Don't try to pull the wool over my .... fingers??

I love how life is so random. Yesterday afternoon, Mike (subject of a very random encounter about a month after I moved here ... went to university with Mike, hadn't seen him in 10 years, and BAM... there he is, walking down 8th Avenue coming straight towards me) called me to see what I was up to.

He said "Remember Irena?? She's in town and we're hanging out -- are you free?" So after their excursion to see Hairspray, I met up with them for dinner. I hadn't seen Irena in thirteen years, and she looked exactly the same! (In fact, we all figured that none of us had aged a spec since our formative undergrad years.)

Off we went to Mulberry Street in SoHo to an Ethiopian restaurant where we met Irena's cousin. The food was excellent and I'm dying to know exactly how the spongy bread-like material is made.

It was fun to see Irena again after all this time, but she didn't seem too flattered when I told her that she looked exactly the same. (Isn't it a compliment to be told that you look just as good as you did during your college years?) She replied that I looked better, especially considering how "hokey" I was during undergrad. Huh. Um... gee, Irena, it's GREAT to see you after thirteen years, too!!

Heading home that night after dinner, college memories started seeping into my consciousness and I remembered one of the funniest things Irena ever said... Our group of friends was always joking around, teasing each other and trying to put one over on each other. On evening, Irena said "Ok, stop it, you guys! Stop trying to pull the wool over my fingers!!" We were all immediately silent and stole glances at one another around the room.... who's going to tell her? Ultimately, none of us did and "pulling the wool over someone's fingers" became a part of our sub-culture lexicon.... to the point where "pulling the wool over someone's EYES" didn't even remotely sound correct any longer.