Mindcrime and Janice came up yesterday to have a l…
Mindcrime and Janice came up yesterday to have a look at some bookstores and shop, respectively. After having so-so noodles at a shop Mindcrime kept insisting was closed for some reason, I took him to the Silex Bookstore on Jinhua St. Silex has possibly the most impressive selection of Science Fiction/Fantasy books on the island, yet I never see any foreigners there. They need to get the word out. I suppose part of the reason is that the first floor is occupied purely by children’s books, while all the good stuff is upstairs. Mindcrime was impressed because they even had shelf or two of D&D books, the kind he writes. They didn’t happen to have any of his books, but he managed to order one downstairs. Then we walked down to Grandma Nitti’s for some Oreo Shakes, which I had never had before. When they arrived I regarded the grayish concoction with no little amount of suspicion, but when I tasted a spoonful I was hooked. That stuff is great. Both of our shakes were gone within a couple of minutes.
Our next target was the Breeze Chick Mall, so we took the MRT up to the Zhongxiao-fuxing Station and walked up Fuxing to a Hong Kong mango place called Xu-liu Shan. The mango drinks were fixed in some sort of jelly, but they were still good. They’re mango, after all, so it pretty much has to be good. I’ve been told that mangos in the Philippines are the most delicious. Someday I hope to find out for myself. When I lived in Qingdao, my Chinese friends there called my Mango Juice, since I didn’t drink beer, and mango juice was the only other thing they had down at the beachfront stores where I would hang out, across from the hotel I was living in at the time.
At Breeze we went down to the supermarket to try as many samples as we could, including a few cups of an Australian beverage called “Two Dogs”. Then we went to the food court so that Janice could purchase a horrendous fake corndog, fake ice cream and a bag of paper-like crepe that tasted, apparently from Mindcrime’s expression when he bit into it, exactly like biting into cardboard. As I watched the two consume their inedible treats, I felt a tap at my shoulder. It was Sandy, aka Sandman, and his wife, who happened to be sitting at the next table. Sandy had a clever disguise in the form of a new facial hairstyle, you see, so I didn’t recognize him right off. Anyway, small island, as I say.
Later we went to see “Lilo and Stitch” at the movie theater upstairs. I had never been to the theater at Breeze before; it was quite nice, with good sound and a minimum of commercial interruption. The movie was pretty funny, our humor already raised by the “Two Dog” drinks we had consumed earlier. Then I led Mindcrime and Janice on a short walk up to Amigo, where we had dinner. Janice ruined a mint tea for Mindcrime by telling him that it tasted just like mouthwash (“It’s minty, not mediciny!”) before I bade them farewell and walked back to the MRT station. I had a good time, but for some reason I felt a bit melancholy walking home alone. I should have called Little P, but he said he had a cold and might not want me to disturb him. I settled for music from my walkman instead.
When I got home I saw an email from Locus. They have agreed to some, but not all of my requests, and one aspect in particular was not mentioned at all. I emailed back asking about it, but I probably won’t know until Monday what’s going on there.
I woke up before 6 this morning. I don’t know why; I just can’t sleep any more, so I thought I’d post an update here, for lack of anything better to do.
