April 23rd: Matt's birthday buffet
[ posted by mcdeviltoast ]
Day 219
After securing train tickets to Beijing for May holiday, Heather and I rode to Century Mart and picked up a gift box of Remy Silver Vodka Cognac for Matt's birthday. Then Mike and I played some cutthroat badminton on the roof in the blazing sunshine. The wind played havoc with the shuttlecocks, turning the game into some psychedelic tee ball hybrid. Some students were watching us from their dorms and I would order them to "go do homework and eat snacks."
At 4:30, we all caught the bus to Nantong, and once again, the cab refused to take all five of us in one cab. (A family of four is often seen on a frail scooter, whereas five to a cab is simply unthinkable). Matt didn't answer his door when we arrived, so we tried Ben's and encountered Bruce on his way out. He helped us yell at the right volume and untied Matt and Erin from a suspected post-coital flesh knot.
After a couple beers and meeting some of Matt's college students in a meet and greet icebreaker ("My name is Erin and I like elephants...") we cabbed it over to a five star hotel for the buffet. The interior design was a piecemeal mess, utilizing tricks from Greek, Mesopotamian, (fill in country here) and ending up with a disorganized casino look. It particularly unnerved Rhys who likes his decor pureblooded.
The buffet was outstanding, especially the shrimp and musnrooms, sushi, and miniature beef tenderloins, the likes of which Matt proudly said gave him "meat sweats" last time. The beer was unlimited, nearly to the point of crying "Enough" when a split second after placing the empty down, a full one blossomed in its stead.
I ran into a Western chap while obtaining food and learned he was from Wales. I motioned to our table and pointed out Rhys, a fellow Welshman, not knowing that he would then sew himself to our group. I assumed he would chat a minute or two and return to his table.
The night drew on, the dry heat of the restaurant relentless and murder on my breathing. I had to grab a few minutes of outside time to sweeten my lungs with night. We cabbed it back to Ben's with Len, our 65 year old ex-naval shipbuilder Welshman in tow. Heather assured me it wasn't my fault. I introduced, but Ben and Matt invited him back. That's me, always trying to be a martyr, looking for any possibility of nailing myself to guilt.
The coffee I had drunk with dinner sobered me up to the point where I was just hangdog beat. We cabbed it back minutes after Michael left, passing out in the back and trusting our cabbie not to drive us to a field or off a pier. When we woke at the gates of the middle school, my foot was completely numb, not a fall-asleep pins-n-needles feeling, but no feeling at all. I picked up my leg and it flopped like a corpse. At last, blood began to fill it again and when it was properly capillary drunk, I scaled the gate and surrendered to the thing my body was hungriest for and a buffet couldn't provide: slumber.
After securing train tickets to Beijing for May holiday, Heather and I rode to Century Mart and picked up a gift box of Remy Silver Vodka Cognac for Matt's birthday. Then Mike and I played some cutthroat badminton on the roof in the blazing sunshine. The wind played havoc with the shuttlecocks, turning the game into some psychedelic tee ball hybrid. Some students were watching us from their dorms and I would order them to "go do homework and eat snacks."
At 4:30, we all caught the bus to Nantong, and once again, the cab refused to take all five of us in one cab. (A family of four is often seen on a frail scooter, whereas five to a cab is simply unthinkable). Matt didn't answer his door when we arrived, so we tried Ben's and encountered Bruce on his way out. He helped us yell at the right volume and untied Matt and Erin from a suspected post-coital flesh knot.
After a couple beers and meeting some of Matt's college students in a meet and greet icebreaker ("My name is Erin and I like elephants...") we cabbed it over to a five star hotel for the buffet. The interior design was a piecemeal mess, utilizing tricks from Greek, Mesopotamian, (fill in country here) and ending up with a disorganized casino look. It particularly unnerved Rhys who likes his decor pureblooded.
The buffet was outstanding, especially the shrimp and musnrooms, sushi, and miniature beef tenderloins, the likes of which Matt proudly said gave him "meat sweats" last time. The beer was unlimited, nearly to the point of crying "Enough" when a split second after placing the empty down, a full one blossomed in its stead.
I ran into a Western chap while obtaining food and learned he was from Wales. I motioned to our table and pointed out Rhys, a fellow Welshman, not knowing that he would then sew himself to our group. I assumed he would chat a minute or two and return to his table.
The night drew on, the dry heat of the restaurant relentless and murder on my breathing. I had to grab a few minutes of outside time to sweeten my lungs with night. We cabbed it back to Ben's with Len, our 65 year old ex-naval shipbuilder Welshman in tow. Heather assured me it wasn't my fault. I introduced, but Ben and Matt invited him back. That's me, always trying to be a martyr, looking for any possibility of nailing myself to guilt.
The coffee I had drunk with dinner sobered me up to the point where I was just hangdog beat. We cabbed it back minutes after Michael left, passing out in the back and trusting our cabbie not to drive us to a field or off a pier. When we woke at the gates of the middle school, my foot was completely numb, not a fall-asleep pins-n-needles feeling, but no feeling at all. I picked up my leg and it flopped like a corpse. At last, blood began to fill it again and when it was properly capillary drunk, I scaled the gate and surrendered to the thing my body was hungriest for and a buffet couldn't provide: slumber.
---
[ posted by mcdeviltoast @ 4/23/2005 08:24:00 PM ]
[ permanent link ] 
Post a Comment
<< Home
The dumbtronica act Montana & McDeviltoast, along with their friends, keep each other updated on their activities. Much fun having by all, and Pockys fear for their lives!