Like I could ever hate any of you, especially not you,Cranky.
Thanks for the kind words and thoughts.
And damn the double posting. Good drugs and a slow board are not a good combination.
I guess I need to up the flash-brightness, but here’re my pictures.[
Wanted to come. Really I did. Got knocked down by the worst cold I’ve had in a while. I was in bed the whole weekend. I would like to have been flat on my back for other reasons. 
Maybe next time…
Sweet fancy moses, thinksnow, I was pretty sure of my un-photogenic-ness before, but now I am thoroughly convinced of it. Like my daddy say, pictures don’t lie. Poor yojimboguy, looks like I’m about to bust a cap in his ass.
But the rest of the pictures are the bee’s knees!
While the photos do not capture all of the magnificence that is Gundy, “unphotogenic” is not what comes to mind when I see your pictures. I do not like to tell women they are wrong, but you are wrong.
No joke, man…what’s a guy have to do to rate a mention in a summary or two? 
Dude, if that makes you a “troll” of this thread, I’d say you’re in some dee-illy-icious company! Relax and enjoy the bodacious view.
Jane, I’m so sorry we missed you! Bill and I stayed around the hotel Friday night because I was exhausted, so we didn’t get out to the Wild Goose. Speaking of the hotel, it was WONDERFUL, and thank you again for making the arrangements.
I hope your back feels better, and I hope you find your wallet!
DynoSaur, I swear to any Deity you wish, you were in there; I had a couple of times on preview it dropped out something I’d written, this must have been one of them. But in full disclosure right after I finished I realized I had omitted Yojimboguy and spelled at least one name wrong (unintentionally, versus Typo-ed. And considering that you were the topic of at least one conversation where a to remain anonymous female doper talked about how you were looking good, it’s hardly as if you were forgotten.
Drink all 10 beers. Five just doesn’t cut it, man.
Dyno, I said it before, and I’ll keep saying it until you acquiesce, but next time we’re doing it together.
I see a lot of courage. And that gives me strength. We give each other strength. It’s time for the one-on-ones.
You’re … NOT … photogenic?
Coulda fooled me. Did fool me.
Fool me once, shame on me. I will not miss out again, damnit!
Hafta address this too…
“Speaking of young, single Dopers, Iampunha was another chick magnet. Wonder why nobody plays with my hair like that?”
You had more women rubbing your head and putting it in their cleavage and such. True, I was sandwiched by Jadis and Tattva, but …
Wait a minute. WHY AM I SAYING “but”?
Why indeed, grasshopper? You’re learning. 
And Gundy, I’m already in lust with you just from looking at the photos. If those aren’t sufficiently flattering, I’m not sure I can handle pix that show your full babe-a-liciousness.
Maybe you’re saying “butt”?
Perhaps you cannot. In person she is jaw-droppingly gorgeous.
Ah yes. I had forgotten about that. I don’t know HOW I could forget it, but the whole weekend is such a blur anyway…
Well, except for a few things. A few special things.
[sub]These are a few of my favorite things…[/sub]
Oh, and re: Gundy, if she’s anything like Sophie, you gotta have at least three guys looking at her at once, because it’s sensory overload otherwise. ANd it just wouldn’t do to have guys fainting at a dopefest:D
Now that I’m feeling semi-human again, a few thanks are in order:
To jarbabyj for her excellent suggestions for doper hangouts on Friday and Saturday night and for hosting the brunch that I unfortunately missed.
To magadalene for organizing the Art Institute trip.
To Jane D’Oh! for arranging reasonably priced hotels for out of towners.
To manhattan and UncleBeer for springing for the party room at O’Toole’s.
To UncleBeer for putting up with me being incredibally stressed, pacing like a caged leopard (err… porcupine) on Friday and Saturday pre-fest, and for taking me to the ER on Sunday, and for… other stuff.
To Miss Creant for the name tags.
To everyone who took pics, especially Hama - I still haven’t gotten through all of them.
To everyone else who did something that I can’t remember right now, and everyone who simply showed up and made it a weekend to remember, it was a great time. I’m not going to name the people it was great to see again, or meet for the first time, as I know I will leave someone important out and feel horrible.
BTW, when is the next one?
I have to echo the sentiments of a lot of dopers - the big giant fests are wonderful, but I’m always feel drained and am left feeling like I didn’t talk to my friends enough, didn’t catch up with people I don’t see that much, didn’t talk to the new folks enough (I really tried to meet every new person there), and missed out on too much. It’s the nature of the beast, I suppose.
After an unbelievably crappy day at work, I get to come home, eat chocolate from the Field Museum, and read this thread. Could life get any better? My eyelashes are blushing!
The guys were all drool-worthy, the women were all beautiful, the conversations were amazing, and I want every last one of you living next door!!!
Oh, and I got to show off.
Wisest Novel told me he liked my posts. I don’t think I accepted the compliment as well as I would like to, but be aware that I do love you forevermore for saying that. I also got many wonderful compliments on my dancing, and I thank everyone who said something from the bottom of my heart. But I will tell those that thought I was brave for doing such a thing… Dancing in front of people is an addiction. The hard part is keeping from dancing all the time, not vice-versa. 
Thanks to yojimboguy and everyone who encouraged me for enabling my addiction.
I got in late Friday night, so Bob and I just crashed. Saturday, after eating breakfast and catching Shibboleth in nothing but a towel and a smile (nice body, BTW) we wandered down to the restaurant again and found Geobabe, UncleBill, and thinksnow. I spotted them by the “I wonder if they are dopers” look in there eyes. As we talked, we drew other dopers like a magnet till we had most of the room taken up.
We left to go meet up with Gundy and the Gundling, taking MsRobyn with us. We were going to check out the MSI, but the bus never came. So we were seduced into the Field Museum by the idea of an entire exhibit on Chocolate. Yum! The best part was the video presentation on people’s relationship with chocolate. There was a gift shop at the end of the exhibit, and I got a Boynton book on chocolate, and a bar of single-bean chocolate with beans from Mexico. Gundy - this chocolate tasted like the Abuelita hot chocolate we were talking about! Also at the shop, they were selling rather unusual “international” truffles. The japanese truffle had ginger and wasabi, with black sesame seeds sprinkled on top. :blech:
I was very impressed with the Gundling, he was a very well-behaved and intelligent child. He wanted to call the cacao (ka KOW) tree an impolite Spanish word. I pointed out to Gundy that it was an appropriate name given the shape of the seed pods.
Other’s have already covered the rest of the weekend, so I’ll just make some comments.
MMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, kilts.
Jarbaby has a cool pad and is a darling for inviting us all to her place for brunch. Or a masochist. Or both.
Manny - if I hadn’t already had commitments, I would have.
Wisest Novel - you are waaaaaaaaay to cute to be dateless. Ask someone out.
Kyla was sweet enough to help me with my costume, which mainly consisted of pinning the top so I didn’t fall out (sorry guys) and calming the last-minute case of nerves. BTW, Kyla - you mentioned that you couldn’t belly-dance because you couldn’t do the isolations? It’s really just a matter of practicing - if you really want to do that, just a little work will get you there! And you would be a lovely dancer, your enthusiasm is good on the stage.
Inertia is quiet, but definitely eye candy.
Persephone is just delectable. I want to take her home and keep her. I suppose her husband would object.
Euty is very good looking, and just as sweet in person as on the boards. I think he needs a new photo because he looks much better in person than in his current photo.
I want to be iampunha’s virtual big sister. Sadly, since I’m the youngest, I don’t know what this would entail besides yelling “Mommmmmmmmmmm!” when he tries to look at my diary. 'punha - if you come to my town, age won’t be a problem. We always get together at restaurants or homes anyway. And I’m sure one of the locals can put you up - you can stay at my place if you don’t mind sleeping on the floor!
I am so glad I started LiveJournal. Meeting Cranky was like getting together with an old friend. I am determined to go to the next Michi-dope just so I can hang with Cranky and Persephone again.
thinksnow always has an adorably mischievous look on his face. I wanted to grab him and give him a hug every time I passed him. Was it Saturday or Sunday that he gave up a peep show because he had his hands all over this chick?
lno looks like a guy I knew that I had a crush on. :deep romantic sigh: Just in case you caught me staring at you…
I managed to meet so many people that I couldn’t remember people’s screen names (forget real names). I didn’t get to interact with everyone, but I really enjoyed talking to everyone I managed to. If I talked to you, consider yourself adored.
BTW, I was looking through the photos and I decided this picture needs a caption:
CrankyAsAnOldMan and typo mna perform a modern dance pas de duex. thinksnow, confused, believes that Cranky is pointing at the ceiling.
Damn, I had fun.
Some highlights of my evening:
Having Geobabe call me her “lesbian LOV-AH,” and the fact that she allowed me to touch her breasts every time I asked if I could. And I asked a lot.
Having the now-infamous Euty/Zotti kiss occur less than twelve inches from my face. I was right there! Oh, how cool that was.
Touching Shibb’s head. He said it made his skin tingle. Well, don’t tell anyone, but it made my hand tingle, too. Oh, what a beautiful head. Oh yeah.
Being on the kilt-checking committee. Need I say more?
Finding out that Wisest Novel was having a good time. He was a little shaky Friday night, but I knew he’d end up just fine.
Seeing Cranky & Shadowfox someplace outside of Michigan. Didn’t get to talk to them enough at the bar, but damn, it was nice to see you two again (and Wisest Novel, too) so soon after the Michigan soiree.
The truly sympathetic response I got when I declared that my breasts were not getting enough attention. So many of you kind, wonderful people stepped right up and, in true Doper fashion, made them feel so much better. They’re still smiling, in fact. Thanks so much.
Zyada dedicating her first dance to me. The dance itself was beautiful, but then, when she said it was for me (the name of the song she danced to was “Astarte,” the name of another goddess of spring), well, I was just so moved I thought I was going to break down in tears, right there in the bar. Thank you, Zy. Thank you so much.
Thanks to inertia for driving me, Euty, and anya marie (who is WAY cool!) back to the hotel. Besides being reeeeeeally nice to look at, you’re one hell of a nice guy.
I know there’s so much I’m forgetting. But Saturday was just an all-out great time. So much stuff happening, that it all gets so swirled together and stuff just gets lost, you know?
Sunday morning, I had to get up way too freaking early, to go to the airport with Euty. I am SO glad I had the chance to meet this man. He’s been a good, good friend for a few years now. I hope we meet again.
Then back to the hotel for some nice, pleasant conversation with Superdude (who will forever rate really freakin’ high on my list) and Wisest Novel. Then it was my turn to leave. These two fine gentlemen escorted me to the airport in WN’s truck. That was nice (the airport shuttle is great, but really, I do kinda like being “seen off,” you know?). Easy flight, on time & everything.
Once I got to Detroit Metro, I was met by the amazing wring, who oh-so-generously offered to pick me up when I suddenly found myself a few days before ChiDope without a ride home. She drove aaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllll the way from Lansing to Detroit, waited in the ungodly mess that is passenger pick-up, then drove aaaaaaaaaaallllllllll the way from Detroit to Flint to drop me off, then aaaaaaaaaaaallllllllll the way from Flint back to Lansing. And I know she didn’t take nearly enough from me for gas money. That’s a LOT of miles. And she even brought her tiara for me to wear! Damn. I have some REALLY good friends.
Thanks to everyone for allowing me to hang with you this weekend, and for saying such nice things about me. I am humbled, honored, and proud to call you my friends.
Zyada Zyada inertia