one Sunday morning, thought to do it again the following Sunday. After that, we've been going every Sunday morning for three months, even when guests are in town...

Anonymous said...

Deidre, You are beautiful... NICE PIC!!!


BTW thanks for adding a dude us men get stmoped on in here at time so hold your own man!

Anonymous said...

"We did get there with enough time to have a few beers and get in a couple games of cornhole."

Say what?!? A couple games of cornhole?

Maybe "cornhole" has a different meaning where you're from, I don't know, but you're not in Kansas any more, Dorothy.

I hope if I see you out and about, someone reminds me to go the other way, cause I don't wanna play.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Corn Hole, Corntoss, Corn Toss, Bean Bag, Bean Toss, Soft Horseshoes, Indiana Horseshoes....all the same thing.

Toss a bag through a hole in a board or box. Nothing untoward about it.

~An edit feature would be helpful rather than deleting and reposting commens~

Anonymous said...

Welcome Jason. Here's to beers!

Growing up in the Midwest, you probably had dirt tracks in your area....think of all of the solid tailgating and cold beers you could have enjoyed if you had given racing a try back then!

I love this blog, and the male perspective is definitely going to enhance the already worthwhile offerings.

And yes, Miss D is simply awesome, was there ever really any doubt, people?

Anonymous said...

Deirdra may be beautiful, but this new guy looks a mess.

Anonymous said...

New guy is cute. So is Alisha. Yum!

Anonymous said...

Congratulation's Jason welcome to the forum that will either run you out of the journalism arena or give you years of laughs at how small and petty some people can be. Deirdre and Alisha have taken the lumps from their readers and they have had the reasonable and logical responses as well. You are a brave man to step into this spot. I wish you well! Looking forward to your blogs!

Anonymous said...

Really like the new pic--the three of you look genuinely happy (a miracle in the face of some of the posters here). Welcome, Jason! Keep the women honest and try to keep any male-bashing under control. ;-)

Anonymous said...

I had the unfortunate experience of attending the Coca Cola 600 completely sober this weekend. Arrggh....it is indeed too long for that. It was fun, but I tell you some tailgating would have been much appreciated, but your girlfriend had it right, you need to leave WAAAAYYYYY early. We left my house in South Charlotte @ 2:30 and barely made it in time for the green flag between the traffic, the parking, and having to walk 1/2 way around the track just to get to our seats.

Anonymous said...

Every September my husband and I head over to Seattle for the music festival during Labor Day weekend. It is a blast! Good Food, great music and lots of tree huggers with dreadlocks! It became a tradition 4 years ago and is a great way to break out of the norm and spend some one on one time with my honey!