21
Dec
2004
21:05

Say Goodbye to Hollywood

We are back form our big L.A.adventure and I’m not sure where to start. Let’s start with the most important thing: the people.
While we had many gracious offers for places to stay, we ended up with Will and Annika. There is not enough that can be said about these two wonderful people. I spent the most time with them, so I will probably ramble the most about them. Also since I’m damn tired, I may not get to everyone so apologies ahead of time.

First time meetings

Will is one of the most intelligent, charismatic, multi-talented and all around likable people you could ever meet. I had always sensed that he felt like a kindred spirit and that was definitely the case. He was like a long lost brother to me. With his looks and personality, he could easily be a successful actor in my opinion and has an amazing voice which can morph into myriad impressions and characters. He’s one of those people who would just disgust you if you could just get past liking him so much. He graciously put up with my many inquiries into his cool and enviable job without showing any annoyance. As I told him, he isn’t cool because he has a cool job, he deserves a cool job because he is so cool. I love seeing people get their “karmic payoff” and such. I hat seeing jerks, and others who just don’t seem to deserve anything fall into great jobs, pretty girlfriends, or whatever. With Will, I find great satisfaction that the universe has seen fit to throw some pretty cool stuff his way. Just like the satisfaction I felt when my friend Andy finally got a great job after many years of toiling and struggling. I could easily go on for days about Will and everyone else I met, so I’ll move along for now.
Annika is the perfect foil for Will. It is so easy to see why these two are married. All the qualities I mentioned for Will, easily apply to Annika as well. She sound like Joan Cusack, and looks a bit like her, too. Intelligence and wit abound. Both her and Will seem like the kind of people who are too cool to be your friends. Don’t get me wrong, they don’t act that way, but that’s what you’ll be feeling. They’re out of your league, man. They, however, make you feel like you’re their best friend in the world. These two are as good as people get. Not seeing these two on such a regular basis is going to really be difficult.
SoupyKatherine was everything I knew she would be. Her blog does her justice. In person she is every bit as fun, intelligent, cool, and funny as you would expect. Meeting her was a long time coming and I couldn’t be more glad that it finally came.
Rian/tinkcat was so incredibly funny and cool. Always smiling and making everyone else smile, she is a total hoot to hang out with.
Jen/coiledsoul was also so cool. I never really knew much of her online since I’m not on the board much any more, but I’m really glad I met her.
Mark and Megan get mine and Jess’ vote for Most Disgustingly Hot couple. They’re both good looking an in good shape and all that. They were also super cool and had the big gatherings at their place. It was really great to actually get to know them better.
Mike, a.k.a. Monte Cristo was a totally cool guy, and not just a tasty sandwich. We had a great time talking about the virtues of Greg The Bunny and other movies and shows. I hope to get to spend more time getting to know him in the future.
Allison, a.k.a. Costello Girl was so much fun and so easy to talk to. She made you feel comfortable as if she’d known you for ages. Her husband Grant seemed like a really nice guy too. He kept me company in the living room while everyone else got drunk playing drinking games in the other room.
Rich, a.k.a. Big Evil seemed very friendly and fun to talk to and I wish I’d had more time to talk to him too.
Jamie Marie! Finally I meet the person responsible for the website where I met my wife. She was absolutely fabulous. Had a blast getting to know her better and seeing her a couple of nights.
Xia could be a quiet guy, but also a pleasure to get to know and talk to. He reminded me a whole lot of another friend of mine.
Probably many more. If I left you out or didn’t ramble at length, it’s not because you didn’t make an impression. I’m just tired and can’t always think of extended paragraphs.
Re-meetings
Caz, was as pretty and sweet as ever and it’s always a pleasure to spend time with her. She is so much fun and nd so warm and cuddly. Her presence ups the happiness level in a room exponentially. If you were in a video game and needed to cheer your minions up you would place a Caz in the room.
Sharon is always an absolute blast to be with. I was glad she made it over with the UK contingent so we got to see her again!
It was also good to meet Andy a second time. Great guy, and good taste in gifts. 😉
Cassy Lee is always a pleasure to spend time with. I’ll always find it amusing that I first met her at a party in Scotland.
Min was as cute as ever, and I love her voice. It was nice to get to know her even more on our second meeting. She is so much fun and quite funny.
I’m really regretting naming names now as I will inevitably forget someone and then exclaim “DOH!” very loudly. Everyone was so great to meet, and leaving L.A. was really hard because of them all. I already miss all my new friends and hope it’s not several more years before I see them again. If I somehow blanked and didn’t mention you by name, let me assure you that it has no bearing on my opinion of you. Everyone was so much fun and I throughly enjoyed meeting/seeing you all. I only wish I’d had more time to spend with each one of you. I also apologize for not getting to say goodbye to some of you since we were all just way to wiped out to go anywhere on our last night.
My strange dichotomy with L.A has only grown more complex. I want to live in L.A. for so many reasons, and yet I don’t want to live in L.A. for so many others. Who knows? Someday the right opportunity may come along and you’ll all have to deal with us on a much more frequent basis! Mwua ha ha ha ha! I’m off to bed. I’m becoming increasingly sore from our horseback riding adventure.

3 Responses

  1. Annika says:

    OK, it’s time for you to come back now.

  2. LA Woman

    It’s the day after the end, and I’m sitting here at work post-party (everything is post-party at the moment) while everyone else has gone home, wondering how I can do justice to my LA holiday in one blog entry. I…

  3. Simon says:

    Damn! I can see it was a bad idea to catch up on Blogs before I go home for Christmas. I’m just going to boil with jealousy all the way home now! D’oh!
    I’m glad you had a great time. Another round of “Yay for the WD”? Why not?
    Yay for the WD!

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