for dinner (or a late lunch) i reheated the hot and sour soup over the stove (i almost never use the microwave to heat anything unless i'm in a hurry) and had another bowl of that stuff. that's when alex wong called to see if i wanted to do dinner at the porter exchange, most probably cafe mami because alex is a creature of habit and that's where he always eats. it wasn't too crowded today, we got a seat right away. we sat next to these two obnoxious international kids of middle eastern descent, their cellphones and wallets on the table, sitting with legs wide apart, reeking of cologne. they tag teamed their seats, allowing two of their friends to take their spots, disregarding whether or not anybody else was waiting for seats. i passive aggressively fantasized about one of them accidently bumping into me so i punch one of them in the face as hard as i could. fortunately, we ate in relative peace, no blood was shed. the waitress didn't even bother giving alex a menu, he apparently comes so often and always order the same thing (did i mention the creature of habit part?). i ordered the spicy beef on rice ($7). having just had a big bowl of hot and sour soup at home, i could barely finish this second dinner of the night. when we were all done eating, alex started talking to these two asian girls sitting next to us, a singaporean girl and her korean friend. i figured it was just chit chat, i didn't bother joining in, sort of sat and watched and drank my water. just as we're about to leave though, alex asked one of the girls for her phone number, which she refused to give him. later he told me that his technique would've worked in japan, but not here.
i called joel up because i was to meet him at the kendall cinema to catch a free screening of standing in the shadow of motown. he swung by in his jeep and picked me up from the street corner outside of the white hen pantry in porter square. when we got to the theatre, we met his friend chris, who was also going to the screening as well. the movie, a documentary, was about the story of the funk brothers, the musicians who created the sounds of motown. it was sort of like a concert film with the surviving musicians performing with contemporary vocalists, sliced with first person anecdotes, peppered with the occasional third party views and the occasional dramatic reenactments. the music was the selling point though, and although the lead singers get most of the glory, to an extent they're rather expendable, but without the musicians to make the signature sounds, there would be no motown. made me want to put on my motown records (cds) when i got home.
joel drove me back to cambridge, where i showed him my place again. since his last visit, the kitchen's been pinked and the bathroom's been greened. also when he was here, the network/cable wiring hadn't been finished yet. i brought him down in the basement as well so he could see the screen house foosball table and the old screen house sign.