The other day we went to Walmart to look for cheap portable DVD players for our vacation. Ben often gets really fidgety in the cart so I just let him wander around, while, of course, I keep an eye on him.

He's gotten into the funny little habit of dancing in public. First it's a little dance, but if some random shopper passes by and comments, he'll dance again, much longer and more elaborately. He's a little ham, my little guy is!

We were in the electronics section and Ben found the videogame demo section. You know, the place where they have controllers set up and kids stand for hours playing for free? The controller was just within Ben's grasp, but he had to get up on his tippy toes to touch it. He really didn't care whether or not he was controlling anything on-screen, it was the controller he was interested in. I just stood on the side and watched him reach to grasp the buttons.

Soon, an boy came by, about 9 or 10 years old. He was on those shoe/roller skate combo things that I find really intriguing. He rolled up to Ben and the controller and I was expecting him to nudge Ben out of the way so he could play. But to my surprise, he stood there and bent the controller holder so it was more accessible for Ben to play with. At first, Ben thought he wanted to play with it so he stood aside, but when the boy just stood there and pointed to the controller, Ben cautiously went back and played with the buttons as the boy held it for him.

Ben then ran away to check out other things, and the boy went back to his shopping (or waiting for this parents). Ben went back to the controller, and once again, the little boy came by to help him out. Ben tinkered around a bit with it as the boy watched and held down the controller. When Ben was done, he looked up at the boy and did his best 5 second dance. The boy laughed and said, "You're a funny little baby!" and walked away.

The next day, Ben and I went to go watch Dave play at his company softball game. There was a boy there, about 13 or 14, who was there to watch his mom play. The three of us were in the dugout, and didn't speak for the first several innings. But Ben was so entertaining with his yelling and running around, I could tell that the boy was warming up to him. What finally broke his cool exterior was when Ben did his little hand dance - the boy laughed out loud. After that, he played with Ben, putting a baseball in his hood and making sure he didn't run off onto the field. Ben liked the boy so much that he raised his arms to him, asking him to pick him up. The boy looked at me confused, and I said, "He wants you to pick him up." He looks surprised, and gingerly picked up Ben and sat him on his lap. Ben spent the next several minutes sitting on the boys lap and watching the game. It was cute.

There are many times when I see the behavior of kids and cringe, scared that they're going to hurt my son (like the kid who stepped on Ben's hand at the playground the day of the softball game) or be a bad influence on him. It's times like the ones above, though, that make me feel a little better about letting my little boy into the big, big world. Not all kids were meant for the super-nanny...some of 'em turn out quite alright!

originally written yesterday

Is it just me, or has it seemed like it's been raining every day in Chicago? Every day there's rain, every other day there's a thunderstorm. A couple weeks ago, we left a bucket out on our deck, and the thing is almost full.

So today (or whenever I get a chance to post this up since currently I have no power but I have to leave my laptop on to recharge my phone) I was working on getting a presentation ready. Dave had the day off (did I mention it's our anniversary today?) and he had taken Ben to the pool since it was a nice, warm day. I had the house all to myself.

I was IM'ing with my coworker, trying to work out issues and throw ideas back and forth. We went on a little bit of a tangent and started talking about hazard, flood, and other types of insurance needed for homes, since he's in the process of buying a home. He's in Texas, and will slightly be affected by Hurricane Dean. He mentioned "windstorm" insurance, which is just a fancy word for hurricane. I mentioned that here we usually have floods and things like that. I wondered to myself if we had any sort of "windstorm"-type insurance for tornadoes.

Not 10 minutes later, my television (which I always keep on for background noise, and I was actually half paying attention to the move "The Remains of the Day") had started beeping, going to a blue screen with just text on it. It flashed, "Tornado Warning!" I was trying to read the text as an announcer started talking. At the same time, the home phone rang. It was Dave, telling me that a tornado had been spotted nearby. He told me to stay down in the basement. I hung up and tried to listen to the rest of the announcement - it had mentioned the suburbs right next to us and didn't know if they had mentioned my suburb. I listened a little more, and the announcer said, "A funnel has been spotted. The tornado will be hitting at 3:20". Unfortunately, I didn't have my watch on. I grabbed my phone - the time was 3:16. Four minutes!

I made a mad dash around the house, bringing down my laptop, house phone, cell phone, candles, lighter and flashlight first into the basement. I looked outside the window, and it had just started raining. I then ran up to the second floor and grabbed my backup CD's of pictures, box of Benjamin memorabilia, several mini videocassettes - included the day of Ben's birth, Claudine's raw wedding footage and any other tapes I could get my hands on. I also grabbed some batteries for the flashlight, which I had noticed was getting dim.

I went into the back corner of the basement, behind the bar, and arranged all my stuff. As soon as I sat down, the power went out. I lit my candles around me and waited. I could hear the rain start to hit the house pretty hard, and the thunder got louder and louder. I tried to listen for that "roaring train" sound, but it never came. I twiddled around for a bit, read a bit of the sketch books that I got from the convention, and waited. Still nothing.

I snuck upstairs to see what was going on. There were still cars passing by the house (I'm on a busy street) and none of them seemed like they were in a panic. So I opened the front door to look outside. I realized it was pretty windy out there and had a bit of difficulty closing the screen door because of the wind. I ran back downstairs.

After another couple minutes, I decided to come back up again. I went outside this time, and looked around and saw no funnel cloud. The rain had slowed down to a little drizzle. I looked into the sky again and there was a huge flash of lightning, very close. I went back inside the house.

Updated this morning

I didn't bother going back downstairs, thinking that the time had probably passed for the tornado warning. I searched for a screwdriver to open up my flashlight (it's a child's hippo flashlight) and I found our other "real" flashlight. I changed the batteries, and then went downstairs and took a nap on the couch.

Dave called a little later and I realized it was getting dark. I went up to pack some clothes, deciding that we'd just stay at his in-laws for the night, so I could get some work done and we could have some electricity. He came to pick me up and said that it took him FOREVER to get home since so many traffic lights were out on the major roads, and there was a lot of flooding on the streets.

We checked the basement to make sure there was no flooding and left. Luckily, we took another route that didn't have as many inactive traffic lights, but it still took a while to get over to the in-laws. Once we got there, Dave went into their basement and saw that there was water seeping in. They worked on cleaning up the water and I started to get ready for my presentation.

The news gave a ton of reports of uprooted trees, whose root systems were weak because of all the saturated water. No tornados touched down, but there was plenty of flooding and power outages - 320,000 of my fellow Chicagoans were out of power as well. They mentioned that it could take DAYS to restore power to everyone!

I heard a phone call in the middle of the night, turns out it was Dave's brother saying that he was experiencing some water damage at his place. I went back to sleep, but woke again when Dave's father said that he had gone to check on our place and we had some flooding in the basement. Nothing major, but about an inch of water. I thought of all the stuff we have stored in the basement (my comic books!) and got up at 5:30 to head back home and assess the damage.

Dave's dad and I headed home, and the power was still out. I headed into the basement and saw that Dave's dad had already done damage control. The furniture was raised up on cans of food, stuff was put on the pool table, and the barstools were placed on the bar. We went into the closet to move out our snowboards, comic books and other boxes we had in there. One of my boxes of comics was heavily saturated with water, but luckily all the books in there were bagged in plastic. The only casualty was a trade paperback of Ultimate Spiderman.

We did a quick stop by Home Depot afterwards to see if we could find a generator, but it turns out that they were sold out of them at around 6:15 this morning. Crazy!

So here I am, at my in-laws, getting ready to get some work done and waiting for the next set of storms to come in this afternoon. Hoepfully it doesn't cause any more flooding. Keep your fingers crossed!

So I've been working in the Milwaukee for the last several weeks, and Ben has been in the care of Dave, and when Dave's been working, his parents.

My in-laws love to take Ben to different places, to the mall, to their friend's homes, to restaurants, etc. One of their friends from out of town was staying with them last week, and they were taking him out to places, bringing Ben along.

They were at a restaurant eating dinner one night, and Ben was in a baby chair. Dave's dad took him out of the chair to let him cruise around the table. He thought that Dave's mom and her friend were aware that Ben was crawling around, so he went to the bathroom.

A couple minutes later, one of the cooks comes out of the kitchen. Guess what he's doing? Carrying Benjamin! Turns out that Benjamin silently crawled away from the table and wandered into the kitchen. I'm sure that the cooks in the kitchen were pretty surprised to see my little tyke crawling in.

My in-laws' friend sees Ben and goes up to the cook to thank him for bringing the baby out. Once Dave's dad got back to the table, they had a good laugh about Ben's little adventure.

Can you imagine what trouble he'll get into when he starts walking?!?!?

Last week (which seems like eons ago) I was in Milwaukee. Normally when I'm out of town it's pretty hard for me to go to sleep. I usually stay up until 1 or 2 in the morning, just working, playing on the internet watching whatever's on cable. I try to sleep earlier if I know I've got an early morning, but it never really works.

So I was in Milwaukee, asleep after yet another late night, and all of the sudden I hear this loud beeping, coming from all over. Then a voice screams into the room, "This is a fire alarm, please exit the building. Do not use the elevators." Or something like that. Then right after the voice, there's another voice. "This is the fire chief. There is no fire. Please stay in your rooms."

It went on and on like that for about 20 minutes. Loud beeping, "exit or die", "no, it's not real, just stay!". I was debating as I was lying in bed, wondering if I should leave, just in case. I heard doors on the floor opening and closing, through I don't know if anyone left. I looked at the clock and it was 5:30am. A mere half hour before my alarm was going to go off. That helped me make my decision. I was pissed that the alarm went off so soon before I was going to wake up, so I went to back to sleep.

20 minutes later, the beeping again, same message about leaving the building, then another voice says, "There is no fire, stay in your rooms!" I set my alarm to go off 20 minutes later.

Of course, next time I hear an alarm I'll make sure to leave the building if that "Nah, this isn't real" voice doesn't come on. However, this is the fourth time this has happened to me...hope I don't get used to it and ignore it when it really happens!

The other day my father in law was over making dinner on the grill in the back deck. I was washing dishes and he popped his head in the door and loudly whispered, "Christine, come out here!"

"Hold on, I'm doing dishes..."

"Hurry! You have to come out here quick!"

I came over by the door and he pointed to my backyard. When we bought the house it came with a hammock in the back. Since Dave is crazy about his lawn being green, he always takes it down and rolls it up when he's done so the hammock doesn't affect the lawn.

Standing above the rolled hammock was a opossum. He was moving slowly off the roll. "Did he come out from inside the hammock?" I asked

"Yeah, he crawled out from the middle. I guess he was sleeping there. I think he may be dying."

"Nah...he's ok." I said as I went back in to finish the dishes.

A couple minutes later my F-I-L rushes in again and exclaims, "It's dead! That thing is dead!"

"No, he's just pretending to be dead. That's what opossums do, they pretend to be dead when they're scared."

"No, he's dead. I poked him with a stick." Clearly, my F-I-L is not scared of rabies or sharp little animal teeth.

"He's pretending..." I said, and continued with the dishes. He went back outside to check on the corpse.

In popped in his head once again - "He's gone! He ran away while I was talking to you ...you're right! He was only faking it!"

Yep...that's what opossums do.

Then a week later, Dave found this big guy hanging out on the deck.

At first we thought it was a beaver...but of course, it's your average woodchuck. But isn't he a cutie?

I was at my client's site yesterday, and she was taking me around during lunchtime. One of her coworkers, a friend, came up to her and asked, "Where is the weight watcher's meeting?" My client walked her over to the room where the meeting was being held (she was a member herself). The meeting hadn't yet started so people were standing around outside the room.

There were glass doors in front of us looking out on a small lobby. In the lobby we could see three heavy set women who looked like they were lost. My client's friend told my client, "Hey, they must be looking for the meeting." "Yeah, let me tell them where it is," replied my client.

We walked out of the glass doors and my client asked the women, "Excuse me, are you looking for the weight watchers meeting?"

One of the women then glared and said, "No, we're looking for the HR Benefits meeting."

"Oh," said my client, "um, it's in room 140."

As they were walking away they were mumbling to each other, "Ha, I know I'm a big woman but I don't need no weight watchers!" "Thinkin' we're looking for weight watchers. Hmph!"

I had to try really hard not to crack up. Actually, I did once they went away. My client was so embarrassed that she thought they were looking for the meeting!

One day when I was at work I went into the bathroom and noticed that there was someone else already in there. The person was in the last stall, and they were pretty quiet. At first I thought it was a silent pooper (you know, the person that pretends not to exist when they hear someone walk into the bathroom as they're taking a dump). However, as I walked into my stall I hear her say, "Mmm...oh" then a second after that she silently whispered, "Oh no!" Then quickly after, she said in a louder shocked voice, "NO WAY!"

I was thinking, "Man, that must be one nasty dump. I wonder if she knows that someone else is in the bathroom with her? Should I ask her if she's ok?"

She continued on..."Wow!"

By then I was wondering what the hell was coming out of her to cause such a reaction.

Then I figured it out after what she said next, "I can't believe you said that. That's incredible!"

Duh. She was talking on a cell phone while she was in the stall. No magical, monstrous poop. Just a gal on the phone.

Boo...it was so much more interesting before I figured it out!

Overheard in the ladies' bathroom at the movie theater:

girl: Hey mommy, what's that? (pointing to the tampon/pad dispenser)

mom: Um, it's a candy machine

girl: ohh! candy! I want some!

mom: Oh, well, it's empty.

girl: But I want candy!

mom: Fine, I'll get you some outside.

girl: Mommy, why do they have a candy machine in the bathroom?

mom: I dunno, I guess some people get hungry when they want to go pee.

girl: That's weird!

mom: I know...let's go!

The mom shouldn't have said candy...she should have said, "It dispenses brussel sprouts" or something like that.

I can't wait for the day Benjers asks me that. I'll just say flatly "Women bleed from their vajayjays. This is where they buy stuff to keep it from ruining their nice pants."

Today I laundered my first load of baby clothes. I bought the special baby detergent (though didn't get the super expensive one) and I was ready to go. Since I'm starting up my hospital bag, I need to put some clothes in there for the baby. I want to make sure that I wash all the things for the baby before they're used.

So I picked out some outfits, burp cloths, socks (they're so tiny!) and receiving blankets for my first load. I threw it in the washer and decided to go to the grocery store to do some shopping since we're out of milk and I had a craving for some. It was about 11 at night, but I knew that the market was open til midnight. I wondered if it was a bad idea to leave the washing machine going while I was gone, but decided that it probably wouldn't catch fire or anything like that so it should be ok for the hour that I would be gone.

I got back, parked the car in the garage and went into the house through the garage. I was using the spare key for the car so I didn't have an actual key to the house, so the only way I could get in there was through the door in the garage.

I was worried about the ice cream that I had in the trunk, so I wanted to put my groceries away quickly. I opened the door into the house and *BAM*, the door would only open 1/8 of the way, too small for me to fit me and my big fat belly.

WTF!?!?!

I looked at the crack in the door and saw the culprit....

The laundry room is room you enter when you're entering the house through the garage. Sometimes when I do laundry, the washing machine shakes so much it moves from its place. Normally it's only a couple inches, but there have been times it's moved more than a foot.

To my dismay, this was one of those times. It had moved so much that it blocked the door. The way it had moved was so it was lodged between the door and the dryer.

I was stuck in the garage. I could move the washing machine a couple inches, but it was hard to manuever it around since I could really only stick in my arm. I stood there, wrestling with the door and the washing machine, but I was getting nowhere. I was trying to think of my options - I could call up my sister to bring her set of keys. Oh wait, I didn't have my cell phone. I could drive to my dad's place and pick up a set of keys from him, but it was almost midnight and I didn't want to drive any more. I could drive to my in-laws, but I didn't know if they were home or not. Dave was on call so he wouldn't be back til the morning.

And the most worrying thing was that my ice cream was melting!

I got a second wind of energy and was able to move the washer out of the way after several back and forth moves. I made sure not to use my stomach muscles because I was paranoid that I'd pop the baby out. Wouldn't that be something? Having my baby in the garage because I couldn't get in the house?

Happily, I was able to get in the house and throw my ice cream in the freezer. I left the rest of the stuff in there for Dave to get in the morning...I was too pooped!

Next time, I won't leave that sneaky washing machine on at home alone!

I got to a whole variety of different client site, from the government to schools to hospitals to banks to huge companies. I was at a state government office once, and I had a badge that let me walk around the building without an escort. This really helped when I needed to leave for lunch or walk to the vending room.

During one of my first visits, I passed by an area that had a window that looked at the courtyard outside. I saw several people standing outside talking and milling around. This wouldn't have been weird if the two men hadn't been wearing the exact same thing - white t-shirts and green and white striped pants, almost looking like pajama pants. The other two were policemen, but since the building also house the police offices, that wasn't anything out of the ordinary. I walked by.

Later on in the day, I was in the bathroom, and there was a woman in there cleaning the bathroom. She said a pleasant "Hello" and I said hi back. I then noticed that she had the same striped pants and white shirt as the two men outside.

"Aha! That's what the maintenance people wear!" I thought to myself. Pretty ugly outfits for maintenance people. They stick out like a sore thumb!

I was then talking to a coworker later on the week who was also working at the site. He mentioned to me, "Isn't it weird that the convicts are just walking around?"

"Huh?"

"You know, they're free to walk around the building when they're doing their maintenance chores. They're the ones in the green striped pants. How could you not notice them?"

"Oh. Yeah. Those guys. Um, yeah, that's kinda weird." I replied.

Ahh...the lightbulb goes on. The people who were wearing those strange uniforms were convicts! Turns out it was a work program for the convicts - if they had good behavior and worked hard, they were allowed to go outside the prison and work in the state offices. Of course, the state offices had security and everything around it, so there really is no danger.

So I admit to being a bit weirded out when I'd see the green stripes (as I called them in my head), but they always polite and friendly, so there was really nothing to be worried about.

I wonder if all the states do something like this...

This story is from several weeks ago, when we went to the Santana concert at the Taste of Chicago.

Mel, Fatima and I had gone to the bathroom (well, bathroom isn't the right word for it. ultra-toxic port-a-potty is more accurate) and we had just finished washing our hands at the fountains they had set up. We were going to go back to our table where everyone else was. Budweiser had set up a place for its employees to watch the concert, which was in a shaded area next to the bandshell, so it was a little hard to maneuver around because there were trees, roots and grass all around. We were walking back and then I saw Fatima trip over a root in the ground.

Then her shoe fell off.

She went to retrieve it and realized that her cute little stylish flipflops that she had bought in Texas were broken. The side strap had broken off, as had the strap by her toes. The shoe was completely unusable. I offered her a ride on my back, she was frustrated and refused, choosing to take off her other shoe and just walk barefoot back to the table.

Once there, we let everyone know of what happened. Fatima had no shoe! We debated tying napkins around her feet, but she shot that idea down. Finally I offered to go back into the mass of sweaty humanity that was The Taste to go to the souvenir booth in hopes that they had some sort of footwear there. I mean, flipflops are 'in' right now, wouldn't it be logical that they'd have official 'Taste of Chicago' flipflops? Melanie agreed to go with me on my quest and off we went.

We maneuvered around the crowd like pros. We were women on a mission! There was a poor girl out there with no shoes! I wanted to shout out to the crowd, "My sister has no shoes! Out of the way!" to part the people, but I don't think they would have cared. We finally made it to the souvenir booth, where they had an assortment of keychains, t-shirts and hats. But no shoes!

Then Mel suggested that maybe we leave the taste and go to Michigan Avenue to see if there were any stores open that had shoes. We made our way through the crowd and walked over to Michigan Avenue. We found a souvenir shop open, but no luck there. A woman then suggested Osco, which was several blocks down the street. We walked down there, tired and broken. We wandered around Osco, and finally, tucked in a little corner, we found the flip flops. Alas, we had no idea what size she was! We just got a pair that fit Melanie and hoped for the best.

Then I looked at the price. $9.99 for a pair of freakin' flip flops!!! They're ordinary rubber flip flops, I didn't know why they'd cost so much. Grumbling a bit, I went to the cashier and she rang it up: Seventy nine cents. Looks like that 9.99 was actually 99 cents. And they were on sale!

So we ventured back to the Taste, fought our way through the crowd back to our area. By that time, the guys had somewhat fixed fatima's shoe, but it really wasn't in walking condition. She was very thankful and enjoyed hearing about our adventure.

As we all left the Taste, she was carrying her dear, broken flipflops in her hand. We all knew there was no hope for them, but she didn't want to let them go. However, after some prodding and chanting from the rest of us, we persuaded her to throw them in the trash. We had a short moment of silence, and moved on, Fatima in her not-so stylin' but highly functional flip flops from Osco.

I had the weirdest dream the other night. You know how your subconscious usually reflects what's going on in your conscious life? Let's see if you guys can psychoanalyze me from what's going on in my nocturnal mind....

-------------------

I'm going on a trip to a college for some partying and fun. There is this person who hooks people up with cheap lodging in the nice dorms - they find out what students are going home for the weekend and offer their rooms to people visiting the university. Not only their rooms, but their identities.

It makes no sense, but that's how dreams work, I guess.

I go to this dorm and get my 'assignment' from this person. He gives me a key and a fact sheet on the person I'm impersonating for the weekend. I go up to the room, let myself in and it's a great room. I read a couple of my notes and I'm taking the place of an Asian girl and learn a little about her. I walk out of the room and see her next door neighbor. I'm terrified he'll realize I'm not the girl, but he casually says 'Hi' to me and calls me by her name.

I go out and check out the sights on campus, having a good time. As I come back into the dorm, I see a crowd of people in the lobby and the girl is in the middle. I hear whisperings from other people that someone had impersonated the girl and the girl had found out that someone was in her dorm room. They're calling campus authorities to find the impersonator and arrest them. I panic. I realize I've left my luggage in her room, along with my ID's.

I debate what to do. I see the cops coming. The crowd is dispersing and the girl is off to the side, standing alone. I go up to her and confess what happened, that I had taken her place so I could get cheap lodging for the weekend, but I was really sorry. We talk for a bit and she's really nice, and she tells the cops it was a false alarm.

She takes me around the sites of the campus and we have a great time, and she invites me to come and visit her anytime.

----------

The dream was much longer than this, and actually was interrupted at one point when Dave woke me up to move my sister's car. I wanted to continue the dream so I chanted to myself to finish the dream before going back to bed, and it actually worked, the dream continued. However, that's when it took that dark turn when the girl came back to town.

So what do you all think?

Yesterday I was at dinner with some friends, and Chetan was talking to some of his medical buddies about this guy named 'Hawk'. As with most conversations, I was half listening to the conversation, but when he said 'Hawk', my ears perked up a bit, because that's a pretty unusual name. It made me think of my TA (teaching assistant) for Biology in college, whose first name was 'Hakan', but he told us to call him 'Hawk' for short. He was a pretty cool guy, only several years older than us, and since we were freshman he gave us pointers on what bars were cool and often told us stories about crazy parties he'd been to.

Then Chetan said Hawk's full name, which made me do a double take - he said the name of my old TA! I asked him if Hawk went to U of I, and Chetan said yeah, and I told him that Hawk was my TA. We had a good laugh about it. Who would have known? Not that I'd tell Chetan to tell Hawk I said 'hi' or anything. I didn't do that great in the class, I hardly remember anything from it.

Dave was telling me in the car on the way home what a wild coincidence that was, but I didn't think it was that wild. I guess because it was tiny compared to my weirdest 'It's a Small World' experience.

-----------------------------------------

Several years ago, my sisters and I went on a sister vacation to Orlando. We did the usual things, Disney World, Universal Studios, etc. We were at Islands of Adventure (which is the AWESOMEST amusement park. If you like thrill rides, go there!) and the Spiderman ride had just opened up.

The line was about 1 1/2 hours long, but it actually ended up being about 2 1/2 hours because the ride kept on breaking. Any of you who have waited in line at an amusement park know that you get familiar with the other people in lines, what their faces are, when you're going to run into them. For that hour, those are the only faces you see.

There was a family that was in line ahead of us who were also on vacation. I remember them so well because I was remarking to my sisters that the son, who was about 16 or 17 looked just like a young Davy Jones. But better looking. There were two sons and their parents in line, and they were speaking Spanish. They were a very good looking family, and of course, I had about 2 hours to remember their faces.

Then, after we rode the ride, I forgot about them. On a sidenote, SPIDERMAN ROCKED! It was totally worth the wait! I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

...

About six months later, I went on vacation with Dave's family to Puerto Rico. Our hotel had a casino in it, which is pretty dangerous to me since I've got that whole genetic gambling addiction thing. After a day of sightseeing, everyone was pretty much pooped and passed out. However, I couldn't let the night get by without going to the casino to try my luck. Dave's brother Justin and I headed out to try our luck.

I sat at the roulette table to play for a couple hours (I can make my money last for a while at that game) and I noticed a family sitting at the table with me. Not just any family, a family with two sons, one that looks like Davy Jones! Yes, the very same family that I was in line with at Islands of Adventure. I didn't say anything because a) My Spanish sucks, and b) What would I say? "Hey, I was watching you guys when we were in line for the Spiderman ride. Do you remember me? I was the sunburned girl who was torturing her sisters!'

But still, that was totally bizarre.

If that's not 'a small world' story, I don't know what is!!!

I heard a couple interesting conversations yesterday when I was traveling back home. It's not like I was trying to listen on purpose, but sometimes you just can't help it!

Conversation #1, overheard at the tiny food court.

Little Girl: (calling to her mom who is in line for food) Mommy!
Mom: Yes?
Little Girl: I just wanted to tell you I love you.
Mom: I love you, too, baby.
Little Girl: (moments later)Mommy!
Mom: Yes?
Little Girl: Daddy wants me to tell you that he loves you, too!
Mom: Tell him I love him too, baby.
Little Girl: Daddy, mommy loves you!

Can I get a collective 'Awww'? When I have kids I'm going to train my kids to do that so other people can be all mushy gushy on their blogs, too.

Here's another one, that's WAY different than my first one....

Conversation #2 - heard inside the plane:

Guy#1: Hey, so HOW did you end up in the shower with her?
Guy #2: I dunno, after we went swimming I said I was going to take a shower, then she said she wanted to come too.
Guy #1: Are you serious?
Guy #2: Yeah!
Guy #1: Wow. So how was it?
Guy #2: It was AWESOME!

For Dave's birthday I got him a new phone to replace his ancient one. This one not only has a color display, but also has a camera. Dave's never had a camera before, so this should be a nice start. After some instruction, he's learned how to use his phone, though I doubt he's taken too many pictures with it. He usually leaves the picture taking to me.

So I was checking out his phone the other day, and I saw that his main picture, the picture that is the background of his start screen, was a picture of his University of Illinois Illini hat. It was what we had used as a sample during his 'photo class'. Being the self-centered wife that I am, I brought it to his attention:

Me: Hey, one would think that you would have a picture of your wife as your start screen on your phone. Why do you have the Illini there?
Dave: Are you 25 and 0?
Me: *silence*
Dave: I didn't think so.

Damn those Illini! Next year, I'm joining the tourney and I'm going to pound their asses so I can get my rightful place on Dave's cameraphone!

I'm home from Boston! Took me about an hour on tech support to get my internet back up, but I'm sure you're happy to know that not once did I break down crying screaming, 'Why? Why me?!?!?' to the heavens.

Since my client was across the street from my hotel, I didn't need a car. However, I did need a cab to drive me to the airport. The secretary called the cab company, and by the time I was done with work, the cab driver was downstairs waiting.

He came out of the car and the first thing I thought was 'He looks like Quentin Tarantino.' A shorter, hairier, creepier Tarantino with bad posture. He was nice, though, trying to make conversation and helping me put all my stuff in the taxi.

So we're in the taxi, making small talk (which I hate) and he has some foriegn accent, sounding Eastern European. Then my mind started wandering - if I would have guessed his ethnic background, I would have said Transylvanian. It just had a very Dracula sound to it, but a deeper, slower Dracula. Then I realized who he reminded me of. Igor. The hunchbacked guy that's always in the dark recesses of any castle, always ready to help Dr. Frankenstein or make sure that the lab is prepared.

He asks me where I'm from, I say Chicago. He laughs, and then states that it doesn't look like I'm there because I have such a dark tan. (What?!? I'm totally turning Redpac white!) He was nice enough. I felt bad that he probably lost his job at the evil scientist's lab in the homeland.

Then he asked me, "Are you a scientist?" Which really made me want to laugh out loud, since only a moment before I was imagining him, as Frankenstein, hook up Frankenstein's monster to the table, waiting for lightening to come. I shook my head no. "I work on computers," I informed him.

"Oh! Computers! So you're still a scientist - a computer scientist!"

"Um, yeah, I guess I am!"

"Wow. That's great," he said, and I swear he looked wistfully out the window, thinking of happier days with his own scientist boss, bringing monsters to life in the middle of the night and casting spells with eye of newt.

Ahh...never a dull moment in a cab, I tell ya.

When I was making final calls for our ski trip last week, I was double checking what time everyone was getting to the hotel.

Now I rarely use my phone (or answer it, as anyone who knows me will tell you). However, I have a TON of numbers, because I always try to save phone numbers when people call me.

I realized I had my cousin Marlon's cell phone number stored on my phone, so I gave him a call. He had one of those generic voicemail messages that just states the number of the phone. I hesitated, thinking that I could have the wrong number. "Oh well, if it's a wrong number then they'll ignore the message," I thought. Since it was late at night, so I left a message for him to give me a call.

The next morning was crazy busy at work. I was finishing up a conference call when I saw Marlon calling on my cell phone. I got off the phone with my client and went to answer the phone, but too late, the phone went into voice mail.

I called him right back, and there was no answer. Since me and Marlon always joke around, I left him a voicemail that sounded like this:

"Yo, Marlon! It's Deluxe, son! Why you be calling me then not pick up the phone when I call you right back, bitch? Hit me up when you get a chance because I wanna know what's the 411 with the ski trip, homie. Peace out!"

Yes. I'm a dork.

Right after I hang up the phone, Marlon calls me back. I answer the phone with a thuggish, "SUP!"

...and the sound I heard next both terrified me and made me roll on the floor laughing.

"Christine? Is that you? This is your Tita (Aunt) Rosie! Did you call my cell phone?"

Yes. I accidentally called my aunt. Marlon must have called me from his mom's phone.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry, Tita! Is this your phone?"

"Yes, are you trying to call Marlon? He has his own cell phone."

"Oh. I'm so sorry!"

"That's ok, here's his number."

"Thanks. And please please PLEASE don't listen to your voicemail from me. Just erase it! You don't want to hear it."

"Oh, don't worry honey!"

I wanted to crawl into a hole leaving that ghetto message on my aunt's voicemail! Later on I told Marlon the story and he got a kick out of it. Lucky for me, she doesn't know how to check her voicemail, so I'm off the hook for now!

Last night I drank free beer and ate hops at a brewery, met a giant pickle, watched the Wolves lose, entered a bar through a bookcase, played blackjack with Fantine and The Bishop from the production of Les Misérables and played tour guide to people who have lived in Milwaukee when it was my second time there.

Today I rode in a car that could only go in 1st gear for 122 miles and saw the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile doing 75 down I-294.

Who wants to guess what tomorrow might bring?

In tribute to Will Eisner, I'll post up my Comic Convention recap, that I've been too lazy to post up. Sure, it was in August, and sure, Will wasn't there, but I've gotta post this baby up sometime - it might as well be today.

Truthfully, this wasn't the best con I've been to. Not because it was a bad convention, it was just because there was so much going on around the time of the convention that I couldn't fully enjoy all my time there. This was the first time in a long time that I hadn't gone to the Friday of the convention. I spent the rest of the weekend trying to play catch up, which isn't easy, since I was so used to just taking my time, talking to people, getting sketches, going to panels and such. I didn't even really get a chance to check out all of the shops in the back. Nonetheless, I still had fun. I got some great sketches, and saw some familiar friendly faces and some new friends.

Without further adieu, here's my highlights:

- Amber Benson, who played Tara in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, was one of the guests of the 'con. She's much prettier in person, and seemed friendly and easy going with the fans that lined up to meet her. Didn't have the patience to wait in line. However, I was in the bathroom at the same time with her, while the infamous Wizard security guy waited for her outside. Had a little eye contact and we smiled. That's about it. Oh, and she washed her hands. That is something important to know. Because if she didn't, well, eew.

- I got to meet Greg Horn, whose art I adore. I was a little bit intimidated when I met him - I don't know what I expected, but he was just a regular guy. When I went up to talk to him, there was a woman who worked at the booth with him. She whispered something to him as I was talking with him, and he said, "Didn't you work at the Aspen booth last year?" I was a little bit stunned. I didn't really think that anyone would recognize me with the glasses, haircut and blonde highlights. I said that it was me, and he said I had looked familiar to him, and the woman was the one who had recognized me from last year. I didn't even KNOW Greg was at the 'con last year. I would definitely have gone to meet him! Anyway, it was pretty cool (yet pretty weird) that he remembered me.

- I owe Sean Chen $10. A lot of the artists were charging for sketches, so as much as I could, I tried to stick to those artists that were free. However, Sean Chen was the very first artist that I asked to do a sketch for me, back when he was doing Wolverine for Marvel. At the time, it was a free sketch. Since he was on his own in Artists Alley, he was charging for sketches. It was $15 for a head sketch and $30 for full body. I asked him to do a head sketch of Psylocke for me, and he was pretty busy and asked that I come back on Sunday morning. I came back Sunday morning, and he already had a couple names in his list. But he assured me that since I came the day before that he would do a sketch for me, so I left him with my book, and he said to come back in an hour. So I wandered around for a bit, after the hour was done, I came back and he had already began my sketch. It was turning out really awesome and I was really impressed. We chatted a bit (tried not to disturb him too much while he was sketching) and he was really cool. He put a lot of work into it, and I appreciated that he took the time - even though I was paying for it. Anyway, he finished up the sketch and showed me the finished product and I praised it and thanked him. Since I loved it so much, I decided to give him $20 instead of the $15 for the head shot. Gotta help the guy make a living. I handed him the money, and he gave me a smile, then a weird quizzical look. I walked away beaming and happy with my new sketch. Later on, after REALLY looking at my sketch I realized that Psylocke had legs. Which I noticed before, but I didn't realize my error. Sean did a body sketch for me, and I only paid him $20. And the idiot that I am was beaming and proud of myself for giving him a little extra - which actually wasn't! So yeah. Somehow I'll get him the money I own him...it's only fair!

- I DID see Jason Mewes again, but I was stuck in a huge crowd of people and he looked especially shaggy and slightly bearded, and it just was too weird. That, and I didn't have anything for him to sign. I was stuck in a mob of people at the View Askew booth who were trying to get him and Kevin Smith to sign things, each of them going up to fans and taking pics, signing autographs, etc. I did, however, get to meet Kevin, and since I didn't have anything for him to sign, I did the dorkiest thing ever. I looked him in the eye and said to him, "I don't have anything to sign, but I just wanted to shake your hand and say that I really love your stuff!" Am I a loser or what? He looked me in the eyes, took my hand in both of his hands and shook hands with me, and said slowly and sincerely, "Thanks." Which was really cool, unless he was speaking really slowly because I thought I was mentally challenged for coming up with a stupid line like that.

- There were a couple people that weren't there that I really missed, who I've seen at cons before and have always been cool and friendly. Mike Wellman, also known as "The Chief", who headed Mac Afro and Gone South, who is one of the first creators that I got to know and hang out with. Mark Brooks (who is finding this entry on google as we speak) who did an awesome Psylocke for me last year and who has one of coolest cats I've met at a 'con. Ale Garza, who calls Psylocke 'that hot Asian chick' (then again, who doesn't?). And Talent Caldwell, who loves comics so much he can talk forever about them - I hope he gets to do his dream comic someday - the X-Men, and who has done one of my favorite Psylocke sketches (and didn't need to look at the other sketches for reference). He's a sweetheart and I hope I see him at a 'con again! I'll even bribe him with potstickers if I have to!

- One of the people I was sad that I wasn't going to see in Chicago was Tone Rodriguez. He gives the best hugs. He likes to call us his little Asian threesome (or twosome, when Mel isn't around). We saw him at the LA 'con and he said he was tired of traveling, so he wasn't going to any more cons. So me and Fatima were surprised when we were walking around the 'con and heard on the loudspeakers, "Tone Rodriguez, artist for Alien vs. Predator is doing free sketches at the booth - ticket holders only!" As soon as we heard that, we wandered around looking for the booth he was sketching at. We finally found it, and saw a huge line wrapping around, waiting for a sketch. Of course, we didn't have tickets. So we stood on the side, just watching, hoping that maybe he'd see us. When he did, he invited us over to hang for a bit while he sketched, gave us a big hug and asked why we didn't stop by sooner, to which we said he wasn't even in the program, so we had no idea he was there.

- Since we were in a hurry most of the time, I didn't get a chance to hang out at the Aspen booth as much as other times, and only got a chance to stop by the booth for the first time late Saturday afternoon, and was reprimanded by Peter for waiting so long. Said hello to the rest of the gang, and saw that one of our buddies from last year was working the booth again. We stopped by again later that day (we had to run to a panel so we didn't get to stay) and learned from Liz that she was leaving the company and moving to Italy. We were so sad to find this out, and we all got a little emotional with Liz. She's such an awesome person, kind of like our den mother, making sure we're okay, taking care of us, and just being really cool. It'll be sad to see her go! But she said that she'd be around at some of the cons, so I hope that we get to see her again sometime soon! On Sunday we went to the Aspen panel, and Peter was the MC. I had a little cold going on that weekend, so I was coughing a bit, and Peter announced, "Hey you, Feliciano, keep it down! Or if you're going to cough, make sure it's a hearty cough! If not, get some water in the back!" I wanted to shrink. But more than that, I was surprised that Peter knew my last name...even if it IS my maiden name now. He poked fun at me a couple other times. And then later, some people I had met on message boards came up to me because they figured out who I was. Which was pretty cool, because I would have had no idea who was who! Later on that day, we hung out at the booth a bit more and took pics.

- Got another Psylocke sketch from Sean Galloway, which makes my total 3 sketches now. He's a cool cat, super friendly and very chatty. Just the kinda guy that keeps fans coming back again and again. Like me!

- I got my first ever caricature done, and I felt like a moron sitting there as people were walking by, while the artist drew my picture as Psylocke. The sketch looks cute, yet nothing like me, but Fatima said the artist was HOT. I wouldn't know. I didn't have my glasses on at the time.

- At the Marvel panel, a bunch of the fans from Brian Michael Bendis' message board planned a surprise birthday cake presentation. Joe Quesada (i still say his name with some distaste, but not as much because of this) went along with the plan, and Bendis was pleasantly surprised when they brought out the cake and candles, and got the whole panel to sing Happy Birthday. I just missed out on getting some cake. That's what I get for being so shy. Another great thing about the panel - one of the writers, when asked if Psylocke was ever coming back (she was killed off. Twice.) returned the question to the audience, "Do you guys want her back?" I whooped and cheered like a moron. If I had a foghorn I would have used that, too. So then he said maybe, maybe they'll try and fit her in. Yay!

- After years of seeing Kabuki artist David Mack at the convention, I finally introduced myself to him. He remembered my secret name from a messageboard (Yano, yeah, big secret name, I know) and he was SO nice. I don't know why I was scared to talk to him before. He was so cool that he hooked me, Fatima and Melanie with a bunch of his books and gave us a great deal on his art. He is genuinely a great guy, so if you ever see him at a 'con, say hello to him. Maybe he'll even dance for you. He didn't for us, but I heard that he took part in a dance off in the lobby later that night. Crazy comic book artists.

- You should read Michael Goodman's CIderview Project. Not only is he a great guy (who is single and good looking) but he also makes good cookies. So I've been told. Because he didn't save any for me.

- Not only did I buy a couple comics and comic-related stuff there, I also stocked up on Pocky - those delicious Asian chocolate dipped sticks. Mmm...tasty! Can you believe that someone was selling them there? Yum!

Yeah...so that's about as much as I remember from my convention experience. Next year I'm definitely going to go all three days and take part in the after-con things, since I'm always hearing stories about the *interesting* stuff that happens at night.

So for now, here's my pictures!

Wizard World Chicago Pictures

Just wanted to post a concerned letter from a faithful reader pertaining to the 'looks like you're naked' current webcam shot:

"In other news, is your naked picture an indication of where your site is going? I heard yanowhatimean was going triple X, but I didnt think it would happen this fast. I figured you'd wait until readership began to dwindle and THEN hit it up. Thats the standard MO for stars like you, no? Is it for the money? True, there's big bucks out there in porno-land, but at what cost? Is it drugs? Tell me its not drugs."

Dear Concerned Reader,

The picture isn't naked, I'm wearing a sleeveless top. Contrary to rumors, YWIM is NOT going XXX any time soon. If I keep on losing money at Pokerstars, that may be an option, but not right now. When that time comes, I know of several people experienced with porn and prostitution who can help me along the right path, and of course, you'll be the first I call. Don't you worry your pretty almost shaved head about that. And it's not drugs, though once again, if ever I have the need I know where to get them - as well as all the Skoal Mint I could ask for.

Best wishes and happy holidays,
Yano

So the lesson here, people, is just because I look naked on the webcam doesn't mean I am.

A couple weeks ago Dave and I were at home, just hanging out. Dave went upstairs to do something, and then called out my name. "Christine! Come here! You gotta see this!"

I went over to the stairway and he stood there pointing at the wall. I looked to where he was pointing and saw one of the biggest, strangest bugs I've ever seen. It looked like it would have been the love child of a millepede and a daddy long legs. It looked huge and hairy - like the Chewbacca of bugs. In a word, we were terrified.

"Kill it." Dave said.

"What? No way! You kill it!"

"Come on! Kill it!"

"You're the man, you kill it."

"Fine, we'll both kill it."

So we tried to figure out to kill the beast. We knew that we may only have one shot, and if we failed it would attack us and quite possibly, kill us. We were thinking of using the slipper as our murder weapon, but the monster was a bit out of reach. We thought of the rubberband method, but we couldn't find any rubberbands. I then told Dave of a method that I used at home to kill millipedes and silverfish - 409 cleaner.

"What?"

"Yeah, I think the chemicals burn up their insides. It works for me."

"But that thing is a lot bigger than your average bug, Christine!"

"What other choice do we have?"

"Fine. You get the 409."

"Ok, but you're the first one to try it!"

So I got the 409. Dave dangled off the stairway and aimed it at the bug. He sprayed several times. The animal started scurrying. We both ran down the stairs screaming like little girls.

"It's on the move!" we cried to each other, waving our arms around and running in circles.

The 409 did nothing. Well it did something. It just made the supermillipede-beast angry. We had to try again. I was sure my idea of the 409 would work. I grabbed the 409 from Dave and ran up the stairs. I sprayed the bug, screaming as I did so. I followed the bug as it moved across the way, running down the stairs as I did so.

Nothing. Just a wet wall and an even wetter bug. I'm thinking that this 409 mutated bug was actually getting stronger and bigger as the night wore on. After a couple more failed attempts, the bug was within reach. I ran down and grabbed Dave's slipper. I measured the distance. If I missed this time the bug would be getting a lot more pissed that the repeated sprayings with 409.

I raised the slipper and hit it.

When I raised it again, there were only the furry legs left on the wall. The body was gone. The body was gone!!!

Then something fell from the slipper. The lifeless carcass of bug-beast.

I screamed, dropped the slipper, and ran down the stairs, leaving Dave for cleanup duty.

If we could have mounted the head of that thing on the wall we would have. We were the victors that night! Master hunters of the thousand legged beast!

Dave had a half day yesterday, since he was on call the day before. He stopped by his parents house to chill out and have lunch. When I came home, I started up dinner and we were talking. He then pulled out an envelope from his bag.

"Guess what my dad's manager found in his desk drawer," Dave said.

"Um, I dunno. What?" I replied, wondering why I would actually care what this guy found in his desk drawer.

Dave held up the envelope. "Our marriage certificate."

"Our what?"

"Our marraige certificate. Yours and mine." He put the envelope on the table. It was the envelope that was sent to me from the county, and inside, a copy of our marriage certificate. I had two made when we got married - the other copy was in my backpack, I never really wondered as to the whereabouts of the other copy.

"Are you serious?" I asked.

"Yes I'm serious. My dad's manager was cleaning out his desk, he found this envelope, and he asked my dad if this belonged to me."

"Really?"

"Really!" And although Dave's a pretty imaginative guy, THIS was a little too out there to be a practical joke.

"How the hell did it get there?"

"I have no idea! I was thinking that maybe you know!"

"No, I don't know! I didn't even know where this copy was. Maybe your dad accidentally brought it to work."

"But how did it get in his boss' office?"

"I have no idea!"

Which left us to ponder how it got there. But we had no good theories. Of course, if we were in TV Land, it would have been because I was having an affair with my father-in-law's manager, but come on, let's be realistic. I wouldn't leave behind evidence like that! Who would bring along their marraige certificate on an adulterous tryst?

The truth is something which is probably simple and innocent - the envelope may have gotten lost in some paperwork brought to the office by Dave's dad and then moved over to his boss' desk.

But that's pretty out there, don't you think?

When I was in Columbus, I saw that there was a sushi restaurant by my hotel. I haven't had sushi in months, so I thought about it all day, fantasizing about those tender, mouthwatering pieces of raw fish.

I got to the restaurant and was a little sad that the selection of different sushi and rolls. Nothing out of the ordinary. So I decided to go with a tempura dragon roll (shrimp tempura roll with eel on the outside) and a simple salmon roll. I put in my order (it was takeout), picked up a magazine from the rack and stood at the counter, flipping through the pages.

This guy comes into the sushi restaurant, and you could tell he was in a hurry. He looked at me and said, "Hey, there!". I responded with a meek, "Hi." Really wasn't in the mood for making new friends, but I wanted to be polite.

He picked up a takeout menu and looked through it quickly. He puts it down and looks at me.

I know what's coming. Do you?

So the guy turns to me and says, "Can I have a spicy salmon roll, a Philadelphia roll and a california roll? And make it to go."

I stared at him blankly and said, "Sorry, I don't work here."

The man then imploded into himself, totally embarrassed. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry! You were standing at the counter and I, uh..." and he stopped, realizing that if he said any more he would be digging himself even deeper into the hole he had created.

"It's ok, it's an easy mistake." I said, trying to calm him down. "The waitress is over there, but they're pretty busy tonight."

"Oh, ok." So he waited. And I waited. It was a bit uncomfortable and it was taking so long that I was about ready to take his order and bring it ot the sushi guys for him. Finally, he mumbled something about missing a ride and left.

Right after he left, a family came in. The looked at me. I smiled at them and pointed to the waitress, before anything was said. They then smiled at me and waited to be seated. Crisis averted.

Not to say that I wouldn't like to work at a sushi restaurant. But I think they'd fire me immediately after finding out that someone was eating all the eel and salmon sashimi.

Just wanted to share a series of emails with you with a completely random stranger...

#1

#2

#3

#4

Why do I feel like I just had a one night stand and woke up alone?

I feel like he just used me for my gmail invite.

Well actually, he did.

Hmph!

At least he said thank you...

This is one of the stories that I'm almost obligated to share, since if it was someone else I would have totally posted it here. So here's another one of those "Laugh at my expense!" moments, so enjoy it...

So I was watching "The Empire Strikes Back" the other day with Dave and his dad. It came to the part where they were in the cloud city and Lando Calrissian was showing them around.

"Who is that, he looks familiar", Dave's dad asked.

"That's Billy Dee Williams." I replied.

"Oh. What else has he been in?" he asked.

"I'm not really sure what movies, but he sang 'Ghostbusters'." I said.

And then Dave bust out laughing. "That was Ray Parker Jr.! That's not the same guy!"

I realized that yes, Ray Parker Jr. is the man who sings "Ghostbusters", not Billy Dee Williams. However, I thought really hard, but in my head, the image of the guy who sings "Ghostbusters" WAS Billy Dee. I had no recollection of what Ray Parker Jr. looked like. I know when I was a kid I watched that damn video a million times, but in my head, all these years, it's been Billy Dee. Of course, Dave was cracking jokes like, 'Christine, they don't look alike at all! How could you even confuse them? Just because they're two black men doesn't mean that they're the same person." Hmph!

So I looked them up, and you have to admit they look a bit alike, right?

Right?

_______________________

In other news, I didn't realize that the drive to Indianapolis from Chicago was so dark and full of construction. The ride wasn't too bad, but I felt like I was the fastest one out there - doesn't anyone drive fast anymore?

When I got to my hotel, I popped the trunk to get my suitcase out and rearrange some of my stuff. I looked at my hands and there was this mysterious greenish goo on my hands. WTF? Then I realized that a whole bottle of antifreeze spilled in the trunk, soaking everything in it - including my laptop case (luckily my laptop was in my backpack in the front sear) and my suitscase. Eeew. Does anyone know if that stuff is dangerous? I'm wondering, since I got it all over my hands. I don't want to have 3 armed kids with 4 nipples.

The other day I was helping out my coworker Sam with a client issue. I was leaning on the side of his desk and we were both looking at the monitor, and I was giving him some tips to use. All of the sudden, his computer turned off. We were both like, "What the hell! This sucks!" He's had some crazy problems with his computer, but this was the first time it shut off on its own. We looked for what caused it, and I realized that it was me. His desktop was right at the edge of his desk and my ass was right at the on/off button. So when I was leaning on his desk, I was actually leaning on the shutoff button. My ass has amazing powers!

Yeah, we got a good laugh out of that one!

Just wanted to share this email with you. There's nothing better than getting an email out of nowhere from an old friend, who, after having an experience, thinks of you as the person that they want to share that moment with.

Yes, I feel special. And you'll feel special, too, after reading this...

________________________

Yes, I LOVE my guy friends! They never cease to make me laugh!

I'm writing from my hotel in downtown Columbus, OH. It's a pretty nice downtown area here with some nice architecture. We're right by the river, too. What river? I have no idea.

I actually flew into Dayton, OH, because it was about $300 cheaper. It's only about 70 miles away, which is a commute I'm used to after working at Thousand Oaks all the time. The airport there was a lot larger that I thought it would be. As I was coming off my plane and heading towards the rental cars, I saw a mother and son standing by the windows, looking out. They were obviously waiting for a plane to come in. The mother was holding up a little doll, that was dressed up in military fatigues and a helmet. It was cute - it looked like a little cartoon. She pushed a button and it started dancing to Queen's "We Will Rock You" (kinda like those dancing Santas you see during Christmastime, but not as creepy) She held the doll against the glass as if he, too, was waiting for someone to land. I was pretty sure that they were waiting for someone from the military to come home from the war. As I got closer, I could see that she was wiping tears from her eyes.

"Mommy, don't cry. Daddy's coming soon! Why are you sad?" the little boy asked.

She put her hand on her shoulder and held back a sob and said, "I'm not crying because I'm sad, I'm crying because I'm so happy he's finally coming home!"

Just about made me want to start crying, too!

*sniff*

You may remember that one of my New Years resolutions was to learn one recipe a month. But I've been stuck in a rut of backed fish, hapburger helper and thai peanut noodles.

So I've been trying lately.

So the other day, I wanted to make a taco bar. Dave loves tacos. So I went to the grocery store, got some taco mix and the rest of the fixings. I knew I was only cooking for two, so I kept my portions of everything small. Got a pound of ground beef, grabbed a couple tomatoes, picked out a small head of lettuce, sour cream, taco cheese, etc.

Got home, started cooking everything up, diced the tomatoes and chopped up the lettuce. The lettuce didn't really feel leafy when I was chopping it up, the whole thing was pretty tough, but I attributed it to the fact that it was so small.

So when Dave got home he was pretty happy to see the taco bar I had set up. We started constructing our tacos, and he looked at the lettuce and said, 'Oh, we're using cabbage instead of lettuce?'

Then the light came on. I had accidentally grabbed a cabbage. DUH! No wonder it was so tought to chop up! Hey, it's not like I buy lettuce on a regular basis. We got a good laugh out of that one.

Seems like there are a lot of people interested in my LAPD in Hollywood story, so here it is...it's nothing TOO exciting...

Anyway, when I went to LA for Mo's grad party, me, Rod and Dan went to meet up with Brian, Jen and Mo at Miyagi's. We got there pretty late, but not late enough for me to get a triple Jack and Coke, which was served in this gigantic glass. Since I hadn't had much to eat that day, that was all I needed to get to drunken happyland.

The place closed at about 2:30am (as do most bars in LA), and I was pretty unused to bars that closed so early, and I felt like my night had just begun. So Rod decided to take us on a little sightseeing adventure. After getting our car, it was around 3am, and we went to Mann's Chinese Theater. It was pretty fun going there, and there was no one else around. If you look at my 'Vacations' pictures, you'll see that I wasn't below lying on the dirty, gross ground to take pictures.

We walked by the Sony Theater, which is next to Mann's, and saw that there were a bunch of people camping out. We asked the person in front and they said they were waiting for American Idol tickets. (This is the Kelly Clarkson year). With nothing better to do, I took out my camera, but it in movie mode, and proceeded to interview the different people in line, as well as take pictures with them. The were all enthusiastic, and I led them in chants proclaiming who they wanted to win.

As I was doing my interviews, a police car rolled up, and the cop opened his window and asked Dan what was going on. Feeling a need to get me involved, Dan asked me over and I went up to the squad car to explain. Of course, I really hadn't watched American Idol, so I had no idea what I was talking about. But I did get some of my new friends to bring up their boom box so they could play their American Idol CD for the cop.

I made some idle chit chat with the cop, and he had asked me if I had been drinking. Since alcohol acts as a truth serum to me, of course I said yes. Did I say yes? I think I said yes. Never did I think that there ever existed a public intoxication law. Fortunately, I think the cop was amused, and I wasn't causing a ruckus, so he humored me and kept on talking. That, or he was hitting on me. Anyway, him and his partner, (who I had addressed as "Officer #2") were pretty cool to talk to. They didn't seem to be in a hurry to go anywhere. They kept on asking for my name, which I didn't give to them, and Officer #2 (who was pretty cute) pulled out his handcuffs and said, "Oh, we have ways..." But I was oblivious to any trouble, and Dan and Rod were nearby anyway. Later on, the topic of kids came about, and I asked Officer #1 if he had any. He said yeah, then I asked him if he had a wife, and he said, 'No, but I'm looking for one..' I laughed, but the internal alarm started going off. Then he asked me if I wanted a ride. That was my cue to leave, so I said thanks, but no, my friends were getting antsy. Of course, Rod and Dan were very close by to intervene in case I DID get myself in trouble. But they found the whole situation humorous, and were rolling their eyes the whole time, and maybe a bit irritated that I was flirting with jailtime like this. So before they left, they asked if I wanted to hear the siren, and I said sure, so they turned on the lights and siren and sped off into the night.

So I said goodbye to the cop and his partner (who was also in the conversation). I asked them to turn on the sirens as the left, and they turned on the lights and the sirens and punched the gas as they sped away. Me and my Idol lovers all cheered.

The End.

So I'm in Pittsburgh right now. My flight left Long Beach at 10:20am, and our plane landed at 9:15pm Eastern time. That's technically about 11 hours of my life that have disappeared. Luckily for me, I checked out my intinerary before heading out, because I thought my flight was leaving from Los Angeles. It would have been a pretty funny story if I was looking for my Long Beach flight at LAX.

So when I'm on the plane, I realize that I had given Dave my driver's license to hold when we went to the Sunset Room, because my pants didn't have a pocket. And I forgot to ask for it back.

So when I went to the car rental place, and they asked for my drivers license, I gave them my state ID. And the guy said, 'I need your driver's license.' Then I sheepishly told him, 'Um, I forgot it at home.' Then Mr. Manager, who is standing within hearing distance, says, 'I'm sorry, but we need a valid driver's license.' I then told them that I have my driver's license number, but no go, they said that they wouldn't know if I had it revoked or something. No matter what I tried, I couldn't rent a car. Hmph.

So then I had to take the shuttle to my hotel, and I'm left to be taxiied around Pittsburgh.

Oh, and since I made my reservations last minute, there's only smoking rooms left. So it stanks in here. Stank-o-licious!

I don't know if this is representative of how exciting it is here in Pittsburgh, but one of the top news stories is how a duckling was bludgeoned to death by a 10 year old boy. Um...ok.

Sucks to be me. Argh!!!

This is pretty long...watch out!

Finally getting to posting up my Maui review. By now my 'Memento' memory has erased most of my memories (which is why I started this blog in the first place - so I remember things) but lucky for me, I jotted down some notes in the airplane. But I have to write this soon because Manny and Rachel are planning on going, and I promised Manny I'd tell him where to go...

So here's little snippets of what I remember, things that you should do and shouldn't do, etc.

Before we start, click here if you want to see the galleries. I just wanted to say that now in case you didn't make it to the end of my Hawaiian novel.

- When we first got there, it was raining. The locals said it was rare that it rained that hard for that length of time. We had planned on doing our snorkeling on the first day, but we were told that it's hard to do when it's raining and that we need wait a couple days for the water to clear up. So we had to rearrange our schedule.

- It's a plus to be Filipino. We got our parking for free after the old Filipino attendant asked us if we were Filipino. When I took out my money to pay, he just shook his head and pointed us to the door. Most of the locals we met there thought we were local, too.

- We went to a luau, I forgot which one, but since it was raining, it was indoors, so it felt more like a Hawaiian wedding than a luau. If you want to go to the most popular luau on Maui, the Old Lahaina luau, you'll need to make reservations before traveling there because spaces take taken up quickly. If I was going to go back to Maui, I think I'd rather check out the Feast at Lele, which is a more intimate luau, with food that represents the different islands of Polynesia. It's also a sit down dinner, rather than a buffet, like most luaus. But we had a great time at our luau, and the food was awesome, even though at the time I had given up beef and Dave was raving about how good it was. Oh, I remember now, it was at the Hyatt. I love me some kalua pork!

- Our breakfast of choice - the spam, egg and rice breakfast from McDonalds. Only in Hawaii can you get spam at Micky D's!

- Lahaina was a great place to shop and just check out the scene. We stopped by Whaler's Village, and ate at the Rusty Harpoon - their seared ahi wrap was delicious. Don't bother going to the museum, it's kinda boring. Though we did get a good laugh when we watched the whale movie, and the lady said that looking at a whale was like 'looking at the eyes of God'. Um, it's cool, but not THAT cool!

- Everyone told us to do the Road to Hana, and since it was raining, we thought we might as well do the trek, since we'd be going through the rain forest anyway. It was really beautiful, but I guess from the hype everyone was giving us we expected more. Due to the rains from the previous days, the waterfalls were in full effect, and the rainforest was lush and green. We did one of those mini-bus tours, and we had a fun bunch of people. Our tourguide, Wes, was awesome. He was this 40 something old surfer guy who had grown up on the north side of the island, and he had the best stories. He gave us a crash course in Hawaiian history, local legends, his own memories in different spots, and partying with celebs like Willie Armstrong and Steven Tyler. He was ultra cool. In any other environment I would have been intimidated by his coolness. He took us to his favorite spots along the way, and my favorite was this area right along the coast with hardened lava all over the place and a blowhole that let the water through. It was pretty and all you could hear was the waves crashing against the shore.

- We also stopped by the Seven Sacred Pools, which were beautiful. Since we were on a tour, we were crunched for time, so rather than explore the whole trail around the pools, me and Dave went to the bottom pool to swim for a bit. The bottom was uneven, and I don't know how to swim, so I never made it to the waterfall side. But it was a beautiful view. I only wish I got shots from the bridge that people jump from!

- Bring water socks, sometimes the beaches have rocks, and they could hurt your feet. You may also want to invest in some of your own snorkel gear, because there's some great snorkeling spots along the beach.

- Make sure to catch a sunset. There's a lot of places you can turn off the highway that have some spectacular views.

- We got up at 2:30 am to drive up to Haleakala crater, which took about 2 hours, which wasn't as long as we thought it would take. It was an windy way up the mountain in the dark, but lucky for us there was a full moon to guide our way. We wore long sleeves and brought our jackets, because we were forewarned that it would be chilly at the top of the crater. When we got there, there were about 4 or 5 other cars at the summit already. We got out of the car and IT WAS FREEZING! It was cold and the wind was howling. I was almost afraid to go to the observation area because I didn't want to blow off the mountain. We stood around for a bit and finally went back in the car to warm up and nap a little. By the time we decided to get out of the car, the parking lot was packed and there were tons of people there. Dave went into the observation room and I decided to brave the biting cold and wind outside so I could get better pictures. At around 5:30am, the sun started to rise. It was the most incredible thing. Being so high up on the mountain, we were above the clouds, so when the sun came up, it slowly painted the sea of clouds below it. When it finally broke through, the world around us was covered in this golden glow. It was really amazing to see. I must have taken a million pictures. We really were on top of the word. After that, we took a nap in the car and didn't end up waking up til 9. We toured around the crater after that, and it's pretty amazing. You feel like you're on another planet looking out into the red earth and the craters left by the extinct volcano. Not something you expect from Hawaii!

- Later that day, we went to Kamaole Beach I, II, and III. Not very imaginative names, but very good beaches!

- The next day, we checked out Big Beach and Wailea Beach. Dave wanted to find Little Beach, which was the topless beach, but unfortunately couldn't find it. I'd have to say my favorite was Wailea beach, because it wasn't too huge, but not too small.

- During our honeymoon, we did the most romantic thing possible - watched 'The Passion of Christ'. OK, I'm just kidding. But it was a bit weird, but we didn't have anything to do one night and saw a late showing of it at the theater. Great movie. Though I wouldn't suggest seeing it on your honeymoon.

- We went on a dolphin excursion, but unfortunately, it started to rain again and the prime snorkeling spot was pretty rocky, so we never did see our dolphins. (One day, dammit! One day I'll see one of you pesky little sea mammals!) We did get to do some snorkeling at Molokini crater, where the water was pretty clear, outside of some debris from the storm. Our captain told us there were many whales in the area. There was a little snorkeling fish class, where we swam (I had my little tube floaty and looked REALLY cool) with a marine biologist and she pointed fish out to us. That was neat, because most of the time you see the fish, but you have no idea what they are, or what they do. She told us that if we stick our heads underwater, we could hear the whales sing from far away. I went off on my own and put my head underwater, and I could hear them singing, very softly. That rocked.

- After that, we went snorkeling in Turtle Town, and I never thought the turtles would be so huge! One swam right by me. They are just the cutest things, and their swimming is just so effortless. One day I'll get my underwater camera developed.

- So there's this law that says that boats cannot sail to within 300 yards of a whale. If it happens that a whale should swim within that 300 yards (they stay underwater and sometimes pop up), then the boats must stop their motors and wait for a whale to pass. On our way back to the dock, we saw many whales in the distance, their dorsal fins in the water or breeching (launching their bodies out of the water and slapping back in). Our boat had a captain, co-captain and several marine biologists. We were sailing along then we saw this mother whale and her baby within that 300 yards. The captain turned off the motors, and we sat there and waited for them to pass by. The suddenly the crew started getting really excited. The mother and baby were going to pass right underneath the ship! Everyone was running around, pulling out their cameras, and the captain was ringing the bell. I never thought a whale could be so huge, but she was almost as big as our boat. So the two of them passed, and after, the little baby launched herself out of the water, learning how to breech. Soon after, mama whale showed baby how it was done and breeched out of the water as well. The whole crew was laughing and smiling and said that had never happened before. To me, it totally made up for not seeing the dolphins!

- My last day in town, I got a cold. I was all sniffles and sore throat. But all we had left was the whale watch. We already had whales the day before, and had debated on going since nothing could top our experience. But we paid for it, so went on the ship. So we got to the boat and headed out of the harbor, and we saw some whales on one side. We watched them and ohh'd and ahh'd. Then the captain exclaimed, 'There's one right on the side!'. We then had to stop the boat, since the whale had come in range. We were excited to see her come closer, and had our camera's ready to take pictures as she passed us. But she didn't. She came right up to our boat and stayed there. The guide theorized that the whale like the sound of the motor, or maybe was using our boat as a shield to get away from any whale suitors. Nonetheless, we were ecstatic. She stayed next to our boat and surfaced every now and then, blowing air out of her blowhole and wetting us, coming above water to take a peep at us, and just chillin on the side of the boat. It was so awesome I can't even put it into words. And the coolest thing is, we couldn't get away because she was by us. We had to wait it out until she got bored of us and went away. I guess this is called a 'whale mugging', where people on a boat are stuck with a whale until it goes away. But hey, we weren't complaining having our own personal whale to hang out with! She was gigantic, and I swear, she winked at me. Finally, an abandoned boat that was moored to the dock passed by us, and Whalea got confused and went and followed that boat. We started to sail away, but then she found us again. We stopped the motors. By this time I think she was tired of us, so she went away. But it was the BEST experience!

- Try the seared ahi tuna at The Lahaina Fish company. You don't even need a meal, just order two plates of those and you're to go!

When Marian and Shannon were here, we drove around a lot. On Friday, we headed out to a club, all dressed up. As we were driving out of my apartment complex, we saw something on the side of the street. A group of girls was heading towards us and pointing at the side of the street. It was a opossum, which had gotten hit by a car and was lying at the side of the road. There was an large amount of blood and it was a pretty grisly scene.

We had to maneuver around it and the girls on the street just stared at it pointing. We were thinking that the girls were debating on moving the carcass out of the way. There was nothing we could do so we left. After the club, we decided to stop by the apartment to get out cameras before heading out to Hollywood for some late night sightseeing.

As we came across where the possum was, we saw that it was moved to the other side of the street. The girls or the apartment security must have dragged or kicked the body to the other side, since there was a messy trail of blood across the street.

We got our stuff, then headed out again. As we were coming across the carcass once again, I thought I saw movement. I stopped the car so the possum was in my lights. Then we all started screaming, 'It's still alive!!!' The poor possum was trying to move, and the only thing it could do was open and close its mouth. It was like it was screaming and there was no sound coming out. We had no idea what to do. And we had figured that the possum had moved itself across the street, trying to find some shelter. We couldn't do anything for it, so we just left.

But I vowed that if we came back, and it was still alive, I would run over it and put it out of its misery. Of course, I wouldn't have had the guts to do that, but that's what I wanted to do. Fortunately, the possum was dead by the time we got back. No movement, no silent screaming, nothing. And the apartment security was kind enough to give the possum's final resting place some orange cones so no one ran over him.

So rest in peace, little possum. We only had moments together, but I'll make the sign of the cross in my head each time I pass.

And yes, Fatima, I think it's the very same possum you saw when you were here. I'm sorry for your loss.

Argh. I hate it when I'm grumpy.

Here's a story to lighten up the day.

Dave hates the shoes I wore for the wedding. Not my nice shoes that I wore for the ceremony, but the Sketchers I wore for the reception. They're the most comfy pair of shoes I've ever worn!

Since the wedding, I wear the shoes all the time, because I'm not just going to hide them away somewhere just because they have silver metallic streaks. And Dave hates them. He calls them my 'Wacky Shoes'. I never bother putting any of my shoes in the closet when I take them off, but my wacky shoes always mysteriously end up in there. The other shoes are left on the doormat. When I ask Dave how they get in the closet, he just says, 'I don't like them out in the open like that.' As if the wacky shoes would take a life of their own and attack him. So I've come to terms with it. The wacky shoes will be found in the closet.

So Fatima and Melanie were in town a couple weeks ago. We were all hanging out in the living room chatting and talking before going to the convention. Then we got up to leave, and Mel was like, 'Hey! Where are my shoes?' We looked around and couldn't find them. Then I came to a realization. 'Did you check in the closet?' So she opens the door, and there they are. 'I never put them in the closet, though.' And the thing is, her shoes look very similar to my wacky shoes.

We confronted Dave later. 'Did you put my wacky shoes into the closet today?' He nodded, knowing that he was saving the world by keeping my wacky shoes in the darkness. 'Those weren't mine! They were Melanies!' The look on his face was priceless as he apologized. We all got a good laugh out of it, and all the wacky shoes were free to be outside for that weekend.

Remember the drunk phonecall entry?

Well, that isn't the end of it!

I had talked to my sister when I was on the way to the airport in Atlanta, and she had said that there was a drunk call to the house the same night I got mine. Unfortunately, my dad answered, and he got pretty upset and hung up the phone. They called again and he let the answering machine take it. There's no caller ID at him, so he had no idea who it was, but suspected that it was Fatima's friends which he wasn't happy about.

So when I get back to Long Beach, I call my cousin's cell phone, and it's not in service. So I call his house, ready to scream into the phone, 'WHY ARE YOUR DRUNK FRIENDS CALLING ME!' But he wasn't home.

So later that night I get an IM from my cousin:

Him: Hey.
Me: WHY ARE YOUR DRUNK FRIENDS CALLING ME!
Him: Oh man, they called you too?
Me: Yeah, and they're freaky!
Him: No, they're not my friends. My phone got stolen!
Me: It did?
Him: Yeah. When I was at the poolhall. I guess those jerks called everyone on my phone list!
Me: Yeah! They called my house! And talked to my dad!
Him: Are you serious?!?!
Me: Yeah!
Him: Yeah, we were walking around, and my friend is like, 'Hey, your phone is calling me' and that's when I realized I didn't have my phone.
Me: That sucks!
Him: Yeah! I didn't know how bad it was til this morning when my brother was banging on the door, asking me if I got my phone stolen. I guess they called my house, too!
Me: They were funny at first, but then they got really jerky.
Him: I know. I've been getting a lot of angry phone calls from friends today. And the thing is, I had all my numbers in there, so I can't even call people to apologize!
Me: They probably called everyone on the list. They even made it seem like they knew you...
Him: Yeah...they told everyone I was too drunk to talk. I'm so angry!
Me: Oh well, nothing you can do now!
Him: Yeah. It sucks.
Me: Next time, watch your phone!!!

So it turns out, not only do I get drunk calls from friends and family, I get 'em from strangers, too!!!

Just got the most bizarre phone call at 2am on the East Coast.

Saw the number, and it was my cousin. Got a little worried to get a call from him so late at night.

Then I picked up the phone, and it wasn't him. Or at least I don't think it was. Whoever it was was pretty drunk. Yelling drunk. Laughing, giggling drunk. And they just started talking to me like they knew who I was, but I had no idea who I was talking to. Even when I asked, they were slurring so bad I couldn't understand. Then the phone was passed to someone else who wasn't my cousin, and they were babbling, too. Then passed to someone else. I got a pretty good laugh out of it, but then again, it was really weird. Here's some choice quotes:

- "Girl, girl, when you gonna hook up wit us? We're having a goooood time!" [sorry, can't. i'm in atlanta] "Atlanta? What da hell you doin' out dere?"
- "My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, uh huh. uh huh. uh huh huh huh..."
-"We're so CRAZEEEEEE right now! Woman, come and party with us! Let's hang! Are we gonna hit it or what? I wanna be wit you!!!" [sorry dude, i'm married] "What? You're married, but you're not buried! AH-HAHAHAHAHAH!!!"
-"Where's your cousin? I dunno! He's around here somewhere! But he cares about him, baby. Let's talk you and me."
-"Sup girl. Mmm...you sound tasty. Yeah, baby, laugh for me again. Mmm...yeah...I like it like that. Oh...so good. Luagh again. Yeah, you know how to do me right. Ohh...oh...oh! Yeah...was it good for you, too?"
-"You don't know me? I know you. I seen yo' picture, girl! You got one hell of an ass on you!' [thanks, assmunch]

And I have NO idea who these people are. Maybe I do. But I can't figure it out by the slurring and yelling into the phone.

So this whole episode makes me ask myself, 'Why am I the person people call when they're drunk?' So many times I've gotten the drunken phone call, people who want me to go out, people who want me to help them sober up as their driving home, people who want to yell at me when they're in the car with other people, people who want to complain about their relationships, people who meet Leann Rimes, etc. Why me? Do they enter my name on their phone under 'CALL THIS NUMBER WHEN DRUNK'?

Though I'd be lying if I said that I didn't enjoy listening to all your drunk asses. It's hilarious. Though the voicemails from strippers I can do without, thank you very much.

Since I'm stuck in Texas on dial-up, the comic con pics will just have to wait. As will the 'con recap. But as I was typing it up on the plane, this one was pretty long, so I decided to break it off from the others...

___________________________________________________

OK, with the passing of time, I realize this isn't the story of stories. But it's a pretty good story still.

So we were wandering around the comic con looking for people to do sketches. As we're walking, we start to pass a group of guys. I feel that one of them is staring at me, and I look at him. He looks vaguely familiar. Then I realize it's Jason Mewes, who played Jay in 'Dogma', 'Mallrats' and 'Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back'. At first I didn't recognize him because he's a lot taller from what I remember, and his hair is cut short and he had a nice tan going on. So he's looking, and I'm looking, and he says slowly, 'Hello...' You know, that creepy 'Hello' that guys say sometimes. I'm a little stunned, but I manage to say a cool, 'Hello...' back to him. Then we pass. And as we pass, he says, 'Sexy! Sexxxy!' I don't remember hearing this, but Melanie and Fatima heard it clearly. Melanie didn't realize who he was when we passed. Fatima was looking at something else and just heard someone say, 'Sexy' our way. The first thought in her head was, 'Who the fuck would have the balls to say that outloud here?' Because, well, comic cons really aren't a place where guys go to pick up women, nor do you get the type of guys that have enough courage to pick up women. So we're still walking, and I whisper to them, 'That's Jay!' And the girls are like 'What?' 'That was Jay, from Jay and Silent Bob!' So then I stop and say, 'Hey! I should take a picture with him!' I mean, we already said hello, we're practically best friends now. Then they tell me that they heard him say, 'Sexy' as he passed, and Mel said it was the dirtiest 'Sexy' she had ever heard. I didn't recall hearing it, but I was in such a daze that I didn't hear much after 'Hello'. Yes. He had me at 'Hello'. Just kidding, Dave.

So I walk back, and he's at the View Askew Booth hanging out. He's surrounded by an agent and some security. But I didn't notice them. As I was approaching, Jason saw me and smiled. 'Hey, sexy!' he called. 'Can I have a picture with you?' I asked. 'Sure, anything for you.' So we stood and posed for a picture, and he was talking the whole time. He acted just like his character Jay, I guess playing the part wasn't too much of a stretch. But the whole time he was like, 'Damn, you're so sexy.' Then after the 3rd or 4th time he said that (or a variation of it) he said playfully, 'I'm just kidding with ya.' Then he went right back to macking. And after taking the picture, we chatted for a little. 'Damn, so you're into comics?' and I said yeah, and he was pretty surprised. 'Are you going to my thing later?' he asked (He had an autograph session). 'No, I don't know what's going on with that.' He looked at his handler and said, 'Hey, what's the deal with my thing later?', to which the handler replied, 'They handed out tickets this morning and there aren't any left'. So Jay half whispers to him, 'So, can we get these three girls in?' The handler smiled at him and said, 'Anything you want is fine with me.' So Jay turns to us and says, 'When I'm doing my signing thing, just come up to my man here and tell him, 'Sexy's here'. He'll let you in.' I said thanks, and since a crowd was starting to builld once people realized who he was, I decided it was my time to get out of there. I said bye, and he said, 'Later, sexy' and made one of the LL Cool J kissy faces.

I just laughed at the thought of going up to the handler later and saying, 'Sexy's here. He's expecting me.'

So later on, when it was his time slot, we went over to the signing area. There was a huge line there. I felt bad for thinking about cutting in line, so we didn't even try. That, and the signing started late because Jay was signing with Kevin Smith, who was running late. Everyone was pretty stressed. So me and my girls just hung out at the side of the signing area with the rest of the people who were taking pictures. So I'm clicking away. Then he looks up while he's signing, and he sees me. I wave hello, and he gives me the nod. I smile. Then he mouths, 'SE-XY' to me and does the kissy face again. I laugh and giggle. Then I realize that people in line are looking at me like, 'Who the fuck is she?!?' I then proceeded to make myself invisible. But I stayed to get a few more shots since the lighting was kinda whack there. Every once in a while he'd look over and make this really lustful look which would cause all of us to laugh. Me, Mel and Fata were talking about how he's a lot better looking in real life, especially with the tan and shorter hair. That, and it looks like he's been working on those arms. After being there for a few minutes, we had to go to watch a panel, so we got his attention and waved goodbye. He looked at us like, 'Huh? What? Where are you going?' And Fatima said, 'We're going to the Aspen Panel.' I then said, 'We'll see you tomorrow.' Then he slowly waved bye to us. Once again, I realized that everyone was watching again, so I made sure to get out of there quick.

So yeah. That's the story. I know you're all rolling your eyes out there. But seriously, it happened! Unfortunately, I never saw Jay again. It just wasn't meant to be. I had to leave Sunday to drop the girls off during the time when Jay was scheduled to appear. But I appreciate the moments we had together. :-P Really, though, I'm flattered. This also proves my suspicion that he checked me out during the Chicago con of '01 when I passed by him. I swear he said 'Hey' to me, but I didn't believe it and just kept on walking.

Yes. My head is blowing up. These strokes of ego are needed every now and then.

Am I a stalker? Yes. But he started it!

It's that way cool 'Cute but Psycho' bunny tee that Marilyn gave me that reeled him in. That shirt is HOT.

Is what I SHOULD have said today.

So I'm on a conference call with the president of our company, our sales person and a client. We're going over a statement of work for a site visit next week. It was pretty much, 'Here's what we need...' and the prez saying, 'We can do that...Yes, that can be done.' We were going over items on a document that they had sent us, and just going down the list with no problems.

I was paying attention. I swear. For the first 20 minutes at least. But really, no one was talking to me. I was just there as a backup. Then I lost my concentration. And all of the sudden I heard the Prez say, 'Yeah, we'll definitely look into that. Christine, test this out and we'll work on this later today, ok?'

'OK!' I say.

But I have no idea what he's talking about. No clue. Then there was another thing that he asked me the check into, later on. Which I heard.

So I checked on that second thing, still trying to figure out what the first thing was. I talked to Dan to test it out at the office and he got the same results that I did. I also tell Dan my predicament, and he laughs. I told him to tell the Prez about the results that he got. The Prez is appreciative, then tells Dan, 'Tell her to call me later and we'll work on the other thing.'

WHAT OTHER THING!

Argh. Wish me luck on my phone call!

I'll probably just have to suck it up and say that I have no idea what he wanted me to look into. *sigh*

And some good news...Fata and Melanie are coming into town tomorrow! It will be so awesome to see people from home!

Update: Called. Left voicemail. *whew*

Here I am, sitting in my luxurious hotel - the Comfort Inn. *sigh*

I didn't really think about it this morning when I left for the airport that it was a holiday. But nonetheless, I left early so I'd get there 2 hours before my flight. There wasn't much traffic at 5:30am, so I made some really good time. Parked my car in the lot and took a shuttle to the airport. Then I saw the lines for check-in, which were out the door. And I realized, not only was it a holiday weekend (not for me!) but the All-Star g