Mistaken ID

It's been a little while since I've written about what I'm doing, right? I mean to right that, now. (oh, pun!)

Oh, but before I get into it, I think I'll write about today. There isn't much, I promise.

Last night I stayed up extraordinarily late, doing nothing. So today, I woke up and was shocked to see it was already almost 3:00 PM. I handled this situation by playing a game for several hours, followed by an e-mail check, and then finally a shower. By the time I was done with all that, it was ~7:15. I gave Erika a call, since I thought she might not have eaten yet - ah, but she had. Too bad. I was hungry though, and actually, I like looking for food alone, because I enjoy roaming around and seeing what there is to see. Some other people aren't quite so philosophically/exploratorily inclined...heheh. They want to find food quickly, and aren't nearly so willing to walk into strange parts of the city to get it.

I had a hunger that only pizza would satisfy. Yes, I was in need of some cheesegreasecrust. It's a food group that only piza belongs to. Hmm...and maybe breadsticks.
Anyway, it's hard to find pizza around here. Other places I've been to it hasn't been very difficult at all (not that I looked often). I've eaten at a Pizza Hut here, and it was good, just like home - but I can't remember now where it is. And I don't know how to look it up online, since Pizza Hut doesn't list it on their normal website, and I don't know how to find the Chinese one.

I went to the Taipei 101 area, since there are lots of restaurants and malls and things there. I didn't find any pizza. But, I was twice mistaken for a businessman, even though I am dressed like I usually am (except I've been wearing shorts here). One guy at a nice electronics store was trying to sell me a really nice notebook computer that you could write on, and another that's got leather everwhere. His English was very good, soI politely told him I'd just bought a laptop, and wasn't looking for another (especially since the leatherbound one was 68,800 NT - $2,070 dollars or so.)

8:45 was approaching, and most restaurants close around 9:30. I was getting less choosy, and so I ended up going to a Ruby Tuesday. Yes, they have those here, but not many; in fact, this may be the only one.

It was crammed with people, and they only had seats at the bar. Since the place was nonsmoking, I decided sitting there was better than waiting, so I did, and ordered a burger and things.

I didn't look very carefully when I entered the place...my eyes were drawn to the food, and empty seats, and my senses were mostly devoted to figuring out what smelled really good. If I had looked, though, I'd have noticed that the place was jamned full of foreigners. I did notice the menu was all in English, and that the entire staff seemed to speak that awesome language, but didn't quite make the connection. In my defense, I hadn't eaten all day, so people came as a lower priority than food.

So there was this guy at the bar. 55, maybe. Bald. What hair's left is white. Portly. Businessman.
I am waiting for my food to come, but instead, he does, asks where I'm from, if it's business that's brought me here, etc. I answer, and ask what he does. He says he has some offices here and in China. He doesn't proceed to tell me anything more about it, so I ask again, and then he says, "I'd tell you, but then -". You know how that sentence ends. I am tempted, every time I hear that phrase, to kill the speaker. It's in self-defense, you know. They might tell me against my wishes, then have to kill me. So, to prevent that, and to prevent having to hear that damn phrase again, I might just have to go pre-emptive. heh.

Anyway, he says right after that, "well, I saw you there, and prayed to God, and he told me that you're very lonely."
I was sitting by myself, mind you. At a bar. I said, wasn't it possible you just looked over here and saw me alone? He seemed a little flustered. But he continued.
"Well, I'm not going to say it's wrong to drink - I have a beer, myself, but I want you to know God is thinking about you."
It goes on like this for a little while. I then thank him for his time and concern, and he leaves.

Mind you, I don't mind people trying to help me. And I don't have anything against God. However, if God had truly informed this man, he would know that in fact I was not lonely, I was enjoying myself. Yesterday I was lonely. But today, though my friends are all busy, I was having fun looking around. It was a case of his assuming too much.
And then later, he said (I admit, I eavesdrop...pretty much all the time. Especially when it's in a language I know) to his friend that sometimes he says God tells him things, so that basically he won't personally have to take the blame if he's guessed wrong. I hadn't thought of it quite like that - I suppose that's sort of clever. Fake, and contemptible, but clever. My first feeling about the guy was right - he was a bit off. But now I'm curious what he was planning.


Well, look at that. I meant to just write a little short bit. You know by now that that's impossible, whereas I seem not to be fully aware of that, yet. More later.