Angela and I arrive at an E2 get-together at Igloowhite's trailer. The guests are gathered on the front step, and as we walk up the conversation stops.
We stand there awkwardly for a moment, and then Angela and I split up -- her to find someone to talk to, me seeking a quiet corner. I locate a secluded corner near the punchbowl where PaladinZ and I keep blessedly silent company.
But peace is not to be mine! Igloowhite and his father walk into the room and begin arguing violently. Igloo's dad is cut from the same cloth as The Great Santini, a shaven-headed, bullying ex-military man. The old man lets fly an especially contemptuous remark and a fistfight breaks out between them. I sigh and, knowing that I have never won a fight in my life and therefore should be the last guy to get between these two, I move to break it up -- succeeding, but not after receiving a few shots to my own noggin.
Well. So far this gathering is a serious drag. Bloody and wearied, Igloo and I head for a room where a group of noders are watching television and we all get into a spirited discussion of Planet of the Apes. I look again -- sure enough, several of the them ARE from the Planet of the Apes! I watch as humans bicker with gruff orangutans and chimpanzees in green tunics and I think to myself, "Just what the hell are you doing?"