Deaf World Too Small

Sarah warned that she did not cook very well which she blatantly lied. It was delicious, enough to knock me, her and kaybee out for an hour of nap at their place! Whee! Thanks for the din-din!

Then we went to McAller's Pub by 80 Street to meet the Deaf folks from the United Kingdom. When we entered the pub, I saw few familiar faces -- greeted some. But somehow, I was introduced to one of eight Deaf Britons -- Oliver.

Oliver is fucking sexy as Hell! But he is straight as things goes. It was quite difficult to talk in British Sign Language -- I knew very little but tried my best to communicate using both the BSL and ASL. I knew some BSL signs mainly because I went to London and had few friends from London, though. Then Oliver introduced me to the birthday boy, Ahmed.

Apparently, turning 30, Ahmed's friends decided to take a trek to New York to celebrate his birthday. Which is very cool. Ahmed, then introduced me to his girlfriend, Melly. As she asked me for my name, I responded with full name and sign name.

She said, "You are RT?!"

I nodded, got puzzled a little.

"I heard a lot about you! From Veronica!"

I chuckled. Veronica is one of my close friends from the college days, we used to live right next to each other in that shitty apartment. So much memories! So much drama! So much ...

"I stayed with Veronica in Los Angeles for three months -- you know Brezinski?" She asked.

I nodded.

"Rachella?!"

I nodded and said, "You knew everything about me and I do not know you!"

Melly laughed and said, "Deaf World Too Small!" Ahmed nodded in agreement. I asked Melly where she originally came from? She said, "Melbourne, Australia."

I asked her if she knew Drew? She flashed his sign name, I exclaimed with a vigorous "Y-E-S !!"

Melly laughed and said, "He and I am good friends!"

Melly asked me why I brought his name up, I smiled and explained about my impressions of Drew. Drew was travelling around the United States a year before the 9/11 occurred. In fact, when he arrived at Gallaudet, there was a murder on the campus -- he was not permitted to stay in the dormitories. I was the Resident Advisor, I sneaked him in my bedroom. He was straight but very open-minded and sweet guy. Very god-damned flirtatious.

One time in the cafeteria, the group of us were yakking about things related to the murders and how sick we were to hear about it on a daily basis. Drew decided to change the subject and asked me, "Ever kissed an Australian?"

I shook my head and said, "Not yet, I never did -- but someday, I hope I do!"

Drew leaned and landed a sweet kiss right on the lips, stunned me and others on the table -- he went back to the chair and said, "Now I'm your first Aussie!"

I grinned and was flabbergasted. I was mighty impressed with his carefree attitude and easygoing, laid-back attitude.

Melly smiled and said, "That is so Drew. That is his character, always enjoy life -- he is in school not far from Melbourne -- still volunteers for a firefighter in that town."

The whole night was absolutely wonderful -- I was able to converse and learn some BSL signs. Oliver and Ahmed conversed in BSL with grace. I got lost so fast when I attempted to read what they said. Later, they said they were talking about the KKK and Jew images on the cigarette pack of Marlboro. Then they showed it to me why it has the images -- it was absurd -- I'm not going to explain to the readers unless one begged me to.

Overall, it was good to see Veronica's friend, Melly and to know that Drew is still doing great in Australia.

One funny moment occurred when nearly all Americans left except for me and Gabe, one hearing person approached one Briton and tried to fingerspell in ASL to her. She turned to look at me because she could not understand ASL, I chuckled and stayed out of it. Gabe was able to let the person know that they are Deaf but they converse in different form of fingerspelling.

Happy birthday, Ahmed. Thanks, Gabe, for extending the invitation for me to meet these great folks. Melly, you rock!

And the rest, enjoy your stay in New York.

R-