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Midnight Pub

The Future Is Now

~bartender

That's the message that appears on the screen as we finish setting up the computer to manage inventory. I've always used good old pen and paper to keep track of items, but after the last Happy Hours event, strange things have started to happen.

It started after the big discount on beers.

Bottles started to appear in strange places. I started to lose sandwiches even though I was sure I prepared them. As if a strange force was acting just beneath my eyes and yet I couldn't see it.

bartending_2k.exe was a program written by edisondotme, and passed to me via a floppy disk. The pub didn't have any computer, but tskaalgard brought an old Toshiba computer he's found on main street.

We're ready to roll!

Wait. How does this thing work? How do people even interact with computers? See, if there's one thing we humans are good at, it's interpreting. I'm always amazed at how we can navigate ambiguity. And let me tell you one thing: ambiguity gets even clearer with the help of a cocktail or three.

As I head to the bar, I notice zymotux

I head to the bar and ask the ~bartender for a pint of Moonlight Brewing's Death and Taxes schwarzbier. It's been years since I've had one, having swapped the SF Bay Area for the green of South Wales, but I've been thinking about this beer recently. It's beautiful, smooth and dark - having one always felt like a treat. I've no idea when I'll drink one again in the real but the magic of The Midnight can transport me to the sensation of taking a mouthful and letting it ease away the day.

Welcome to the pub! We might not have this beer right now, we've just gotten a brand new inventory management system that will allow us to order a few kegs! Well, only if I figure out how to use that system... Which I will!

I wave as I see a new face

Greetings techwing!

Here's our cocktail menu.

A recent addition that isn't on the menue yet is "The Compass".

...best taken when everything goes south.

It's not yet quite the evening and I can already start to feel a sensation of spring as I go on the terrace for a little cigarette. It's still rather cold but the sunset looks good. There's something in the colors. Soon, we might want to add a few tables here.

I nod as I see coldwave get in.

Time to get back to the bar! Oh, and maybe to learn a thing or two about computer. m15o, I might need your help!

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Replies

~zymotux wrote:

Thanks bartender! Good luck with the new inventory system. In the meantime, I'll have a pint of... (peruses the taps)... Gemini Space Stout - seems appropriate!

(Looks over and sees coldwave grading papers) Perhaps send some bar snacks in that direction? - it looks like extra fuel is needed!

~coldwave wrote:

I have taken over a corner table with my papers. I'm drinking an odd grapefruit-flavored IPA because it's the first thing on offer, while frantically grading a large pile of math homework that should have been done last week. The affairs of other pub patrons, though they look like interesting characters, pass me by this evening.