Subject: TAN: "There was a hazardous waste spill..." - Cedar Point Social Report From: Maggie Organization: Missy the Monster Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan NNTP-Posting-Host: cblmdm63-166-32-206.buckeye-express.com So I'm recovered now, and better late than never, anyway...Leah and Zeynep have the quote file, which is good, because I can't remember any of them! Friday, October 5th: There was a wind. A fucking *cold* wind. And *rain*. Well, dammit. This was not the weather I had had in mind when planning this year's Cedar Point Social. Oh well. We're a hardy bunch, and the actual trip to Cedar Point wasn't until Saturday anyway. Perhaps the Great Lord of the Dark would pull a few strings for us. My day started fairly early, with last minute cleaning, a hurried snipping of fresh herbs from my "garden" in front of the window, and the beginning of cooking. If you've been here for a Social (or at Kenn's or Anne's, for that matter) you know that I like to cook, and I especially like to cook for Socials. I had chosen a menu of Black and White Soup, Mixed Field Greens with Raspberry Vinaigrette, Herbed French Bread, Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Fresh Herbs and Goat Cheese, Tarragon Glazed Baby Carrots, Oven-fried Red Potatoes with Olive Oil, Garlic and Dill. The day before found me creating desserts: Apple-pie ice cream, Chocolate-Frangelico Cheesecake, and Baklava. I think I put on a pound or three just cooking. At any rate, my sister came over early in the day to help me out with a few last minute errands and the last of the cleaning. I was antsy, and running about madly as I often do just before Socials, I'm glad she was there to help calm me down. Mel Allen and Zeynep Dilli were the first to arrive, having flown into Toledo at about the same time. Hooray! Mel brought along several batches of freshly baked cookies to add to the plates of nibblies scattered about the living room, they were incredible! Zeynep was completely exhausted from staying up all night, I sent her off to snooze in the boys' room for a while, while Chrissy and Mel went off for CP tickets and I continued with the cooking. Mike Kozlowski and Kenn Cavness showed up next, chuckling over Mike's choice of driving music. Mike swears he did it deliberately, just to annoy Kenn. I *almost* believed him. Almost. They got to witness the arrival of a double shipment of Costa Rican Tarrazu from Gevalia, and Zeynep presented me with 2 more boxes of the world's best coffee. Oh yum. It didn't take long for the sounds of merriment to fill my apartment. The kids were excitedly running around, asking who was due in next, begging to be allowed to stay up for Madhu's late arrival, and generally being cute and charming and blowing to hell all the rumors that they are, in fact, Monsters From Another Planet. I began to get phone calls from various and assorted who were just hitting the road for the drive in, and others were arriving apace. Dave Rothgery called from Sandusky, letting me know that he was in safely, and we made arrangements to fetch him on the way to CP on Saturday. Anne Willick and Jeff Huo came through the door around 7:30PM, with the party in full swing, bearing bottles of delectable wine and an armful of *purple* roses. Oh my! Anne dashed off quickly to change from snappy black business attire to something more comfy, and fluttered back and forth between rooms, also checking to make sure my head was still on. Chrissy left to pick up Jon, and returned shortly thereafter, adding more to our happy crowd. As dinner time approached, Melissa Devnich called to inform me that she was going to be later than expected. "There was a hazardous waste spill. I'm stuck behind it!" ACK! I wasn't counting on any of my guests glowing in the dark! Steve Ginter and Leah Cole arrived just as I was setting out soup, bearing a darling jack-o-lantern carved with a Dragon's Fang to put on the table. It was perfect! We set two more places and continued getting our late (9:30PM) supper underway, most of us had only been nibbling throughout the day, it was definitely time to eat! As dinner progressed, Alex Goddard, Melissa Devnich and Ray Chason arrived. Melissa regaled us with tales of her traffic woes, and we discovered that Ray had been stuck in the same jam. It turned out that the "hazardous waste spill" was actually a truck carrying *warheads* that had overturned! Eeep! Madhu arrived just in time for dessert, then it was out to the living room for more travel tales, tickling of children and assorted mischief. Presents were exchanged among the assembled - Leah and Steve win the prize for shocking the hell out of the hostess with a belated birthday gift: Leather pants. In bright fuchsia!! And I love them. *grin* We stayed up quite late, talking, nibbling at dessert and indulging in a bit more wine - Steve sent one of my corkscrews to an honorable and noble death, and we applauded him for it. Of the nine bottles of wine and one bottle of mead that were present at the dinner table, there are only 3 left. I recall going to bed around 4:30AM, but am given to understand that the rest of the clan was up giggling like schoolgirls at a slumber party til around 5:30 or so. If there were pillow fights, they cleaned up quickly, there was no sign of such mischief when I stumbled out to make coffee at 9:30AM. Saturday, October 6th: We were up bright and way too early to get ready for our trip to Cedar Point. It was COLD! In between running about, getting breakfast and arguing with Monsters about what to wear, it was discovered that Steve had lost his wallet. We searched every square inch of the place, and concluded that he must have left it at the last gas station he stopped in before arriving in Toledo. Zeynep and Jeff went with Steve and Leah to search, and a plan was hatched to meet in Sandusky. We piled into cars and took off for Sandusky, a 45 minute drive from Toledo, where we gathered at the Rothgery home. Even totally leaving aside that Dave's younger brother, Craig, was in the front yard ("Nice scenery! Break me off a piece of *that*!" were some of the cries heard.), Mr. and Mrs. Rothgery have a lovely home. To drool and die for, in fact. Dave was ready for us, it was just a matter of waiting for the last carload. While everyone else was waiting for the rest of the crew, Mel, Chrissy, Alex and I went up to Meijer to get tickets for anyone who hadn't yet (as they were cheaper there than at the gate) and to get extra sweatshirts. Have I mentioned it was cold? Upon arriving back at Dave's, we found the rest of the merry band had arrived, and it was off along the scenic back route to Cedar Point, where the homes along Lake Erie *easily* begin at around $1M or so. Oh my. Saturday is a blur of rollercoasters, much shrieking, laughing, running about, extra strong Margaritas at the Boat House, more coasters, shocked cries of "No way!" when it came out that Jeff and Zeynep had never been on any rollercoasters, ever, and chose the Millennium Force as their first. (Three hundred foot drop at 80 degrees and 92 mph. Oooh. Break 'em in right, dammit!) I spent a lot of time asking "Where are the Alexes?", as my son and my Lackey took up with each other and conspired to ride the Iron Dragon over and over. I don't even know how many times they rode it. Everywhere I looked, there were little clusters of Darkfriends and Darkfriends-In-Training, snuggling for warmth, passing kids around, passing each other around. It was an entirely delightful day. We broke into small groups again, some to go back to Toledo, some to stay just a bit longer. We stayed up way too late again, drank entirely too much for our health, and generally made merry well into the wee hours before collapsing from utter exhaustion. Sunday, October 7th: We had planned originally to go to the Toledo Museum of Art to see the travelling "Star Wars: The Magic of Myth" exhibit. As some of our merry revelers had to leave right after breakfast, and still others were leaving by early afternoon, we decided that we would not go, and would instead spend the day lounging. We were all much too tired to move very far anyway. One by one, Darkfriends bade us farewell, and we were left with just Ray, Kenn, Zeynep, Mel, Anne and Alex by early evening. Dave Rothgery drove in from Sandusky to join us for dinner at the Maumee Bay Brewing Company downtown. Several of us ordered a Maumee Bay special - a brewer's sampler of 6 different kinds of beer, 3 ounces of each. Mark and Anne both flipped for the English Mild Ale, I watched with great amusement as they each ordered a half gallon growler to take home. We left feeling happily full and our beer connoisseurs each had wide grins as they cradled their growlers. Anne, Alex and Dave took their leave of us after dinner, and those of us remaining stayed up to play Balderdash. I staggered to bed when I started to doze, but the game apparently lasted several hours longer. Monday, October 8th: *sigh* The last day. I hate the last day of Socials. Saying goodbye sucks. So rather than recount the leavetakings, I shall stop here and say simply that I'm thrilled that you all came out for the weekend. It was, as ever, a pleasure to have you here, and I am looking forward to the next time. Your presence here is very much missed. I owe a special thanks to each one of you who took one kid or another on rides. I can't think of a better way for the boys to have experienced Cedar Point for the first time, than in the company of the Darkfriends. Thank you for making the trip memorable for them. Pictures should be up tomorrow night, or sometime early Monday. As soon as everyone sends me copies of their pictures, those will go up too! -- Maggie UIN 10248195 http://www.darkfriends.net "Shadow found himself thinking about a garage in San Clemente with box after box of rare, strange and beautiful books in it rotting away, all of them browning and wilting and being eaten by mold and insects in the darkness, waiting for someone who would never come to set them free." - Neil Gaiman, cut from _American Gods_