|
 |
| |
Would you be excited to board a plane headed to Detroit? Neither would I.
No one in their right mind would get up at 3:30 am to go to Detroit and I
had obviously lost mine! Never-the-less, excited is exactly how I felt as I
boarded my west-bound plane at the ridiculous hour of 6 am. If you believe
in omens, then the trip's beginning was less than promising. After finding
my seat, and stuffing Chet's gifts into the upper compartment (I didn't
dare check that luggage for fear of it ending up in some god-forsaken place
like New Jersey! *teasing grin*), the captain informed us that we would be
delayed a while as the plane first needed to be de-iced. Soon after that,
the man seated across the aisle to my right became sick with nausea,
followed by the elderly woman seated behind him. I was grateful I was on my
side of the aisle until I realized that the young woman sitting next to me
was a bit fearful of flying - she had a much-coveted window seat and
promptly closed the shade! Fortunately the plane flight itself was only two hours long and I was
greeted by the biggest smile of smiles when I exited the gate and saw Chet!
Like a knight in shining armor, he quickly collected my bags. Knowing how
much I love to walk, he gave me a guided tour of the _entire_ airport as we
walked literally from one end of it to the opposite end where he was
parked. Unlike NH, Michigan is really flat. You can see where you're going for
miles ahead! The roads are perpendicular to each other so people can
generally find their way around without getting too lost. It holds no sense
of adventure like traveling in NH where you can go out thinking you're
heading east to the local general store via back roads, and two hours later
cross the state line into Vermont without any idea of how you got there.
Compared to NH, driving in Michigan is boring! She has a nice apartment where he organized and labeled bins of toys and
other objects so he can easily find any object he desires for customizing.
Months ago I had sent him the Famous Covers Spiderman stating that I
thought it would make a good FC Spawn figure if he wanted to customized
it. Well, Chet is very generous and didn't want to keep all the fun of
customizing to himself, so he bought a FC Dark Phoenix on clearance for me
to customize into a FC Angela. She helped me with it, as I
have NO TALENT or PATIENCE for customizing! We used parts from a 5" Angela
repaint, a headless 13" Angela, and various other odds and ends. Not
surprisingly, he finished the FC Spawn while I was there (I did have fun
making his cloth cape!), but the unfinished Angela came home with me with
the intention of finishing her here. Won't Chet be surprised when he sees
her again in the summer still waiting for the paint and armor on her
gloves! Besides working on a customizing project that I never quite finished (it
was all those interruptions...yeah, that was it! ), I got to see
She's rabbit, "Puppy" again. Chet fed him willow and other rabbit food as
Puppy hopped around in his cage. Puppy is really cute and just like he was
a kid, I wanted to pinch his little furry cheeks and say, "My! How you've
grown since I saw you last!" but Chet wisely kept me away from him....maybe
it was the fact that I kept telling him how much I love to cook (at the
same time I was looking at his rabbit ). She did trust me in his kitchen and let me go to town making two different
kinds of cookies (rugelach and seven-layer bars that really only had 6 ), apple pancakes for breakfast, and a casserole that we made
together and ate three days in a row (it was REALLY good!). Of course none
of that compared to the hot mulled cider Chet made for me with cinnamon
schnapps. I hadn't felt this relaxed all year! I'm not quite sure where to put in the paragraph about exchanging gifts,
because it was a long drawn out affair that lasted four days! Well, my
presents to him lasted about 5 minutes (I only brought 4), but he had
warned me ahead of time that he was stockpiling presents for me. He wasn't
kidding! The list is as follows: 1. The 23" LARGE plush Maleficent dragon! (Many thanks also to Gareee for
helping Chet get this for me!) 2. A customized Horrid that She painted in gold and a red wash with
emerald "jewels" adorning its head, chest, and front claws - absolutely
striking! 3. A green Iron Man dragon 4. A smaller green dragon that came with two knights 5. Horrid repaint 6. Skull Queen repaint 7. the newly sculpted 10" Storm 8. a customized Becky Warrior on a Callisto body 9. an Angela watch!!!!! 10. Kitty Pride 11. Fire Star 12. Fairchild 13. Star Trek's Transporting Tasha Yar!!!!! 14. Clair Redfield 15. 10" Jade 16. FC Invisible Woman 17. Cave Woman 18. Gwynn 19. Hari Kari 20. Marvel girl 21. Spiderwoman 22. Warrior Nun Areala Anime 23. WNA - original 24. WNA - White 25. Shot Gun Mary 26. Pandora 27. various medieval jewelry including an intricate silver king's ring with
amber stone and a secret compartment, a dragon's amulet which allows you to
see into the depths of the Earth and outward to the heavenly stars at the
same time, and a vial of amber dragons' tears (used in protection spells). Now, dating Santa Claus in the flesh, I obviously didn't NEED to go on a
toy run, but NEED had nothing to do with it! Since we are currently
Targetless here in NH, She took me to three of them, just to make sure I
got my fill. I found the Dixon Hill Picard and Ghianan of which I only
wanted Ghianan, and had refused to pay over $16 at TRU for her. At Target,
the lone box was priced at a little under $12. I picked them up (anyone who
wants Picard, lmk), along with 2 boxed pairs of unarticulated figures:
Boris & Natasha and Dudley Do-Right & Horse, for less than $5 per pair.
They were always my favorite characters in Rocky & Bullwinkle. We also
visited the comic shop one day (forgot which) where I picked up Series 1
Meanie Beanies Dalmutation and Mucousaurus for less that $5 each (it's hard
to get them for less than $10 to $12 each in NH). I also got to see McToys again when Chet dropped by work to print out some
orders. His winged custom figures on his shelf were awesome! I don't know
which winged figure I liked more: Necroplasm Spawn with green translucent
wings, Heavenly Angela with rose-colored wings, mushroom-topped Tiffany
with amber wings, Violator with red or green wings (Sorry, I'm afraid I
forgot!), but my favorite by far was the large winged purple Malebolgia
with the maniacal laugh and extra sets of wings along his arms and legs.
What a Fly-boy! Mal was awesome! In addition to customizing, toy hunting, unwrapping presents, cooking, and
eating, Chet also took me to see the movie "You Got Mail" starring Tom
Hanks and Meg Ryan. It was VERY appropriate! Ryan's character even owned a
Mac! The only thing we didn't get around to doing was seeing
Christmas lights at night. Hmmmm...let's see...stay warm snuggling with
Chet under the quilt I made for him, OR get into a cold van and drive
around Michigan to look at colored lights on other people's houses? Tough
choice there! Needless to say, I opted for warmth. My cats have trained me
well!Now before I traveled out to MI, Chet had expressed concern about his
ability to "host" me and keep me entertained for four days. He knows I
acquired an attention deficit disorder (occupational hazard) and am easily
distracted. He needn't have worried. He was a WONDERFUL host and kept me
entertained for HOURS! I got to sleep late, eat my fill, play and
relax for hours at a time. It was the BEST vacation I've ever had! Chet, You're just what the doctor ordered! Oh, and please give
my regards to the Black Knight! ;) whose sense of delight continued when she arrived home to discover
two packages: one from Bill Fiete containing a dragon calendar and Scorch
beanie baby, and one shaped like a dragon's egg from Rot containing 12
small orphaned dragons in need of an adoption agency.
Upon returning to their camp, the dragon broached a question he had been
anxious to ask the warrior, "What did you learn of the creature you saw as
a dragon disguised as a man?" Sadness swept over the warrior's face as she thought about the dragon's
query. After a time, she responded, "I felt incredibly sad when I learned
that his experiences in life had caused him to try to change himself into
who he thought others wanted him to be, to the point that he eventually
forgot who he was. I hope that never happens to me. I came very close once,
but I was lucky enough to hold onto a small part of myself buried deep
beneath the many costumes I wore." "What happened?" asked the dragon. "One day I just started peeling off the layers searching for what was left
of me. After a very long time I found that "I" was still there. It wasn't
easy finding myself again, but it was worth the effort." Concerned about his own influence on the warrior, the dragon inquired,
"Woman, does being with me cause you to protect yourself with the disguise
of someone else?" The warrior smiled. "No, Dragon," she reassured him. "You bring out the
best of me that I am." She reached out her hand and gently stroked his
leathery wing very slowly. He looked down at her small body whose presence
at times seemed larger than his own, and voiced, "You do the same for me." |
| |
 |
| |
Well, at least our airport has more than one terminal. I parked near
the entrance that I remember using to go to NH, it just turned out to be
a half-mile away from the one she arrived at. I made up for it on the
return flight: I parked at the other side. So of course, the flight
was now back at the first side. In fact, after watching Roxi get on the
plane, her plane had time to go through the pre-flight checklist, get
all the people seated, and was STILL in the air before I finally managed
to walk out of the airport.
She's really good at helping customize, but I'd like to point out that
you should NEVER let her near a crossword puzzle. I still don't know
how she managed to fit "parlor" into five letters... and she mistook a
lath for a stud. Then again, it's nice being with a woman who doesn't
know what a stud really is
Interesting. She didn't mention that after cooking, she washed the
dishes in the sink and then stacked them nicely... ON TOP OF THE
DISHWASHER. I guess it was all that schnapps (there was only half a
bottle left when she was done). Now I have more food in my refrigerator
than I have had CUMULATIVE since I moved in. I still don't know why she
made me buy a dozen eggs when she used only two... |
| |
 |
|
| |
| |
|
|
