I received a series of emails from two friends of mine in Scotland and it reminded me of how much fun I had over there.
We spent the evening at Ali's home a few days after we arrived. The women on the trip were having a "Women's Pudding", which is basically a desert party. Pudding in Scotland refers to desert of any type...I think. Not to be outdone, the men had a "Guy's Night Out" with typical man food; beer, wine, chips (crisps), mini salami, etc. It started out as "Guy's Night Out" but eventually turned into "Make fun of Ali's music collection".
I will be the first to admit that I didn't actually see Ali's collection, but from the tidbits we were given, his tastes are, um, different than mine. And not in a good way. Sorry, Ali. However, I truly believe that if it weren't for Ali's musical, uh, taste, I'd have not gotten quite as close to these people.
Hearing the way Neal and Andy carried on with Ali allowed me to find out what the boundaries were. It immediately became clear to me that these guys were just like my friends in the States. You could absolutely destroy their taste in music or sports or literature or whatever and remain perfectly comfortable that they were taking the jokes as just that and nothing more. From then on, I could be "me".
The reason for explaining this is Ali discovered a comment I'd left on Andy's blog about his iPod and responded via email with a hilarious and well-written account of why it is what it is. Andy, of course, countered with another incredibly funny response which had me laughing out loud. Both emails reminded me of why I miss these guys and can't wait to get back to see them.