My Whirlwind Weekend (Meet 4?)

I had fairly concise plans for the Meet that changed a bit due to unforeseen circumstances. Amazingly, all worked out better than I could've possibly imagined.

To say that this was one of the best weekends of my entire life is, well, an understatement.

Juliet and Nathan were the first to arrive. There was an immediate rapport, which I fully expected after years of talking over the phone and through email. To actually hug in person was such a wondrous thing.
Juliet, you truly relaxed and were happy. It was such a gift to share your ease and comfort with us. Thank you.
Nathan, you reminded me of Charles from Sunshine Blind: quiet and hidden behind your hair, but warm and always thinking. I hope you enjoyed yourself. It was so great to finally meet you and Juliet!

It was so great to see and hug Dru-babe again, and to meet her cute and charming friend Dave. My folks kept asking if he was a musician because he had that air about him. I loved how he was constantly grinning, and I'm so glad that he had a good time. Not to worry, I'll add him to the list pronto.
Two thumbs up, Dru! *grins*.

It was equally wonderful to see and hug Alex again and to meet his gregarious, vivacious, fun-as-heck friend David (the Great). You two were so generous! Thank you for all of the goodies you spoiled me with.
Mom's sending you a care package of chili Frito Lays and other little gifts, so I need your postal address again, Alex.
Mom adored Alex and David especially. I think Mom's a fag hag *laughs and winks*.
What a dynamic duo are you both!

Kathy showed up at the hotel that night, looking amazingly well for having endured a late delayed flight.
Kathy, I so loved talking with you! That one breakfast where we talked outside was such a nice time. Thank you.
I'm so glad the heads made it safely *grins and winks*.

The big surprise was Jamie Skellington! He called the hotel room, and my eyes bulged like a pug. I'd never received his emails confirming his arrival, so I figured he wasn't coming. D'oh!
It was awesome. Jamie is the shiznit. My Tiny E. Yes, he has a wonderful rockabilly look going, and it's so charming because it's genuine.
My Dad was particularly taken with Jamie. He loved his personality.

*Pouts*… Scott and his wife didn't show themselves until after M&W had left! We still had fun though, and Scott's wife is warm, quiet, and lovely.

Now, a quick summary of events:

~Thursday: Juliet and Nathan arrived early, and we talked for hours. It was absolutely pleasant, natural, and fun.

Dru, Alex, and Alex's friend David the Great arrived in the afternoon. Wonderful!

They left after a few to pick up Dru’s bud Dave from the airport, and then Juliet, Nathan, Alex, David the Great, my Dad and I drove downtown and checked into ye olde Embassy
Suites.

Jamie phoned at the room, startling me in a pleasant way. Yay! What a cool unexpected visitation.

We all headed out to an Italian restaurant, Mangios I think is what it was called, and had a blast. Dru’s an awful influence on me; for some reason, I feel an urge to imbibe whenever in her company *grins*. I was good though, and cut myself off after two midori sours.

I think we all had a nice buzz going on and it was so enjoyable. We ordered way too much food, but it was damn good. Juliet suffered from altitude sickness, so she left midway through dinner with Nathan.

David the Great made a surprisingly realistic-looking origami penis out of a cloth napkin, much to our collective delight and horror *laughs!*.

After dinner we returned to the hotel and Kathy was in the room. Yayness! Her flight had been delayed, but she’d made it in one piece. Always a good thing *smiles*.

Jamie ran across the street to pick up beer, and we all sprawled in the room drinking, eating leftovers, reading "Fortean Times" magazines and sharing thoughts on various articles, and catching up with one another.

I think by then we were already beginning to lose track of time and the date. By then time no longer mattered, we were in our happy Meet zone.

~Friday: We stirred listlessly from bed, except for Juliet who woke up fully energized at some ungodly early hour. Juliet’s so cute!

Alex and David the Great wanted to work out at the hotel gym, as did Kathy. So I tagged along, and then Kathy and I split off and had breakfast outside. It was terribly lovely out, sunny with a nice cool breeze. Kathy and I spoke for a long tome about childhood, life, creativity, education, family, and it was awesome.

When Alex and David the Great returned from their workout and 7-11, they had an armful of flowers for all of the Meet girls. Gorgeous flowers… I’m awful with flower names. They’re vaginal and white. Alex or Juliet, what kind of flower were they?

I think Juliet and Kathy went for a run as well.

Then we all went to the Virgin Megastore. Juliet had ordered William a beautiful Brak (a character from the cartoon "Space Ghost") cookie jar for his b-day, but we wanted to pick him up a few more goodies. I picked him up the KISS bio written by Gene Simmons, a new non-fiction novel about the Nightstalker (I think… it was one of those serial killers), and an old school punk collection. We all signed a b-day card that had an old movie poster on the front and was titled "Letters To Daddy".

We had lunch at Chili’s. The coolest waitress doted on us, and called us "baby girl". She looked at everyone ordering drinks and remarked, "you ain’t no 21", which made all quite happy *grins*. She also gave us great deals on our drinks.

We stopped by a wig store and Kathy picked up some blank dummy heads. Yay!

Then we dressed up at the hotel and headed for home…

Monica and William arrived at 8:00 pm. We all drank and talked and ate Subway sandwiches *big grins*. It was like one huge happy family. No: it *was* one huge happy family.

It was such a treat being surrounded by so many grinning, genuinely happy, loving people. And M & W’s performance… damn. M was a hair shy singing at first, until Dad brought up the little PA and mike from downstairs. Dru sang "Frater Ave Atque Vale" with M and it was absolutely amazing. Juliet sang "Vervain" with M and it was super cool!

M & W gave us each a CD of Faith & the Muse live in Mainz, Germany from October 16th, 1997, and a beautiful key chain.

I had M & W do "Prodigal", "Heal", and "Drown", so I was high above the rooftops. Higher than the Milky Way.

After their performance, David the Great trimmed M’s hair in my den. We all lounged in my den being goofy, and Juliet did her awesome Jewel impersonation.

Then my parents of the heart went in the house to talk with my birth parents. I joined them after a while, and we got several photos together. There were also several group shots taken.

M & W had so much fun, M told me that we should do this every year at my house. Later, after the Meet, my parents’ said they enjoyed it so much and were so impressed by all of you that they’re willing to pay for a suite at the Embassy Suites for us. Yay!

M & W had to leave the following afternoon, but they wanted to have lunch with us before flying out.

~Saturday: Got up slowly, except for Kathy and Juliet who went for a run (!). M & W swung by our hotel room at noonish. I decided we should go to Fado’s, an authentic Irish pub. Jamie set up reservations and off we went.

M & W drove their rented pickup, while we walked -- and we beat them to the restaurant! Fado’s is lovely: the floor’s cobblestone, and interior’s dimly lit. Lots of wood, stone, and dusty old books everywhere. Reminded me of a hobbit house.

David the Great folded another penis napkin for Monica and William to witness, and great food, great conversation, and photos were had.

Then we bid M & W farewell, which as always was bittersweet.

We returned to the hotel a bit dead. We eventually hooked up with Scott and his wife, then went down to Hot Topic, Barnes and Noble, and a carnival near the Capitol building.

Alex and David the Great were so generous to me. They surprised me with a cute kitty shirt and the cutest socks, (with bats, skulls, and webs on them) plus insisted on paying for my Buffy book!

The carnival was awesome. Juliet, Nathan, Alex, and David the Great rode the carousel, and Juliet and Alex braved this scary claustrophobic upside-down spinning roller coaster thing. Dru and I felt nauseous just watching it.

David the Great won all of us girls a little stuffed leopard that look suspiciously like monkeys in leopard suits *laughs*.

Then it rained. Not ordinary rain; it was like the gods were having a pissing contest. It poured buckets, and we had to make a mad dash beneath a crowded awning. We waited in the wind and driving rain looking tres goth, then scattered back to the hotel. It was so much fun! Lightning flashing, the rain lessening, a light breeze at our backs as we padded off to 7-11 for beer and then back to the room.

We all hung out and talked into the wee hours over beer and pizza. None of us wanted it to end.

~Sunday: parting is such sweet sorrow. I don’t even want to recall this day, because I feel my throat constricting at the mere mention of it.

Suffice it to say that I had a beautiful, life-affirming time with these folks. All stress and angst plaguing me prior to the Meet flew out the window and were utterly forgotten.

A huge thank you to Alex, Dru, and Kathy for giving me a hand in the bathroom and for helping me get dressed. Thank you to David the Great for making my pigtails look like a million bucks every day. Thank you Jamie for the awesome "Spooky Cat Peeps".

Thank you all for making this Meet one of the most magical times I’ve had in my life. You really made me feel appreciated and special, like I make a difference in this world.

Some pics.