Tales from Nowo's 24 Hour DJ Diner: Project Arrhythmia and Just Shapes and Beats

Chapter 1: How One Gets Started

(Author's note: these stories were dictation-typed from the recordings sent in by shapes from both Arrhythmia and Paradise who wanted their story about the diner to be in the book. Also, art by Art-Tart-Taffyness)

Recording By: Nowo Blitz

Hi! This is Nowo Blitz here, and this recording is for Celestia's new collection of tales about the diner that I started up. Let's see, going back to how I started the place...

Me and my sister Lumi live in an old brick building next to Arrhythm Apartments, you know? We lived on the second floor of this building, which was basically the top floor, and we had separate rooms, and everything. We had lived there when we ended up going to the University of Arrhythmia here in the Capital, but now that we had graduated, the question was what Lumi and I were going to do to earn a living, besides me doing my usual gig as a DJ.

Now, on the bottom floor of our building, there was a space that probably used to be a small restaurant. There was a counter, a cash register, some tables, a platform for any performers who would come by, and a kitchen. The place hadn't opened in years, though, and we often used the kitchen for cooking for ourselves. It was a nice spring night, I recall, that I helped Lumi make a really good soup, and as we were eating, she said, "You know, this soup would be a knockout at any food competition in Arrhythmia."

She thanked me for helping me make it. The spark of an idea hit me.

"True that," I agreed, "and it would definitely be a knockout in a diner like this."

Lumi looked confused. "Like... this place?"

"Like this place being our very own diner!" I said, grinning at her.

"Oh! Having our very own diner, here!" I swear to Stars, Lumi's eyes lit up like twin fireflies. "We should look into that! That's a good idea!"

And so we got everything set up. We dusted everything off, and we gave the walls a nice coat of paint in light, pastel colors, moved the tables to create a space in front of the platform as a dance floor, and set up two sets of lights. One lightswitch operated the normal lights, which were dim either way, for those who liked it dark. Then there were the black lights that were placed over the dance floor. We got some red vinyl stools to put in front of the counter, for those who'd like to sit there. We had a couple friends come over and help us with everything, including spreading the word. We had a discussion about having events at the diner every night, and we came up with some stuff.

Let's see, there's Open-Mic Monday, which also serves as a karaoke night, where anyone could come up on stage and sing if they'd like. There's a couple good stories that came out of that event.

There's Trivia Tuesday, pretty self explanatory. The prize is having dessert on-the-house!

There's Minute-to-Win-It Wednesday, where participants have a minute to complete a task successfully. The tasks are really fun to watch, and the winning individual or team also gets free dessert!

There's Comedy Thursday, where everyone can have a good laugh.

Live-From-Nowo's Friday is when a featured band can have a gig here. If it's a band that's new to this diner, I usually have an interview with them afterwards.

Hau5 Club Saturday is honestly my favorite. It's when a featured DJ goes up on the platform to mix for a little bit, and at this time, the dance floor really gets going!

And lastly, Chill Out Sunday is when I end up having a nice chat with the customers, like an interview.

When we opened, we did get a couple of curious customers to see what was going on. It was a Chill Out Sunday, so I was at the counter writing down a couple of questions that I wanted to ask people at the tables and the counter, then she walked in.