The Weekend
Well, let's see...it was a great weekend, so I'll start with that. It was the relaxation I needed...the support I needed...all of it...I really wish I'd never had to come home, 'cause heaven knows I just came back to hell and the realization that my hubby really would not have noticed if I'd stayed gone.
Day One - Friday April 28th
shawcrossedlove got to my house about 1230 and we went and paid my water bill (still want to destroy that pic of me doing that) and my sitter (real exciting, I know). Then we headed into Port Huron and stopped at Mary Maxims, where I bought (can't believe I did) a kit to make a baby blanket for the new baby Jack William Boyd. Then we went to Target and the mall there and did some shopping. I ended up with a new t-shirt ("What happens backstage, stays backstage") and a couple of tanks tops and only paid a few dollars for them because I had a twenty-five dollar gift certificate left over from Christmas. I also got a necklace with a guitar pick on it. I almost bought this awesome camoflouge bag that said "Roxy" on it, but it was forty dollars and I couldn't justify the cost.
There is a bit of a funny story to go along with the buying of the t-shirt. See, it was the only one like it and it was a medium and anyone who knows me, knows that I'm a bit on the not-so-tiny side. Well, I tried it on and it's snug, but Jeannie insisted, so I went to buy it, grabbing a camoflogue tank while I was at it (there was a buy one, get one for $1 sale). Well, got to the counter and found out that the t-shirt wasn't included in the sale and went in search of another shirt that was because again, my companion insisted I had to have it. So, I get back up and the salesperson reads the t-shirt and says, "Oh, do you know someone in a band?" Well, of course I do...NOT...the person in mind was of course...Shoxwaken Hincks. So, I don't say anything, choosing to pretend that I didn't hear the woman, but NO...she and Jeannie both look at me and burst out laughing because I'm burning bright red with embarassment (let's not go into where my mind had gone...if you know me at all, you'll have figured it out).
So, after several hours, we finally got on the road to Oakville. The drive was fun and for the first time in my life, I was asked for my ID at the border! Of course I'm sure it was because we looked like we were up to something. It didn't help that just before we pulled up to the booth we were talking about the five Shoxen in the backseat. *snort*
So, we drove and we drove (and got there really quickly) and got to the hotel, which was really nice. We were on the sixth floor (top) and we had to swipe our keycard to get the elevator to go to that floor (hoity-toity). The room was nice...big king sized bed. Only thing missing was a DVD player (and as we realized later...a bottle opener).
After getting settled, we walked to a nearby sushi place, intending to eat and get snockered...or at least pleasantly tipsy. We ordered whiskey sours...which were less than two fingers and 99.9% lemon juice...they sucked. The sushi was really good though, but damn it...I suck with chopsticks...I really do.
So, after dinner we decided to find a Beer Store or LCBO...unfortunately the front desk clerk spoke WAY too fast. So, we ended up quite lost and finally stopped at a Walmart for directions (second time we stopped to ask someone...first someone barely spoke English...and to complicate things...I'm petrified of asking people for stuff), so we decide to ask a young guy, figuring he would know. So we ask and he smiles and points out the front door and says, "Across the parking lot." And it was. We walked out the door and could see the building. *hides head in shame* To his credit...he didn't laugh at us.
We got there just as it was closing and when I made the joke "Welcome to Mecca"....she thought I was kidding, until she saw the inside. We raced around and ended up buying "Smirnoff Twisted Green Apple" and some kind of premixed Cosmopolitans. Then she surprised me with a teeny bottle of JD!! *squees and hugs Jeannie*
We get back to the hotel, put on a World Without Sundays CD and sit down to write and drink, only to discover that the caps on the Smirnoff Twisteds weren't twist-offs...I mean, how fucked up! They are called Twisteds! They should be twist-offs. So, I suck it up and call the front desk and ask if they have a bottle opener, they transfer me to the bar who says I have to go down to get it opened. So, I'm ready to resign myself to not drinking, when Jeannie grabs the bottle out of my hand and takes it down for me. (Have I mentioned I luff her?) She is gone quite a while and I start to worry (although I was writing while she was gone) and when I'm just debating going in search of her, she reappears and I find out the bartender didn't believe she was nineteen! He wasn't going to open it for her! Luckily, she convinced him and gave me my drink.
At one point, we decided to venture down to the business office in the lobby and check our email (I needed a scene for the story I was working on that was in one of my emails) and to check livejournal...ended up finding a new chapter of "Spin Me Round" by theshapeshifter and both of us nearly fell over from it...then it killed the computer as well, because we couldn't get the internet to work anymore, so we went back to the room and I worked on the baby blanket and Jeannie wrote a bit more.
We were in bed about an hour or so later. Felt like a wimp, I did, but then again, I was just tired from all the stress, so we settled in and left WWS playing and I fell asleep to Shox's voice...who can complain?
Day Two - Saturday April 29th
We were awake at 0730 because we'd forgotten to close the curtains the night before and the sun literally burst into our room like an overcaffinated Elijah Wood. Jeannie leaned over and pushed play on the CD player, so I got to start my day with Shox as well.
We got dressed, went down to breakfast and had a moment at the elevators that restored my faith in today's youth. A very cute young boy, maybe about eleven or twelve, was waiting for the elevators when we got there. The doors opened and he gestured for Jeannie and I to go first! We gushed over him and his good manners (and probably embarrassed the hell out of him), but we were just so impressed. Then Jeannie burst out laughing because as we're talking about his good manners, she realizes that I'm standing there in my "I have nothing nice to say" shirt.
So, after breakfast, we unload the room...load the car and head to boydsbabe's house. After getting turned around (I am directionally disabeled and I had the map), we finally got close and then had to call and get her to guide us...and do you realize that in the area we were in that EVERY road we crossed was called Side Road? I'm not lying to ya...every single one of them...they were numbered, but they were all Side Road! Talk about confusing.
So, we arrive and we send Paula's son off with her mother and then we head off to the tat parlor. Somehow...I ended up going last...I had wanted to go first, but I went last. We all took turns sitting with each other for half of each time and Paula took pictures (and they are out there somewhere). However, no one chickened out and no one cried (okay, I bent the chair a little bit, but I did not cry). I also freaked the guy out a bit because I swelled pretty badly...guess I should have mentioned my sensitive skin. It also bled badly into the bandaid, but seems to be fine now. And ta-da...here it is:
Now...how did it feel? Well...at some points it was actually almost ticklish...at others it was mildly uncomfortable...and at others it felt like he was using a dull pencil to rip holes in my skin. Would I do it again? Don't know at this point really.
So, after that, we head back to Paula's and she made us jello shooters...only they were triple shots. An hour later (1730), Jeannie has had three of them which had a half a bottle of vodka in total. Paula had one (1/3 of a bottle of coconut rum) and one or two glasses of wine. I've had two of the shooters (2/3 of a bottle of coconut rum), one Smirnoff twisted, and my leetle bottle of JD. And we aren't going anywhere. Jeannie is really sleepy. Paula was weepy. And I was babysitting. :)
At one point Jeannie asked me to staple the world to make it stop spinning. I told her that I had to go in search of the giant world sized stapler, but if the world stopped spinning before I found it...all the better.
Finally at about 2100, we decided to go and get a bite to eat. We call a cab (yeah, like any of us were gonna drive!) and get to Guelph at about 2200. On the way, the cabbie mistakes me for a Newfie, convinced I couldn't have been born and raised in the Detroit area. I would've laughed if it'd been the first time it happened, but it's happened before...the scary thing is that he is a Newfie, so how is it he made the mistake?
So, we walk to an Irish pub and after getting mildly hasseled by the doorman, find a table and sit...and sit...and sit...and finally get up and leave without ever seeing a server. I think the reason being the name of the place was "Molly Bloom's" and well, everyone knows there is no love lost between me and a certain Bloom.
So, we ended up at Diana Downtown...a really nice Indian place. I had the mussles appestizer and a butter vegetable entree. I drank Diet Coke. Jeannie drank Coke. Paula had red wine. We sat until midnight eating and talking...we were the only people there and finally realized, they might just want us to leave. So, we walked back to the cab company (and may I say it was fucking frigid out) and rode home.
So, we are trying to figure out how to blow up the air mattress, which was not cooperating in the slightest bit...quite frustrating, I tell ya! Finally get it figured out (after about a half hour) and blow it up until it doesn't seem to want to go anymore. So, Jeannie and I got on the airmattress (at the foot of Paula's bed) and Paula got in her bed and we turned on the television. We sat watching Return of the King EE with Cast Commentary. Drooling when Dom and Billy and David spoke and groaning when Sean A (from them) and BloomieBoy (from me) spoke. I eventually fell asleep just so I wouldn't have to listen to him speak anymore.
The sleep didn't last long though and before I knew it, I was up and down for about two hours with (what we think was) food poisoning. It was bad...no vomiting...just the other...but it was really bad. And everytime I got off the airmattress, Jeannie would wake up because she would sink to the ground. Then I'd come back and she'd roll into the foot of Paula's bed when I got back on the mattress. I would also get chilled for a few moments when I got back into bed. Not a fun part of the weekend, I tell ya!
Day Three - Sunday April 30th
We eventually woke up...couldn't even tell you what time. We watched the end of Return of the King. Then cleaned our tattoos and showered (separately...minds out of the gutter, people) and Paula made us a HUGE brekkie! After that we all climbed in Paula's bed and watched more movies. We even watched Ringers...but just the bits with Shox! :) They did it for me and I love them for it....plus I got to finally watch the WWS videos of Drunk and Under Pressure(I haven't gotten to because I have dialup and it would take several days - no lie - to download them).
Finally, it was time to go home...didn't want to, but as it was, we knew it would be late when we go back. So, after tearful goodbyes, we headed towards home...or tried to...my lovely map-reading skills got us turned around and it was about another hour before we finally got on the road.
The trip home after that was uneventful and I was back in my house by a little after ten p.m.
And the weekend was over...and I wish I could go back again.
Day One - Friday April 28th
shawcrossedlove got to my house about 1230 and we went and paid my water bill (still want to destroy that pic of me doing that) and my sitter (real exciting, I know). Then we headed into Port Huron and stopped at Mary Maxims, where I bought (can't believe I did) a kit to make a baby blanket for the new baby Jack William Boyd. Then we went to Target and the mall there and did some shopping. I ended up with a new t-shirt ("What happens backstage, stays backstage") and a couple of tanks tops and only paid a few dollars for them because I had a twenty-five dollar gift certificate left over from Christmas. I also got a necklace with a guitar pick on it. I almost bought this awesome camoflouge bag that said "Roxy" on it, but it was forty dollars and I couldn't justify the cost.
There is a bit of a funny story to go along with the buying of the t-shirt. See, it was the only one like it and it was a medium and anyone who knows me, knows that I'm a bit on the not-so-tiny side. Well, I tried it on and it's snug, but Jeannie insisted, so I went to buy it, grabbing a camoflogue tank while I was at it (there was a buy one, get one for $1 sale). Well, got to the counter and found out that the t-shirt wasn't included in the sale and went in search of another shirt that was because again, my companion insisted I had to have it. So, I get back up and the salesperson reads the t-shirt and says, "Oh, do you know someone in a band?" Well, of course I do...NOT...the person in mind was of course...Shoxwaken Hincks. So, I don't say anything, choosing to pretend that I didn't hear the woman, but NO...she and Jeannie both look at me and burst out laughing because I'm burning bright red with embarassment (let's not go into where my mind had gone...if you know me at all, you'll have figured it out).
So, after several hours, we finally got on the road to Oakville. The drive was fun and for the first time in my life, I was asked for my ID at the border! Of course I'm sure it was because we looked like we were up to something. It didn't help that just before we pulled up to the booth we were talking about the five Shoxen in the backseat. *snort*
So, we drove and we drove (and got there really quickly) and got to the hotel, which was really nice. We were on the sixth floor (top) and we had to swipe our keycard to get the elevator to go to that floor (hoity-toity). The room was nice...big king sized bed. Only thing missing was a DVD player (and as we realized later...a bottle opener).
After getting settled, we walked to a nearby sushi place, intending to eat and get snockered...or at least pleasantly tipsy. We ordered whiskey sours...which were less than two fingers and 99.9% lemon juice...they sucked. The sushi was really good though, but damn it...I suck with chopsticks...I really do.
So, after dinner we decided to find a Beer Store or LCBO...unfortunately the front desk clerk spoke WAY too fast. So, we ended up quite lost and finally stopped at a Walmart for directions (second time we stopped to ask someone...first someone barely spoke English...and to complicate things...I'm petrified of asking people for stuff), so we decide to ask a young guy, figuring he would know. So we ask and he smiles and points out the front door and says, "Across the parking lot." And it was. We walked out the door and could see the building. *hides head in shame* To his credit...he didn't laugh at us.
We got there just as it was closing and when I made the joke "Welcome to Mecca"....she thought I was kidding, until she saw the inside. We raced around and ended up buying "Smirnoff Twisted Green Apple" and some kind of premixed Cosmopolitans. Then she surprised me with a teeny bottle of JD!! *squees and hugs Jeannie*
We get back to the hotel, put on a World Without Sundays CD and sit down to write and drink, only to discover that the caps on the Smirnoff Twisteds weren't twist-offs...I mean, how fucked up! They are called Twisteds! They should be twist-offs. So, I suck it up and call the front desk and ask if they have a bottle opener, they transfer me to the bar who says I have to go down to get it opened. So, I'm ready to resign myself to not drinking, when Jeannie grabs the bottle out of my hand and takes it down for me. (Have I mentioned I luff her?) She is gone quite a while and I start to worry (although I was writing while she was gone) and when I'm just debating going in search of her, she reappears and I find out the bartender didn't believe she was nineteen! He wasn't going to open it for her! Luckily, she convinced him and gave me my drink.
At one point, we decided to venture down to the business office in the lobby and check our email (I needed a scene for the story I was working on that was in one of my emails) and to check livejournal...ended up finding a new chapter of "Spin Me Round" by theshapeshifter and both of us nearly fell over from it...then it killed the computer as well, because we couldn't get the internet to work anymore, so we went back to the room and I worked on the baby blanket and Jeannie wrote a bit more.
We were in bed about an hour or so later. Felt like a wimp, I did, but then again, I was just tired from all the stress, so we settled in and left WWS playing and I fell asleep to Shox's voice...who can complain?
Day Two - Saturday April 29th
We were awake at 0730 because we'd forgotten to close the curtains the night before and the sun literally burst into our room like an overcaffinated Elijah Wood. Jeannie leaned over and pushed play on the CD player, so I got to start my day with Shox as well.
We got dressed, went down to breakfast and had a moment at the elevators that restored my faith in today's youth. A very cute young boy, maybe about eleven or twelve, was waiting for the elevators when we got there. The doors opened and he gestured for Jeannie and I to go first! We gushed over him and his good manners (and probably embarrassed the hell out of him), but we were just so impressed. Then Jeannie burst out laughing because as we're talking about his good manners, she realizes that I'm standing there in my "I have nothing nice to say" shirt.
So, after breakfast, we unload the room...load the car and head to boydsbabe's house. After getting turned around (I am directionally disabeled and I had the map), we finally got close and then had to call and get her to guide us...and do you realize that in the area we were in that EVERY road we crossed was called Side Road? I'm not lying to ya...every single one of them...they were numbered, but they were all Side Road! Talk about confusing.
So, we arrive and we send Paula's son off with her mother and then we head off to the tat parlor. Somehow...I ended up going last...I had wanted to go first, but I went last. We all took turns sitting with each other for half of each time and Paula took pictures (and they are out there somewhere). However, no one chickened out and no one cried (okay, I bent the chair a little bit, but I did not cry). I also freaked the guy out a bit because I swelled pretty badly...guess I should have mentioned my sensitive skin. It also bled badly into the bandaid, but seems to be fine now. And ta-da...here it is:
Now...how did it feel? Well...at some points it was actually almost ticklish...at others it was mildly uncomfortable...and at others it felt like he was using a dull pencil to rip holes in my skin. Would I do it again? Don't know at this point really.
So, after that, we head back to Paula's and she made us jello shooters...only they were triple shots. An hour later (1730), Jeannie has had three of them which had a half a bottle of vodka in total. Paula had one (1/3 of a bottle of coconut rum) and one or two glasses of wine. I've had two of the shooters (2/3 of a bottle of coconut rum), one Smirnoff twisted, and my leetle bottle of JD. And we aren't going anywhere. Jeannie is really sleepy. Paula was weepy. And I was babysitting. :)
At one point Jeannie asked me to staple the world to make it stop spinning. I told her that I had to go in search of the giant world sized stapler, but if the world stopped spinning before I found it...all the better.
Finally at about 2100, we decided to go and get a bite to eat. We call a cab (yeah, like any of us were gonna drive!) and get to Guelph at about 2200. On the way, the cabbie mistakes me for a Newfie, convinced I couldn't have been born and raised in the Detroit area. I would've laughed if it'd been the first time it happened, but it's happened before...the scary thing is that he is a Newfie, so how is it he made the mistake?
So, we walk to an Irish pub and after getting mildly hasseled by the doorman, find a table and sit...and sit...and sit...and finally get up and leave without ever seeing a server. I think the reason being the name of the place was "Molly Bloom's" and well, everyone knows there is no love lost between me and a certain Bloom.
So, we ended up at Diana Downtown...a really nice Indian place. I had the mussles appestizer and a butter vegetable entree. I drank Diet Coke. Jeannie drank Coke. Paula had red wine. We sat until midnight eating and talking...we were the only people there and finally realized, they might just want us to leave. So, we walked back to the cab company (and may I say it was fucking frigid out) and rode home.
So, we are trying to figure out how to blow up the air mattress, which was not cooperating in the slightest bit...quite frustrating, I tell ya! Finally get it figured out (after about a half hour) and blow it up until it doesn't seem to want to go anymore. So, Jeannie and I got on the airmattress (at the foot of Paula's bed) and Paula got in her bed and we turned on the television. We sat watching Return of the King EE with Cast Commentary. Drooling when Dom and Billy and David spoke and groaning when Sean A (from them) and BloomieBoy (from me) spoke. I eventually fell asleep just so I wouldn't have to listen to him speak anymore.
The sleep didn't last long though and before I knew it, I was up and down for about two hours with (what we think was) food poisoning. It was bad...no vomiting...just the other...but it was really bad. And everytime I got off the airmattress, Jeannie would wake up because she would sink to the ground. Then I'd come back and she'd roll into the foot of Paula's bed when I got back on the mattress. I would also get chilled for a few moments when I got back into bed. Not a fun part of the weekend, I tell ya!
Day Three - Sunday April 30th
We eventually woke up...couldn't even tell you what time. We watched the end of Return of the King. Then cleaned our tattoos and showered (separately...minds out of the gutter, people) and Paula made us a HUGE brekkie! After that we all climbed in Paula's bed and watched more movies. We even watched Ringers...but just the bits with Shox! :) They did it for me and I love them for it....plus I got to finally watch the WWS videos of Drunk and Under Pressure(I haven't gotten to because I have dialup and it would take several days - no lie - to download them).
Finally, it was time to go home...didn't want to, but as it was, we knew it would be late when we go back. So, after tearful goodbyes, we headed towards home...or tried to...my lovely map-reading skills got us turned around and it was about another hour before we finally got on the road.
The trip home after that was uneventful and I was back in my house by a little after ten p.m.
And the weekend was over...and I wish I could go back again.