At age 22, I was a college drop out working as a flower delivery guy. In school, I studied history, biblical studies, and had seriously considered becoming a philosophy major. I was moderately happy with the job I had at the time. The flower shop owners attended my church, were effectively secondary parents to me, my coworkers were kind, and the driving afforded me lots of time to think and listen to podcasts. I did, however, have a growing anxiety about what the future held for me -- I had no master plan or roadmap for my life, and I knew that delivery wages would only go so far.
Existential quarter-life crisis or not, I was grateful to have good friends to goof off with.
Nerf Wars and The Scary Guy
Saechang, myself, and another friend would often hang out at Gateway Friends Church. Our mutual friend, Travis, was a groundskeeper for the church and the location was a convenient midpoint from where we all lived at the time to meet up and hang out. Most of the time when we hung out at the church we would have these Counter-Strike inspired nerf wars at night in the church offices. Other nights we would hang out in the church's loft and play games on the PCs that were set up there. The gaming and revelry often went deep into the night.
One Saturday night, we were in the church loft playing some Warcraft III custom map, when someone burst into the room. I had never seen this person before, but I could tell he was visibly upset with us. I should note that it was after 11pm PST. The upset person then very intensely reprimanded us for being up so late on a Saturday night playing video games. He said that if we were not able to be fully present at church the following day, he would have it on his conscience, and that he would later check the logs on all of the PCs to make sure that we complied with his demand. He went further: If we did not comply, he would lock down the PCs and that no one would be able to use them again. And, as quickly as he came and unleashed his reprimand, he was gone. We looked around the room at each other in a bit of a daze.
And that was my very first interaction with Brian Chan. AKA: The Scary Guy.
"What a jerk!" I thought.
After that night, we continued to hang out at the church, have Nerf Wars, and play PC games -- and I resolved to avoid and try to never interact with The Scary Guy again.
I had no idea what was coming next.