Friday 10/18/02                          Nightcrawling

 

Friday we didn’t have school.  I talked to Dave at 10am and called him around 1 during work, and after work went to see Red Dragon with Ginger.  As we walked to the theater in back of Breeze Center mall (and I remembered the free movie tickets I got from mafia JieFu this time) it started raining hard, and we were surprised with a long-ass line of people apparently waiting for some free gift.  We wondered what could be so awesome and finally found out:  a Lord of the Rings tote bag.  It was made to look like a LV bag, similar colors, but the logo stamped all over it said, if you looked close, “Lord of the Rings”.  Yes, people wanted this bag.  Lots of people.  Waiting in line.  In the pouring rain.

 

At the ticket window we were told only “bad” seats were left for the 8 o’clock showing (you get assigned seats when you buy movie tickets) so we got 9:20PM and walked around the mall.  Apparently furry, colorful neck wraps are in now, the furrier and brighter the better.  We agreed only Christina could pull off wearing one.  While we were shoe-shopping and I found a funky pair of party heels for US$15 and the saleswoman was trying to convince me that they were “supposed” to be sticking out 1 inch in front of my toes, Jonathan called and I asked him to come to the movie.  We met him in front before it started and got popcorn.  He got a seat closer to us though he came late, and there was no one next to him so he waved us down to join him.  The movie was good, pretty scary, and now I really want to see Silence of the Lambs.  Or maybe I shouldn’t, and retain the title of Only Person Left on the Planet who Hasn’t Seen Silence of the Lambs.

 

Brad, the dude we met at the Oriented happy hour had called to hang out tonight, so I called him back and he sounded like he was already having some alcohol jollies and that we should come on over to where he was:  a bar called “Tickle My Fantasy”  Ok… Actually, we had all heard of it and Ginger said it was “fancy.”  We cabbed there and met him, got a table upstairs, I got a Singapore Sling which wasn’t as good as I remembered in Singapore, and Ginger a pina colada which was pretty strong.  We actually tasted the alcohol in the drinks and they were tall, well they should be for 250 each.  Brad then got us all 2 rounds of tequila shots.  They put salt in a stripe on the side the glass.  Now I was pretty toasted, almost started feeling sick so I quickly downed lots and lots of water.  

 

Brad is very easygoing and seems the type who can have fun with all different kinds of people; he went to grad school in Chile and taught English in Taiwan several years ago.  Then recently met a contact in NY that offered him a position in Taiwan, so remembering what fun he had here before, he came back again.  After awhile he said he was ready to go somewhere else.  We walked down to where he suggested a couple places, good thing he was with us and knew the spots.  On the sidewalk we randomly found a huge palm leaf  that fell off a tree and took pictures of us “surfing” on it.  Went into VS (“not Victorias Secret” he corrected when I said that’s what I thought it was) where it was pretty empty and we danced.  Jon and Brad are surprisingly OK dancers for white guys.  A whole group left the floor when we got on and we wondered if we were just that good and intimidating.   We saw a local guy wearing a shirt that said “DRUGS” and a huge weed leaf, Ginger said she HAD to get a pic.  Of course she wanted me to come.  As soon as we approached I just nabbed him and said, “[We really like your shirt can we take a picture?]” He was confused but when he saw the camera he hammed it up with Victory signs and his friend got in too, and asked where we were from, I said “Mei Guo” and we rushed out of the club, probably got him all excited for nothing. 

 

Went to find eats, so went to Fuxing S. Rd. where there’s a row of 24-hour eateries, buffet types with lots of small dishes.  Then went to a salsa palce to check it out, La Scala, where it was chill and they were closing in half an hour.  I didn’t want anything and the hostess asked “[Water?]” I said Sure, thinking free regular water, but got bubbly Perrier which was gross and made me feel sick again.  Jon ordered lemonade and when they messed up his order, he got up to ask them and after a bit we heard them laughing it up with him at the bar and wondered what was going on.  I said I can’t take him anywhere, he just makes instant friends wherever he goes.  He came back and explained, they’d said his Chinese was so good, so he then said in Taiwanese (he just started Taiwanese classes) “[Then let’s speak Taiwanese]”, and they were all floored.  The hostess was so impressed, she came over, introduced herself as Rebecca and gave Ginger and me VIP cards and we signed her register.  Woo!  She said only gives them to “[beautiful girls]” but I said “It’s because she wants us to bring you guys again.”  But we wondered what these cards do for us, since there’s no cover anyway?

 

Now tired and we parted.  Jon, Ginger and I walked back to our area during which Ginger’s bf called and told her about terrorists bombing a bus in the Philippines.  It was scary.  Here we were not that far away, yet felt safe from it all.  Here we were having a grand time bar-hopping, yet such terrible things are happening in the world. 

 

It was 5:30 when I got in, the latest ever.