Domino's

Fun fact: Domino’s was founded in Ann Arbor. To be precise, the first Domino’s was opened in the satellite city of Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, by two brothers who were attending the U of M. Now it is a multinational pizza franchise with tens of thousand stores around the world.

For all these years living so close to a Domino’s, I probably only went there for less than 5 times. Although, the only few times I had with Domino’s were quite memorable.

• A cold winter midnight in late 2021 Ann Arbor. At that time I was totally screwed up by the Munger room. I went to bed at noon, woke up when all the places were closed at night. I found out there is a Domino’s nearby which closes at 3am according to Google Map. I walked there, trembling with cold weather, hunger, and sadly was told the store closed at 1am that day.
• Start of Covid, Paris, one night in Jan 2020. Our SWERC trio got back to the hotel by train. The two Italians reluctantly followed me into a Domino’s, as we had not eaten since noon. We joked about how Domino’s was “American’s evil imitation of pizza” and laughed on how people from Italy ended up actually enjoying those American “pizza” in France.
• Beijing, summer 2017. IIRC my class was arranging a little gathering during lunch break since we were saying goodbye to Senior 2 of high school, heading to different paths soon. That day I was picking up the pizza orders with F. I don’t remember who organized the event, maybe J, or perhaps the teacher. I probably felt a bit awkward at the time, but the walk to the store quite joyful. F and I walked the same routine several times for class events. The destination was either a pizza store or the Carrefour.

OK, the 2017 one was NOT Domino’s, my memory got mixed up. It was probably a local brand, Zhandian.

Anyway…I wrote that far. Today I simply remembered that day and hoped it was Domino’s. Nonetheless, it’s worth mentioning the mood of those days remotely associated with pizza.

• What was I thinking on the way back without pizza in my hand? Was it different from the nights singing alone on Brusselsestraat, Leuven?
• Have I regrets not preparing more thoroughly before the tournament? Did we have any idea on what the world was going to change in that month?
• Pizza, and the people, which were more enjoyable? Didn’t we forget to virtual connect with the friend thousand miles away from home?

Wrote all these after eating a piece of Domino’s, huh?