A friend invited me to hang out with her and her girlfriend yesterday. There was a viewing of “The Day of the Doctor” at the University of Cincinnati, and my friend asked if I wanted to tag along. Her GF is a mega nerd like me, so we had tons to geek out over. Comics, various fandoms, and so on.
There were several things throughout the night that made it a good night, and really only one thing that was annoying. The stupid thing I will mention first was that we wanted to eat at this greek place that has been around longer than I have been alive, but it was oddly crowded and there was a couple occupying the everloving shit out of a table, even though they were done eating. Nice for them to just chill, because it was cozy warm in there and smelled amazing. In my experience, if I know a place is crowded, I try to GTFO as soon as I am finished, especially when I know other people are waiting. We bailed after it was starting to get too late and we were all getting a bit hangry.
We ended up at a burrito chain that was not the worst thing ever. Fuck a bunch of cilantro, ya know? As we talked about stuff, I might have gotten an invite to a weekly trivia game, which is awesome because I haven’t done that since before I started grad school. I cracked up that it was mentioned that I probably wasn’t welcome to the Monday night trivia because they play on a team with an ex of mine. I took a certain satisfaction in the phrasing, “Oh, she used to date the guy you don’t like.” I felt oddly validated in that break up decision, many years past.
After dinner, we journeyed across campus to the auditorium, where we walked through a cluster of geek stench that reminded me slightly of that time I was married to the gamer. Recently happily stopped seeing some other gamer and have really come to realize that gamer dudes are not exactly my cup of tea, unless they recognize that there is life outside of gaming. Because, hello world of things that do not involve the false narrative of the gamer’s life. Oh, I could unpack that statement, but I’ll just leave it. Luckily, we didn’t have to hang out with the smelly nerds for too long, as my friend knew the kid running the event and he let us inside early.
I won’t go too into depth about “The Day of the Doctor,” (spoilers, Sweetie) just that the first few moments of it show bits of London on which I had set foot and that filled me with a giddy warmness. I felt like, for a moment, I was back there, wandering through the streets and knowing that each step was taking me closer to figuring out what the hell I want to do. I’ve felt a little lacking in direction lately, and also filled with a need to see to that issue, so it was a lovely reminder of how far I’ve come. The rest of the the 50th anniversary special was filled with fan wank and ridiculousness, but overall, the hater in me didn’t win. After all, it’s an interesting fandom and I was sitting in a room filled with young nerds, some of whom reminded me of myself at that age. Also there were fish fingers, custard, and bananas, which actually improved the smell of the room.
After the viewing, we walked over to the dining hall, which was a first-time experience for me. Although I suppose, if I think about it, the student union at NKU was the closest thing I’d seen to such a place. I lived at home when I was an undergrad, and never had the dorm experience. I ate Lucky Charms and we talked about some fandom stuff, like Women in Refrigerators. It was an odd thing to introduce a feminist topic to a friend who has taught me so very much about feminism. Also we marveled at this kid who looked exactly like Doctor #11, even more so than a friend of mine I know from DragonCon.
It was starting to get late, so we walked back across campus, discussing random aspects of Game of Thrones. It was easiest to get up to the street where I was parked by going through a parking garage, so we walked up one flight of stairs and saw a bunch of kids smoking in the garage. It was fairly obvious they weren’t smoking cigarettes, and I don’t think any of us cared, so we walked along to the elevator, and then spilled out into the street. I walked to my car, happy with the night, happy to have hung out with an old friend and hopefully a new one. I really hope that trivia night happens soon.
Today I was feeling drowsy and made of headache. I decided to take some pain meds and go to the movies and see Catching Fire, as I’ve been a fan of The Hunger Games books and the first movie. Also, I had heard bits of the movie were filled at the Marriott where DragonCon happens, so I wanted to see it. Almost got into a fender bender because of headache issues on the way there. It was super close. Also the theatre was incredibly packed for a Sunday morning. Kind of made me happy those people were in the theatre with me and not at the megachurch around the corner. Heh. Anyway, I felt the same sense of warm happiness when watching the scenes that were filmed at the Marriott as I did when watching the familiar London scenes during Doctor Who. I was reminded of the friends I met at DragonCon, and how lucky I’ve been to forge those friendships. It also made me miss those friends a bit, all the while making me feel just a bit closer to them. So even though I have felt like my head was stuffed with throbbing cottonballs all day, it was nice to have something, anything help me to feel a little less alone.