Serene Nodermeet in vulgar surroundings
There I, was, jetlagged and hung-over after a 20 hour journey from the more obscure part of New Zealand’s South Island to Los Angeles, finding myself in the city’s worst airport hotel. I had foolishly agreed to be present at my best friend’s wedding which of all places had to take part in Cancun, Mexico and had to stop over at night in Los Angeles, but used the opportunity to meet some hitherto unknown noders, thanks to Trainman’s organisational skills.
To get myself ready for the nodermeet, I hopped into the thankfully agreeable pool, simmered for twenty minutes in the Jacuzzi and got myself dressed, ready to explore the surroundings of the hotel to get something to eat. Unfortunately I didn’t expect the LAX Hilton to be located in an industrialised, paramilitary area, making the perimeter of Baghdad International Airport positively charming and quaint. After being chatted up three times by various hookers I finally got the message (“City of Angels” my ass!) and returned to my pompous monstrosity of a hotel and got myself an impossibly expensive snack.
Bang on time the imposing figure of trainman materialized out of nowhere, shortly to be followed by Panamaus’s golden locks, flowing like a flock of geese in the wind. Trainman and Panamaus both had to invest a small fortune for valet parking and both had encountered severe hardship by confronting Los Angeles’s Thanksgiving weekend traffic jams, so it was an honour for me to sponsor the drinks (and as they had to drive back they had to be careful anyway, ha!). Together we shared several Sierra Nevadas on tab in a truly hideously monstrosity in crème and gold called bar (although the waitress was interestingly platinum blond with a black skirt slit up to her knickers and some very interesting surgically enhanced features, most prominently her lips. I felt like being on a porno set. All that was missing was her inquiring whether trainman was the plumber) and indulged on everything that noders who never met each other: Dannye’s handsome and rugged good looks, Panamaeuschen’s knack for meeting noders by the bucket load (327 and counting), trainman’s penchant for trains, Baseball, American Football and TV-Guides, the mindless purging of original e2 content, and so on.
Interesting facts were brought out to the light, dusted and polished: George W. Bush is a hapless moron (I could feel definitely a consensus on that one), Americans with no funds commonly go bankrupt after being admitted to hospital, there are ca 150 regional print runs of the TV-Guide every week, the London Booze Monkeys have similar qualities as the Canberra noders although not as good at drinking, Wertperch is a cheeky little monkey, there is only one Canadian baseball team in the Major Leagues, Americans shouldn’t be allowed to vote, oh yes, and one of the three present noders writes a funny little column for lowendmac. The tone was relaxed and after half an hour it seemed we had known each other all our lives.
These two noders just reemphasised the notion for me that everything2 at least at present is still populated by intelligent, genuinely fascinating people who don’t have any qualms to sacrifice an evening (on one of the poor bastard’s few holidays. Who wants to live in a country that gives its workers on average only 2 weeks holiday per year?) to spend it with some weird bloke with a jetlag.
Everything2 is all about community. It’s time the management realises that again.