One Night in Spiffled(Linked! Don't Delete!)

Alright, I’ll start the official thread for the Springfield meeting, since no one else wants to do it. I didn’t take any notes, so I have to rely on some foggy recollections until ChrisCTP can add whatever she has in her notes.

Alphagene and I arrived on Friday night and met up with Chris, boli, Falcon, Flypside, and Chris’s friend Terry. There was drinking, there was teasing, there was “Hawaii 5-0.” Chris and Terry kicked us out of their hotel room around 2:30 in the morning so that they could get some sleep.

The next afternoon I went to the Lincoln home with DavidB, Gaudere, and Inertia. Those Great Debate types really know how to have a good time :wink:

When we got back to the hotel, Auraseer, Joph, and TaleraRis had already arrived. Unclebeer and GLWasteful got there while we were standing in the lobby talking. I was so happy that I got a chance to yell, “Hey Unclebeer!” across a hotel lobby.

After everyone was checked in, it was just about time to leave for the restaurant/bar place for the meeting. We were joined by Rastahomie and Mrs. Rastahomie, and Elelle and her husband. It was a huge group, and the seating arrangements were pretty bad. Luckily our waitress was SOOOOOO attentive that it only took us 17 years or so to get our food. Terry bought us all several rounds of drinks, so she’s officially the coolest person there :slight_smile: Well, that and she laughed at my jokes.

After dinner, most of us concentrated on drinking. Some people danced, some played video games (although Alphagene didn’t get a chance to virtually bass fish and was VERY disappointed), but mostly we all talked and drank and smoked in non-smoking areas.

We left the bar after about 6 hours, and most of us went back to Chris and Terry’s suite to continue socializing. I’ll let the photographic evidence speak for most of what went on there, but I think I owe Unclebeer a dollar. The hotel security only had to come up twice and ask us to keep it down. The party broke up… I don’t know, late. I didn’t end up getting to sleep until 5 or 6 am, that’s all I know.

The next morning, some people evidently got up for brunch. We got there after a lot of people had already left, but DavidB, Gaudere, Inertiacakes, Flyp, Omni and Boli were still there, so we ate and tried to piece together the events of the previous night.

Sadly, it had to break up sometime, so we all left Springfield around 3pm. Thanks to Flyp and DavidB for being such great hosts. I can’t wait for the next gathering :slight_smile:


“I’ll tell you a secret, baby - maybe you can’t do better - gotta settle for second best” - the Judybats

Hey, I thought my description was pretty official. Completely untrue (except for the seating arrangement I mentioned), but still pretty official!

Question: Who is the only president to have ever held a patent? And for what?

Don’t forget how we tried to visit the Lincoln-Herndon law offices, but they were apparently closed, although Gaudere tried to break in.

Ahem. Actually, there was plenty of time after everybody was checked in – you guys were just too busy still trying to wake up and freshen up from the night before to join us in ChrisCTP’s room.

Yeah, there was a lot of, “Huh, I’d forgotten that…” :slight_smile:

Almost forgot – on the way to the Lincoln home, we passed the church containing the Lincoln family church pew (yes, really). Valerie said that if she went in to the church, she was afraid that it would be struck by lightning or burn down or something. I pointed out that in the company of myself and Gaudere, it was highly unlikely that any such things would have been caused by her if indeed they did happen!

12:30, huh? Looks as though VB’s sleeping habits are pretty consistent. Again, there were no official notetakers, and there were probably 6 different conversations going on at any given time, so any notes that were taken probably would not have done justice.

Friday consisted of boli and I sitting around my apartment for about an hour and a half as we waited for Falcon to show up. The three of us then ate dinner, where we discussed the shortcomings of my CD collection, how much of an asshole I am, how anal I am, and other posters in very non-specific terms.

We then retired to my place again, and boli and I taught Falcon how to play Asshole. Terry and CTP managed to miss getting in touch with us for various reasons, and their frantic search resulted in them logging into chat at the low low rate of $.50 a minute from the hotel lobby’s PC. They ate at one of Spiffled’s more upscale restaurants, where they apparently feasted on boogers on the half shell, and had a rousing game of “Spot the Gangster”. That, and it rained on them. Valfagene showed up later, and we drank in CTP’s room. I regaled them with my sparkling wit and the tearful story of my social retardedness when it comes to women. Also discussed were the general conventions of 70s antiheroes and how Salma Hayek got a cameo spot on 5-0 as the Bad Guy’s Trampy Girlfriend. Oh, and we all complimented VB on the absolutely stuninng dress she was wearing.
Saturday generally slumped along, with people straggling in throughout the day. Falcon and I had lunch, spoke more about general posters in general terms. Dinner started with Falcon, Aura and I as the first to show up, followed by rastahomie and his wife, then a big clump of people, and then elelle and her sweetie, and then another clump of people, and then Omni. Leave it to that C-U slacker to show up last. Several things were topics of discussion; elelle’s introduction to horseshoes, who knew what about the Hacking, Aura’s “Guillotine of Silence”, various things Pratchett, VB’s most embarassing post, VB and I getting a live demonstration of inertia’s abuse of condiments, and some other stuff. I managed to take the wind out of Joph’s sails at least once, and there were lots of people with cameras. I look forward to seeing them. Especially UncleBeer’s candid shot of myself. Terry bought us 13 rounds of drinks, so she’s bought some leniency from the Grammar and Punctuation Task Force, should she care to delurk.

Omni and I cruised the dance floor there a couple of times. We were, as David B so tactfully pointed out, unsuccessful.

Scene change to the hotel. Much drunken revelry, people were treated to Joph and I singing “One Night in Bangkok”, and my solo rendition of “If I Had $1,000,000”. There were some rather compromising images of Dopers for those with a wandering eye (check my sig line), inertia brodcast some stuff live for those still up to view it, and then the Renaissance Gestapo storm troopers came and shut us down. All in all, a very memorable night.

Sunday morning (I know, this is long, but suck it up, it’s almost over). Omni and I show up late to brunch, so the stagglers ate, and sat around saying uncomplimentary things about Dopers (see a trend here?). Our waitress this morning was very anxious. She asked us several times if everything was okay, and her tone made it abundantly clear that this was code for “Get your asses out of my restaurant, slackers.” All in all, an immensely enjoyable weekend, and I hope we can do it again very soon.

I’d like to thank you all for making it down, up, or over to Spiffled for this. I have a feeling that if we do it again, it’ll be in Chicago, thanks to boli’s incessant whining about the location (now I have to drive, dammit). Anyway, thanks again to you guys, and to anyone who made it to the end of this post.

Noonch.


“I’ll give you guys a dollar if you make out right now.”

Flyp said:

Nononononono! They can get together in Chicago too if they want, but we should make Spfiffled an annual event!

BTW, you and Val forgot to mention. Normally, I guess people make lists of who they discussed. We talked about lots of people.

To anybody reading this: If you think you were one of the people we talked about, you probably were. And we probably said very nasty things about you, too. Unless, of course, you think we said good things. Then we did.

There. That takes care of that.

That’s funny. Alphagene was right here in New York on Friday night.

He and I were over at manhattan’s place, drinking Ovaltine and playing pinochle for a nickel a point. At 11:30 we stopped to catch Leno’s monologue (Alpha was laughin’ so hard he had tears in his eyes), and then all three of us turned in early.

Who was this guy in Illinois posing as Alphagene?


Uke

David:

Except me. I didn’t say a single good thing all night long. My years and years at the John Foster Dulles Charm School did not go to waste that night.

Waste
Flick Lives!

Things we mustn’t forget:

~Boli inexplicably falling off the bed.
~BING!
~“It’s flaaaaat!”
~The fact the ScoreMaster Omni wound up going back to Flyp’s place alone.
I suppose I could do the official Mouseketeer roll call. Friday’s attendees were already mentioned, Saturday consisted of my friend Terry (who wound up being loved and adored by all, for obvious reasons), myself, Auraseer, Flypside, GLWasteful, Gaudere, David B., Inertia, Elelle and her husband David, Rastahomie and his wife Leslie, Jophiel, Talera, ValerieBlaise, Alphagene, Omni, Boli, Falcon, and UncleBeer. David B. let me know that he had a crush on me by throwing little bits of the paper menu at me all evening. I was surprised to be told that I’m in “the Clique.” (I guess if I can’t claim to be a visionary or an innovator, I always have that to fall back on.) Anyway…The Rastahomies, The Moderators and Mr. Elelle declined the opportunity to return to my Den of Iniquity, opting for a quiet and restful end to their evening. Around midnightish, the rest of us piled into various cars (well, some losers hoofed it) and headed back to the hotel for a little bit of debauchery.

The rest will be documented (or elaborately spun, whichever you prefer), I’m sure, by others with fuzzy memories. I had more fun over the weekend than I’ve had in ages. I was really loathe to have it end…even though it ended on a really pleasant note. Oh, well. There’d better be a next time.

One final thought. The waitress was a raging bitch with bad makeup. :stuck_out_tongue: to her.


“I like toast.” :slight_smile:

Just to take a moment and extend all thanks to Chris’ friend, Terry. More than once that night I thought to myself, “Damn! This should happen far more often. Especially if Terry is gonna keep the alcohol flowing.”

Again, many thanks for the kindness you showed to such a group of drunken reprobates. Your contributions shall not be forgotten. Hell, they’ll probably be requested the next time.

Waste
Flick Lives!

So the drive took longer than I thought!!! Sheesh!

Anyway, let’s see what I can remember here…Friday for me was spent on the road through the lovely scenery of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Anyway, I finally made it, and after attempting to call Chris and Terry, we went out to dinner. Came back, discovered Chris couldn’t find the cellphone number, and listened as Flyp left the funniest message at the front desk. “So, these crazy women might be coming down to use the computer. If they do, tell them to call.” Anyway, after drinking and learning how to play Asshole, we adjourned to the hotel. (Oh, and after making fun of Flyp’s CD collection. I mean, he OWNS a Nelson CD!!!)

Much fun was had, and we discussed our love of toast, various posters, Flyp complaining about it being “Chick night” until Alpha got there, Valerie and Alpha’s saga on getting out of Chicago, Chris REALLY digging Alpha’s accent, and of course, Alpha running over to turn on Hawaii Five-O at 3am.

Saturday during the day was much as Flyp described…hanging out waiting for various people to show up. Which was cool - Flyp is a very nice, funny, and sweet guy. Anyway, after all the girls changing, which was met with much amusement from the guys, we went over to the restaurant. Home of the rudest waitress in existence. Dinner was a blast…watching inertia double fist Coronas, trying to start a class war between MPSIMS and GD, discussing the proper pronunciation of MPSIMS, discovering I had an accent (who knew?), lewd acts with ketchup bottles, Omni schooling Flyp on how to meet women, me being called completely crazy for driving from DC… Eventually, people decided to adjourn to the hotel. I bowed out, seeing as I was getting up at 7 to drive home. Sorry I missed more drunken revelry, y’all. (And only a dollar, Flyp?? Joph was gonna charge me $20! Damn it all anyway…) I did get to hear a really amusing comment from Omni when he and Flyp stumbled back in, though. (How much to keep it private, you two…)

Anyway, Sunday dawned bright and early, and I was out of Spiffled by 8am. I did get to meet DB and Satan on the way home, which was awesome. Oh, and they are the cutest couple ever. :wink: Finally made it back to DC at 11:30 at night.

Had a WONDERFUL time, y’all, and MANY thanks to Flyp for planning the event, and letting me stay with him.


“You are sweet, kind, and considerate… Like a grown up boy scout with tits!”

  • Brian, aka SDMB’s one and only Satan.

Oh, and as a little sidelight, I present:

“Random thoughts during a 12-hour Drive.”

  • I haven’t seen this many ads for adult entertainment along the side of the highway since I was in Memphis. I think the funniest one was the billboard that said it was “Easy on, Easy off.”
  • You know it’s a long drive when you suddenly hate EVERY CD you brought.
  • Damn, I-74 outside Indianapolis is boring. I felt like I was in a time warp…the miles kept coming, but I wasn’t going anywhere! Might be the most boring road I’ve ever been on.
  • Nope, I-72 is worse. Never mind.
  • Okay, it says “No U-turn on freeway” everywhere…um, isn’t this assumed??? I mean, I’ve never considered making a u-turn on the Beltway in DC…
  • Yay!!! An all-80’s station in Columbus! (Thanks to DB for telling me about this!!!)
  • Random note: the PA turnpike at night when it’s raining sucks. Thank you.
  • “Hubert Hills, OH - Most Brick Homes in America.” I swear this was a sign by the side of the road.

Just needed to share. :slight_smile:

Oh yeah, the 8 hour drive each way. I took all the crappy little state routes through Indiana and Illinois. I wanted to see just how many miles of corn fields I could drive though; I think it was about 300 of the 400 miles. And when you’re gonna drive that far, how can you not want to pass through such towns as, Farmer City, Cornland and Waseka. I had stopped in Huntington, Indiana in the trip west to see the Dan Quayle museum; too bad it was closed, and in the interest of bi-partisanship, I had to go though Clinton, Illinois, too. The highlight of the return trip was Peru, Indiana and I shit you not, the sign outside of town claims Peru as the “Carnival Capital of the World!” What the hell is that all about? Before you think I’m leaving the homestate of Ohio out of my scorn, there was Damascus, Texas and even a Cecil, Ohio on the trip.


Here’s mud in yer eye!
Yer pal, UncleBeer.

Falc said

Pardon me? :wink:

Flyp, I love your new sig, but I want credit, dammit! Just think of all the blackmail evidence that would not exist if I hadn’t been tanked enough to make that offer… of course, we’d have MORE if boli and Omni had ALSO been tanked enough to accept, but I can live with what we’ve got :slight_smile:

And DavidB said

You know, David, just because my brand of evil is more subtle than yours doesn’t mean it’s any less effective. I can make holy water boil just as quickly as you and Gaudere can :wink:


“I’ll tell you a secret, baby - maybe you can’t do better - gotta settle for second best” - the Judybats

I have nothing really new to add, except to say that Mrs. Rastahomie and I had a blast and we’re looking forward to next year’s Spiffled get-together.

Looking forward to seeing those pics…

OK, to weigh in some of the myriad images of the Spiffled Kaleidescope…

We drove through some baaaaad rain, and kept on. I was surprised to see the Springfield city limit sign proclaimed “Home Of David B!”, although the paint looked suspiciously runny…

Finally arrived at The Spot, which was a strange rat warren of tunnels to nowhere, but eventually found our party by the decibel level.

The seating arrangement was in a horseshoe, which has some weird Midwestwern significance. It was on the menu, too, so I ate one, the main theme being french fries on top of whatever & then smothered with “cheese”. Never visit the Midwest w/o training the ol’ stomach.

Wandering into a room of folks whose minds you’ve seen before body was a great experience!

Some impressions, although there wasn’t enough time to see all the swell folks:

Aura: Very elegant, with a wry smile: he kept fishing out tiny devices- a phone, a knife, a camera…mysterious & impeccable.

Alpha: An incredible vox superiorus

Valerie Blaise: Eminently sharp, and with buxomness to stop traffic.

Omni: Got Jiggy Wit Somethin’ all night long

David B: Much more ebullient than I’d imagined. Especially when everyone got shot. :wink:

Gaudere: The glint in the eye of the hurrricane.

GL Wasteful: My Bodyguard!!!

Flyp: Ever the attentive host, and determined in the pursuit of wee hour hollerin’

Inertia: the Best companion in staggerin’ navigation thru the Mean Streets of Spiffle

Jophiel: Razoring around the edges of it all

Talera: Hangin with, and enticing Joph to do the Snake Hips

Boli: Statuesque, and being the only DanceMatch fer Omni

Falc: Left tooooooo soon. Beautiful, and her voice IRL matches her sweet LOL’s online

Chris: Wang-Dang-Doodle!

Terry: All Fire…nothin’ more til you post, Gal!

Rastahomie & Mrs.- Ya left too soon, but swellegant.

Did I forget anyone?

Uncabeer? Of course, he’s the most bestbest, but everyone knows that.

I remember, in the wee hours, amid cacophany:
The Hotel Gestapo knock on the door…
UncleBeer takes charge
Inertia shouts, “Yeah, call some REAL cops!”, as Unc waves at him to Shush!

Peeking behind Unc, I saw the Hotel Dick narrow his eyes: " Well, well, UncleBeer, we meet again…"

UncleB stepped out and had some kind of negotiations. The Dicks left.

Then Flyp cranked up the music and started singin’…Ifff Ayyyyeee Haaad A Milllliiioooonnn Dooooolllaaarrsss… and then the Gestapo came back…

So everyone trickled reluctantly to bed.

A good time was had by all. YeeeeeHaaa!

OK, to weigh in some of the myriad images of the Spiffled Kaleidescope…

We drove through some baaaaad rain, and kept on. I was surprised to see the Springfield city limit sign proclaimed “Home Of David B!”, although the paint looked suspiciously runny…

Finally arrived at The Spot, which was a strange rat warren of tunnels to nowhere, but eventually found our party by the decibel level.

The seating arrangement was in a horseshoe, which has some weird Midwestwern significance. It was on the menu, too, so I ate one, the main theme being french fries on top of whatever & then smothered with “cheese”. Never visit the Midwest w/o training the ol’ stomach.

Wandering into a room of folks whose minds you’ve seen before body was a great experience!

Some impressions, although there wasn’t enough time to see all the swell folks:

Aura: Very elegant, with a wry smile: he kept fishing out tiny devices- a phone, a knife, a camera…mysterious & impeccable.

Alpha: An incredible vox superiorus

Valerie Blaise: Eminently sharp, and with buxomness to stop traffic.

Omni: Got Jiggy Wit Somethin’ all night long

David B: Much more ebullient than I’d imagined. Especially when everyone got shot. :wink:

Gaudere: The glint in the eye of the hurrricane.

GL Wasteful: My Bodyguard!!!

Flyp: Ever the attentive host, and determined in the pursuit of wee hour hollerin’

Inertia: the Best companion in staggerin’ navigation thru the Mean Streets of Spiffle

Jophiel: Razoring around the edges of it all

Talera: Hangin with, and enticing Joph to do the Snake Hips

Boli: Statuesque, and being the only DanceMatch fer Omni

Falc: Left tooooooo soon. Beautiful, and her voice IRL matches her sweet LOL’s online

Chris: Wang-Dang-Doodle!

Terry: All Fire…nothin’ more til you post, Gal!

Rastahomie & Mrs.- Ya left too soon, but swellegant.

Did I forget anyone?

Uncabeer? Of course, he’s the most bestbest, but everyone knows that.

I remember, in the wee hours, amid cacophany:
The Hotel Gestapo knock on the door…
UncleBeer takes charge
Inertia shouts, “Yeah, call some REAL cops!”, as Unc waves at him to Shush!

Peeking behind Unc, I saw the Hotel Dick narrow his eyes: " Well, well, UncleBeer, we meet again…"

UncleB stepped out and had some kind of negotiations. The Dicks left.

Then Flyp cranked up the music and started singin’…Ifff Ayyyyeee Haaad A Milllliiioooonnn Dooooolllaaarrsss… and then the Gestapo came back…

So everyone trickled reluctantly to bed.

A good time was had by all. YeeeeeHaaa!

Ahem. I only hit that button once.

Pictures.

We want pictures.

Glad y’all had a great gathering!


You say “cheesy” like that’s a BAD thing.

Spiffled, Illinois meeting, and the city don’t know it’s about to take a beating
The cliques and the drunks in a party with everything but Android209
Beer’s drained, it doesn’t seem a minute since The Spot only had a few people in it
Dopers meet, and you know what’s even sadder? When we come to drink the city doesn’t matter
It’s New York… or Chicago… or Monterey… or… this place!

One night in Spiffled and Chris gets in trouble
S’what happens when you let drunks in your suite
One night in Spiffled and your mind’s in rubble
Gotta watch the folks you meet,
She got hit by paper from David B.

One patron decides that she’s rich, spending all night giving money to a bitch
(It’s a shame, it’s a crime, you don’t know what you’re missin’ when you playing with your drink and not virtual bass fishin’)
Whaddya mean? You’ve played one quarter stealin’ fly fishin’ game…
(Cherry Pucker, Rolling Rock… ‘fore ya know you’ll forget the clock)
Piss off! You’re botherin’ the host, who might add really likes toast
I’ll stick with the water atom, madam

One night in Spiffled makes the moderators tremble
A drain on the purse, a drain on the head
You need to be careful when the Dopers assemble
Falcon and Gaudere already fled
Missed a li’l Boli fallin’ off the bed

Capital city’s gonna be the playground of the biggest bunch of freaks ‘MiPSIMS’ has ever found
This amuses me more than any General Question or Pit War - But thank God I’m only taking the pictures, preserving evidence
I know you won’t be missing the chance to say who I’ve been kissing
They’d join you for brunch, they would awaken; but Val and Lou already made bacon
So you’d better go back to your hotel rooms… your Lincoln sites… your apartments

One night in Spiffled and Chris gets in trouble
S’what happens when you let drunks in your suite
One night in Spiffled and your mind’s in rubble
Omni left the stereo rocking
I can hear the hotel fuzz knocking

One night in Spiffled makes the moderators tremble
A drain on the purse, a drain on the head
You need to be careful when the Dopers assemble
Falcon and Gaudere already fled
Missed a li’l Boli fallin’ off the bed


“I guess one person can make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.”

Well Joph, you’ve done it. I don’t know what to say.


“I’ll tell you a secret, baby - maybe you can’t do better - gotta settle for second best” - the Judybats