Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Eye-opening Experience

The last few Saturdays, I have done something I have never done before.
- Segways
- Bought homemade soap while drinking homemade cider while wearing a homemade scarf – all of which likely were made partly from hemp
- Slept off baby shower drunkenness then awoke at 1:15am to go out and start my night

And this past Saturday it was dining in the dark. We hit up O Noir on Church Street where you eat completely in pitch blackness and are served by blind waiters. It was Elo’s birthday and to me, she didn’t look a day older. But how could I tell?

We ordered out in the light and then were introduced to our waiter Victor who led us into the abyss like kindergartners – our hand on the person’s shoulder in front of us. Several baby steps and a constant worry about non-existent stairs later, we arrived at our table and fumbled for the seat.

The entire dinner I kept waiting for my eyes to adjust. They never did. It truly was pitch darkness and it was quite an experience. Eventually it felt like my eyes were in pain as they were struggling to find light with no reprieve. I tried closing my eyes for a while, but that was strange too.

Highlights:
- Paul and Ryan kept trying to high-five each other and hitting Elo in the face
- “I just got a fork full of nothing”
- “Julie, are you still here?”
- “Aw man, I just put my butter ball in my wine.”
- Paul ‘accidentally’ got to first base with me
- I’m pretty sure I ate my napkin at one point
- We all ended up attacking our food with our hands as utensils proved too difficult
- I was talking about our waiter when all of a sudden he had sidled up and busted me.
- Ever try buttering your roll with your fingers?
- We were served something that most definitely was not calamari. My best guesses are erasers or mushrooms.


It was a cool thing to do, but I can’t imagine needing to go back – the food was so-so and I spent most of the time clutching my wine so it wouldn’t topple. Telling stories was more difficult without facial cues and gestures. After an hour and a half we all wanted to get back into the light. I do recommend it however – I don’t think I’ve even been in the dark like that before. Not since I watched Inception.

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