Quentin Tarantino rewind: Derek is a guy at work who has become somewhat of a mentor to me. I mentioned to him that even though I studied software engineering, I don't consider myself all that technical-minded, so he suggested I start going to some tech meet-ups after work to meet people who I can learn things from. The only one I knew of was 2600. I figured it has been three years, surely Daniel isn't still going, so I would be safe. (Actually, in the meantime, Tong has introduced me to Limited WIP, and they're a really interesting bunch of people, I would recommend it.)
So I emailed the local 2600 mailing list, and asked if they still meet. I got a reply from the guy monitoring the list saying that they do still meet, and that I should also try going to Ruxmon (the monthly Ruxcon meet). Various events stopped me from going for a while and the organiser kept emailing me to remind me to go to the next one, and I kept replying that I would try to. Eventually, I made it to a Ruxmon meet, and at their second meet, I realised Daniel was there. Well, I wasn't sure it was him, but I saw him checking Facebook on his phone, so I decided I would say hi to him on Facebook and ask if he was at Ruxmon. Got no reply, so I thought maybe I had the wrong person.
Then this:
I just thought, "Wow, it has been three years, surely not?" A quick search through my blog archive makes me realise I never actually made this post, even though it was sitting in my to-do list for a long time. Many thanks to QC for sending me the chat log:
[edited to remove stuff that isn't important - I swear it doesn't change the context, ask QC! And the "me" here isn't me, but QC.]
Jessica: so jodes did we tell u that dan got drunk at lca
jody : nope but im sure he did
but he cant anymore
Jessica: on google student party
jody : yeah
what did he do?
Jessica: mm should we tell her jed
jody : did he grab other peoples ass?
Jessica: no
jody : cos he usually does that
ask for a head job?
dance bad?
Jessica: well flame was there tristen was there for a tiny bit and i was there and jed
no ewwl
we didnt dance just drank
jody : then it was not so bad
ah
me: he didn't ask for a head job, he gave someone a head job
in the middle of the dance floor
jody : lol
Flame: hang on... who is offering head jobs?
me: in fact, he gave flame a head job
in the middle of the dance floor
tdfwilson: and me without my banana
me: poor tristan
jody : yeah, well as long as it wasnt anna
me: no, not anna
wait, how do you know anna
jody : she tried to move into Dans life
but i put a stop to it
me: oh, really?
jody : yeah, well i hope so or else Dan would be in deep shit
and he said he wont
me: You're the girlfriend, then?
jody : yes
so you have heard of me
me: Only by reputation.
That was from 2008. Anyway, it seems like she felt the need to remind me that she still exists in Daniel's life. You can tell by the huge time gap in my reply on Facebook that I did not know what to say to her at all. But that is not the end of it. So rather than replying to me on his wall, Daniel decided he was going to send me a private message instead:
My reply was actually me trying to dodge going to 2600 this month. I was pretty much 50/50 on going by Wednesday, and Friday morning, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to go. Until I received an email from the organiser faithfully reminding me to go, and apologising for not being around last month due to Ruxmon (actually, I was at Ruxmon, too, and I was the one who ran home afterwards rather than joining them for a drink, so I felt kinda bad for not even introducing myself - although, to be fair, I was with Gerald, and I didn't think it would be fun for him if I dragged him around trying to find this guy).
So against my better judgement, I went along to 2600 today. Of course, Daniel was there. He said that he didn't remember me, though he did remember QC. I did talk to him throughout the night, but I tried to get to know some of the other people there. (We were joking that Daniel's heritage made him want a woman with a beard, and I asked the guy next to me if he would ever date a woman with a beard. He turned to his left, pointed to his partner (who has a large beard) and said, "I'm gay". Oops....hooray first impression!)
There was a drunk woman at the bar, who Daniel went to flirt with while the rest of us moved further inside the bar. I thought it was funny, it was nice to see some things never change. The guys were calling Daniel by his online nick, and I know it's probably really mean to make fun of people's online nicks, but I wasn't sure what they said, but it sounded a lot like "Finkle and Einhorn" (thumbs up if you get the reference).
I guess I'm writing this because I kinda feel really relieved. I just think that if I had managed to get Daniel all those years ago, and he somehow became more than a pokemon to me, I would be in Jody's position right now, suspicious of every single female that contacts him (though I have to say, it's justified suspicion). The fact that I'm not, and that I have someone who trusts me, and who I trust, makes me feel pretty damn good. =)
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