I'm significantly shorter and slighter of build than any.
It took about 20m of hide-and-seek for React and I to find each other. He said he was in a green Accord, right in front of the place. I look and find a green Accord, right in front of the place. Vacant. Chinese newspapers in the front seat and a Chinese charm hanging from the mirror. I was confused; dimly realizing it wasn't his, I headed around the other side of the terminal that straddled the rails. Turned out React's green Accord was positioned in exactly the same position on the opposing side.
React remarked that my handshake was firmer than he expected, which surprised me since I worry about that a lot. I had only seen that B&W picture of him and assumed he was dark-haired; I was surprised by his light brown hair and strong reddish undertones in his complexion.
We drove to the mall. Since we were early, we wandered around. It was an old, dying mall, never well-built, with creepy lighting, carpeted stairwells, narrow corridors, and way too many women's shit stores. We visited the Gamestop; nothing but crap, no interesting used stuff, then we visited a Chinese furnishings store ("EVERYTHING 50% OFF!!!") though even such prices were ridiculous, $1000 for a vase, $2000 for a bureau, etc.
We then scouted the D&B. I was carrying a backpack, a camera bag containing my Gameboy, and my laptop bag, and wearing my utilitarian outfit. React wore jeans and a T-shirt. We wandered through the entire place, room by room, eyeing everything. We must have looked like either a gay couple or a hit squad. I imagined I packed an Uzi and grenades in my bags.
We finally ran into Eturnal right at the entrance. Positive ID at first sight. He was not tall but powerfully built, with a strong grip. I noticed he wore what I would identify as hoodrat shoes. Seemed ironic. He was very friendly. As we were led to the table, the waitress immediately responded to Eturnal's virile sex appeal, peeking at him repeatedly and being extra vigorous in her movements proximate to him. The man is married but he's very much "still got it", without trying at all.
We sat at a table with menus. Fanta, very fashionably, plopped down moments later. He wore a big vintage-style wristwatch, black-rimmed oblong glasses, and a brown polo. He was trim, fit, and very well groomed. A real cutting image of the stereotypical Aryan superhuman med student.
We greeted each other. "I'm glad you could make it, Aestu!" "I'm just happy to be here." "That's what I like to hear!" He said this in such a way, radiating unequivocal good-natured optimism, I felt this guy was born to lead a team at camp.
We talked about a ton of stuff, including politics, WoW, and life as usual. That the status quo sucks and everyone hates the video game industry and our social, political and economic systems is no longer controversial.
The waiter, who was black, and seemed to recognize Eturnal, came and left about ten times as we again and again demurred to order as we chatted it up. Finally we said, okay, ready. The waiter walked off again.
So then, the point made, we ordered. Eturnal seemed to really enjoy the ribs, picking them clean. React's steak was served in on a novelty black frying pan that was actually not suitable for that use and apparently crafted to be light enough for a waiter to carry easily. I didn't notice what Fanta ordered. My tasteless veggie burger was undercooked, Brand X (not Gardenburger), and served on an almost insultingly unimpressive and effeminate off-white square plate. The fried onions were all fried grease and no onion - like flesh turned to fossil. The "sweet rice" was made with mango paste and smelled sickeningly sweet, like a rendering plant. I couldn't finish the latter two.
We paid Dutch. The restaurant mandates a 16% gratuity but offers the option to tip more. All four receipts showed our personal subtotal, but the collective total for the gratuity. So it seemed to us we were all paying the full gratuity four times over. Finally I asked for an itemized receipt. "Leave it to the Jew!" I took this with good humor. Who would be offended to come from smart people?
Reconciliation proved the receipts were correct so we paid, put down a reservation on a pool table, and went to the arcade. I couldn't help but notice a lot of preggos. The reward store occupied an entire room and sold a mix of kitsch and bizarrely domestic items such as electric grills, all for exorbitant tickets. I believe this is because, for a lot of the blacks there, this might as well be their job. If nothing else, I can see where Eturnal gets his views on race, even if I still don't come to the same conclusions about the phenomena. The most interesting item, the only one that was really interesting, was a skateboard with the D&B logo on it. Surely if one is to take home a prize, it should in some way reflect the experience.
At the entrance to the reward store was an electronic security gate. The klaxons were not illuminated and there was no indication of a power cord nor a bulge in the carpet at any point around the devices. In any case, I don't see how plushies, which were tthe bulk of the inventory, could be tagged. I resisted the temptation to see if the gate was mere scarecrow or not.
We played some games - a Sega-style racing game. I took first on the first go, using Jewish racing tricks, as seen in the movie "Ben-Hur". The second time, the controls locked up - not sure why - so I came in last. But I knew to be a good sport. We then played some shooter games I didn't care for; then we were called for pool. I have poor hearing from years of wearing a closed headset, but excellent awareness, so only I noticed us being called. This did seem strange to me.
Eturnal is a vicious pool shark. He fumbled the first break and the odd inconsequential shot while chaining difficult shots and feigning innocence, quite plausibly. React was very obviously trying to improve his skill. I had never played and lacked the upper body strength to make shots effectively. Still, I had fun - definitely a learning experience.
We then played more arcade games. At some point, Eturnal and the other three of us, got separated, and over the PA we heard that the pool table reserved in his name was now available - again, it seemed; the table had previously beeen reserved in his name, but we'd already checked out. I thought perhaps he'd reserved again to get us to meet up there, but no, ANOTHER person of the same name reserved a table. Ironic redux of the green Accord business earlier.
At this point I told Eturnal of a riddle about his name, but he pointed out my phrasing wasn't cogent. On the way back home I remembered the proper phrasing:
Quote:
"First amongst letters, first amongst numbers, five in between, five hundred before and five hundred after. Who am I?"
So we wnt back to the arcade. I extremely didn't like Guitar Hero - the loud, low-frequency, high-noise vibrations and oscillating 3D images are not compatible with my psychodynamics and cause me to suffer fatigue, nausea and malaise and sweat profusely. This also triggers aggression.
I said I needed to turn in, so React took me to my hotel. I'm told that at $70 a night, I got a good deal. We wandered around for about 30m in the enclosed parking garage, devoid of points of reference. React and I are both of course inveterate gamers, and I am of course a bookworm, so we both of course have very poor vision, making the search much more difficult. I was quite worried React's car had been jacked (esp since Honda and Toyota sedans are popular jacks). Regardless, we found it, and were on our way.
It had been an unequivocally fun night.
...
I wrote all this on my phone sitting at a local cafe while my apartment is treated for infernal bedbugs. Did I do it justice? Lol
