92. The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl (2017)

Directed by Masaaki Yuasa
Written by Makoto Ueda
Starring Gen Hoshino, Kana Hanazawa, and Hiroshi Kamiya
A single moment of introspection shouldn’t be enough to exonerate a dude for months of stalking his crush, steaming hot pots don’t belong in rare book rooms, and it’s gross to think of sex in terms of destiny. Never trust a patient man, read the fortune from my fortune cookie last night. I don’t know if J’s was as bad or worse — something about how advice should be like kissing? But the dumplings were good, and together we devoured several plates of steamed dough. The owner of that vegan restaurant has been feeding me for close to twenty years. Sometimes he likes my posts on Facebook. My friends and I used to get all-you-can-eat dim sum at his old location, and I’d play clean-up on the unfinished dishes neglected after the next wave of food arrived. In practice, that meant double servings of cold sesame noodles, sesame chicken, and scallion pancakes. Carrot dumplings usually heralded the end of the meal, but you could still order more for no extra cost, appetites permitting. We’d eat until we had trouble moving, a Thanksgiving-like full untainted by the stress of holiday travel or family gatherings or running into people you went to high school with. One time, after stuffing ourselves with steamed pork buns and fried tofu and Buddha rolls, X and I drove the forty-five minutes back to West Chester and stopped at a diner before heading home. I got the hummus platter; she ordered waffles. Or were they pancakes? I get sad if I forget to eat, or if I have too much sugar or not enough protein. Which explains the pork ribs and puree of beets, potatoes, and carrots I made before the movie yesterday. Which were super delicious and filling. Which still didn’t stop me from getting Chinese afterwards. One cool thing about quitting drinking is that I enjoy dessert so much more.
