Unleashed on Manhattan
Sep. 2nd, 2003 04:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
coffeesnob318Long ass entry coming up. Just warning you.
I had fun this weekend! Went to New York - got to meet kathy and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
discodelic, and got to see wyllow, again, and got to talk on the phone with ladylynx. Good times were had. Good (yummy! pretty!) gifts were given. Lots of squeeing ensued.
It all started when I woke up at 4:00 Saturday morning to be transported to the airport by Michelle (thanks!). The flight was easy. Kathy had arranged for a car to pick me up, and the driver was pretty nice. Except for his 30-minute treatise on why two women who had never been to NYC before shouldn't drive there alone. He gave me his version of helpful advice. For instance, when 81 goes north, and 78 goes east - take 78, because New York is east of Pittsburgh (the. heck. you. say.). He told me three times not to miss it. When I got near the exit, I saw what he meant. I mean, with my complete lack of penis, I never would have noticed the five miles of signs preceding it, nor the very large signs, which one could probably see from space, signaling the break. He also shared antidotes about every time he had driven in NYC and how intimidating it was. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I'm not that easily intimidated.
If you ever travel, I highly recommend Kathy as a traveling companion. She ruled. She had directions, maps, Dr. Pepper, coffee, and The Mother of all Traveling Mugs to drink it from. She listened to my random rambling about how pretty the Pennsylvania countryside is. She endured my story of how my sister and I, on road trips, used to yell "Those cows are mine!" and feverishly count every cow we thus claimed, and then yelled, "Your cows are dead!" every time we passed a cemetery (the one with the most cows at the end wins, in case you're interested). I only noticed her visibly cringe once, when we took a not-so-scenic, accidental detour through New Jersey and I, upon deciding that I no longer cared to drive the direction we were going, pulled a three-point turn in the middle of a moderately busy street. It was at this point that she decided that we needed a Texas Driver on Board sign in the back window.
We found the New Jersey Turnpike by the grace of God and headed toward the Lincoln Tunnel. Traffic actually lightened once we entered the city. Once out of the tunnel, we made it safely to the Roosevelt Hotel with the help of one generous parking garage attendant and someone at the hotel talking us through it. Who says New Yorkers aren't friendly?
We tried to check into our room, but it wasn't ready (although it was supposed to be ready 4 hours earlier). There was a message fromwyllow to meet her in the bar. I like the way she thinks. We wandered around the bar, looking for her, but she wasn't there, so we meandered back into the lobby, which was full of people who were there for the salsa convention. Lots and lots of pretty. Pretty boys, pretty girls, pretty accents. Nice, even though I felt severely underdressed, even to be in the lobby.
wyllow walked in - she'd gone to buy shoes. Our room still was not ready, but never fear - we were not without things to do. We took a couple of trips to the car. Kathy thought she had left her cell phone there (turns out it was in her purse all along...tee hee) and, upon resurfacing to the street, she discovered that she had left her glasses down there, so we trudged back down. Merciless teasing followed (by me, mostly). C'mon, Kathy - you didn't expect me not to mention it, did you?
It was then 7:00, and we had dinner reservations at 7:30. So we pushed them back, finally got into the room, and the bell hops brought our bags up. They stalled for a while and I, in my wearied state, did not catch the "pay us our tip so that we can leave" vibe, so they left. It was then that my brain kicked in, but I was not about to go track them down. No need. One of them knocked on the door and not-so-subtly asked for it. OK, so it wasn't smooth, but he won points for balls. We gave him $20, which he assured us he would share with the other guy (yeah, right). I wish I made a dollar a minute. But at least the awkward incident supplied us with a lot of jokes for the rest of the evening. We kept thinking of things he could come back and do to fully earn the tip, such as holding the entertainment center doors open (since they didn't seem to want to stay open by themselves). And the slow service at the hotel restaurant gave us plenty of time for making the list. Ah, revelry!
We had planned to go to the salsa party that night, but we ended up watching footage of the Lex-only scenes and other MR footage until we fell asleep.
The next day, we had brunch at St. Bart's. We calledlilmouse1073 to email ladylynx. I couldn't have asked her for her number prior to coming on the trip - no, that would have been too sensible a thing for me to do. Mouse gave her my cell number. When she called, we learned that she had been there for three hours the previous afternoon, looking for us, but none of us had arrived yet, so she went home. So we missed getting to see her, but it was cool to at least get to hear her voice. Note to self: email detailed itinerary before meeting someone so you don't miss them.
After brunch,discodelic joined us. Yea! Her arrival sparked a variety of tasks that only true fangirls would understand. First, we had to piece together the life-sized poster of MR so that we could hang him on the wall and take pictures. Then we took more pictures of the banner that Kathy brought. Then we put together goody bags for ourselves (well, disco did. The other three of us had done so the night before), which required more pictures, especially when Sunglasses!Michael-on-a-mousepad landed on the pillow and we (ok, I) had to pose with michael in bed. My Weirdest Fangirly Thing Ever Done is getting weirder by the trip. Next trip - pictures of the Lex Action Figure at the vacation location. Just like the gnome in Amelie.
We watched a whole lotta Michael. New to me was the Craig Kilborn interview (how did I miss that?) and the movie 1999 (word of advice - do not go rent it. Save yourself the pain. "But it has Michael in it," you argue. OK, but don't say I didn't warn you). It was when we watched the question and answer from the Denver con that we unanimously voted that Michael be given his own talk show...and that the four of us be employed there. I would sooo drop everything and relocate.
Kathy and I had to leave early-ish the next morning, so we were all up and out of there by 7:45. But not, of course, before we took more pictures - this time of the life-sized poster under the sheets with disco cuddling up to it. We generously left him for the maid. They probably hate us there.
The lady who checked us out was lively and fun, even though she thought we were a little crazy when we told her why we were there. Then we said our goodbyes to wyllow and disco and left.
The drive back was easy. I got to meet Kathy's husband, who was just as nice as she is. Made the plane - easy flight - got home safe and sound.
Two thumbs up (ok, one and three quarters - I hated missing lynxie) for a fine trip.
I had fun this weekend! Went to New York - got to meet kathy and
discodelic, and got to see wyllow, again, and got to talk on the phone with ladylynx. Good times were had. Good (yummy! pretty!) gifts were given. Lots of squeeing ensued.It all started when I woke up at 4:00 Saturday morning to be transported to the airport by Michelle (thanks!). The flight was easy. Kathy had arranged for a car to pick me up, and the driver was pretty nice. Except for his 30-minute treatise on why two women who had never been to NYC before shouldn't drive there alone. He gave me his version of helpful advice. For instance, when 81 goes north, and 78 goes east - take 78, because New York is east of Pittsburgh (the. heck. you. say.). He told me three times not to miss it. When I got near the exit, I saw what he meant. I mean, with my complete lack of penis, I never would have noticed the five miles of signs preceding it, nor the very large signs, which one could probably see from space, signaling the break. He also shared antidotes about every time he had driven in NYC and how intimidating it was. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I'm not that easily intimidated.
If you ever travel, I highly recommend Kathy as a traveling companion. She ruled. She had directions, maps, Dr. Pepper, coffee, and The Mother of all Traveling Mugs to drink it from. She listened to my random rambling about how pretty the Pennsylvania countryside is. She endured my story of how my sister and I, on road trips, used to yell "Those cows are mine!" and feverishly count every cow we thus claimed, and then yelled, "Your cows are dead!" every time we passed a cemetery (the one with the most cows at the end wins, in case you're interested). I only noticed her visibly cringe once, when we took a not-so-scenic, accidental detour through New Jersey and I, upon deciding that I no longer cared to drive the direction we were going, pulled a three-point turn in the middle of a moderately busy street. It was at this point that she decided that we needed a Texas Driver on Board sign in the back window.
We found the New Jersey Turnpike by the grace of God and headed toward the Lincoln Tunnel. Traffic actually lightened once we entered the city. Once out of the tunnel, we made it safely to the Roosevelt Hotel with the help of one generous parking garage attendant and someone at the hotel talking us through it. Who says New Yorkers aren't friendly?
We tried to check into our room, but it wasn't ready (although it was supposed to be ready 4 hours earlier). There was a message from
wyllow to meet her in the bar. I like the way she thinks. We wandered around the bar, looking for her, but she wasn't there, so we meandered back into the lobby, which was full of people who were there for the salsa convention. Lots and lots of pretty. Pretty boys, pretty girls, pretty accents. Nice, even though I felt severely underdressed, even to be in the lobby.wyllow walked in - she'd gone to buy shoes. Our room still was not ready, but never fear - we were not without things to do. We took a couple of trips to the car. Kathy thought she had left her cell phone there (turns out it was in her purse all along...tee hee) and, upon resurfacing to the street, she discovered that she had left her glasses down there, so we trudged back down. Merciless teasing followed (by me, mostly). C'mon, Kathy - you didn't expect me not to mention it, did you?It was then 7:00, and we had dinner reservations at 7:30. So we pushed them back, finally got into the room, and the bell hops brought our bags up. They stalled for a while and I, in my wearied state, did not catch the "pay us our tip so that we can leave" vibe, so they left. It was then that my brain kicked in, but I was not about to go track them down. No need. One of them knocked on the door and not-so-subtly asked for it. OK, so it wasn't smooth, but he won points for balls. We gave him $20, which he assured us he would share with the other guy (yeah, right). I wish I made a dollar a minute. But at least the awkward incident supplied us with a lot of jokes for the rest of the evening. We kept thinking of things he could come back and do to fully earn the tip, such as holding the entertainment center doors open (since they didn't seem to want to stay open by themselves). And the slow service at the hotel restaurant gave us plenty of time for making the list. Ah, revelry!
We had planned to go to the salsa party that night, but we ended up watching footage of the Lex-only scenes and other MR footage until we fell asleep.
The next day, we had brunch at St. Bart's. We called
lilmouse1073 to email ladylynx. I couldn't have asked her for her number prior to coming on the trip - no, that would have been too sensible a thing for me to do. Mouse gave her my cell number. When she called, we learned that she had been there for three hours the previous afternoon, looking for us, but none of us had arrived yet, so she went home. So we missed getting to see her, but it was cool to at least get to hear her voice. Note to self: email detailed itinerary before meeting someone so you don't miss them.After brunch,
discodelic joined us. Yea! Her arrival sparked a variety of tasks that only true fangirls would understand. First, we had to piece together the life-sized poster of MR so that we could hang him on the wall and take pictures. Then we took more pictures of the banner that Kathy brought. Then we put together goody bags for ourselves (well, disco did. The other three of us had done so the night before), which required more pictures, especially when Sunglasses!Michael-on-a-mousepad landed on the pillow and we (ok, I) had to pose with michael in bed. My Weirdest Fangirly Thing Ever Done is getting weirder by the trip. Next trip - pictures of the Lex Action Figure at the vacation location. Just like the gnome in Amelie.We watched a whole lotta Michael. New to me was the Craig Kilborn interview (how did I miss that?) and the movie 1999 (word of advice - do not go rent it. Save yourself the pain. "But it has Michael in it," you argue. OK, but don't say I didn't warn you). It was when we watched the question and answer from the Denver con that we unanimously voted that Michael be given his own talk show...and that the four of us be employed there. I would sooo drop everything and relocate.
Kathy and I had to leave early-ish the next morning, so we were all up and out of there by 7:45. But not, of course, before we took more pictures - this time of the life-sized poster under the sheets with disco cuddling up to it. We generously left him for the maid. They probably hate us there.
The lady who checked us out was lively and fun, even though she thought we were a little crazy when we told her why we were there. Then we said our goodbyes to wyllow and disco and left.
The drive back was easy. I got to meet Kathy's husband, who was just as nice as she is. Made the plane - easy flight - got home safe and sound.
Two thumbs up (ok, one and three quarters - I hated missing lynxie) for a fine trip.
