After much wandering around (SFO international is HUGE) we finally met up with Mike and he became the very first of our friends to see us as a MARRIED COUPLE!
John Roche and Mike Doyle (who was in town visiting from San Francisco). PS - What's with the "hip hop hands" again? I guess I was feeling big pimpin' back then.
Mike Doyle was in town from San Francisco and on Friday night he and I went out to Brooklyn to meet up with Mikie. It was the first time we'd all been together since she played tour guide and took Mike and I around Japan. Great American-style photo, guys. Now give me Japan-style photo!
Later that night I met up with Mike Doyle (the guy responsible for 100% of the fun I had when I lived in San Franciso - AND the guy responsible for me going to Korea and Japan!) and then he got on the horn and got ahold of...
...and then 11.5 hours later, we were back in LA! We hung out for a bit at LAX on our layover, then said our goodbyes! Mike went off to hang out in LA for a few days, Andy went and caught his flight up to San Francisco and then I hopped on a plane and...
Smoking. Eating. Drinking. No big deal. This was our last night in Japan, so over dumplings we decided to make the most of it by not going to bed that night!
...a drunk salaryman passed out! Salaryman are white-collar Japanese workers that are essentially overworked wage slaves that are expected to put in ridiculous hours. Every once and a while, they cut loose and hit the town, only to end up totally overdoing it and are famous for falling asleep and/or passing out in the streets in their work clothes.
As we were about to hit the road, Mike was going through his wallet and found the piece of paper with my phone number on it that prompted him to originally call me and invite me to come teach in Korea (with less than two days notice) after one of the teachers that was scheduled to come had backed out.
Every day after lunch, the Korean teachers would take over our classes for an hour and we American teachers would get a break, which we mostly used to sneak off to secret "nap rooms" and sleep. Here's Andy and Mike conked the fuck out. Hahah.
After getting our classrooms all set up for the kids (who were arriving the next day) all the teachers boarded the bus again and we were driven 3 minutes to the hotel we'd be staying at for the next few weeks. (A real hotel this time!). Here's Mike Doyle handing out hotel room keys and laughing about...
After we'd finished up the "Beautiful Store," Mike D. kicked off the Olympic opening ceremonies and ran all around the auditorium with an American flag...
...then the head Korean counselor (I forget his name!) came running out with a Korean flag and the kids all went apeshit as Mike and the other dude ran all around the stage in circles with their flags.
After exploring the Rec Center, Mike and I went to the little snack shop in the lobby to score some exotic Korean treats. We both ended up going for these little frozen "milkshakes in a bag" that were totally delicious!
It started to feel like old times in NYC (or at least until it was 1:15am and we had to leave because THE BAR WAS CLOSING! And then, insult to injury, I had to walk home because PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION HAD ALSO CLOSED! Whaaaaaaaat?)
I decided to try to instigate and was like "Hey Mike, you should give your new friend a kiss!" Check him all ballsy bringing the "fuck you" finger out right in front of her face (also make sure to note how my hand is all smooshing his neck as I'm actually trying to get him to kiss her). Hahahah.
a loud, drunk asian girls in a straw party hat showed up and helped liven things up! Fuck yeah! When this girl cornered Mike D. on the stairs he was all like "Hey, this is my friend Brian! He should take some pics of us together!" Then Mike D. raised the bar from the "get a load of this guy" face and went straight for the "serruptitious fuck you fingerpiont." Classy!
...sorry about that. After hitting the street we headed over to this bearded guy's house party who was maybe a buddy of Mike Doyle's? (Or maybe not, judgeing by the look that Mike is giving him).
After Mike was finished up at Casanova (PS - Mike, I have no recollection of where that box of Rice-a-Roni came from. Do you remember?), we piled into Michael's car and headed to a secret destination known only as "The Slides."
So after my first month in town (that was mostly spent apartment hunting and then going to bed early because I couldn't find anyone fun to hang out with at night) I finally met my savior: Ladies and Gentleman, Mr. Mike Fucking Doyle. Mike saw on my site that I was moving out to SF and on the first Saturday in October sent me an email tipping me off to a backyard party that was going on later in the evening. I wrote him back and was like "Thanks for the invite, but would you mind meeting up with me and we can go together? I don't know anyone in town and I don't want to be that guy that's standing around at a small party where everyone knows each other and everyone's wondering what he's doing there." Mike agreed and I went over to a bar called Casanova where he was DJing to meet up.
