Subject: Loy2K: Group Grope At Mark's! Film At 11! From: Maggie Organization: Missy the Monster Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan (Yeah, I know it's late...I've been busy with pictures.) Plans made? Check, over a year and a half ago. Hotel reservations? Check. Transportation? Check. David's flight info, to get him from the airport Friday night? Check. Sitter? Check, locked in two months ago. Unchecked at about 1:30PM on Thursday, fully an hour after Dave Rothgery had sent e-mail to tell me he was on his way. Silly bitch decided she was staying in Detroit til Saturday night. Great. Plans perfectly laid out, and my sitter decides she can't be bothered. <*growl*> After some frantic phone calls, a new sitter was obtained - for a much higher wage, as she was getting less than 24 hours notice - but my trip to Indy was back on, so I didn't care. Dave arrived just minutes after the new sitting arrangements were made. We were terribly lazy, watching Galaxy Quest, shooting the breeze, making baklava and happily devouring Mrs. Rothgery's outstanding fudge. I slipped out early the next morning to run a couple errands, and returned to find that my kitchen table had acquired two more occupants, namely Anne and Madhu, who were only slightly earlier than I had expected. Yippee! After finishing a few things and kicking the spousal unit out the door for work, we were off to my sister in-law's to drop off the Monsters and hit the road. The roads were pretty icky, Toledo isn't always great about getting things plowed and salted right away, so we crept along carefully with Alex in Anne's car and Ernie with Dave and me. Following Anne (with Madhu navigating, because he's driven to my sis in-law's), we found ourselves right behind her while waiting to turn. *Right* behind her. Though Dave braked in plenty of time, the car skittered across the ice and smacked into the rear on Anne's car. Ooops. No harm done, though, just a loud noise and a startled Alex exclaiming (or so I'm told) "That scared the shit out of me!". That's my boy. Arriving in Indy after a fairly uneventful trip, we discovered that the Days Inn wasn't particularly adept at coding keys. Three tries and much grumbling before I was finally able to get into my room and crawl under the covers for a very much needed nap. In spite of the scorch marks on the wall and the long nails (spikes?) at odd intervals, the room was clean and the bed, while hard, was cozy enough. It didn't take long to fall asleep, I expected I'd get at least an hour and a half to snooze. *BANG**BANG**BANG* It was to that noise I jumped about ten feet straight up. Ever see the cartoons with the startled cat hanging upside down from the ceiling? Having gone from sound asleep to "What the fuck was that!?", I had no choice but to pry my fingers out of the ceiling and open the door. Hurrah! It was Novak, Pat and Roy, telling me to get my ass down to Paul's room, which I did after finding glasses, shoes and hairbrush. Not long after, Mark picked the lot of us up for dinner at his place, where we finally got to see Noell and Eric Milota, and Drew and Tashenna. At some point we were joined by Steve Ginter, and not long after, Anne, Madhu and I left to fetch David from the airport. Minor mischief ensued at the airport. I had threatened several times to show up at the airport in my bunny ears, just for the sake of making David laugh, then changed my mind about a month ago and bought a Sugar Plum Fairy crown. Madhu and Anne grinned in amusement when I put it on...and the "you look ridiculous" grin on David's face was just priceless. I'd happily pay to see that again! Of course, the bunny ears did make it out eventually, as did the crown... We arrived at the Days Inn almost exactly the same time as Steve, who promptly grabbed me and dragged me off to his room. I had an inkling why, he had said some time ago he wanted to make a cloak for me. Oh my heavens, did he ever make a cloak! It's beautiful, deep forest green wool, with a thick wool middle layer and soft green fleece lining. It's also the warmest thing I've ever worn, I doubt I'll ever wear a coat again. *smooch* Thanks Steve! Saturday morning found us wandering en masse to to PaPa's Pancake House, where we were tempted with Amazingly Digestible treats like Chocolate Delight - chocolate chip pancakes, topped with ice cream and chocolate sauce. (It was better on Monday morning, when the ice cream was chocolate.) Upon our return, we found that Leah had arrived (YAY!!) bearing gifts! Her choice of a splendid Wizard of Oz pop up book was much remarked upon, several of us commented that pop up books had become much cooler since we were kids. Then there were the Booger beans for my kids...oy...<*grin*> We organized a trip to the mall, where apparently Novak beat up some little girl, Paul repeated the Incredible Social Ice Pitch from two years ago, and I nearly ate a clerk at Sam Goody for being a pain in the ass. I hate store clerks that talk out of turn. Leah, Anne and I managed to take David into Victoria's Secret (now *there* were some faces!) in search of frou-frou girly stuff, and we made the obligatory stop in FAO Schwarz to play. Upon our return to the Days Inn, we set off to the gas station to fetch a few things, and discovered WhoopAss soda. Of course we bought some. (I was amused to find that several people bought some later. www.jonessoda.com, if you want to see a picture.) Leah and I had designs on doing our nails and making ourselves presentable before dinner at St. Elmo, but our presence was commanded by Lord High Oz, so I hitched a piggy back ride on Bill, and Leah was put in charge of the booze. In retrospect, we probably should have skipped that trip to Darkfriend Central, as several rowdy characters thought it might be a good idea to tickle the piss out of me. They have no idea how close they came to making this literal! My apologies for the shattered eardrums, guys...ooops... At last, it was time to head for St. Elmo, where they let us clog up the foyer for a while before leading us to a back room...I won't even try to describe dinner. Suffice to say, it was divine, and well worth the rather large price tag. John and Annette Dillick sat across the table, and were a source of much fun - Annette and Baby Ian (he kicked!), and John with his story of mucking with the sounds on his father's laptop without telling him. <*grin*> Man after my own heart, he is. There was much rejoicing later, I recall staying up til some ungodly hour. Most of Sunday (daylight) is a blur...we had a rowdy breakfast...a pre- party snooze..then all hell broke loose. I wound up out wandering/shopping with Madhu and the Ke(n)ns, and discovered to my chagrin that alcohol could not be purchased on Sundays in Indiana. <*grumble*> My intention had been to take the Loys champagne and roses. At least the roses worked out! We returned from our shopping with just enough time to collect ourselves and head for Mark's! Mark's party is a series of perfect moments to me...watching Mark as he happily circulated among us...reading Janet's Christmas card...talking to Erica, astonished and pleased that she had asked to talk to me...finally getting to talk to Noell after months...watching various and assorted ladies perch upon The Lap...watching John smile contentedly...watching Darkfriends perching upon each other, or draping themselves across the lap of their choosing...feeling the warmth and contentment that permeated the house...playing the Bondage Game ("He's the analytical one. I'm drunk.")...Lovers In The Park...That damned spoon and spatula game (fuck you Bill)...finally meeting Alex Goddard, who has bailed my ass out of archive hell on several occasions now, and making him an official Lackey (he's really good at it, too!)...Madhu and Skwid drinking Guinness like water...having my aching back worked on by no fewer than four pairs of incredibly skilled hands...oh my god...I still owe all of my "doctors" many thanks, my back hasn't felt this good in *years*. You're all hired! Champagne at midnight, hugs and kisses all around...it could not have been a more wonderful night. Kudos to Mark and Deb for an outstanding New Millennium Eve! Monday was spent mostly recovering. Somehow, we lost Steve at about the same time the Chicago contingent took off. Eep. Those of us remaining had a quiet breakfast, then headed for Mark's for a bit to watch Young Frankenstein and bask in the afterglow of the previous night. Bill, Leah, David, Dave, Paul and I hit the road in search of sushi. We settled on the Mikado in downtown Indy, where we proceeded to lay waste to two huge platters, Bill's Bento, Dave's Chicken Teriyaki and several gallons of tea. Mmmmm. Our craving satisfied, we returned to Mark's to watch Iron Chef (I was astounded, and am now bugging the hell out of my cable provider for the Food Network), bask a bit more...and say goodbye. <*sigh*> In spite of best efforts to get to sleep early, David, Leah and I were up terribly late, not wanting to let go just yet...arrrrrgh, how I hate being so far away from such wonderful people! Tuesday morning, Dave and I took David to the airport, where we had a nice breakfast at Au Bon Pain, and ran into Bill, Skwid and Tina - Leah's flight had just left! <*pout*> I hate airports. Love planes, love flying, hate airports...and hate saying goodbye to my very best friend. Argh. I think we managed fairly well, though I did break my promise not to cry...fortunately, I had my little brother there to remind me not to. Have I mentioned I love my little brother? Dave rocks. We had a pleasant drive home, and arrived to find that my apartment was still intact after 4 days without the Head Housekeeper. Wow. Pizza for supper, a bit of recovery time, then it was time to bid Dave goodbye as he headed for Sandusky...and the Social was at an end. Here I am, a week later, still smiling from a wonderful weekend spent with good friends. Steve's fine handiwork has been much admired here, many people have stopped me to ask where they can find such a thick, warm cloak, the memory of his smile as he pulled this work of art from his bag and threw it over my shoulders is almost as warm as the cloak itself. The laughter of the Darkfriends still rings in my ears, and I still see the merry smiles if I just close my eyes - these are the thoughts that make me smile. Thanks to all for a New Year's Eve to remember! Photo note: After much fuss, my pictures are scanned and edited, and I have Leah's pics as well. They should be up around week's end, and I expect Paul to send pics as well, probably upon his return to Oz. If you have pics you would like displayed, you know where to find me. -- Maggie UIN 10248195 http://www.chocolatefiends.com "The Dark was cold until she came, but she was Midnight, kissed by Flame"-Rajiv Mote on rasfwrj