As Joe swiped at the Jello -- failing miserably of course -- his foot knocked over a cup of vodka-lemonade. Within the first 10 minutes. Kirby looked incredulous.
Later we played slap-cup, a game brought to us by Alex [EDIT: Peach, apparently! Not Alex] soon to become staple of our little community.
As these things happen, everything devolved into a mess and a group of people ran downstairs to swim naked in the swimming pool -- accessible only by squeezing between a pair of doors chained together. This involved a rather funny scene with Kirby's roommate, who could not manage to squeeze through. "It's not going to happen," he said, almost weeping. "Go on without me." This just before a grenade landed at his heel and blew him into pieces as we watched from the other side, mercifully stunned and oblivious to the sadness about to detonate us into a hundred little pieces, as entrails and blood simmered there a mere three feet from our eyes.
The evening and day were notable, too. Steph Kwan organized a dinner at Baoyuan Jiaozi near Women's Street. Here was our group:
And earlier in the day, in an extended pickup, we were re-acquainted with one Micah Jarnot, who will bless us with his presence for the next year. This is he (sitting next to Barbara, Alex's friend, fresh from Boston, who will be here long-term too):
He comes to us from, of all places, Shantou. We are so much more interesting.
