2007-11-29 - 11:37 a.m.
Four Times I Didn't Make Friends
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You aren't seriously going to smoke that here, are you?
'That' is my Parliament Light cigarette. And 'here' is a bar in Morioka where I'm celebrating the end of the cricket season with two teams, neither of which I am a member of.
Yes, I answer, I am. Is that a problem?
I guess your dad didn't die from smoking, did he?
That's true, I say, he didn't.
I'm thinking about adding to that statement, my dad didn't die from smoking. My dad, and everybody else's, found other ways to screw up, but I do my best to not take it out on people who had nothing to do with it in a party-like setting.
I'm thinking about saying that, but I can see this guy's friend shaking his head at him from across the room and giving him a you're-being-an-asshole-stop-it look, and decide that additional commentary from myself would be unnecessary.
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I'm surprised that the person who I'm talking to didn't like the aquarium. When I went, I had a great time. I say something towards that, inviting this person to give me a better explanation for why they didn't like it.
Well, they say, the hammerhead shark wasn't very big.
I'm waiting for the punchline, and watching this person's face for signs that they are joking. The joke will be that we are nerds for discussing tourist attractions like a couple of retired grandmas.
After a few seconds, however, I realize that they are serious, and that I have absolutely nothing more to say.
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You're studying Arabic!
I mean, who studies Arabic while living in Japan?
My amusement by this is, perhaps, interpreted as doubt. He makes some noises that sound like throat-clearing with vowel-breaks and I feel absolutely delighted at my good fortune for having met this contrary young linguist.
Minutes later, I learn that they are moving back home within the week.
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Her set was a little boring, but boring in exactly the way that I've been craving for months.
(Up here in Northern Japan, there's no sense in trying to argue otherwise, we're not as culturified as they are down South. By now, I've seen far more sets here that were vaguely reminiscent of the all-ages scene in Vernon around the end of the millenium than I would like to admit.)
I liked her music, and I really like her bangs, and I loved the slideshow that she'd prepared, full of dancing two dimensional ballerinas, and elk ascending towards heaven.
And, afterwards, I told her so.
That was the first time I've seen your set. I really liked it.
Oh thanks, she says, and walks away.
And while she was saying thanks, the look on her face was saying that she really could not care less.
I was taken aback. People aren't snotty to me nearly often enough here. I hadn't experienced it in so long that it was actually pretty shocking.
In the end though, I decided that that was just the icing on the cake of her terrific set. And, though I am disappointed that she won't be my new best friend, I really like Fort Wayne.
