I stepped through the basement some smidge before 11. There were more people around than usual, including Attila and Hideyoshi. Hide gave me the buzz about the drink-o-meter finally working. It was a strange change of pace: a piece of equipment that worked properly; even the software was behaving. I'd fiddled with the thing to get the ball rolling, but Dr. Zivago figured the rest out with his electrical engineering experience. Let it never be said that fried circuits can't repair fried circuits.

Yoshi went up to tempt lung cancer with Cat in the meanwhile. Attila was perky, as usual nowadays. There was very little to do, so I picked up lunch at God-Emperor China Hut, then slid back into the mole-people confines of the psych building.

Oddly enough there was a congregation in the corner office: Attila, Hideyoshi, Cat, and the new girl, Amargnac, or just Ama. Ama was another interested convert brought in by our now honorary lab Jesuit, Yoshi. The chairs appeared to be filled at first glance, so I took my meal in the testing room by the new work station (our 5th, technically). Attila called out to me and said to get my ass into the corner office. I belted back that there wasn't any room. A few minutes later, Cat was teasing Attila about his name. Hideyoshi joined in. Suddenly, all of us began to collectively goad Attila into becoming a Chippendales stripper. He said he'd think about it.

Eventually people segmented off into the open ground above. Even Dr. Ziv had gone home way early for the day.

Ama was busy studying for a midterm she just remembered, while I pawed at BBC On-line and Attila did something on the other terminal. Some time passed. He looked over to me and said we should go some place, to take a break. I hadn't done much, but I figured what the hell.

He led me over to the music building, trying to find an open practice room as we weaved from Soprano voicies to coccaine pianists. The noises were comforting. They reminded me of the Conservatory at Oberlin; a little hit of nostalgia never hurt anyone.

Attila finally found an empty practice room boasting a grand piano. He sat down and began playing a few pieces from the Final Fantasy series. He'd only had a semester of formal training, but he wasn't shabby: only 4-5 missed notes and a mechanical attention to metre. Not that I knew jack and shit about music, mind you. It was neat hearing him play, being able to appreciate this odd and quiet section of his life that few others learned about. He finished off the bit by teaching me the 'knuckle song'. It sounds like something you'd hear in a pirate's tavern, being cranked out by a drunk baboon with a stein of grog in one hand.

The day fizzled away after that. I'd done my 3 things of importance, it was 2:30, I wanted to get home. Traffic was traffic, home was home.

I spent more of the rest of the day either watching Law and Order, going out with Ma for some take out runs, or finally beating 'American McGee's Alice'--an excellent little adventure game delving into madness and redemption, one I'd recommend.

----

Photography

Yes, it's here, finally, a new shot that didn't make me want to spontaneously vomit over delecate electronic equipment:

Another Night in Gary

Comment: Ok, so I'm nowhere remotely close to Gary, Indiana, but I don't think Gary will mind. The back of that bar (?) looks almost exactly like the back of this alternative restaurant/bar I knew, called The Feve; another throwback to the just-yesterdays of college.

This was taken over in Huntington Beach, an area near an old apartment of The Captain's. I'd been pretty damn desperate to find something, anything. I got some beach shots that are pretty, but too plain to publish. This shot, though, worked out about perfectly from the moment I singled it out. I didn't even have to dodge the cars in the parking lot or deal with drunks or anything.

The wonders of a black wool trenchcoat and matching fedora. Then again, maybe I'm not giving myself enough credit.

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