I tried a new drink last night at a party held at the Renaissance hotel in Suzhou, Caipirinha, the national cocktail of Brazil. It's made from Cachaca, sugar and lemon. It's delicious but packs a heavyweight punch. I only had one. My friends drank several... to their peril. The Cachaca was 60% alcohol by volume, which made it impossibly strong, but the sugar hid the alcohol content so it went down easy. I watched as several of my friends slipped into an alcohol induced daze. I decided to stick to my scotch. We were at a social event, it was best to not get fall down drunk.
I met a Brit while watching a cute floor show (Think 6 year old girl doing modern dance). As the night wore on and our tongues loosened, he said the inevitable line, "You don't seem like a typical American." I had to laugh. I hear it all the time. He was referring to my quiet and friendly disposition in a backhanded aren't-all-Americans-assholes kind of way. I let it pass not wanting to stir up trouble in such a nice social setting. He went on to comment on our religiosity. He mentioned that most Brit's were not religious but tend toward atheist or agnostic, or just not interested. He talked about American fundamentalism and the rise of the religious right. He talked at me for a long time before stopping to ask if he had offended me. I told him no, and added that I was a rare American atheist, well not so rare now a days as there seems to be more of us every day. He commented on the American atheist movement and on how vibrant our online blogging community was. He mentioned reading the Friendly Atheist and Atheist Revolution. I bought him a drink at that point and then told him I write an Atheist themed blog called Deep Thoughts. He looked at me strangely for a few seconds and then said, "Are you Mojoey?" When I said "yes" he jumped up and gave me a big man hug. It is such a small world. It turns out he's been a reader for five years. We've corresponded. How weird is that?
His last comment to me… "You're not kidding about being a big friendly guy…" Ha! we are all big and friendly when you have your beer goggles on!
