<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2942939813623433172</id><updated>2011-07-07T22:04:56.684-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Welcome to the Basement</title><subtitle type='html'></subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://allysenbird.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2942939813623433172/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://allysenbird.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>Allysen Bird</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/18362194281178456311</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>1</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2942939813623433172.post-7073624664801963223</id><published>2009-10-19T14:05:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-10-19T14:09:24.284-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Sunday at McDonald's on Nicollet</title><content type='html'>&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Calibri;"&gt;I have gained a little bit of weight since my dad died...I stopped working out and really focused on eating as many stale doughnuts as I could in a day.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;So, I've had a problem because my jeans haven't been fitting &lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;so well, and all my pants are really tight, making it appear that I am &lt;i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"&gt;trying&lt;/i&gt; to wear tight jeans when in reality I just don't have any normal fitting ones.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;ANYWAYS, this weekend I actually wore sweat pants out of the house because my roommate put all my clothes in the dryer and shrunk my pants even more.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;I was mortified that I had sunk to wearing sweats, so those feelings of hopelessness made me stop at McDonalds to get a value meal for dinner.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;As I was walking from McDonalds to my car, while already eating fries from the bag, a guy in an SUV in the drive through waved at me.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;I waved back, but didn't recognize him, and thought it might have been a mistake on his part.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;Then, as I'm starting my car, I realize the guy from the SUV is standing outside my door.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;He is holding out a compact disc for me. "I thought you might want to check me out.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;And I want to tell you that you have a nice body..." &lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;He looked me up and down as best as he could manage, as I was sitting in my car already.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;   &lt;/span&gt;He was cute, and had a large diamond in one ear.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Calibri;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal"&gt;As I wipe the grease off my face, I say, "Are you giving me this CD?&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;For free?"&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;    &lt;/span&gt;"Yeah." &lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;He says, "I just wanted to compliment your body.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;You have nice legs."&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;     &lt;/span&gt;I say, "Oh!&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;WOW! Really?&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;You think?&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;That's really nice...okay, see you around!"&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;He says good bye and taps my car, then jogs back to the big SUV.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;I went home and played his CD while I cleaned.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;I liked it, and the best song was one called Mamacita, telling the tale of his love affair with a curvy stripper.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;I imagined him singing the song about me.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal"&gt;So, the point of my story is this...even when life gets you down, and you wear sweat pants to McDonald's for dinner, there are still people named Mike Page who appreciate you.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.mikepagemusic.com/"&gt;http://www.mikepagemusic.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal"&gt;This was the worst story I have ever told.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Calibri;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2942939813623433172-7073624664801963223?l=allysenbird.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://allysenbird.blogspot.com/feeds/7073624664801963223/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2942939813623433172&amp;postID=7073624664801963223' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2942939813623433172/posts/default/7073624664801963223'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2942939813623433172/posts/default/7073624664801963223'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://allysenbird.blogspot.com/2009/10/sunday-at-mcdonalds-on-nicollet.html' title='Sunday at McDonald&apos;s on Nicollet'/><author><name>Allysen Bird</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/18362194281178456311</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry></feed>
