Friday, March 10th, 2000 When it comes to Socials, I spend a lot of time waiting, it seems. If I'm not waiting for my bus, or waiting in traffic with a travelling companion, or waiting at the airport to meet someone, I'm waiting for guests to arrive. Sometime around 5:30PM, Bill McCarthy called to let me know that he and Jenn were hitting the road, and I should expect them in about 10 hours. Add them to the list of people I was waiting for... Steve Ginter has a knack for showing up earlier than expected, usually while I'm doing laundry. Not that I mind, but just once, I'd like to be done with everything before my friends show up! Steve arrived around 8:30PM, looking completely exhausted. A little idle chatter and a Guinness later, and he was catching a power nap while I finished up last minute preparations for a Darkfriend invasion. Kenn's train was due to arrive around 1:30AM, and Bill McCarthy and Jenn Schoen were due in from Charlotte around 3AM. We obviously weren't going to sleep much, as we were to meet Paul Dubuc, from Dayton, OH, at COSI at noon-ish on Saturday, so it's probably a good thing that he napped when he did. He woke after about half an hour, and we watched a *terrible* show on the SciFi network until it was time to go get Kenn. Remarkably, Kenn's train arrived a mere 6 minutes late. This is the first time in the two years that he's been coming to visit that his train has arrived on time, or within 15 minutes of on time. Usually, it's an hour or more late! We drove around for a bit, heading first for Kroger to find allergy medication for Kenn (he's a little sensitive to Sydney). Steve: "You can tell we're in the University neighborhood. The only condoms in stock are in the Jumbo Economy Box!" Kenn: "Right next to the mega-tubes of KY, I see..." We headed back to my living room to wait for Bill and Jenn. There was much gossipping (who, us?) and the guys decided they were going to have a bitch fight. Not your usual bitch fight. They decided to argue for *posession* of a bitch. Me. Kenn and Steve have made it their mission to help me learn programming. Steve: "I brought her a VBA manual." Kenn, gasping: "That's *my* woman! Hands off!" (I never thought I'd hear *that* out of Kenn!) Bill and Jenn arrived at 3:15AM. If you haven't met Bill, he's quite tall, and very soft-spoken. His housemate, Jenn, is sweet and sharply funny, and she makes wicked chocolate covered strawberries! Yay! All Darkfriends present and accounted for! Considering the late (early?) hour, we had expected everyone would be tired and would want to sleep. Yeah, right. As with every other Social I've ever attended or hosted, we were wired, so we stayed up to gossip. Jenn in particular had some tales to tell on Bill: Jenn: "...so he had *no* sleep, and *insisted* on going shopping..." Bill: "I wanted dishes to match the kitchen!" Kenn: "Oh, honey, you are *so* gay! Even *I* don't have dishes to match the kitchen!" Steve: "It's a wonder you have *dishes!" Jenn continues: "It was like being with a little kid. He'd pick something up and say 'Ooh!', then he'd get distracted by something else, and say 'Ooh!', and pick that up...I had to keep taking things away from him! Don't let him out when he hasn't slept!" Well, we broke *that* rule. Sort of like not feeding Gremlins after midnight, we just couldn't help it. We stayed up until well past 5AM, when I realized that we would have to get up in less than four hours if we expected to make ourselves presentable and make it to COSI on time. Alex and Ernie woke me around 8AM, and I managed to convince them to stay in my room (by letting them play with the computer) until 9AM. Remarkably, no one laughed at my pajamas when I pattered into the kitchen to make breakfast, but that may well have been because I was making French Toast... Anyway... We made it out the door on time to head for COSI, but our driving people forgot to take the maps I had printed out, so we played caravan with my vague recollections of the directions (bear in mind, I don't drive, I take the bus to COSI!). We made it a little after 12:30, and worried that we wouldn't find Paul, who was supposed to meet us there. We checked in at the desk, and asked if anyone had left a message for "The Darkfriends". Trinity (yes, that really is her name! And she's one of my favorite staff people there, so shutcha yip) said no, so *we* left one, figuring that if Paul was late, Trinity could direct him to us. That left us to wander COSI. Bill: "Ooh." (Bill said that a lot while we were there.) COSI's current exhibit theme is "Scream Machines", and is all about the science of roller coasters. There were models of several famous coasters, including Coney Island's Cyclone, Cedar Point's Magnum XL 200, King's Island's Beast, and Kennywood's Steel Phantom. Ooh, indeed. We saw a very entertaining show called "The Revolver Show", which dealt with motion and perspective and took place on a revolving stage. We were having a great time until Kenn tripped and sprained his foot. Poor dear! So we took our time through the rest of COSI, skipping a few exhibits in favor of putting Bill on the High Wire Cycle, and Bill and I both riding the G-Force! Cycle (check out the pics for those), and periodically checking for Paul. Jenn made certain to point out a wrecked car in the "Life Force" area to Bill: Jenn: "This is you." Bill: "I don't drive fast!" (Yes he does.) Mark caught up with us eventually, having spent the morning at work, and we piled into cars to head to Hot Sizzling Wok, where we were hoping to find Paul waiting, along with John and Sandi (my brother-in-law and sister-in-law), who are brand new Wheel of Time fans. We played musical cars, me riding with Bill, Jenn with Steve and Kenn and Mark detouring home for a minute to get Kenn's asthma meds. Bill is not, by any stretch of the imagination (or tales told by his darling housemate) a bad driver. He *is*, however, a *fast* driver. <*shiver*> No worries about traffic, but when you're not used to clipping along fast, it can be...an experience. Add to that my amazement at Bill folding his 6 foot frame into his itty-bitty car... After a few odd turns, thanks to Mark's terrible directions, we all made it to the Wok to find John and Sandi already waiting, but no Paul. <*grumble*> This was rather worrisome, as we hadn't heard from Paul at all, and had no idea if something had happened to him. We were seated in a private room (likely to protect the other patrons) just as Mark and Kenn arrived. I have absolutely no idea what we talked about at dinner. There were dozens of conversations, we laughed a lot and spent a good deal of time passing plates around the table so everyone could share, and much was made over the wonderful dishes served by our friends at the Wok. Steve told us about restaurants he had visited while in the Navy, Kenn expounded on the virtues of several Chicago restaurants, and we all decided that someone should have been writing things down. (I was too busy with my tea-smoked duck.) When we were able to move from our chairs after dinner, we headed back to Chez Brazeau to teach the newbies how to play Chez Geek. (Pam Korda, it's all your fault!) My sis, Chrissy, and her fiance Jon joined us for several rounds of our new favorite (and *addicting*) game, informing us that it had started to snow. Much Guinness was consumed. At one point, Jenn, Steve and I walked over to the grocery store to fetch a few things for Margaritas - and discovered it wasn't just snowing, it was nearly whiteout conditions! ACK! In *March*! We giggled our way through the snow, the grocery store and back, and settled in with many Margarita's, more rounds of Chez Geek than I can count on all of our fingers combined, and much laughter. At one point, I thought I should check the weather forecasts for Sunday between Toledo and Charlotte, since Bill and Jenn had so far to go. While logging in to Weather Underground, I received e-mail from Paul, expressing regret that he had been unable to make the drive up from Dayton due to car troubles. I'm so relieved he was OK! We missed you, Paul! John, Sandi, Chrissy and Jon eventually left us, pleading exhaustion, leaving the rest of us to stay up until some awful hour to play many more rounds of Chez Geek. Steve ever so kindly offered back rubs, and I managed to get a wide eyed stare and a blink out of him when I half growled, half purred at him. Steve: "Oooh." <*shiver*> Eventually, we were too tired to hold our cards and called it a night, wiped out and woozy as hell. Kenn's train was due to depart at 7:30AM on Sunday, and Steve and I had "bon voyage" duties. Steve, Kenn and I tiptoed about at 6:30AM, gathering Kenn's things and loading them into Steve's car. We arrived at the Amtrak station at about the same time as Kenn's train (perfect timing!), made our goodbyes, and Steve and I headed back home to finish recovering from the night before. Sunday morning dawned snowy and chilly. I had planned to make either omelettes or waffles for breakfast, but Mark suggested donuts while the Darkfriends were mulling their choices, and I was saved from messing up the kitchen again. We spent Sunday morning sprawled across the living room with our donuts, coffee, newspaper...and Chez Geek again! We're hooked. We need a 12 step program. Bill and Jenn eventually decided they should brave the roads home, in spite of suggestions that they call in dead so they could stay longer. Mark, Steve and I helped them load up, and brush snow from the car, and we posed for pictures in the snowy field beside my apartment building. Steve: "Oh good. My car is still here." Maggie: "That's because David Bowie is in jail and Michael Jackson is busy." (If you know the story behind Steve's car mishap in November, you'll get it. If you don't know the story, ask.) Bill and Jenn had *just* driven down the street, when we discovered that Jenn had left her planner in my living room, with her entire life in it - credit cards, the works. "Oh, shit!", right? Thankfully, I had written down Bill's cell phone number. "Bill, honey? Are you missing anything?" Bill and Jenn sped back down Gribbin to fetch the planner, then were off again. Steve stuck around for a while, since he didn't have as long of a drive as Bill and Jenn. He presented the kids with his old Sega system, warning them that if they didn't mind, he'd find out. They were awestruck. Uncle Steve spoils those two ferociously, I swear. We watched the kids play for a bit, chatted a little more, not wanting to let the weekend go. Who ever wants to go back to the grind after a weekend of fun? Unfortunately, it was soon time for Steve to take his leave of us and head back for Buffalo. Steve left around 5PM, and I set about getting back to the daily grind myself. There were many, many funny things said, hysterical stories told, and completely surprised expressions the whole weekend long, I wish I had the memory to recall them all. Perhaps someone else will add their recollections to mine, eventually! (HINT HINT!) I'm going to invest in a micro-cassette recorder, so I can note them all next time! It was, as always, great fun to welcome the Darkfriends into my home. I can't wait to see everyone again, thanks for a wonderful weekend!