18 friends in 36 hours, part deux

I left Barnes & Noble at sunset, and headed for Inoko. I worked there for two years, going from waiter to manager, and tried to keep up with everybody after I left. The owner, Mr. Inoko, sold the restaurant back in the fall, with Jean--the general manager, my former boss--setting up her own shop. I didn't know who all had stayed behind, but I wanted to see what had changed.

Besides some new carpet, everything was the same: dark, run-down, but serviceable. I didn't recognize the hostess, but Kelly rounded the corner a minute later. I watched Kelly go from itty bitty waitress to bartender, and heard that she got promoted to my job after I left. She had stayed during the change of ownership, and had been made general manager. I'm all kinds of proud of her, but I don't envy her in the least.

After talking with her for a bit, I said hi to Daniel, one of the chefs. They were in the middle of their dinner shift, obviously, so I didn't spend too much time there.

I had called Cord earlier in the afternoon, and he'd gotten the word out for me. Everyone who was free that night got together at Cali N Tito's. Cord, Jeremy, Adam Z, and Cord's roommate, Beth, were the only ones to make it. This didn't bother me in the least. It ended up being a perfect size for the group: everyone could comfortably hear and talk to everyone else. Last year, more folks showed up, but we were so many that it was hard to get to talk to everyone.

My timing was pretty good, as Jeremy was just about to move to Atlanta to start his electrical engineering degree at Tech. We had a great time just relaxing over dinner, talking about videogames, politics, Athens, and education.

After supper, we went to Hot Corner. Well, we tried going to Hot Corner. We went to the site of what once was Hot Corner. In its place, a bar called Trappeze [sic] has taken over. Hot Corner was once a 24/7 coffee shop where folks would go to study, right in the middle of downtown Athens. Business was declining even before I left for Japan, which is too bad.

Anyway, we talked over a couple of beers. The always-lovely Madeline joined us, having apparently just gotten back in town from Christmas in Atlanta. The group slowly dispersed, most of the people having grown-up stuff like work the next day. With lots to catch up on--I didn't get a chance to talk to her the last time I was in town--Madeline and I went to the Jittery Joe's at Five Points. We got our drinks right as they were closing, so we sat in the car and talked.

Cord had offered to put me up--he's an awesome guy like that--and I crept into the house a little after 3.