In some ways Mike’s answer seems very obvious. Except when I was a kid doing this would have been inconceivable. Doing it would be the kind of thing that could get you banned from places. It just wasn’t done, but I’ve seen it many times in the last decade. In my head though this is still something you just shouldn’t do. It was kind of refreshing when I showed the script to my editors and one of them said “That’s a huge no-no in the restaurant industry, usually.” So apparently there are still places where old standards still exist. They continued with “But they do work there so they can make a call about it pretty safely.” Which was also my thinking if the premise seemed off to some people. Bridgette is someone who generally needs some kind of permission structure established before doing things. The fact that she simply gives in to Maddison’s wishes because everyone else spoils her is a pretty obvious expression of her tendency to conform to the group’s hierarchy. And yet she is not so weak willed as to not express how much it bothers her that she never gets a say in things. At least from her perspective. A lot of friend groups have at least one member who is masterful at passive manipulation. On some level Maddison has trained her friends to give in to her demands because they are easygoing and generally fine with her choices. That said, I doubt anyone can imagine Evrina rolling over the way the others do, which is obviously why she and Maddison have some friction, among other things. Even then though Maddison is also one of her oldest friends, so in her own way she likely spoils Maddison too. It just doesn’t take the form it does with the others, plus Evrina probably thinks that making Maddi do things she doesn’t want to is good for her on some level. She may even be right. Bridgette is just willing to complain in a way that’s loud enough for everyone to hear, but not to go so far as to force the issue for a very long time. I’ve written Bridgette as a bit immature too, so in some ways she and Maddison are the little sisters of the group even though they are all withing a few years of each other in age.

Anyway, I’m writing this on Sunday morning and I really want to sleep a bit if I can. I got very stressed over the weekend and it caused problems, so I want to try and relax and see if I can break out of this ultra anxious thought pattern I’ve fallen into. Mom wants to do some things and I’m not very useful when I’m tired and jittery. I’m going to try and make Wednesday’s page later today if I can. I wasn’t able to get much done over the weekend so my tiny buffer got used up. If I can convince my brain to actually sleep just a little bit it would do wonders for me. Regardless, I will have a new page up on Wednesday one way or another. I hope you have a nice start to your week, and I look forward to meeting up again on Wednesday. Until then, remember to floss.

3015 The Forbidden Din Din.

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