8/26/00 - 
We finally decided to have a gathering with the wonderful people we met from our now defunct Yahoo! Club.  We posted the interest to have a gathering from early August, after Tony Watson, a.k.a MizuWari X, laid down many hints and suggestions that it is time for us to have a gathering before the summer was over.  Many suggestions were made.  We wanted to make sure we meet at a place that can accommodate at least eight or ten of us.  We also wanted to make sure the restaurant serves food that we can all enjoy.  Kevin and I thought Kum Gang San would be the best choice.  We can all have great Korean BBQ and good Shoju.

So the venue was decided and it seemed that a good amount of people will show up.  Tony and Michelle were two definite people showing up.  Edea was confirmed but Ayumi may arrive late.  Moby showed interest and said he would be bringing a friend.  Other than that we are pretty set.

Kevin and I arrived at Kum Gang San at seven thirty.  We looked and did not see anyone that may be a part of our party.  Shortly after Tony showed up.  Since we have met him once earlier at a film festival, we already knew how he looked like and greeted him.  Five minutes later Michelle showed up.  The only thing we knew about him is his dreads.  He immediately knew who we were and greeted us.  So the four of us stood in the lobby of Kum Gang San waiting for the rest of the gang to show up.  After another ten minutes we decided to be seated first.  Once upstairs, we started to order some drinks and look over the menu.

The conversation started immediately and the ice was broken with bottles of sho ju and beer being served.  We talked about our online experiences in other forums, about our jobs, the music we liked and various of other topics.  As we munch on the appetizers we saw two Black women and one Asian man walking towards our table.  It turned out to be Edea (SuperFantasticGirl), Ife (Ife_ny) and Eddie (EddieSoCrazy).  We were delighted to see them.  After brief introductions we started to order food as we were all hungry.

The fare was Korean barbecue.  Edea was reluctant with some things but managed to eat as much as she could.  Everyone else ate whatever wasn't moving on the table...and some that were, ^_^.  The conversation was lively, loud and diverse.  We talked about various topics and got to know each other better.

Once we were done we decided that the night cannot end like this.  We were having too much fun.  So with popular consent we moved the gathering over to Decibel.  Decibel is the ultimate sake bar featuring a huge list of wonderful sakes and assortment of side dishes that go well with drinks.  It is in the East Village and located in a dungeon like basement.  The gang at Decibel is the best.  They are warm, friendly, courteous and very lively and fun.  We first settled in a small table for the seven of us (by the way, by now you would have guessed that due to uncontrollable circumstances Ayumi was unable to make it), and was crammed in.  However, after speaking to Miki, the lovely and bubbly Decibel "emperor" we were able to switch to a booth that was much more comfortable (of course Mizu shamelessly batted his long lashes and made kissy faces to soften Miki up, which helped plenty).

Our night was full of sake, salty little dishes and yummy snacks, great conversations, and lots of fun.  We lost track of time and ended up leaving Decibel when they were closing.  It was four o'clock in the morning and we were all very very inebriated, except for Michelle.  We stumbled out of the sake dungeon and piled out onto the street and into the cool Sunday morning air.  Eddie and Ife would give Edea and Michelle a lift home while Mizu was gonna hop in a cab and we were going to walk over to the west side to catch the A train.