San DiegDopefest Wrap-Up - Ice Cream, Pirates and SUGAR!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Well, what a time was had! I arrived at Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour and Restaurant (the last one in the U.S., mind you) a little before 6:00, to see some strange person standing outside in a day-glo orange jersey looking befuddled (that would be Duke, who joined us later, although he said he knew who I was in the parking lot - am I that bad? :wink: ). I quickly threw together a sign that read, “San DiegDopefest - Welcome Cecil Adams!” (Sadly, he didn’t show - I think it’s because I forgot to make him a nametage. :frowning: )

I entered the restaurant and quickly warned our waitress that she was in for quite a ride, but she seemed up to the task. Waiting for me at the table were Mercutio, JustPlainBryan and JavaMaven (all of whom had arrived about four hours earlier, having gotten a good jump on the trip for fear of bad traffic - they spent their time waiting across the parking lot in Target, where they discovered you can, indeed, wait out the Apocalypse if need be), and the ever-charming SisterCoyote (who reminded me she has a crush on me! :eek: )

We got the party started, and soon after arrived all the usual suspects:

[ul][li]scout1222 arrived with FairyChatMoose and her autograph book in tow. Just remember, it’s all her fault! (And we thank her for it!)[/li][li]Edwardina is a sassy chick (her and SisterCoyote would make an evil pair of sisters, I tell ya).[/li][li]I was flanked on either side by the two lovliest of ladies, Encinitas (with bunny ears!) and Pencepon, who delighted me all evening long.[/li][li]Johnny L.A. managed to freak out the 7-year-old whose birthday party was going on at the table next to us by leering through the window on his way in.[/li][li]CelticCowboy and Spookie arrived with two friends in two, Tim and a very charming lady whose name escapes me at the moment (sadly, I didn’t get too much time to chat with them, as they were at the other table from me).[/li]Rico & Mrs. Rico, married a mere six months, told me the story of how they found each other - they had been high school sweethearts, but Mrs. Rico was a cold-hearted wench and dumped him on their first date! (Well, no, actually, it didn’t happen like that at all, but I’ll let them tell the story. :smiley: )
jkusters, thomasm and Darkscyde all arrived together, sat together, and mocked me together. I can feel the love, can’t you?[li]DeathLlama and Ruffian were the next-to-last to arrive, but that’s ok - their horse won![/li][li]Coldfire arrived quite late with Heloise, but that’s ok - methinks there’s something brewing there… ;)[/ul][/li]
Highlights:

[ul][li]Johnny L.A. made his famous french fry pirate boat. We offered it as a prize to JustPlainBryan if he ate the whole Pig’s Trough of ice cream (that and a keychain and a medal made out of a spitball), but he wouldn’t do it (chicken!).[/li][li]Mercutio is, indeed, SuperDude.[/li][li]JDT & WildestBill did not show, despite early reports to the contrary.[/li][li]The place has way too much candy. Like, really, I mean it - waaaaaaaaaay too much. JustPlainBryan and Mercutio cleaned the place out of Big League Chew, Pixie Stix and Everlasting Gobstoppers, SisterCoyote and jkusters introduced me to some “whore candy,” and Darkscyde bought me a Mickey Mouse pez dispenser (after I’d eaten all my candy cigarettes).[/li][li]SisterCoyote is a shutterbug.[/li][li]Encinitas remembered to take her Lactaid (and shared with everyone else).[/li][li]Several Dopers in attendance seemed to have served in 'Nam, 'cause every time those lights started flashing and the alarm and drums started going off for someone’s birthday (and it seems everyone in that place was having a birthday tonight), we all were having flashbacks.[/ul][/li]
OK, what did I forget? I’m sure you guys will fill me in.

Thanks to EVERYONE who made it down and made it so much fun! It didn’t last quite as long as other Dopefests (you can only take so much ice cream, screaming children, banging drums and flashing lights), but it was worth the trip, I think, for everyone. We’ll have to make it an annual gathering!

Esprix

2

That’s “Horehound Candy” to you, you philistine!

Love,
JOhn.

3

Oh, that’s scary. Now I’ll have to try making my own.

Of course, I haven’t yet tried my recipe for homemade Root Beer, either…

Much fun. Much fun indeed. :slight_smile:

4

Is there such a thing as a sugar hangover?
I’m glad to have been able to spend time with some of my favorite people in the world… and Bryan’s pretty darn happy with his haul of candy. Needless to say, our blood sugar crashed about 90 minutes after we left and we feel as if we had been out drinking all night.

Great fun last night. Can’t wait to see pictures (hurry up you people with the cameras!)

5

Does JustPlainBryan have any candy left? The way he was putting it away…

Esprix, get your eyes checked, man! It’s a day-glo red jersey! ruadh is going to start thinking I’ve become a Dundee United fan or something…

The only sad thing about the night–someone at the one-year-old’s birthday party ordered “The Pig’s Trough,” and none of us were brave enough to do it.

Let me second Esprix’s assessment of Edwardina’s sassiness. For the record, let me admit that I was visibly shaken when she and SisterCoyote were discussing their RenFaire bodices… :smiley:

6

I went looking for a photo of the bodice in question.

Fortunately, there are none. :smiley: At least, none of it on my person, anyway.

So. Not that I’m volunteering to plan it or anything, but the next So Cal Dopefest is going to be in this neck of the woods, right?

7

I survived! I had a great time. I met interesting people who actually talked to me. I ate a lot of ice cream…oh my! I sat next to Esprix and could hardly get a word in edgewide but that was ok because he is so friendly. I also sat next to Johnny L.A. who apparently has a thing for pirates. How I wish I was a pirate. (Note to self: start thread about pirates.)

Is Mercutio (aka Superdude really only 16 years old? I thought for sure he must be about 23. JustPlainBrian and his better half JavaMaven were a lot of fun, especially when playing with all the candy they bought. I met Scout1222 who, it turns out, works near me. Esprix does too but I didn’t get to tell him as he wouldn’t shut up.:wink:

Celtic Cowboy thanked me for wearing my bunny ears. His smile made the humiliation worthwhile. We sat at two long tables and I never got over to the other one so I missed out on talking with them. Actually, there was no talking, it was all shouting over the sound of the drum and siren and bells and kids screaming. How do those people work there? Poor Rufus, the Farrells balloon guy, got no takers from our group but when the 1-year old’s birthday party got underway he had lots of business.

Sister Coyote, who came all the way down from Sherman Oaks, gave me my first horehound candy. I guess there has to be a first time for everything. Coldfire and Heloise arrived late so I didn’t get to monopolize a moderator’s time. I have so many questions for him.

When do we meet again? Someplace quieter next time.

8

Shut up! :frowning:

( :wink: )

Esprix

9

Well, we’re home now. After crashing at a nearby hotel following the sugar-saturated Dopefest, the DeathLlama and I spent the afternoon with Coldfire and Heloise. Cool people, they. We munched on local “cuisine” (such a fancy word for such simple, greasy food), swapped stories, and trotted aorund Seaport Village.

I’ll heck back in tomorrow with more details, but suffice it to say that we had a blast. And I am sunburned (blasted deceiving cloud cover). And…the backless shirt was a fun idea, but cold. I’ll stick to more weather appropriate clothing in the future. :slight_smile:

10

Wow. Farrell’s. I haven’t been to Farrell’s since I was about 10 years old.

Some of you probably read about my good luck on the freeway, where I found a fiver by the side of the road. On the way down to San Diego, traffic slowed down. The wind blew a bill past my car. I couldn’t tell the denomination, but I had the impression it wasn’t a single. But traffic was moving about 30 mph so I couln’t get out and grab it. Perhaps someone will have car trouble and find it by the side of the freeway.

I made faces in the window at the Dopers when I arrived. Why not? There was a window, and there were dopers! I didn’t see any kids being scared though. After making my presence known, I went in and ordered a coffee. Soon food started arriving and I ordered a patty melt.

I was sitting between scout1222 and Encinitas. Both were good company. Mercutio was on the other side of scout1222. He bought me a bag of pirate bubble gum later. About the pirate thing – I don’t know. I like using a pirate accent and saying stuff like “Shiver me timbers an’ walk me plank!” At one of my first Dopefests I made a pirate ship out of french fries and toothpicks. Just playing with my food, y’know? Somehow that turned into a tradition. Melin gave me a pirate puppet at the first El Torito Dopefest which was promptly named “Big Gay Al” because he looked it. Anyway, I did say “Arr!” and I made the ship again this time.

Farrell’s has a balloon guy named Rufus. I told him his name backwards is Sufur (“suffer”). I hope that’s not his real name, as I didn’t intend to hurt his feelings.

I was really hoping someone would order The Zoo. Nobody did. I ended up with the Fudge-Ana, which is like a hot-fudge sundae with bananas on top – in this case, underripe bananas. Fortunately there was a party for a one-year-old at the next table, and they ordered The Zoo; so we got to hear the siren and the drum and see the Farrellites run around with it on a stretcher. There was an adorable little blonde-haired girl about two years old at the kids’ table. She came up to me to show me her pink balloon bunny.

Eventually people started to leave. I ended up outside chatting with Coldfire, Heloise, Ruffian and DeathLlama. Coldie was telling me about an acquaintance of his in Europe who was learning to fly. I told him it would be cheaper for the guy to come to the States for training, but I didn’t have a chance to go into detail because I was sidetracked by Ruffian and DeathLlama and Heloise.

I refueled and headed home. Hmph. A month and a half ago I was filling my tank in Washington for $1.04/gallon. Now in San Diego I’m refuelling for $1.62/Gallon. I turned on the cruise control, which is something I don’t get to do much in L.A., and managed to average 22.1 mpg at 65 mph. Not bad, but not as good as the Yamaha! (It’s about 120 miles from my place to Farrell’s, and my butt starts getting sore after 100 miles on the bike.)

And suddenly I can’t think of any more to write…

11

A bit more info on our experience. :slight_smile:

DeathLlama and I were late, as Esprix mentioned, as our friend’s horse did infact win the $200,000 race that day (you can read about the win here ), so we were having fun in the winner’s circle and such and didn’t get a chance to leave until about quarter to six. We ended up arriving around 7:30-ish.

Wow. Farrell’s. I thought they’d all died off! I haven’t been to one since my 12th birthday–so that’s making, yeep, 17 years! It was loud (as I said on a few occasions, we went to the one place that was louder than we were), bright, and sugar-saturated. Being that I’m not much of a sugar fiend, I didn’t eat much. I had about half of my caramel apple cake sundae; my hubby helped finish it off.

And the people! It’s all such a blur…I remember faces, but not names, and I remember the names of who was there, but now which one they were. Like…phooey. Thomasm came with…jkusters? Is that who was across from me with the glasses, mustache, and cool earrings? I enjoyed chatting with him and Thomas–they’re very friendly folk.

I’m thinking DarkScyde was the one that came with Esprix and sat to my left. Yes, I suck. I really, really need to see pictures to help keep me from further embarrassment in this thread. In any event, DS was more a keep-to-himself type, although we managed a fractured conversation between interruptions from the sirens, drums, and…uh…Esprix. :wink:

It was great seeing ** Edwardina** and Javamaven again, but I didn’t really get the opportunity to chat with them. To the next Dopefest!

Esprix was his usual hyper-extroverted self, and was a great storyteller (“Ohmigosh you’re my favorite poster EVER!” <–still cracks me up!) and overall emcee of the evening.

BTW, I do have to say that CelticCowboy is adorable. I love the hat, the goatee, etc. Quite the cutie, ladies!

Things settled a bit more (for us) when most of the clan left and Heloise, Coldfire, JohnnyLA, DeathLlama and I were outside the restaurant chatting. There were some great stories and overall just good company. This is my…5th? …6th? …DopeFest with JohnnyLA, and as always, he was a kick to be around. Heloise and Coldfire mentioned that they were crashing overnight at a local hotel, as were we, and so we made plans to hook up again the next afternoon.

We did, in fact, and we went for lunch by the ocean. We were stunned that so many restaurants were closed–so many people go out to eat on Easter Sunday, you’d think there’d be more restaurants wanting to accommodate them. We settled at just a little cafe, with me munching on clam chowder and Coldfire dipping his French fries in mayonnaise (feh!). We enjoyed sitting, eating, and chatting on the outside deck–although that’s were, I believe, I was scorched with this sunburn. (Couldn’t even be BOTH arms, could it? I have a major farmer tan on my left arm, but not the right)

Afterwards, the cold and the walking had got to me and the dress and heels had to come off. We all made way back to my car, where I hurriedly changed into jeans (not easy in the back seat of a Civic!) and more comfy walking shoes. Sorry boys, the windows are tinted. Not much to see, although I did warn Coldie to keep that camera away from my car! :wink:

Once I was in better walking clothes, we made our way to Seaport Village, where we snacked on Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and watched “The Endangered Species” band play Dixieland music while cute little old ladies (and one very scary looking guy that we thought matched our mental image of Serlin) pranced around in flapper dresses, boas, obnoxious Easter hats, and parasols.

It was a great double date of sorts, and as always, I’m looking forward to the pictures! So pass 'em on, Coldie!

So where is everyone else?

12

Okay, so it’s Monday morning and I’m back online ahem I mean, at work.

As others have mentioned, Farrell’s is pretty much an assault on the senses. Drums, sirens, blinking lights, the works! I recall that the first few times the cacophony started, we were amused. Then after about 5 or 6 times…

As I expected, I ate a ton of food, including a Gold Mine (butter pecan ice cream, butterscotch topping & vanilla cake - YUM). It’s been a long time since I had an ice cream sundae, so I was past due.

As reported by others, I was seated between Mercutio and JohnnyLA. I agree with Encinitas’ assessment that Merc looks older than his years. I had to ask him how old he was, because I found it hard to believe he was a “kid”. I’m not sure it’s so much that he LOOKS older, but he certainly acts it. Very well spoken and mature for a 16 year old, I should say.

JohnnyLA reminds me a lot of my Uncle Ed. Minus the dragon jewelry, that is. But he’s quirky and amusing, and I think that’s what reminded me of him.

FairyChatMoose will be on her way to the Midwest later today to attend ChiDope. I think she managed well, except for perhaps a few incriminating photos that I look forward to seeing. She inherited Encinitas’ bunny ears once she was done with them. Such a jetsetter she is! A few of us commented on how the moose was better travelled than we are!

All in all a fun time. Ice cream, funny folks, what more could I ask for? I do have to admit, there were some movie/TV references being passed around that I couldn’t identify. The bit with all the harrumphing was hilarious, but for the life of me I don’t know what it’s from!

Esprix, thanks a bunch for making the reservations, and since we managed not to trash the place, I’m sure you got your deposit back, right?

Oh, and in re: Rufus, the balloon guy: prior to JohnnyLA telling him his name was “sufur” backwards, Mercutio made a point to tell him that his name was one L short of “sulfur”. Poor guy. He looked a bit haggard. He might have gotten some of our business had he been able to fashion a balloon clog for our dear friend Coldfire. Alas, 'twas not to be.

13

Thank you ever so much from Kathy and me to all you who made our time at Farrell’s so entertaining and fun.

I have PICTURES!!! You want them, e-mail me and I’ll send them to you as soon as I clean them up a little - and you’re not going to want to miss the picture of…drum roll please…

Esprix wearing Encinitas’ Bunny Ears! :rolleyes:

Yes, it was a great time. And to all our new friends, let me simply say we had a great time. A BIG thank you to Esprix and Scout for setting this whole thing up, it was truly a blast from our past!

Now - about that story about Mrs. Rico being such a heartless wench…I’ll be the first to say, IT AIN’T TRUE - and maybe you can talk me into telling the story about us dating in High School, then not seeing each other for 27 years, and finally getting married!

Salutations all around!

Ric

:cool:

14

I would dearly love to have copies of any pics with FairyChatMoose in them - she’s getting her own travel album on my homepage and I’d like to include all. Many thanks for showing her a good time - I’m enjoying my long-distance jollies!

15

Actually, the photos are here. Including one of FairyChatMoose. :slight_smile:

And I enjoyed myself thoroughly.

16

Here you go - more pictures!

See Rico’s Pictures - click here!

OK, so I’m no web designer. I’ll go back and maybe pretty it up in a few days, but it’s a down and dirty website so you can see the pictures I took!

Thanks again everyone!

Rico and Kathy

:cool:

17

Sorry to be so very late with my response, but I post from work and was sick on Monday and Tuesday, and then had major catch-up to do on Wednesday.

But I didn’t want to leave it unsaid that I had a great time and want to thank everyone for making me feel at home.

I especially want to thank **Rico/b] for calling me “the lovely Pencepon,” as I am an old broad and grasp at these compliments!

18

The pix are great, everyone - thank you! jkusters and thomasm have some, too - anybody want to volunteer to host them, or shall we just set up a website?

Esprix