I arrived in Hong Kong at 4pm local time. As soon as I walked out of the
terminal building I immediately felt the immerse heat. After all, that is
the summer.
After another hour of bus ride I finally went to my aunt house and began four-week stay in Hong Kong.
Next morning I called one of my best friends Louis. He invited me to an arcade called Virtual Zone and gave me the directions. Soon, I saw him waiting outside there.
"You grew up a lot, man." Louis said.
"Yeah…"
"And let's go inside." He said. "Arcade these years has changed a lot. You see the DDR and such and such and such. I never saw a game that changed us so much."
"Right, and there are some vivid DDRer in Toronto. That's what I heard." I said.
"Are you one of them?" Louis asked.
"No." I said.
"And there were lots of tourneys. By the way, remember Eric 'the Dog', our classmate? He actually won one of them."
"Really? That's cool." My reaction already betrayed me because I seemed not surprised. Louis did not notice though.
"I'm just a casual player. I only played a couple of games. Mind you, there are more expert player than you think. You know, my body structure trained in martial arts prevents me from dancing well. I will never become a expert."
"I don't want to comment about that." I said.
"There are more elite players hanging in Tsim Sha Tsui area. You can ask Eric about that, but I don't have his contact since he left our school."
"Don't worry. I have his contact." I said.
"How did you get it?"
"Something weird. Really weird."
The person we were talking about is the Eric that I met from the internet chatroom. After a week I finally managed to contact Eric. He suggested that we would meet in an arcade called Cyber City in Mong Kok in one evening.
I went there on time and Eric was already there (we exchanged our information of appearance) but – there was police barricade outside the arcade.
"Something strange was happening," Eric said. "This place even has never had a fight before."
"So where are we going?" I asked.
"Tsim Sha Tsui, probably. My purpose of going out tonight, after all, is letting you see all the experts in DDR." Eric said.
After we board the bus to Tsim Sha Tsui, we talked about our lives.
"I have heard about you winning a DDR tourney. Is that true?"
"Wow. You even know about that. Where did you hear such gossip from?"
"Someone in our school."
"So my superstition is true after all. I know that such thing will eventually spread into the ear of my old classmates. I do not mean of bragging, but many consider me as elite player. Anyway, I have personally introduced several people into DDR since this game came out. Hell, one of them even became the best player in Hong Kong."
"Like MMX? I heard that this person got into top ten during the internet ranking or something like that."
"Internet ranking? I see. He can get such a high score that he can fit himself into the ranking. He is one the person that I introduced into the DDR scene. Sigh. DDR changed us a lot,. I remembered those old days when DDR came out. The now-gone DDR Club."
"You are one of the members, isn't it?"
"Used to. But it is gone."
After another hour of bus ride I finally went to my aunt house and began four-week stay in Hong Kong.
Next morning I called one of my best friends Louis. He invited me to an arcade called Virtual Zone and gave me the directions. Soon, I saw him waiting outside there.
"You grew up a lot, man." Louis said.
"Yeah…"
"And let's go inside." He said. "Arcade these years has changed a lot. You see the DDR and such and such and such. I never saw a game that changed us so much."
"Right, and there are some vivid DDRer in Toronto. That's what I heard." I said.
"Are you one of them?" Louis asked.
"No." I said.
"And there were lots of tourneys. By the way, remember Eric 'the Dog', our classmate? He actually won one of them."
"Really? That's cool." My reaction already betrayed me because I seemed not surprised. Louis did not notice though.
"I'm just a casual player. I only played a couple of games. Mind you, there are more expert player than you think. You know, my body structure trained in martial arts prevents me from dancing well. I will never become a expert."
"I don't want to comment about that." I said.
"There are more elite players hanging in Tsim Sha Tsui area. You can ask Eric about that, but I don't have his contact since he left our school."
"Don't worry. I have his contact." I said.
"How did you get it?"
"Something weird. Really weird."
The person we were talking about is the Eric that I met from the internet chatroom. After a week I finally managed to contact Eric. He suggested that we would meet in an arcade called Cyber City in Mong Kok in one evening.
I went there on time and Eric was already there (we exchanged our information of appearance) but – there was police barricade outside the arcade.
"Something strange was happening," Eric said. "This place even has never had a fight before."
"So where are we going?" I asked.
"Tsim Sha Tsui, probably. My purpose of going out tonight, after all, is letting you see all the experts in DDR." Eric said.
After we board the bus to Tsim Sha Tsui, we talked about our lives.
"I have heard about you winning a DDR tourney. Is that true?"
"Wow. You even know about that. Where did you hear such gossip from?"
"Someone in our school."
"So my superstition is true after all. I know that such thing will eventually spread into the ear of my old classmates. I do not mean of bragging, but many consider me as elite player. Anyway, I have personally introduced several people into DDR since this game came out. Hell, one of them even became the best player in Hong Kong."
"Like MMX? I heard that this person got into top ten during the internet ranking or something like that."
"Internet ranking? I see. He can get such a high score that he can fit himself into the ranking. He is one the person that I introduced into the DDR scene. Sigh. DDR changed us a lot,. I remembered those old days when DDR came out. The now-gone DDR Club."
"You are one of the members, isn't it?"
"Used to. But it is gone."
