Um, hi. Remember me? Sorry I disappeared for so long. I didn't mean to take a hiatus there, but life got a little crazy and when it calmed down a bit, I just wasn't in the mood to write about it. I guess I'm still not. I know, I know, I should have at least put up a little note saying that wasn't sure when, or if, I'd be back. But I've not even felt like doing that. Again, I'm sorry. Please forgive me? *big puppy dog eyes*

It didn't help that I didn't put the last two entries that I'd written on the index page. Man, I so suck.

So what's brought me back to the journal? Well, I had a really fun weekend traveling to a city I'd only experienced from the airport or Greyhound station, meeting a bunch of people I'd never met before, or had only met once.

After nearly a week off from work, which I was supposed to spend cleaning my apartment within an inch of its life (didn't quite happen, though I did meet Mike Farrell for the third time on Wednesday, after attending a lecture that he gave regarding the death penalty, quite an eloquent man), I woke up early Friday morning to pack and meet my taxi, which would whisk me to the nearby Greyhound station. There I would board the first of two buses that would take me to Claremont. In Claremont I would meet the woman with whom I would drive three and a half hours to Las Vegas.

Why on earth would I do this? Why, to meet all the pretty, pretty Squishites, of course! It was Squishycon 2001, the first official gathering of the infamous Pamie and her adoring fans. I'd been reading Pamie's journal for over a year and had posted to both of her forums, and the woman is funny, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to get out of town, visit a new city, and meet a bunch of new people. And I'm so glad I did.

Alopekis says in her Vegas recap that she checked my luggage for axes or chainsaws, but I really had more to worry about. I mean, think about it. All I had were three little bags. Not much room to hide stuff. She had an entire car, and she was driving. She could have driven to the middle of nowhere to dump my poor, lifeless body. Not that I thought she'd do that. We'd met a few months earlier at the first gathering of the So. Cal. Cool Girls (a grand total of four of us), and I'd gotten no psychotic vibes from her then. I was pretty sure I'd be safe. And I was. We spent the entire drive talking and laughing and made it to Vegas in record time. I didn't even notice that she went as fast as 90mph for part of the ride. So glad she wanted to drive, 'cause I hate it.

After arriving at Harrah's and checking ourselves in, we both took naps, because we still a few hours before we were going to meet people for dinner, and we knew we'd be up late that night. We then woke up refreshed, prettied ourselves up, and hoped that we'd recognize the people we were supposed to meet in the lobby.

I remember us walking through the lobby, and seeing a young guy with long blond hair kind of peering at us oddly as we passed him, and wondered for half a second if he was part of our group, but then I went back to the conversation and didn't think twice about him, until he approached us again. "Who are you waiting for?" he asked, and I think we both responded, "Squishy?" WooHoo! We found Fred. Eventually we met up with Tindo and her main man, A.J., who plays poker for a living. After finding out that two more of our party, Christie and Carlywei, were running late because of Christie's plane, we agreed to find a place to eat, call them to let them know where, and wait for them there. After much indecision from all of us ("Where do you want to eat?" "No, where do you want to eat?"), I finally took a stand and said, "How about someplace not in Harrah's?" I mean, if I'm in Vegas for the first time, I want to see something besides my hotel.

We went to the Venetian (wow, what a place), found Restaurant Row (after following Alopekis all over, just 'cause she walks fast and looks like she knows where she's going) and looked at every menu (of maybe five, some Restauarant Row). More indecision, then it was decided to eat Chinese.

Good food, lots of talking and laughing, and my first bottle of Amstel Light, which may be the only beer I ever drink. Finally, it was time to go and meet the rest of the group (there were supposed to be about twnety people total). We split up, since no cab can legally have more than five people (what's up with that?) and there were six of us (A.J. had some poker to play). We had agreed to meet for kareoke at a place called Fong's Garden, supposedly right behind the Stratosphere. When our cab driver started taking alleys and side streets, the three of us started wondering what was going on, but no one wanted to say anything. Finally, after much driving, Tindo, Fred and I ended up in front of a dark restaurant in what was supposedly a bad part of town. So bad that our driver gave us his pager number to use when we were ready to leave and instructed us to wait for him inside the building. That always makes me feel good.

Inside we went. We thought it a little strange that none of our party were there, considering we were a little late, but thought that maybe everyone was dawdling over dinner. We sat down, ordered some drinks (my first gin and tonic, I now have a new favorite drink), and watched people kareoke their hearts out. They were good, really good, and I was totally intimidated.

Minutes ticked by, and the folks from the other cab, which had left before ours, didn't show up. The other two women that I had met at the So. Cal. Cool Girls meeting did arrive, Erica and Kestra. Erica ordered a drink that ended up coming in this huge plastic shell (she's got a pic on her site) and I left a message for Christie saying that we wondered where they were and that we hoped they were ok and please call us. Finally a waitress asked if there was a Fred in our group. Since there was, Fred took the call. Turns out the rest of the Squishites, including Pamie, were at a place called Tong's Palace. Geez. Tong's, Fong's, who can keep them straight? Especially when it was the address for Fong's that was on the forum.

Luckily Kestra had a car, so we piled in and arrived at Tong's in no time.

A word about Tong's. It's small. It's looks like it's attached to a motel. There was no one in the restaurant part of the place. And the bar/kareoke section was small enough for a large group to take it over. Which the other Squishites already had done. And the much discussed bathrooms? Not the greatest, but I've seen much worse. A gas station bathroom on the outskirts of Houston comes to mind. Just glad I didn't have to worry going in the men's room. I heard that was truly disgusting.

Anyway, the five of us met the others, and Pamie made a point to get everyone's name. ("And you are?" "Carol." "Carol...?" "Just Carol, no nickname." It can be hard never knowing what people's true names are, and I'm very proud of myself that I remembered everyone's names, since I'm usually so very bad.)

I promptly ordered another gin and tonic, then watched the festivities. Great fun, with a number of really talented singers. Unfortunately I missed Pamie's rendition of "Sweet Child O' Mine", but was told that she was incredible. After hearing her sing a few songs, I can certainly believe it. She's got a great voice, and probably didn't even need the mic. I didn't really get a chance to talk to her much over the weekend (mainly my fault, I got my usual tongue-tied self), but she was very nice, very funny, and I think more than a little freaked out about all of us meeting in her name. There was also no doubt that she was the princess. All hail Princess Pamie!

In case you're wondering, your humble narrator did actually get up in front of strangers and sang her little heart out. Of course, I was extremely drunk, after who knows how many gin and tonics, a blue hawaiian and a kamakaze pressed on me by Tindo. But I don't think I sounded too awful, though I couldn't fix the flat notes to save my life. But I serenaded the "crowd" with "Californian Dreamin'", "Secret Agent Man", and "They Can't Take That Away From Me" (someone out there has photos, I think it's Tindo, and yes, I think I was the oldest person in our group), as well as served as back-up to Erica in her duet with Pamie to "Summer Loving" and was pulled up by Pamie when she was pressed into singing a song she didn't know with (I think) Allison, Hannah and Anna Beth. I happened to be singing along as I went to the bar for a new drink, so I guess Pamie thought I should be up there too.

There was also much dancing when the KJ (the inestimable Joel) sang some Ricky Martin songs, and a few other songs.

Finally we stumbled out around 3 or 4 am, I kissed Erica, Kestra and someone else on the cheek (I was very drunk), and Alopekis, Christie, Carlywei and I caught a cab back to Harrah's. I just made it back to the room when I shut myself up in the bathroom and said hello to the porcelain god. I've only been sick because of alcohol once before (three shots of expensive rum, right in a row, is not a good idea) and I know I will never drink that much again. After changing into my night clothes, I passed out under my covers.