so don't ask if you don't want to know
Posts tagged strongbow
Oh, what a night!
Apr 23rd
Though yesterday’s activities started later than I’d expected, it was well worth it.
First we had to wait around for someone to come get Kira. There was some miscommunication there, but eventually they came and then Sheila and I went to Lunch at Liberty Market (YUM!!!) and then headed to Sheila’s house for day-drinking around the pool. A pleasant couple of Strongbows later we gussied up and went to the brand new Mellow Mushroom where I had a The Caesar pizza (AWESOME!!!!) and then we walked the block over to Robbie Fox’s for the #evfn / party.
Oh Mr Deity! Yeah, I was a bit cranky because the space they put aside for us only had a small bar and they had to go inside every time I ordered another Strongbow. But once I hit about halfway on that drink, I was fine. And the regular #evfn evening progressed as usual with a bit of birthday wishing included. It was a combined Jana (tomorrow) and Jack (next Thursday) and my (next Friday) birthday celebration and I didn’t have to drive anywhere so I indulged. Oh did I indulge. Kathy bought my second drink, Vinessa and Patrick bought my third (I think) and Jana wanted to kill me with my 4th.
At some point the #evfn ended but the partying continued, there were cans of whipped cream introduced and much squirting and licking on everyone on the couch. I thought I’d have a hickie on my boob from Jana, but the mark faded. Evo went right to the point of it if you know what I mean. Might have been 10 of us with whipped cream residue somewhere by the time the cans died out. All this on an outdoor patio! Then I started flirting with one of the band guys unloading nearby and it was time to leave. I HAD SO MUCH GODDAM FUN!
Today has been busy too. Nice breakfast, nice lunch, nice ImprovAZ event where we dressed up sort of like Waldo and converged on Tempe Markeplace to screw with the natives. My friend Jeff was the actual Waldo and pics will start showing up soon. I posted a couple on my Facebook. Then I had Casey take me to get a new car battery (because apparently mine mysteriously died while I was gone for the night) and when he replaced it suddenly the A/C that has been dead since last summer came to life again. Sure at first there was a lot of clunking and grinding in the dashboard area which eventually settle down to a rhythmic thunk but even that stopped after a few miles/minutes. But the new battery took most of my set-aside-for-shopping-for-Vegas funds so I only got one new outfit and came home.
Now I’m going to take a long hot bath and crawl in bed for a while.
Away from the world!
Aug 27th
Here’s the deal.
We’re leaving in a bit to go camping. No computer (ack!) and likely my phone will die before the weekend is out because I forgot my car charger in my car.
And my car is at the repair shop because my 7th cylinder is retarded. Let’s hope that turns out to be a slight and only temporary retardation.
Anyway. Tubing, Strongbow, campfire, tents, the whole shebang. Should be fun… right?
What's been going on
Mar 30th
Some and nothing.
So I’m on an antibiotic for chlamydia.
Stop laughing, it’s not that kind of chlamydia!
Chlamydia pneumoniae. Not that I have symptoms, just that recent blood testing shows I have some of the bacteria in me and it could develop later.
So… Sunday:
I love Max-and-friends rental house. It’s a really nice huge house, but it’s in one of those developments where they’re all on top of each other with no yards and NO PARKING. There’s never any place to park and what there is is parallel. Little tiny 2-car parallel parking spaces interspersed throughout the complex. SUCKS. I’ve got a BIG (2001 gran marquis) car. SUCKS.
Anyway, we get there and boom the perfect parking space right across from their house. Only took me 6 tries to get my boat in there. We changed in the house and headed over to their park/playground/pool area. They were done at the pool and were all in the open space playing frisbee and football.
I sat in the sun for about 10 minutes when I started feeling weird. I made it up the hill to the playground, found a bench in the shade, and proceeded to damn near pass out. Sat there thinking about which way I’d fall – either into the sand (yuk) or headfirst onto the concrete – and even Kira knew something was wrong with Grammi and went to get help.
How fucking embarrassing and annoying. No I didn’t pass out, I drank a lot of water (I always drink a lot of water) and Casey moved me to a picnic table where I could put my head down. Eventually the dizziness passed enough for me to trudge back to the house (with a fucking escort) and rest up.
I’m blaming it on the erythromycin and the heat.
This too did pass and eventually we were all playing Flip Cup. Their kitchen has a huge island perfect for beer pong type games. (video from a previous evening with the kids) And because Shane can’t flip a cup to save his life, I ended up downing an entire can of Strongbow in about 6 minutes, so I quit. Didn’t want to press my luck.
I’ve also noticed a general tired / low-energy feeling. The pharmacist said the antibiotic doesn’t play well with my theophylline so I went yesterday for another blood test.
Tonight is Ignite Phoenix#6, this time at Mesa Art Center to which I’ve never been. Looking forward to seeing the venue as much as the event.
Min-eh-sooooo-tah
Jul 6th
Cara's koi pond
Flew into Minneapolis Wednesday on US Air. First I didn’t have a seat because stupid me forgot to check in early online. Then I was stuck in a window seat next to poor Mr. Morthan Chubby who had gas. But other than that the flight wasn’t bad. Got to MN and there was my good friend (snowcalla ) Cara! Long drive back to her house in Austin where I met and hugged her hubby. Actual roast dinner. Beautiful backyard. Through that night and the next morning I saw little things I’d forgotten northern nature had over the desert.
One bunny, fireflies, huge squirrels and green green green. MN reminds me of Michigan. Not the shit hole industrial areas I grew up in, but the farms and hills and trees further out of crappy places like Flint and Detroit.
Thursday we meandered back up to the Minneapolis area around Bloomington and Edina – and stayed in a suite at a Marriott Residence Hotel (where I had my own room cuz sometimes I snore) where we met up with (wickedgroovy) Heather. Fireplace and full kitchen meant we didn’t have to go out as much but we still did. 
We went shopping at Surdyk’s for designer cheeses and other stuff I’d never heard of. Sheila/Evo would love that store. Registered at CONvergence and wandered the art room and then back to the hotel to get ready to go out.
We’d decided to celebrate our 2009 birthdays together regardless of the fact that they aren’t even close. Started at Bradstreet, a tapas place. I think Tapas is greek for single servings of expensive and great tasting food you’re supposed to share. I tried new things like fois gras (yuk) and lamb ribs (fuck yeah) 
and enjoyed the crab cakes I ordered as a safety dinner in case I didn’t like anything else, such as the asparagus, the calamari and the lamb burgers the others ordered. I’m sure the lamb burgers would have been tasty if someone hadn’t decided to dump an entire pepper shaker on each one.
Cara, as always the leader in our expeditions, ordered the drinks. Starting with a Cooper’s Union – beautiful tall glass, Prairie, Lemon, St. Germaine Elderflower Liqueur, Grapefruit, Gruet Sparkling, Orange Flower Water – and I made it about a third of the way through that. I think it was the elderflower that turned me off. So Cara told them to bring me something interesting with orange and vodka, which they did and I couldn’t really enjoy that either. Just plain, thanks. That’s me, just plain. Then there was something red and slimy I couldn’t even attempt, so Heather and Cara drank that and I finally got my plain screwdriver. But by then I was pretty toasted.
From there we went to a club at The Chambers Hotel called (I kid you not) The Red White and Fucking Blue Rooftop Lounge, which appeared to be the gay men mecca of the greater north plains states. Seriously. I’m pretty sure there were single hetero men there (because there were couples and groups) but finding one would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Great hopping club, with quick and plenty drinks and an outside area. Lots of conversation areas, a thing I never understood in a club where the music is kept loud. Who can conversate over that? But check out the weird toilet seats. 
I’ve never seen toilet seats that thin in a ladies room, although when that guy walked in like it was so natural for him I wondered if there even was a distinction between the ladies and men’s.
After Cara finally shed the guy who had latched onto her, we wandered across the street to another club that was virtually empty and had a chocolate dessert. Then upstairs to the rooftop bar. Waited I swear 8-10 minutes for someone to show up behind the bar so we could order drinks. Then some lizard started talking to me, then Heather and finally settled on Cara. Man she can attract them. We dumped him and headed back to our hotel hoping for some hot tub time. No such luck.
Fridayy noonish we headed to CONvergence. Not a big Con and after years of Dragon*Con, we were spoiled. Ran into (Hellziggy) Sharon before I could finish texting her I was there. She showed us around including the free food and drink areas. They hand out free water and soda and tea, and rice. Yup, cups of rice free and a bunch of stuff you can add for flavoring. What a brilliant idea rather than preparation intensive sandwiches and stuff. They had other food as well. And all around the indoor pool area there were party suites assigned to the different groups and tracks to decorate and provide booze at night.
Between the few panels and traipsing the party suites, we hit the dealer’s room where I found two small wooden containers for Casey to put Ed’s ashes in and ran into (EmmasDad) Mike. Back at the hotel we had the casserole Cara brought, drank some Strongbows, snacked on cheeses and fruits, and just hung out. Friday night as we were parking back at the Con there was a huge fireworks display nearby so we got our Fireworks Fix out of the way early. Good thing, Saturday night at the Con was a fiasco and all the fireworks were too far away to actually see.
Kiltlifting
Late Saturday morning we headed over to the Mall of America, had our pictures taken with Dora and Diego, wandered around some more and then headed back to the Con for one panel. Back to the hotel for swimming and hot tubbing and had to sneak the Strongbows in coffee cups. Back to the Con for an attempt to see fireworks, ended up wandering the parties instead.
Somewhere in there we had Heather’s enchiladas, went to Vilification Tennis (throwing insults back and forth which was hilarious – but half the people were improperly miked and you couldn’t hear them), met the Skepchicks ladies, saw Pamela Gay again (she has no clue who I am) and did more shopping and fancy food snacking.
Sunday we packed and headed up to downtown Minneapolis to Loring Pasta Bar for a scrumptious brunch. I can’t remember if I tried anything new there, but I’ll bet I did. I tried so many new things this weekend. Then back down here to Austin to recover. Cara has a wonderful home and yard for quiet recovery.
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Sorry this is so long, but it’s taken me all day so I don’t want to break it up. Tethered to my phone is slow but I can’t seem to access their wifi. I’m here until Friday with plans ahead for tubing and visiting historical points of interest. I am having the best time!
