vovat | The Great Leap Forward

Today is my second anniversary. Okay, it's actually my eighth, but being married on Leap Day means I'm obligated to make that joke. It's a tradition or an old charter or something. Yes, we got married on this day in 2008. Looking back at the entry from then, I notice I mentioned it feeling weird to wear a wedding ring. Actually, neither of us do that anymore, as I once lost mine in a Walmart bag (fortunately, and against all odds, I got it back) and Beth once dropped hers on a city sidewalk. I'm not sure why, but my fingers seem to change size pretty often, and rings that fit fine before would become too loose. Anyway, I'm terrible at planning activities, and Beth generally wants me to. We considered going to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, but it's closed on Mondays. So instead, we did something Beth had been wanting to do for a while, which was to go back to our old stomping grounds in Secaucus and walk on the marsh trail. For some reason, she likes the sulfurous smell there. I can't say I agree, but the walk is still fun.

After that, we went out to eat at the Olive Garden, our go-to dining place for celebrations and such. I know there are at least two Olive Gardens in the city, one in Times Square and another in East New York (which isn't accessible by subway), but I don't like to go to chain restaurants there. It's not because I don't like them; I know a lot of people are down on such places, but I usually enjoy the food at restaurants like Red Lobster or Applebee's. The problem is that they tend to be chintzy, both costing more than they do at other locations and not serving as much food. We've been to two Applebee's in Brooklyn, and both of them only provided half as many mozzarella sticks in the appetizer as the New Jersey locations do. Anyway, I did the Make Your Own Tour of Italy thing, and ordered shrimp and lobster ravioli, tortellini al forno, and ziti. They messed up my order and gave me spaghetti instead of ziti, and when I told the waitress she brought me ziti as well. I usually prefer spaghetti to ziti, but I tend not to get the former in restaurants because it's something I can have just about anytime at home. Tomorrow we're going to see Aladdin on Broadway, and the next day I start a temp job.

Beth and I started dating in 2000, so we've now been married just as long as we were together before that. Even pretty early on, though, we were pretty sure we'd stay together. Neither of us had dated anyone else, and we didn't know how to meet people. We fought a lot back then, and I guess we still do today, but about different things. I really had no idea how to go about being in a relationship. I guess it's that whole lack of basic social skills that other people seem to pick up without having them explained first. And I'm still not at all romantic or spontaneous.
I feel that we're generally comfortable with each other now, which is really what I always hoped for.