About a week ago, AR texted me a cute invitation to her birthday. The invitation clearly stated 3 acts of the event: Act 1 – pinata party, act 2 – NineTing, and act 3 – TBD. KF and I missed out on act 1 as KF had a ton of errands and many delays. However, we were just in time for act 2 at NineTing. Everyone had K-BBQ, except for KF and me; we had hotpot! I, of course, love KBBQ, but I decided to have hotpot with KF, so he wasn’t the only odd one at the table. The food was delicious, as always, and we ordered everything we could fit in our growling stomachs.
The last act was at F and JQ’s house in Fishtown. This was not our first time here, so things aren’t that overwhelming anymore. I remember, on my first visit, I was in awe because they have like 10 game controls, an arcade machine, a dartboard, and many seasonal decorations. The second floor, where their bedroom is, has monitors, an electronic drum set, an organ keyboard, 5 guitars, and spiritual stones. I always love how random and creative their space is!
Anyway, while we were there, many other random people also flooded into their house. At one point, we were having a pull-up competition; another time, everyone was watching the Phillies; finally, people all went to Barcade. I didn’t join them much – I stayed with KF as he was too tired and needed a nap, then I played Smashed and checked out Barcade for 15 minutes. And although I didn’t have the chance to talk to many new people, I’m glad that I got to know F more. I learned that she is writing a horror-romance fiction and doing consulting work remotely on the side. I invited her to Ascend’s Wendy Shang event this November. Hopefully, she will be able to join us and learn more about publishing when she networks with Wendy.
Trang "Tee" Nguyen 