After a short day at work (which didn't seem so short because I really had little to do), I headed back to the apartment around 5:30. Traffic was somewhat bad. I had just gotten Inception on my Netflix, so I put it in the DVD player. But my body was so exhausted, that I began dozing off. So I headed to my room and lay down, but after a couple minutes I got a text from Alka telling me that she, Sandra, and Manuel were meeting up in 30 minutes for drinks. I thought that I needed to rest (since I was beginning to feel sick), but I really wanted to go out too. So I headed straight out the door and to Santa Monica.
Parking was hard to find, but I got a space on 7th and walked to the Britannia Pub. None of them were there yet; Alka and Sandra were still getting on the bus, and Manuel was nowhere to be found (I walked around looking for someone doing magic on the street). My stomach was growling, so I just sat at the back of the pub and ordered food and some tea for myself. The three of them arrived about 15 minutes after I got my food. We talked, I learned that Alka came from Ohio and was reluctant to show us her ID. Manuel had been with James to make the video of him doing magic (for his own personal use). It turned out well, but he regretted taking such a long lunch break. Sandra was mostly silent for the evening, likely because her boss had gotten fired that day. Manuel ordered apple pie with ice cream, giddy with excitement. The server found it cute. Manny also did a couple magic tricks; he's constantly making credit cards disappear and tried to make a quarter go through the table (but made the salt shaker disappear). We couldn't remember #17 from our game the previous night. Only: 1. fragile - 2. Alka - 3. California - 4. Viva Mexico, cabrones! - 5. seven - 6. shut the fuck up - 7. [pound table and clap hands twice] - 8. octopus - 9. squid - 10. Miami - 11. nine - 12. NEIN NEIN NEIN! - 13. Just stop this right now - 14. Oaxaca - 15. gay - 16. supercalifragilisticexpialidocious - 17. ???? - 18. ha HA! - 19. uhhhhh - and 20. Oasis.
We went upstairs and played pool. Sandra and I were teamed up, and we were not good at all. Manuel was the best player of us all, and Alka was moderately decent. We got more drinks, I got more tea, and soon the Beatles cover band began playing. The music was good. We grabbed a table and began to play drinking games - never have I ever, the game where you tell three stories about yourself but one is made-up: (Alka has changed her major 3, not 4, times; Manuel's parents never went to court over his two names; and I've never been kicked out of a bar). We then played a game where I had to figure out the rules, basically by asking them questions. I had a hard time thinking up questions, especially embarassing ones, so I don't think it went too well, but it was fun nonetheless! We were in a mood to keep share embarrassing / sexual stories, but the girls weren't too enthusiastic.
I drove them back, but on the way to the car, we played an improv game (or just Manuel and I did). I had the Beatles stuck in my head. We blasted Lady Gaga's "Alejandro," MGMT's "Kids," and Muse on the way home and while dropping off Alka and Sandra (Manny forgot his magic shirt so we returned to get it; I climbed on top of my car). Back at the apartment, Manuel introduced me to gelaskins.com (for my Macbook) which I will likely order soon! He then shared the story of his complicated relationship with Arianna, the girl he was supposed to be with this week but who instead betrayed/ignored him. And he seems to have really been hurt by it too; that's part of the territory when you live life so passionately.
Anyway, it's now 6 am and I've been up for the last 3 hours. Can't sleep. I've been in a dream-like state of half-sleep, unable to tell if I was dreaming or not - the thoughts in my head are all about what has happened tonight (Manuel's magic tricks, our drinking games, me trying to figure out magic myself).
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