quote:

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Originally posted by just a llama:
[whisper]psssst. circus, i was at chevy's too[/whisper]

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SHIT! Shit shit shit! I knew i was forgetting someone.

And i didn't talk about daysleeper and escher much in my blog either, which is a mistake because they're both very cool (i didn't get much time with them, unfortunately).

But, shit. Thank you for the correction, my dearest llama!

s'okay i'll let you make up for it with hugs.

::hugs::

11/15/04 08:36 pm
I wanted to wait until I had pictures to write about Fiddler's Green, but I have no idea when I will be able to upload those bitches. For now, I am just going to list some happy things:

1. Neil Gaiman: "Meep."
2. The Signings (Note: I am not going to scan these, because they are special and it seems weird to do that)
2a. Todd Klein LOOKS THROUGH MY SKETCHBOOK, makes some comment that I'm too busy fangirling to really hear, then does a personalized signing including "best wishes!" and some fancy scrollwork around it.
2b. Neil tries to one-up him with:

To DANi
best [crossed out "witc"]wishes
from
Neil Gaiman
who does not
write as
pritty as Todd.

2c. Charles Vess draws me a big, shadowy, wonderful Dream face - leaving a Dorito thumbprint in the process.
2d. Jill Thompson adds an absolutely adorable Delirium on the next page, with a tiny cup and saucer, spiral, heart, and a "to DANi." (what is with the uncapitalized i, I've no idea - they all did it)
2e. Caitlin Kiernan leaves me some kind of beaked, cyclopian slime monster, following with "IN PAiN & WoNDER,
To DANi."
2f. Karen Berger wimps out of drawing, but I suppose she's allowed. She writes:

"For Dani-
Sandman Forever...
Karen Berger
Fiddler's green
2004
+
Best Wishes!
"
2g. Alex has his copy of Harlequin Valentine signed to both of us. Neil does a kind of Dani <3 Alex thing before signing it, saying as he does so, "Big heart...nail through it..."
3. Neil's old jacket/skin gets passed around. I touch it. I am afraid to put it on, though. So is just about everyone else.
4. MIRRORMASK CLIPS. <333
5. Watching Neil and Caitlin write a two-page Sandman involving "trees" and "snow" is one of the coolest things I have and will ever see.
6. Watching Charles and Jill and Todd draw and letter it is the other.
7. Great fifteen-minute, one-on-one conversation with Todd about mostly nothing
8. The Auction
8a. ZOMG teh boots!! My eyes totally fall out.
8b. Some guy buys the newly created two-page Sandman for $10,000. Awesome.
8c. Way too much cool artwork that I can't afford <3
9. The Masquerade Ball
9a. While Alex has run back upstairs to get the camera, Charles Vess walks by my costumed self and totally Nods at me. If there's such a thing as a stuttering nod, it's what I manage in return.
9b. Neil passes us by later, kinda stops and looks, does a weird thumbs-up/arm-pumping thing and exclaims, "Yes!"
9c. Folk Underground and watching the people that know how to dance to it
9d. All the cute Deliria (to steal Alex's word for them)
9e. Costumed picturetime w/ Neil kthx. <3 He's quite warm.
10. Seeing those there involved with Sandman all together at the end, talking back and forth to each other and to the audience

There. That was roughly in chronological order. I know I will have to go back and add things once I find the program schedule and reminsce with Alex, so... whatever that means for you.

so ive meant to write this since i got back on sunday, but im still way to tired....dont know why
for those of you who dont know, i went to fiddlers green this weekend, which was a convention in minnesota. why drive the 1000+ miles? well, to meet neil gaiman of course it was a one time con that centered around the sandman series.
getting ready was very nervracking. i post to the worlds end on the neil gaiman boards, and we were all going to meet and hang out. and of course, me being the person i was was terrified that they wouldnt like me, so i had timmy go with me, so at least one person would be there to talk to me.
god i sound like a whiner. just a low self esteem problem, that i am really starting to get over.
so we drive.........and drive............and drive.........................
and we get there, and there is this amazing group of people in the lobby. so i go up and i say you guys look like you are boarders.....and they are like, no we are here for the dinner.....then they go, wait a minute! and they are from the worlds end. i hug and hug and hug, and this guy looks at me and says, 3 guesses as to who i am and the first 2 dont count! it was walker i love him!!!!!!
so we meet up with our roommates(miss and love you all) and dan, tim, allesandra and i are starving, so we walk down to this little hole in the wall place and eat. blahblahblah.....reading of a very sad, significant story by neil, who made me swoon several times, until i stopped being wierd and talked to him
then a reading from anansi boys......
then mirrormask
and a very creepy rendition of close to you....im telling you, it will scare the shit out of you!
then the worlds end party! it was fun! i would have stayed longer, but i was very tired, and a little overloaded as far as interacting...im not used to del!!!! let me hug you! i love you! hey!it was nice
go to sleep
wake up
meet neil here
<img src="http://www.femvoices.com/myscarf.jpg" alt="yay!" />
followed this guy around
<img src="http://www.femvoices.com/gmzoeandme.jpg" alt="yay!" />
isnt he yummy!!!!!!!
said llama!!!!!alot!
danced with gorgous people
<img src="http://www.femvoices.com/arentwecute.jpg" alt="yay!" />
kissed boots
<img src="http://www.femvoices.com/boots.jpg" />
had breakfast with matt cable, lunch with gmzoe, talked to jill thompson, drank tequila with friends from the worlds end, met lots of new people, made friends with erica vess, fell totally and madly in love with everyone and felt good!!!!!
and then
this is my favorite!
lovehim!
<img src="http://www.femvoices.com/meandneil.jpg" /> his head is on my bosom!!!!
it was so nice not to be the odd one out.....and to be understood and not hear neil who?
i miss everyone dreadfully
and it hurts my heart to know that when i go to work, im not going to get hugs. or the same kind of understanding that i got from people that i had never met before. it was like meeting old friends. i dont know if they can understand how important this weekend was for me. i let go of a lot of demons, thanks to the wonderful people at the con. i was inspired to write, to paint and to not give a fuck about other peoples opinions because if they dont like me, or what i do, then they are the wrong type of people i should be wanting acceptance from.
god, so much more!
teasing joc's feet, people loveing my hair, hugging my llama, hula hoop contest kinda with matt, vodka with gmzoe, who will forever be embedded in my mind with his eyebrow.....well.....cant describe it.
the worlds end party was awesome! um.....starting a south park quote.....people wanting to borrow my glitter, neil gaiman!
god.......
this is getting long, and im starting to sound like a stalker
and purple shirt guy.......you know who you are.....i forgive you
much much more
but system overload
loveyou

Here is my post about Thursday, copied below:

Our adventures started even before we got to the airport. Chris(Tongster) called asking a favor. He was getting a ride in Minneapolis from Ivan(Wanderinginmn), but had encountered airline trouble and didn't have Ivan's number. Chris left his new flight number with us to give to Ivan. Jen left a couple messages on the board and emailed Ivan with Chris's flight number and cell phone number. Then, having done all we could think of, we got ready and headed out. Our own flight took us into Minneapolis via O'Hare, and fortunately we didn't have any travel troubles of our own. The in-flight movie was "I, Robot", which was better than I expected.

We had a bit of a wait in Chicago, so I checked messages and discovered a text message from Chris that he wouldn't be into Minneapolis until after us. I messaged him back to say that we wouldn't be in until 10:30. He messaged me back that he was still stuck in Vegas. I called him, and after a few phone problems I got a hold of him to talk about plans. He told us not to worry about sticking around to share a cab, he and Jocelyn would fend for themselves.

Our flight into Minneapolis was actually a little early, and we got our luggage and into a taxi by about 10:30. En route to the hotel I gave Walker a call. He and a few other Boardians were hanging out in the lobby, so we ran into them as we walked through the human Cuisinart, to which Jen took an immediate disliking. I said hi to everybody, then checked us in and took our stuff up to the room. While I was up there, my friend Jesse gave me a call. He goes to school in the Fargo/Moorhead area and I had emailed him a few months back about meeting up with him at FG, but then forgot to contact him again until the week before the con. Turns out that he had plans that he couldn't drop on such short notice, so we just talked for a while, then I headed back to the lobby. Chris had called my phone and left a message in the meantime saying that he and Jocelyn were on their way to the hotel. They greeted people, then headed up to their room and crashed after a day of wrangling with the airlines.

Jen and I hung out in the corner of the bar with Walker, Maure, Arvin, Lucy, Xine, Aitapata, and Mikka. We talked about a bunch of stuff, the con and masquerade featuring prominently. Then people dispersed a bit, and I bought Walker and myself each a dram of 18 year Glenlivet. It would have been 18 year MacAllan, but they only had a sip left. She gave that to us for free, though, which I thought was a generally good thing to do. She was a superb bartender and very personable. I didn't actually interact with the hotel staff much that weekend, but she gave them a great image.

We talked for a while more, met a cool guy named Mike who used to live in the area, and then the sealed auction went live. Walker was in charge of the auction, so he got his laptop and did some monitoring. He also showed us some pictures of the auction items up on the web, and then some old pictures from World Fantasy Con a few years ago when the group had a twisted Alice in Wonderland theme and he went as the White Trash Rabbit. We had agreed to meet some people in the lobby at 10AM the next morning before heading out to Hell's Kitchen for breakfast, so we went to bed around 1:30ish.

wasn't thursday the 11th?

quote:

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Originally posted by GMZoe:
wasn't thursday the 11th?

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Hrm, right you are. I wonder why I did that? Fixed now.

Whoa, whichever mod made it so that Matrix3's name shows up as "destiny" on the list of last posts, you just gave me the wilies.

Ha! Xine, I don't think that's the mods. I think that's Ray changing his handle.

Oh!

it was weird, cause it still said Matrix 3 on his posts, and Destiny on the list of threads. Thought it was some cool shiny trick, like the member name thingies.

well, I had changed to just Destiny, then thought that was a little...off, somehow. Maybe presumptious? Anyway, I changed it to Matrix Destiny, which I thought looked/sounded better. I don't know why it took that post a while to convert. I think I had actually posted it _before_ I changed anything...

k, here is my blogged entry concerning FG:

We began our 1200 mile drive on Wed evening, finally arriving to the hotel at about 3pm on Friday. The drive was mostly uneventful aside from rain from Nashville, TN to Champaign, IL. Since there could have been much ice and snow, we were thankful. I kept watching the weather channel for updates, hoping it would remain clear during our trip.

Upon arrival, Day immediately recognized several World's Enders waiting in the registration line for Fiddler's Green. She was excited, but a little shy at the same time. Eventually she got the nerve to say something, or someone recognized her and spoke first (I was away parking the car.) We were instantly brought into the mix, being introduced to everyone, and just made at ease from the start. This is the third time I have met groups of people in real life whom I only knew over the internet previously, and this time seemed the most comfortable.

I am not really gonna recount a play by play of the entire event, because several other people will probably do that as well.
Instead I will just mention my favorite moments in no particular order (although mostly chronological):
-Initial meeting of everyone
-The intimacy of the event, having only about 350 people
-The Guests of Honor being normal people, not acting the snooty celebrity part. Neil Gaiman staying extra to make sure people get autographs, Running into him or Caitlyn Kiernan in the elevator (Them not using some secret back elevator to stay away from the people)
-The World's End party at the mystery Hilton we had trouble finding
-Charles Vess showing up at said party.
-Attending the panel where the 2 page Sandman story was scripted
-Seeing the story get auctioned for $10,000 dollars
-Getting a copy of the story, and getting it signed by all involved. Now we will get our copies framed nicely.
-Seeing how excited and bouncy Day was for the whole trip
-Hanging with Danyellia and Waderinginmn Sat evening.
-The masquerade (although I wish I had not let time slip up on me and come up with a better costume)
-The Collector's panel - very entertaining. And GMZoe, that is a fantasticly cool jacket even without a connection to Neil Gaiman.
-Jill Thompson signing my book "I want an Oompa Loompa Now" (she asked who to sign it too, and I put her on the spot to just put a random quote, song lyric, poem, thought, etc.)

Negatives included:
-Missing several panels that interested me, but I had to choose other things at the same time.
-Missing the 80s dance after the masquerade
-Realizing quickly that I was not getting anything at the auction. Even the "worst Sandman painting Neil Gaiman ever recieved" went for way more money than would have thought about spending.

The RL versions of We'ers were mostly like his or her online personas, at least for those I knew enough to form an opinion. I admit that Furious and Tongster were much more reserved in RL, while GMZoe was also not what I had pictured. Now it seems I had no real basis on my opinion of him, but I had pictured someone older, quiet, stoic, and of course barefoot (or maybe flipflops) no matter the weather. In any case, there was nothing negative about any of the people I met over the weekend. I am sorry we don't all live closer together and can't have frequent gatherings of some sort.

We left Sunday afternoon. Sadly it was earlier than I wanted since people were still hanging out together. But we had a long drive ahead, and this time only a day and a half to get home since Day had class today (Tuesday.) Maybe next time I can talk her into just flying.

Hi Everyone! Here's my blog entry about Thurday. I've made it extra-long, so you can relive the airport delay in almost real time! Enjoy!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, it looks like everyone's beat me to writing about the airport adventures on Thursday, but I think I'll add my voice to the chorus, anyway.

So. Here we go.

Thurday:

On thurday morning, I got up early and drove to the airport. There was a 15 minute detour on my way to airport parking, because the road to the airport was being torn up for some reason or another. I thought to myself "Good thing my plane doesn't take off until 9:00." This was at 7:30. By the time I'd gotten through the detour, the morning traffic, parked my car, scuttled to the airport, got through the line at the America West counter, checked my luggage (because I'm a girl, and I had to bring that much stuff), and got my boarding pass, it was 8:15. The ticketing agent informed me that I was flying standby and she didn't have a seat for me (news to me, I thought I'd bought the full price tickets), that the security line was 45 minutes long, and that I might not make my plane. I said "Well, I've got a three hour layover. I'm sure I'll be fine, even if I get bumped." and went to the security line. The line did, indeed, start the floor below where the security checkpoints were, but it only took a half hour, and I made it to my gate by 8:45. I talked to the gate agent, she found me a seat, and off I went.

"Yay! I'm on my way!" thought I, as I walked down the tiny aisle to my seat. "I've gotten the annoying airport stuff out of the way at the front end of the trip, how nice!" thought I. Then I got to my seat, and there was someone else in it. Hmmm... "Excuse me, Mr. Flight Attendant. I think this one is my seat, but this lady looks settled in. Also, it's a window seat, and I don't want to make all three people move, just for me. Do you have anywhere else to put me? I don't care where I sit, and I've checked all my baggage." "Oh, yes m'am. This is your seat. We'll move her." And they did. They moved her right to first class.

So I took my seat (in coach) and started talking to the lady next to me, who was on a planned trip, and didn't know where she was going. Someone in her husband's rotary club planned outings, and they never knew where they'd end up until they were there. So we talked about places they'd been in the past, and that lucky lady getting a first class seat, and I told her that drinking on planes gave me headaches, so that would have been wasted on me anyway, and then we got to Phoenix, and I grabbed my stuff and wandered away, hoping the nice group ended up someplace warm.

Walking up to the monitor at the Phoenix airport, I noticed something odd There were no flights listed to Minneapolis. I looked at my watch. I looked at the arrivals and departures. I looked at my flightplans. I decided that since my flight was three hours off, it probably just wasn't listed yet. So I went off to take a walk around the terminal and get some lunch. After doing that, I wandered back and looked at the display again, and was glad to see that Minniapolis was now listed. Glad, that is, until I saw the flight status. "Info at 2:16? What does that mean? We should be in the air at 1:15." I muttered to myself, confused by the bizarre information in the catagory that usually only displayed the words "Delayed" or "On Time." I wandered over to the gate, and sat down, and asked the woman next to me what this meant. She grunted. I shrugged, and went back to my book.

"Hello, everyone on America West Flight 210 to Minniapolis! Our current flight status is delayed. The mechanics are looking at the aircraft, and will get us more information in an hour or so, but in the meantime this flight has been delayed by an hour. We'll update you as we get more information."

Everyone grumbles. I call Chris from the payphone and wonder why he changed his voicemail message. 45 minutes later, we get this announcement:

"Hello, everyone on America West Flight 210 to Minniapolis! There has been a gate change. Please proceed to gate A24."

More grumbling. We all move to gate A24. Then, at 2:20:

"Hello, everyone on America West Flight 210 to Minneapolis! I'm sorry to announce that due to mechanical difficulties, your flight has been cancelled. Please approach the terminal or the customer service desk by gate A19 and we will be able to fit some of you onto the next flight, departing at 4:00pm."

As soon as the man said "Some of you" most of us were up and running down the hall to customer service, thinking that if we were in the first 5 passangers, we might make the next flight out. I was number 6. The lady at the desk booked me on a 7pm flight, and I tell her I'll be happy to stand there until they've checked other airlines for an alternate, earlier, flight, and could I please use her phone. I leave Chris another message.

"Hi Honey, my flight was cancelled. Right now I'm getting in around 11pm. Go to dinner without me, I'll make my way to the hotel on my own. I'm trying to get a flight on another airline, I'll call again if I can get in earlier."

And I stand there, and I start talking to the guy next to me, and feel kinda bad for being so upset about missing out on a few hours of a convention when I find out that he'll be missing his grandfather's wake. I stand there more. The guy on the phone with Northwest finds a seat on a flight leaving at 4:10. Funeral Guy and I both perk up, and the customer service lady books us both, with 8 other people, on that one. She hands me my tickets first. I look at funeral guy and think "I'm not sure where I'm going. What am I doing right now?" and then I think "well, I'm not standing here anymore. He'll catch up." And take off down the hallway.

The ticketing lady told me to go out like I was leaving the airport, walk down the stairs, do out of the building, take a green and white bus to terminal 3, go back in, go through Northwest ticketing, through security again, and then to the gate. I get as far as the exit to baggage claim and realize I don't know where I'm going, there are lots of stairs. I stop to ask the security guard, but he was talking to a thin blonde lady with a big nose, dressed all in bubblegum pink. I walk up to her and ask if she's on the Minneapolis disaster flight, too. She says yes, and we cheerfully wander off to find the green and white bus, following the security guards instructions, just happy to be moving again at that point. We find the bus, and terminal three, and the ticketing counter, where one of the other passengers asks bubblegum lady if she wrestled the pink alligator for her purse herself. She asserts that she did, indeed. He thought it would be pretty easy to spot in the swamps, being so pink, and I opined that it was probably much tougher than the other aligators, though, from getting teased. "Like a Boy Named Sue" the guy said, and then it was my turn for a ticket. We all went up to the security check area, and we all got the pat-down, and had our bags rummaged through, since passengers changing airlines in mid-stream is, it would seem, a threat to national security. Finally got to the gate, and bubblegum lady ran off to shop, and I had Funeral Guy watch my stuff while I got some M&Ms and gum, and then he had me watch his while he got a frappachino. I borrowed his phone and called Chris again, thinking he would have just landed, and realized half way through my message that I'd been calling his home number all day instead of his cell. Doy. So I call his cell, and when he picks up I say:

"Hi Honey! I know you probably just got into Minneapolis, but my flight was cancelled and I'm just now about to leave on a different one. Don't worry about me, I'll find the hotel on my own, you and Circus should go get dinner."

"... I'm still in Las Vegas."

"What?"

"My first flight was late, I missed my connection, I got transferred to Northwest, and they bumped me from two flights now. I'm back at America West, and I hope I'll be on the one getting in at 11:30. I might not get in tonight at all. I'm sorry, baby."

"Errr... okay then. I'm getting in at 8, I'll wait for you at the gate. I'll call and check in when I get there, and if you don't make the next flight, we'll figure it out then."

Chris didn't want me to have to wait at the airport for another three hours, but I didn't care, I wanted to see him, and after that day I figured three more hours wouldn't kill me. After hanging up, so as not to generate insane roaming charges on a total stranger's phone, I realized that I hadn't asked him about calling Circus or Fluffy or Maure or Ivan or anyone else that was expecting us that night, and looked to see if I had any of their numbers, which of course, I didn't. So I gave back the phone and worried about that until we landed. Once we landed, I went and looked at the monitor, and lo and behold, I did not see any america west flights from Las Vegas listed. So I got a book ("Elizabeth Costello", the author won the nobel prize for literature, and the booker prize, but in this book, he sort of seems to just be talking to himself. It sucks.), and find an airport map, and wander off in search of an America West customer service desk. I stopped to call Chris on the way, and he didn't answer, which I decided was a good thing, as it might mean he was in the air. I didn't find customer service, but I did find a gate agent, who ignored me for a good 10 minutes until he'd finished helping other people, and a bit after. When he finally made eye contact, I said:

"Hi, I'm supposed to meet my boyfriend at his gate, but my flight was cancelled out of Phoenix, and his was messed up out of Las Vegas, and we're both getting in very, very late. And his flight out of Vegas isn't on the monitors. Could you tell me if it's been cancelled, too?"

He assured me that the flight had not been cancelled, Northwest controlled the airport and only displayed the flights of their affilliates. I looked pitiful and got him to confirm that Chris had made it onto the plane, and got the gate number (lucky for Chris I'm not a psycho stalker, I think that was a breach of security, giving me all that info), and went and got a pretzel. When I was done with the pretzel, I got a tequila sunrise. When I was done with the drink, I decided that I'd been sitting for too long, and walked around the airport a couple of times, which is very big and filled with stores, like a mall. I spotted three bookstores on my circut, and decided that Minneapolis could live. I got back to the gate at 11:00 and tried to read more of my crappy novel, but as soon as I started, I saw that there was a plane at the gate, and people were coming off of it. Extremely pissy with the airlines, a little tipsy but not very, and tired as hell, I stood up and wondered if Chris had ever seen me looking worse than I did at that moment. But then he came off the plane, and spotted me, and we smiled at each other, and it was better, or at least it seemed better, or maybe I just stopped careing because I'd found what I came for, and the long walk to get to baggage claim didn't seem that bad, though I was very anxious to get to the hotel and shower off the airport.

The nice thing about waiting in the terminals for a few hours is that you don't have to wait for your baggage, you just have to find someone to unlock it. Which we did, and got a taxi to the Millenium, where we saw Jen and Ray in the lobby, and Walker, and Circus, and Amy and Xine and Maure and dear god it was nice and I was almost cheerful again, but I wanted a shower, and evenutally I got one. But once that was done, and my hair was dry, and we finally got back down to the lobby to talk to people, everyone else had gone to bed. Everyone, that is, except Walker, and aRvin, and Chris and I, and we stayed up talking until 3am, because somehow, once we left the airport, neither one of us was tired anymore. Starving, yes. But not tired. Sadly, we found nothing to eat until the following morning, which I'll write about later.

aw ::applause::
good blog.

horrible airline. grrh.

and y'all were asking why we drove instead of flying . . . .

this was my thursday :

quote:

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Phone woke me up at 3:45 am. The shuttle people couldn't find me place on the map so they needed direction. I couldn't go to sleep after that, and didn't want to. I did coffee, finished packing, last minute things, took out trash, etc. Shuttle dude picked me up. Shuttle dude REALLY FREAKED ME OUT. He spoke very little english. I was the only one in the shuttle. He kept telling me that I was a very very nice girl, and he kept asking why was I such a very nice girl? He asked if I lived alone and if I was married and how much my place was and how long I was going to be gone for and I lied cheerfully throughout. He took the backroads, and I had my fingers on the cellphone, seatbelt unbuckled, ready to jump out of the van at a moments notice. Guy really freaked me out.

I got to the airport not quick enough, needless to say. I get to the airport. Realized that my jacket was not with me. Went into fullblown panic mode. Texted a few people. Xine put out the call for the Minneapolisians. I got a suggestion to have my barta-sitter fed-ex the jacket to me (which turned out to be $65, so that plan got nixed). But I did calm down a bit with a Starbucks Chai ( to Maure) and thought that there would be a jacket for me in Minneapolis, even if I didn't know where it came from. Had half a bagel and read a smidgen of the Far Pavilions. But I honestly couldn't concentrate. So I went outside for one last cigarette, and returned to enter the security gate. I don't remember having to take off my shoes the last time I flew. That was a new one. And I kept putting my driver's license away, adn kept having to take it out.

So, flight from West Palm to Atlanta was a wee bit delayed due to rain. By about 45 minutes. I got into Atlanta with about 10 minutes to find my connecting flight. Allllllll the way on the opposite side of the airport. Have you ever been in Atlanta? It's freaking huge. But I did get there, after many many many wrong turns and a few frantic phone calls. And I got on my plane. I was about the 5th to the last person on. ....and we sat there. Waiting for the food service truck to arrive. And we sat there for about 15 minutes. And all I could think was, "Those BASTARDS. I could be having a cigarette right now." And I got cranky.

Then Atlanta to Minneapolis. Walker had made an ever so lovely map of the minneapolis terminal for me and xine and mikka. With color coded arrows. It was most helpful. I followed the arrows on the map to baggage claim where xine and walker and mikker were waiting. And there was absolutely no nervousness whatsoever. It was them! My friends. No fear. Just lots and lots and lots of hugs. As I was having nic fits of epic proportions, Xine and Mikker graciously went to the baggage carousel (black bag with a white ribbon!) while I went outside with Walker for a cigarette. Or two. Maybe three? I forget. I was just so thrilled to have nicotine.

Okay, after Nicotine Delight, we go back into the luggage claim area to see Xine and Mikka with the most odd looks on their faces. My suitcase never appeared. PERFECT. Damn freaking Julie Whatsherface has like TWENTY suitcases, but my single one never shows. So I meet some nice folks at the luggage claim window, also from West Palm, who also did not locate their suitcases, and I fill out a form and tell the lady where I'm staying, and she says she'll send the luggage to the hotel. Great.

Then we meet Rain, and have hugs, and she's just so gosh darn cute in person. At one point she lets me try on her hat.

We all get a shuttle and go to the hotel. I remember looking around and thinking, "Oh! So this is what Minnesota looks like!" Hotel, checkin, I got to use my brand spanking new credit card. I alert them about the possibility of my luggage showing up. We get TWO vouchers for a free breakfast and we look at each other and say, but there's FOUR of us! But more on that later. Up to the hotel room. I give Mikka her Ranch. More hugging and excitement in general. And from here on out, things become fuzzy and muddled. Mikka, Xine, Rain and I go scouting for food. Xine and I are famished, I don't remember how anyone else was. We found a mexican place. This was Mikka's first experience with Mexican. She just got beans and rice. Xine and Rain had the burritos, I had the chimichanga. I was afeared there was meatly things in there, but Rain discovered it was just beans. Goooood chimichanga. And a corona. One cannot have mexican food without a corona. Limeless, at that. We do the food, talk about things, go back outside, I think I tried on Rain's hat one more time. Back to the hotel. I'm finishing up a cigarette when I get a call from Llama asking me where I am. She says she's in the lobby, and I tell her to look for xine and mikka and rain. I ask the desk if they have my luggage, they do not. Up to the hotel room for massive llama hugs. Walker and Arvin appear at some point. Mysterious phone call from Chris at the front desk telling me that my luggage has been shipped back to Florida (yeah, funny. real funny.) but that he has a gazillion free breakfast vouchers for us, if I don't tell his boss. I am convinced in the Getting Power of Xine's kitty hat that she's been lending me. There's something about Twinkie Hats that inspire folk to be nice to the wearer and to give them things. I like it when people give me things.

Then what happened? Was Circus there at that point? Yes, I think she appears. More many many hugs. My luggage comes back. And I get an evelepe filled with free breakfast things. And there's a coat from Beezeer at the front desk too. The coat is the warmest thing I've ever worn. I think we go on a walk? To Target? Rain was nappy, so she stayed behind. Maybe Circus wasn't there yet. It was myself, xine, llama, mikka and walker who trekked down to Target.

THE CART ESCALATOR! Holy crap, that was neat. So bizarre to see these carts mysteriously float down the stairs. So.... magical, almost.

The Minneapolis Target does not have the Target smell.

Walking back, seeing the Mary Tyler Moore statue. Posing. Back to the hotel. Xine and I realize that we have a longer time to get to the Pixies show than we anticipated. We hang. Then we go to the Pixies.

I get my first cab ride The dude forgot to turn on the meter until halfway there. See? Power of the Hat. It was a fun cab ride. There was plexiglass. And looking at things.

We get to the venue, and it's oddly quiet. There aren't very many people milling around at all. I'd never been to a show where everyone wasn't hanging outside. They would go inside, but they wouldn't come out. Very strange. Xine shows me a KittyCat Dance. She does it well. There may have been more excited hugs. I finish up my cigarette, we go inside, we get in the beverage line. Was it a line? It had line qualities, but it didn't seem to move. We discover they'd run out of tap beer and the natives were sore restless. But we didn't want beer! We wanted Mello Yellow. Xine does not get Mello Yellow in NYC. This is odd. The beer lady asks if there's anyone out there who wants something other than beer, and we frantically wave our arms. We get to the front of the line and get our Mello Yellow. We leave the beer area and go hunting for our seats. Seats are found, I investigate the restrooms that are strangely clean. Such a strange place, Minneapolis. Clean restrooms at a Pixies show. Everyone I run into is so very nice. Strange place.

Now, the floor has been moving for some time. I had credited it to it being a two story arena with a lot of people moving about. More on that later.

Back to the seat with Xine and Mello Yellow and ohholycraptheeretheyare. PIXIES! With the coolest trees in the back of the stage holding up speakers and lights. And just like that, they're in the set, being the Pixies, right in front of my delighted eyes. I'd never seen them live before. Sometime during Caribou, I realize how magical everything is, and how I can die happy now. I have seen the Pixies live. They do all my favorites, Hey, Here Comes Your Man, Wave of Mutilation, Cactus, all of them. Except for the ranch 51 one. I was kinda hoping they'd play that. Between songs, I'd wave frantically at the stage and say "HIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I don't think they heard me. It didn't matter.

The hilarious part of the show : okay, they start off into Nimrod's Son, play a bit, then slowly morph off into another song. Okay. Medley. Cool. But then, five songs later, Frank returns to Nimrod's son. Kelly's trying to play along, but then she just turns to him and starts cracking up. Rest of the band joins in the crack up. Music stops, they're up there laughing. Then Frank says, "Wow! Wouldn't it be cool if we stopped the show here?" And they do. They set their instruments down and walk off stage. Of course the crowd goes balistic. And the band returns for the encore.

It was pretty freaking funny.

Then Xine and I hunt about madly for a cab. Wow! That's super hard. We had a card from the previous driver, so we call that number. 222-2222. No kidding. They tell us we need to call 333-3333. Again, no kidding. Those were actually the numbers. We give up and start trekking about looking for a physical cab. Then this guy starts following us, asking us where we're from, what hotel we're staying at, and all sorts of creepy things. We lie, cheerfully. We find a man with a huge top hat standing outside of a hotel, and he calls a cab for us. He was very nice. But again, the Power of the Hat. We only do what we can to control it. A Twinkie in a Hat is a Powerful girl.

We get our cab ride back. The ears are not ringing that much. What happened next? Thursday night. After the show. We've returned from the hotel. What happened next? Holy hell, I can't remember. I know we didn't go to bed right away. Were we downstairs? Was that when Xine and Jen and I went out to jump on rocks? 'Cept then we realized the rocks were forever away, and we didn't want to walk that far. So we found a frozen fountain and played with the ice. Jen walked on it and cracked it, and then she played a goal post and I was trying to swish it across the ice to her. I do think that was Thursday night. Both Xine and I were keyed up from the Mello Yellow. And after that? After the ice game? What then? Back to the hotel?

I don't remember the rest of the night.

Friday to come later.

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