Instant Inspiration

Princess of Monrovia

Per my friend's request(read threat..he..he..just kidding) to document my trip to Monrovia, I hereby touch the long forgotten (for more than 6 months) world of blogging.

When my colleague came up to me and told me that we were scheduled to have our training for a tool we would be working on to Monrovia, I felt that place kind of rung a bell in my head.Wait..wasnt that a country near France or something mentioned in the Princess Diaries movie? Was I all set to make a trip to wonderland?? Well, no. It turned out to be a small city in southern california near LA with a history I didnt really care about(but of course I really find the term "history" in the context of America quite amusing).

So after an uneventful hour's flight from San Jose I reached the airport at Burbank...22 miles of LA commute hour traffic away from my destination in Monrovia but the closest one .Despite my fears of exploding in mid-air and pile-ups on highways spurred by my recent movie experience of final destination and its sequel, I reached the training center pretty much in one piece.

After a long day at training, my colleague drove us to a vegetarian restaurant for dinner but it was closed for Tuesday so he drove next towards a famous dumplings restaurant he was recommended to go by a friend of his but nearly came to a screeching halt at the sight of a Dave and Busters in a Mall we were passing by. "Screw dumplings .lets go there", he said excitedly after he saw the quizzical look that I shot at him- he just had to educate me on one of America's most cherished passions...Arcade video games.So after we ate, he insisted I play with him.Being a video game virgin, I protested vehemently against exposing my pathetically absent knowledge of virtual games but he wouldnt take no for an answer.I gave a shot at a DDR(Dance Dance Revolution) station but was so slow at taking instructions that the game was over even before I realised it had begun! "Show me how to play it!", I pleaded with him but he said he was too full for that.So , gathering all my guts I played a few rounds of random shooting games and driving games with him and realised how much fun it was inspite of how much I sucked at them! We even played pool after that and my friend taught me a few techniques at the game . I did end up having a good time that day- the American way!

posted by Supraja @ 9:16 PM