First, the bait. I stopped in at Artisan (where Ben,
Justin and I all go to get our coffee fix most mornings). I picked
up a delicious box of 16 chocolate truffles (each one is different),
so as to sway people to sign my uh... "petition."
And here is my petition. It's a two-parter, really. This is what I showed
everyone, telling them my petition is for more "ponies and
butterflies and hugs" in the world. Several people were somewhat
suspicious of my motives. Paranoid bastages, the lot of 'em. :)
Please allow me to introduce myself. I’m a man of wealth and taste. I’ve
been around for a long, long year, stole many a man’s soul and faith.
Lunch at Monk's
Jon (schubee) and
Melissa were in town today, and a bunch of us Internet folks gathered
together for a meal. Everyone met up outside of Monk's for lunch, and
we spent a pleasant (albeit crowded and noisy) hour plus there. In attendance:
me, Justin, Ben,
Jeff (persist),
Matt (Tha.Riddla),
schubee and Melissa
(mrs. schubee).
Lunch was a bit too short, and I really wish we had more than an hour or so
together. It's weird meeting in person again, despite the fact that I've
met these folks before. At the very end of lunch, I started to feel
like everyone was just starting to get comfortable... and then we all
had to disperse.
It's good to see the faces when all I'm used to seeing are the names. I really
wish we would have had the rest of the day - the whole feel of things
would have, I'm convinced, been much different. Today was the first time
my online friends have crossed path with my (I was about to say Real
friends) uh... friends I've met offline. At certain moments, we would
talk about other board members, and I'm not sure what Justin and Ben thought
of everything. I'll have to ask them about their experiences, looking
in from the outside.
I forgot to take a picture, but schubee snapped a group shot. I'll try to
get a copy and post it here at some future point.
So I get home, and get my mail. Funny - there's this strange card in an
envelope. Not something I expected. Too late for my birthday, too early
for Christmas. I go inside.
When I open the envvelope (trying to figure out who sent me what) I pull out
a card. I open the card, and two checks slide into my palm.
One check is a $100 Gift Certificate from Quimby's
bookstore.
The other check is for $80, and the card instructs me to spend it at Café
Iberico.
Some Days
UTTERLY FUCKING SPEECHLESS
I read over the card, and I go to sit down in the living room. I'm utterly
fucking speechless. I'm looking over the card, all the names of the people
who have contributed, and letting it slowly sink in. All this is from
seven people I've met online. They heard about
the break-in, and felt bad for me. And so... they pooled their money
together, and sent me one incredible god damn surprise.
And on Halloween, to boot. :)
I can't even begin to do justice to my amazement, my awe. I kept looking
at the card, at the checks, at the signatures. I kept saying "No
way, no way, no way" over and over again. I kept laughing uncontrollably.
The fact that these folks would do such a wonderful, generous thing for me...
I just can't even fucking believe it. I feel so incredibly touched, so
very fortunate to receive this. This is generosity and good intentions
in a way, and on a level that I have never experienced before. And I feel
so lucky to have people who are willing to do such a thing for me.
From what I've heard, there were several attempts (by different people, at
different times) to try to acquire Iberico gift certificates over the
phone. But no such luck. :)
Thank you all. This fucking rocks. I can't say thank you enough.
Halloween Party
Justin got an invite to a warehouse type of party, and I tagged along.
I stopped over at his place around 9:15, and we chatted a while.
Before we left, we did a tea cup worth of whiskey to keep warm,
then headed out.
Here we are, WAY too early and only a few others milling around. Quick
shot of an angel, adn one of the performance areas (to the left).
I think people had to climb up there to play/sing.
There was also a projector in the top room, looping several interesting
and disturbing animations/stop motion films. The whole party was
heaven/hell themed, with the downstairs serving sangria (hell) and
the upstairs serving... uh, I had beer out of a keg. But it was
really good beer.
I stopped to get a photo of two people playing chess, prior to the festivites
getting under way. I said we were early, didn't I?
I'm sorry - but I gotta say this. Girls that play chess are just fucking hot.
This I think is.... Jeff? We talked a long while about music, and about
singing.
At this point, I was pretty close to being done for the night. I had
plans to drive to Ohio tomorrow, and wanted an early evening. I
wandered around alot, and tried to get people to sign my petition.
For the most part, I got a lot of signatures. Unfortunately I forgot
to take photographs.
It's been a while since I've been out and about, so I'm out of practice.
The party was really nice - a fantastic, great loft (and they did
a tremendous job decorating). There was even a labyrinth in back!
Like I said - apologies, but few pics from the night as I ended
up milling around.
I did, however, have a whole bunch of "Hello My Name Is" stickers
on my person. This morning I ended up scrawling the blog address
on them, and gave them out at the party. No idea of anyone's checked
back, but hey... any chance to hustle the blog.
At the very end of the night, I got to meet Liz, a friend of Justin's
that I've been hearing about for a long time. I didn't get much
of a chance to speak with her, and feel bad - but I was fading pretty
fast at that point. Down the stairs (quite the miracle that I didn't
fall and beak my neck, as these were some monster stairs) and into
a cab.
Unfortunately, I forgot my list of souls in the cab. All in all, I'd say I got
about 50 signatures, minimum.
I wish I could have been around when whoever it was discovered that sneaky
petition, in the back of a cab.
