Every time I come into town and go shopping with my sister, I wonder aloud: “I wonder if I’ll run into someone I know?”. My sis will inevitably answer: “No.” because, for all the times I’ve asked, I’ve yet to run into a single familiar face. So, there we were yesterday at the local Adonis market, chatting amidst the guavas and quince, when I happened to look up and spot…a familiar face. “Hang on!”I said, “I think I see someone I know.” Then headed off in hot pursuit.
As it turned out, my eyes were not deceiving me. Wandering the aisles in search of real nutmeg for his famed punch-a-cream was my old buddy Bertram –
- Name: Bertram. Claim to Fame: Once, while in St. Lucia visiting family, beat an octopus to death with his bare hands after it attacked his little sister.
Bertram was one of a group of people, dubbed The Hong Kong Movie Nite Crew, I used to hang out with in my pre-Stargate days. So-called because, every Friday night, we’d gather to watch a Hong Kong double-feature, covering everything from swords-and-sandal epics to gangster shoot-em-ups. Anyway, he informed me that the former host of HK Movie Nite, my buddy Nigel, was having a little get-together tonight and he needed to find proper nutmeg he could grate for his punch-a-cream, a Trinidanian specialty comprised of eggs, condensed and evaporated milk, lime zest, bitters, plenty of rum, nutmeg, and, of course, love. In the end, we never did find that nutmeg.
About an hour later, I got a call from Nigel who happened to speak to Bertram, found out I was in town, and insisted I drop by. I suspected I’d be tired come evening, I didn’t really feel like driving all the way to Laval, it was raining and the weather channel was warning of icy roads – but come 8:30 p.m., I decided “What the hell”, hopped into the rental, punched in the address on my trusty i-phone Maps app, and headed off. As it turned out, the driving was only slightly terrifying and I only got lost once, taking a wrong turn through an eerily quiet small town – you know, the kind that city folk go to looking for help when their cars break down only to end up being stalked by a family of in-bred cannibals?
Anyway, I eventually found the place. Nigel was waiting for me outside the front door, watching out for me like an anxious mother on her kid’s first solo car ride.
- Name: Nigel, a.k.a. Supa Nige, a.k.a. Supa. Claim to Fame: Back in the day, he would head out to the clubs at 10:00 p.m., close the places down at 3:00 a.m., head to the after-hours club and party there until sunrise, THEN go to work. I don’t think he slept in the some six years I used to hang out with him.
He welcomed me in and, after offered me a drink…
- My choices. Nige stocks up on JD like most people do water. He not only enjoys drinking the stuff but swears by its curative effects, using it to remedy everything from sore throats to mystery liver pains.
After that, I went on the grand tour of his sprawling new house, eventually finding my way in his vast downstairs entertainment center boasting enough bass to trigger a grand mal seizure. And, at the heart of the room, there was his personalized SupaNige carpet…
- The Supa Nige symbol of excellence. Accept no substitutes!
More guests began to arrive and the introductions were made. Also in attendance…
- Tommy Europe: former pro football player and present personal trainer, businessman, stuntman, and star of The Last 10 Pounds Bootcamp and Bulging Brides. He also happens to be a friend of our Stargate Stunts Coordinator James “Bam Bam” Bamford. His website: http://www.tommyeurope.tv/
Missing were many of the former movie nite crew including: Sushi Man, Flipski, Big Daddy, and Champion. Most of the guests were Nigel’s clubbing buddies, a significant portion of which were busty women in low-cut tops. Food was served – jerk chicken, natch – and I ended up finding myself in an argument with some crazy lady who accused me of being culturally insensitive when I said “Un huh” after she told me about visiting China and being grossed-out by some guy who blew his nose in a fancy restaurant. After that, it was downstairs to watch Shotta, a Jamaican gangster movie with dialogue so heavily accented and nigh incomprehensible we ended up viewing it with subtitles. Every so often, between the copious onscreen bloodlettings, Nigel would pause the film to give us all a Jamaican cultural lesson covering everything from music to politics to quaint island expressions like “pum pum” and “bloodclaat”. The off-screen action turned out to be equally exciting. At one point, an overly-enthusiastic Nigel jumped up – a little too high – and ended up bringing one of the mounted speakers crashing down. Thankfully, the other speakers were more than up to the task of compensating with their brain-numbing booms.
Finally, after almost everyone in the movie had been shot and killed, the final credits rolled. Nigel informed us that we would not be screening the second part of the double-feature on this night, Third World Gangster, another Jamaican spectacular, then turned on the music and announced that the party had just started.
Which meant it was way past by bed-time. I thanked Nige, said my goodbyes, resolved to get in touch with Ron to plan our joint Tokyo trip, then headed out for a memorable white-knuckle ride home. Damn, it’s been a while since I’ve driven in freezing rain. And, frankly, I don’t really miss it.
Today = lunch with the cousins! And I’m guessing Third World Gangster aint in the cards.
Thanks for the advice on the extra curative properties of JD, I didn’t realize. Understand the dislike of the freezing rain, heck snow makes me not want to drive, maybe just stay home and discover the curative properties of , oh yeah,,
I meant to ask, did you have a gps in Japan and did it work for you there, in locating a few restaurants.?
Hey, if you run out of room for the foodie presents, I could volunteer to help you out there, if you know what I mean. The diet doesn’t begin til the first part of the new year, still not decided what part yet… 😀
ENJOY!!
Hi Joe,
Hope you’ve had a lovely Christmas… you certainly seem to have reported thus, so far.
I really enjoyed keeping up with your Japanese travels again… maybe you have another future career possibility of travel writer, after all it can’t hurt to keep lots of avenues open 😉
Anyway, I was prompted to send a comment because I see you’re living in the future… by 2 days. So what happens to us all in those two days? 😀
Take care in that freezing rain and have fun!
Joe, darlin’ – you ok??? You’re blogging 2 days in the future…what did Nigel put in your drink. Was there a solar flare throwing you into the next week? Maybe it’s the Tokyo trip still affecting you. Hang in there, get some rest. Hugs.
Joe i believe its the 27th, not the 29th 😉
Driving on ice is the worst! Glad you got home safe. Your wife must be a saint!
LOL, we went to a birthday party last night and got lost in our own town. Perhaps if MyLarry had turned on the new GPS we’d not have driven around so much, LOL. Tons of booze, beer pong and adorable Schnauzers who did cute tricks for carrots. I drank cheap champagne because I like neither beer nor whiskey. The bottle of Absinthe went over well.
OMG!!! You were at Adonis? That is practically across the street (ok, boulevard) from me! A five minute walk at most.
OMG part deux!!! I just saw your friend Tommy on his weight loss boot camp show earlier this afternoon. Never saw the show before and was just channel surfing when it caught my eye.
Sorry if I’m being nosy but did you buy your pups xmas gifts? If so how did they react?
Hahaha! I wasn’t expecting a HKMN report, let alone pictures! Had I known, I would have flashed some sort of “Illuminati” sign to confirm my “resident conspiracy theorist” moniker.
I assume that you didn’t get pulled over for a “R.I.D.E.” check…?
And Mom didn’t make you chop and shovel ice this morning?
[Just finished doing 3 hours of it myself! If I had any JD, I would have hosed it onto the driveway and probably cut my chopping time in half!]
I was at Adonis yesterday as well!!! You are right, the roads are horrible today!
Did your buddy Nigel ever think that those “mystery liver pains” might be CAUSED by the JD? 🙂
When I was thirteen, I found myself in dingy backroom bar in the heart of the Cockpit region of Jamaica with my mom and 18-year old sister, drinking Guinness and playing stickle with a bunch of 6′ tall Rastafarians.
BEST EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE!!!!
😀
das
My my Mr. Mallozzi, you sure do have an interesting backstory… Who will play you in the movie of your life?
Mr M
You are a brave man. Does your rental car got snow tires? They usually have 4-season ones for rentals.
The outside is really awful today. Have to break out the slip on cleats for my shoes.
Hey Joe,
My claim to fame: I live in the town where Jack Daniel’s is made. My uncle is one of the tour guides. 🙂
Yuck. I hate the taste of JD. Now vodka…
Looked like you had a very interesting night, not including the icy drive.
Sheesh. You have talent, looks, a good palate, AND good looking friends. Each and every one of them would earn some wolf whistles from the female viewers of Stargate were they ever to appear on the show. Just keep safe while you continue to enjoy your vacation.
If I saw you in a store, I’d say I was looking for a whole spice. It sounds way more impressive than whatever carpet stain remover I would actually be looking for. Am I the only one who noticed this Trinidanian specialty sounds a lot like egg nog? Are all your friends foodies?
Right after I read “a little too high”, my kids distracted me from reading the rest of the sentence with a game of smash a banana peel into the carpet and I briefly wondered why you would admit that on a public blog.
Hello Mr. M,
Nice times in the big city I see! BTW… Where is Fondy in all this party time??? Didn’t she come with you???
Cheers!
@Dreams2Knight
I was going to one up you by reporting the famous bourbons made in the town I grew up in, but the wiki on that turned out to be HUGE. These are tiny towns – I had no idea they were so industrious. I had a relative who was a taste tester. They paid him, too.
Joe, glad you had a memorable time with your old buddies. You sure can tell a great story. You should be a writer. I’m having a great time too trying to decide what to watch. The Dallas Cowboys vs Washington Redskins or The Sound of Music. Hummm. What would you do?
Just had a moment to re-read your entry…
1. First time around I missed the reference to busty women in low-cut tops. Wot? No pictures? 😉
2. Back in the day were you into clubbing, or were you always the ‘quiet evening at home’ kinda guy?
3. As Thornyrose said, you have some fine-looking friends. In fact, all your friends are good-looking. Do you ever just hang with ugly people once in a while, or are you afraid that will tarnish your image? 😉
4. Ron & Joe – the question is – who is gonna cramp whose style in Tokyo?
5. Seeing old friends – does it make you feel young again, or really, really old.
6. Seeing old friends – does it make you feel like time has moved on for you, but not for them?
(Just practicing for the next mailbag… 😛 )
Have a good one, sir!
das
Ha…this just made me smile:
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/bizarre&id=7185486
😀
das
Alway’s good to run into old friends.
Ah, poor octopus – are you sure it didn’t just want to be friends?
I love stories about running into people you might know. After I moved to Boston from New York City, every time I returned home to see Mom and wander around, I kept thinking I’d run into people I knew randomly. It actually happened a few times, but it never led to dinner and hanging out afterwards.
Hey Joe,
Was pleasantly surprised to see me and the HKMN crew mentioned in your blog. It was very nice.
It’s funny you say that you don’t think I slept in the 6 yrs we hung out. Funny only because it’s true.
Anyhow, i’m Supa happy you made it to my event and was witness to the movie Shottas! Next is Third World Cop.
P.S.
I’m having a professional suspend my 65lbs speakers from the ceiling so no need to fear the ))) SupaSound ((( system, just sit back and enjoy the sonic delight 🙂