A Day of Adventure

Those who know me know that I love adventure and I'm an optimist. An excellent combination if I do say so myself. It came in handy yesterday when, while driving downtown, my car died.
Like anyone would, I tried out some new exclamatories but I knew I had at least one great turn of events in my favor: I got it parked on a side road rather than having it die on Jasper Ave. This was at 5:00, the same time I was supposed to meet a friend downtown. So I called Troy, my friend, and informed him with a smile that my car was dead and we were to have an adventure.
A little about Troy. I met him about a month or so ago and he is currently one of most enjoyable people I know. He's ridiculously nice and well mannered, but also even more eccentric than I. I tend to conform more or less, I wear a mass produced trench coat and mass produced clothes to mass produced social scenes. Troy, on the other hand, attends the same scenes and also wears the mass produced, but this is where he deviates: he wears skirts. The first time you see men wearing floor length skirts it takes a couple minutes to get over but then you realize that at least his outfit is coordinated. He calls it a kilt, but it's still a women's kilt. Needless to say, we had a good time while I tried to explain my car to my no-car towny friend.
It was 45 minutes to an hour after my car quit that I, having no tools and little idea where to begin if I did, finally gave up and called my dad. Then we went to an internet cafe called Naked. I don't know why it is called Naked, it just is. Walking in it is suitably dark to protect the delegate eyes and ivory skin of the gaming crowd, with a stage at the far end, table along one wall and computers against the other of the deep, but narrow room.
On our way there we had met up with a third, named Ian, and decided to play chess. First round, Troy vs. myself, and I use a risky strategy in which I make a miscalculation and lose my queen and the integrity of my whole kingside formation. I lost, but that's ok. Next is Ian and I; he resigns when my zone control is well over half the board, I've taken his queen and the rest of his pieces are more or less trapped. We start again and it is going well, we're about even for the most part but then my father phones me and I scurry back to my car. An hour later we have it running and spend an hour driving it home.
Lesson: be careful about wishing for some excitement when you're bored.

Ben Davies
Silent River Kung fu
Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada
www.silentriverkungfu.com