Cati and I went to the 141st running of the Travers Stakes in Saratoga NY back in August.
G and I were up at 4AM to secure a few tables for our crew of revelers.
Here’s the view from our spot- before the crowds showed up.
Here’s why we had to get up at 4AM to secure tables.
Then we back-yard partied the night away with delicious food and great friends.
It was great fun. Cati’s only wish for our first weekend getaway without the kids was to sleep- and sleep in she did.
A few nights ago, Cati and I were gabbing away while dining at one of our favorite places. We were at Verjus in Maplewood, NJ. It’s quite a gem of a restaurant. I’ll share more about some of our favorite meals there in a future post, ok? So, during the course of our conversation, Cati asked, “What’s the opposite of a pet peeve?” I thought for a moment, and realized there isn’t one. I guess that speaks to the fact that people prefer to complain than expound on what they like. So we came up with a term that I’d like to introduce here– pet please. Although the folks at the Oxford English Dictionary haven’t included epiphanoid yet, I’m sure the phone will ring any minute requesting that I allow its inclusion– yup, any minute now [crickets chirping].
Anyway, we got to talking (and I got to thinking) and here is how I might define/explain a pet please (playfully plagiarizing Wikipedia’s entry for pet peeve):
A pet please (or pet joy) is a minor treat that an individual identifies as particularly enjoyable to him or her, to a greater degree than others may find it.
So things that are generally recognized as enjoyable are out. One wouldn’t say, “Winning the lottery is a pet please of mine” just as one wouldn’t say “finding cockroaches in my sandwich is a pet peeve.” The former is generally recognized as really great and latter as really awful by pretty much everyone (I reckon). A pet please of yours has to be something that is either not generally liked, or goes unnoticed by others– but makes your day.
This all started when Cati was searching for the words to describe how much she particularly likes it when servers clear crumbs from the table between courses with their little scrapy-thingies [kindly excuse my ignorance of waiters’ tools-of-the-trade]. Welp, that’s a pet please. I have pet pleases too. I like it when lady-bartenders/waitresses call me by a term of endearment like “sweetie,” “sugar,” or “hun” (as in honey, not the Asian nomads). Some people don’t like the instant familiarity, but I like the motherly tone it seems to give an otherwise impersonal interaction. Hence, it’s a pet please of mine.
So, dear readers, Cati and I would love to know some of your pet pleases. Kindly share in the comments to this post.
On a completely unrelated note, here are some things I have learned that might be of use to you:
– Happy wife, happy life.
– If you MUST break the law, don’t combine offenses. That is to say– if you’re speeding, get off the cell phone. If you’re carrying crack, don’t run stop signs, and these sorts of things. I learned this watching Cops. [And people say television is garbage, pffft.]
– Make a Brazilian friend and get invites to barbecues at his house.
Holy picanha, Batman:
South Americans sure can grill.