Once again, because last week’s answers proved so amusing (gee, thanks, Miranda), here are the Friday Five:

1. What is your favorite restaurant and why?

Even though my apartment has next to no kitchen and I can barely (which is to say not at all) cook, I don’t do an awful lot of eating out at restaurants. When I do, it’s usually fast food or a pizza ordered in. When you start to recognize the pizza delivery people — and, more importantly, when they start to recognize you — it’s time to start considering other options. Locally, my friends are all poor college students, so when we eat together it’s usually just a burger and fries grabbed on campus. I really don’t date (which is a whole different set of questions), so the nicer restaurants are usually reserved for when my parents visit me for birthdays and such. Right now, if I had to choose, I’d probably say my favorite local restaurant is The Gingerbread Man. I’ve never actually been inside, oddly enough, but it’s not pizza and they deliver.

2. What fast food restaurant are you partial to?

They’re all equally awful in their own way, so I try to mix it up. Variety is, after all, the spice of life. Again, if I had to choose, I’d probably pick Taco Bell, if only because there’s usually less of a wait at the drive-through.

3. What are your standards and rules for tipping?

I like to be generous, although not absurdly so, and it depends in large part on the situation, the quality of service (or, more often, the promptness of delivery). I start with fifteen percent and then go from there.

4. Do you usually order an appetizer and/or dessert?

Again, it depends on the situtation, what I’m eating and who I’m with. Depends on the menu, too.

5. What do you usually order to drink at a restaurant?

When I’m with my family, we have, for some reason, all taken to ordering ice tea. More often than not, if I’m by myself, I’ll order a soda. It depends on the meal and my mood. I don’t drink alcohol very often, and only once have I ordered a glass of beer with a meal — I was in Texas, and my hosts told me I should. Maybe if I ate out more often. Maybe if I was more of a drinker. Maybe if fewer of my meals came with an offer for free cheesy bread.

This evening, after much procrastination, I finally mailed my taxes. In the unlikely event that I’m audited, I’d like the IRS to note that I felt vaguely guilty about getting a refund, that said refund isn’t very large, and that I was nearly run off the road by a driver who didn’t look where he was going on my way home from the post office. This had ought to count for something. And if not, perhaps you’ll be distracted by these purty pictures. You are feeling veerrryyy sleeeeppppyyy…

Because it’s a rainy Tuesday morning and I’m bored. Because I am easily amused and have too much time on my hands. Because I don’t embarrass these people enough by making them sing songs about genitalia and perform sketches about naked pirates. Because I don’t know what else to share with you right now and this is marginally better than nothing. But really, ultimately, just becase I can.

And yes, that’s all they do. The music will just repeat.