Good Friday

TGI(G)F! I've been seeing a lot of Sunshine's coworkers recently. We had a nice dinner with one yesterday evening, in a fancy and previously-unknown place behind the Caravel Hotel. It is called Qinq. I have no idea what type of restaurant this is, by the way. French-slash-Asian, perhaps? Expat fusion? It wasn't kinky enough to be experimental, but it was certainly informed by all sorts of culinary traditions. I had shredded salmon, spiced to taste like kimchee, on a blackened cracker, and the more predictable sea bass. I also got to sample Sunshine's coconut prawn with chili marmalade. Everything was somewhat more interesting than compelling, and the place itself was another ambient little shoebox in the upscale touristopia between Đồng Khởi and Nguyễn Huệ Streets. We sat outside in the four-seat portico in swanky modern patio furniture. Every four minutes a passing kid would ask me if I wanted my shoes shined. This was even more annoying for Sunshine, sitting with her back to the street: she kept thinking random passersby were calling her by name. Tonight, we attended some karaoke fundraiser at Sunshine's home office. Being a fundraiser, the hot dogs, barbecued prawns, and beer were all for sale. This is a mistake. A cover charge makes more sense at a karaoke function: the victim pays up front, before the intolerable torture begins; ergo, self-medication prolongs the event as people attempt to balance the good and the bad. Getting your money's worth is just a ratio, after all. Paying as we went along was just guaranteed to consistently question our endurance. To be fair, the karaoke was compelling enough that I'll still be humming Eternal Flame days from now. I don't know how long the party persevered; I think I was the first one to leave it. [Cavin]