Our big Thunderdome reunion took place Saturday night on the old premises now called Club La Boom.
You could tell the rooms were the same shape as Thunderdome’s, but the initial bar area was all white and well-lit. It felt like it belonged in “Clockwork Orange”, but that didn’t stop us from meeting old friends and drinking.
The larger dance room opened at 10 p.m. to the music we know and love. Depeche Mode, the Cult, the Cure, Nitzer Ebb, New Order… we heard it all. This room was properly black, with bars a little too chic. The room was vaguely familiar but not quite right. Where did the spiral staircase go? Where were the cages and poles to hang to? I told my friend Barnes that it felt like it feels when you see your grandmother dressed as a whore.
Regardless, we danced and we drank. We met old friends. Actually, everyone we spent time with with an exception or two was someone we’d first met at the Dome but have since stayed in touch. There was only one person I was friends with 20 years ago whom I hadn’t seen since I moved to (and came back from) California.
We danced all night. Elvi and I didn’t drink all night – but some of our friends did. At least two hit on her as we left at 3:20 a.m., but good-naturedly.
It was a great time. As Patrick said, it made us all feel like 20 again. I can’t yet find any photos of the event online, not even on Facebook.
There was one fly in the ointment, however. I had played softball for two hours in the afternoon. I stunk up the place, but I hadn’t played in a decade. I had sore hips afterward, as I usually do, and a sore right knee that I attributed to aggravating the cartilage tear or whatever inside it.
The night of dancing did not help my knee at all. It is stiff today and has a fairly constant dull ache. If I put my right foot on the floor and use my body weight to flex my knee, there’s no pain. If I stand upright and try to flex my knee so as to pull my right foot up off the floor, it hurts like a mother. I don’t think that’s cartilage. I probably damaged a tendon running from my thigh and inserting on my tibia.
I put on a brace left over from when I strained the MCL in my left knee. The compression of the brace removes the dull ache and reminds me not to do anything stupid. I’m going to give it a few days to feel better and if it doesn’t, it’s time to see the doctor.
Bonus entertainment:
Today we went to a mud wrestling event staged to raise funds for Haiti and Pakistan. What a blast. Front row seats meant we got speckled with mud (actually pottery clay).
I saw more of Kai Nagata than I’ve ever seen of any current or ex-student.