Eight days ago, I took Amanda out to a new Japanese steakhouse and sushi place. We both enjoyed everything about it, but this post is about two micro-stories related to that date, not the date itself.

1. The restaurant was playing what seemed to be a mix CD of au courant radio pop, heavy on female dance pop vocalists; it was pleasantly incongruous. At one point “Kiss Me Thru the Phone” played, and I told Amanda about the time I was driving to visit Tyler (and Bane and Skala) in the summer of 2009 and heard an Indiana State University radio station DJ sheepishly introduce what she said was a special song to her and her boyfriend. The song was “Kiss Me Thru the Phone.” I suppose it’s appropriate that I heard it on a college radio station during the summer; a time when college students are often separated from significant others.

2. As I mentioned, the restaurant was exceptional. Amanda said that the pickled ginger that came with our sushi tasted “like Anthropologie. Or Christmas.”