After work I was just getting on my motorcycle to …
After work I was just getting on my motorcycle to go home when Dean called. He wanted to see Episode II again. “It’s too soon,” I told him. “I need time.” I started home and had stopped off at a park to enjoy the fine weather when he called again. “At least let’s go out for a drink.” We agreed to meet up at Q Bar later.
I hadn’t been to Q Bar in a while. It hasn’t changed. Former News drones Richard and Graham showed up eventually, and Dean embarked on a long series of Screwdrivers while we talked of plans for an online animation series, among other things. At around 11pm I decided to leave and almost forgot to pay the bill. As I did, my old friend Randall, who runs the place, said something to me from the bar. It was loud and I didn’t catch what he said. I went over and asked him to repeat himself. He nodded at my companions and said I should be careful not to “hang around with foreign devils too much”, or my Chinese will deteriorate. Randall’s a funny guy. He keeps his head shaved these days. He just got his US green card but has no definite plans to move to the states.
As we were talking at the bar, I heard someone say “Are you Poagao?” I turned around to find a Chinese guy with glasses and a lit cigarette staring at me. I told him I was, half wondering if I had unwittingly this guy on my website somewhere. I do a lot of things unwittingly. It’s a Daoist thing, and as I always say, “Dao” is my middle name. Literally.
“I’ve seen your website,” he said.
“Really? How’d you find it?” I asked.
“Oh, just looking around,” he said. He must have seen quite a bit of it if he could recognize me in a dark bar. Still, I was impressed. It’s not often this happens to me.
I’ve been feeling a bit tired and depressed today.This might have something to do with the fact that I’m becoming a bit tired of my job again, but I also suspect that my itises have not been completely eradicated, and perhaps I need something stronger than the Liquid Brown Mixture. This is all quite annoying.