Five Guys, One Tile

While I was over at that Publix wonderland off Cordova in Fort Lauderdale today, I noticed a new place called Five Guys and figured it was a pizzeria. But inside I could see huge containers of peanut oil stacked everywhere and when I walked in, the smell was incredible. I had just eaten, though, so I pucked up a menu to take with me. I was wrong about it being a pizzeria ... guess I was thinking of Two Guys. Apparently, Five Guys is known for what Zagat calls "mind-blowing fries" cooked in peanut oil and quality dogs and burgers. All toppings, which include fried onions, sauteed mushrooms and jalapeno peppers, are free. I'll definitely be returning here. For now, I left this tile (just above the sink in the handicapped stall) about Robert, who feels embarrassed to tell people how scared he is of butterflies. He still has nightmares about when his parents came to visit and he had to take them to Butterfly World. Now that he's been there, he has something else to add to the list of things that terrify him: hummingbirds.

Shifty-Eyed Sharon

Tiny tile-related stories have begun to emerge. Apparently, one of my tiles, titled Nothing 2 Hide, was used to raise a little money for charity. I like that so I left this one in the same location. And it's true ... shifty-eyed Sharon can definitely not be trusted. Her purse is chock full of little things she's stolen -- pens, lighters, even a gas station restroom key that's attached to a foot-long piece of wood with the word "ladies" on it. Sharon has a very big purse. She can't find anything in there ... but the collection keeps growing. My mom always said not to trust people with shifty eyes. She also said never to use any mayonnaise but Hellmans, because it really is the best.

Think tank

Meg doesn't like yoga or meditation, but sometimes when she is feeling really stressy she presses her face up against the fish tank and imagines that she's in there, swimming around with those little neon fish, and it makes her feel better.

I went to The Field to listen to Irish music with friends and asked my friend Jane to stick this on a shelf as if it belonged there. But she was just sitting there looking at it like maybe she wanted to keep it so I let her ... now my little tile is traveling to someplace really far away, someplace that I have never even been. Meg's ready to get outta town. She's tired of looking in that fishbowl. So, I had to leave another tile (below) at The Field instead. I dropped it in what is now known as my usual spot. While this one is titled Jane's Weekend Job, it's actually not about my friend Jane .... It's about the crazy things we sometimes gotta do in our spare time just to pay the bills ... maybe I shoulda called it In A Pickle.

Downtowner

Sometimes Meghan can totally be herself, and other times she wants to curl up like a little snail in a shell and be left alone. She realizes that everyone feels that way at times, but is sure that she feels that way more often than others. She's just a bit more of a loner at heart. Despite her unsociable state, Meghan went to the Downtowner in Fort Lauderdale last night, where she hid in the boys room and eavesdropped. Actually, she wasn't hiding. She was right out in the open, but no one really noticed her, at least not at first. She wanted to find out what people really talk about in the mens' room, but much to her disappointment, all they talked about was sports. When the door swung open, she heard some guys out there singing that song about "buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks." Meghan likes peanuts and crackers jacks, but could care less about sports.

Strongman Leroy

Leroy tried really hard to make it look effortless. I think in some ways, we all strive to do that. We want others to believe we're stronger than we are ... but sometimes we're just not. This tile, and some blank ones, went to another artist who wants to paint and hide some tiles.
Strongman Leroy and I parted way at Dirty Ernie's, which is oddly where the seed for this project was planted nearly a year ago. I still think I can reach the 100-tile mark by the one year anniversary of this little experimental project. Dirty Ernie's (that's what everybody calls it even though it's really called Ernie's) is the same as it's ever been. There's something sorta comforting about that, especially with the pace things are changing now. You drive past something one week, and the next it's just gone. I always eat on Ernie's rooftop ... They're well-known for their deeee-licious BBQ sandwiches, which are even more gigantic than I recall. It's a good place to go when you're really, really, really hungry. I wasn't quite that hungry, but I went anyway and had fun. Oh, and not only has the place not changed ... but it's still got that blue bike from the blue bike project out there. I love that whole concept but I always wondered if the guy who started that ever regretted letting that secret slip out. ... if he wished that he had told no one and that it was still a big mystery as to how the bikes got there. I kind of wish that was the case. Why are secrets, even our own secrets, so hard to keep? I'm actually pretty good about keeping other people's secrets ... but if I have a few glasses of wine, my own secrets occasionally slip out .... and usually, I come to regret that, almost immediately. Chardonnay = truth serum.