I went out to dinner on Friday night with some of …
I went out to dinner on Friday night with some of my old Tunghai roommates. After 15 years, it was like nothing had changed: Tong-ah, with whom I had actually gotten into fights with before, is just as annoying today as he was then, and Fu-wen, our other roommate, kept trying to stay neutral during our heated political debates. One thing that has changed is that neither of us take our political stances as seriously as we once did.
After a coupon-provided dinner at a fancy all-you-can-eat restaurant on Guangfu North Road, we headed to a bar at the top of the Death Star Mall called That 70’s bar. It was almost empty of people, but full of 70’s paraphernalia such as those plant-like things that light up and pulse to the music, in this case modern rap music that didn’t seem very authentic considering the theme of the place.
Sitting in an alcove trying to look cool and shit got kinda old, though, so we met up with another old Tunghai alum and drove to a Taiwanese karaoke bar just off Xinsheng North Road. Tong-ah and Fu-wen knew the hostesses, who were relatively subtle with their fawning. “You need to relax, pick a few songs, have another drink,” Tong-ah said as we sat down.
“What, like that guy did?” I said, pointing to a comatose gangster hanging off a nearby sofa.
“Yeah, just like that guy.”
We talked, argued, drank watered-down whiskey, ate sliced fruit and sang songs until about 4am, when the bar closed. I got to bed around 5.
At 8am, there was a knock at the door. It was the realtor, who had someone over to see my apartment, so I had to stand there and try not to fall down while this woman and her kids roamed wandered around looking at all my stuff and wondering about leaks. I was so knackered I didn’t even give them the song-and-dance about how they’d come on a very quiet day, to watch their heads for falling plaster, what interestingly shaped bugs I’d found recently, etc. This was probably a mistake, and I felt uneasy about the whole thing as I went back to sleep the moment they left. For good reason, as you’ll read in the post below.
