Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Midday Rendezvous

"If you see van
Do not get into
The man inside will try to abduct you
You will be far from your mom and dad
And you will be dead or at least very sad

Do yourself a favor
Do not talk to strangers
Do yourself a favor
Never talk to stranger"

Kompressor - Never Talk to Strangers



I don't believe in luck. But it was certainly a marvelous stroke of fortune that led to me actually meeting up with Kevin, as opposed to barely missing each other as we did during the previous itinerary intersection that found us both in Ottawa. I didn't really notice him on the table in front of the New York Fries, at first. It was the New York Fries at the Rideau Center, where we had previously attempted to meet up during March Break, since I had recommended it as being possibly the greatest food court spot known to mankind.

I can't really remember exactly the first thing he said, something or other involving the use of my name that attracted my attention. Having been found out, I walked over to his bench and sat down. We sort of introduced ourselves, I guess, and he asked me how I was, as he had many times before on MSN; I said I was fine. I asked him how he was in return at some time or another, I think, or perhaps after I offered him the once-in-a-lifetime chance to discover whether he truly disliked New York Fries (essentially the only thing I'll spend my money on in mall food courts) he revealed that he was recovering from having had a flu (apparently two times) over the course of the week. Sitting there with someone I had talked to so many times on the Internet was a little awkward. I sort of knew him and didn't know him at the same time. I commented that it was surreal, despite the fact that it still wasn't that much.

Still, I wasn't really sure what to say, a habit that continued throughout our meeting. My fumbling, mumbled mention of a mass Christian event occuring on Parliament Hill which I had walked over from and my wondering how it worked for the government to allow religious events to occur on their property led into a discussion of separation of church and state in which I mostly revealed my lack of insight on the subject.

He looked a bit different than I had expected; wearing glasses, possibly with a different haircut, and with stubble across his face. He has a necklace with a silver wolf's-head on it, and his voice was slightly nasal, I think. I fiddled with my visor and took it off. I felt somewhat boring.

At some point in time I mentioned that I had a friend who's opinion of the quality of serial TV had regrettably been forged by watching the first disc of Smallville, Season One. This led to a discussion of Smallville's general quality, the pain of certain scenes in the pilot episode, and also (by train of thought) Star Trek: Voyager (because, like Smallville, it is also not especially great all the time), Veronica Mars (because Kevin said I would like it probably), and then Firefly and Joss Whedon (though I'm not actually sure how that entered the discussion).

After a little while, we got up and strolled through the mall. We located musicians playing muisc that I would not especially associate with the BluesFest they apparently were playing for. Kevin said he thought they probably let musicians of different styles in, and remarked that it would be awesome if they had a BluesFest where they only played emo music. Kevin is a hero.

Eventually, we made our way to HMV, which is, of course, the mecca of mall audiovisual entertainment purchases. Kevin pointed at the television screens on the wall outside HMV and said something that I can't make out. It is eventually related that he desires the so and so Final Fantasy movie which is being displayed. I probably mumble something dumb and mostly irrelevant which requires at least two repetitions to be heard.

At HMV we browse their wares and engage in commentary on their products. First we go to the sales rack and Kevin makes fun of Koyaaniqatsi and tells me that Edward Scissorhands is good. He also takes the Director's Cut of Daredevil, which is cheap and he has previously mentioned he wants. Eventually, we make our way to boxed sets of TV shows. I make a comment about the generally decreasing size of the boxes. Kevin explains this phenomenon (fold-out cases and larger individual boxes for the DVD's being replaced with smaller boxes for individual DVD's). The boxed sets of Andromeda are gigantic. I point this out and question what all they put in there. Kevin says, "Well, considering it's Andromeda, it's probably full of crap." Around this time we discuss Star Trek movies and I reveal my lack of knowledge as to how long Scrubs has been running. We also attempt to locate Veronica Mars in vain, and are told by a worker that it is OUT OF STOCK. We also find a boxed set of thumb parodies of movies. No, really, parodies of movies filmed entirely with thumbs. This boxed set is around eighty dollars, and its total running time is around two and a half hours. Keven notes that this comes to paying roughly thirty dollars for each hour of film in the box. We are properly scandalized.

Eventually, it is realized that Kevin must depart, and he purchases his movie. As we leave, the Final Fantasy movie is playing on the TV. Kevin says, "This movie makes physics cry."

I walk him to his bus stop. We shake hands, and I bid him farewell. He hopes we meet up again, and I probably return the sentiment. I walk off towards Parliament Hill, glancing back once or twice as he crosses the street to the correct bus stop. I feel much the same as I did during our meeting: a bit disappointed in my inarticulate quietness, but happy to have met a friendly, intelligent, and charming young man who I could, with any luck, call a friend.

posted by Blair Corbett @ 10:23 p.m.