Heading Out to the Great Midwest, pt. 2

It was good to see Charlie. We used to spend at least one evening a week with our crazy friend, but as he’s been up at Purdue doing the PhD thing, we’ve had to make do with a phone conversation every Monday night. We caught up for awhile, Charlie treated us to a rather unpracticed (but incredibly adept, in my own opinion) rendition of Rhapsody in Blue. I tried to read the music and keep track of where he was. Once upon a time, I was pretty good at that (my High School girlfriend was quite a good pianist and I used to turn pages for her). I was pretty well out of practice, but it was fun to try. It was also really neat to get to see Charlie play. He’s quite amazing at the old ivories!!

The three of us went to see the Simpsons movie. While we waited, Suzi and I played air hockey. Now, in 25 years, I can’t ever remember beating her at this game…But I did! I guess the Jedi training is really paying off!

The movie was, contrary to what a young friend of mine had said, quite funny. Of course, the three of us are all huge Simpsons aficionados…so that helps

Spider Pig! Spider Pig!
Does whatever a Spider Pig does…
Can he swing from a web?
No he can’t coz he’s a pig!

After the movie, we went to our favourite Mediterranean restaurant in West Lafayette, then back to Chez Charlie for some more hanging out and talking.

The next morning, we hit the Route 66 Diner, a local landmark---always hearty fare. We then went to a coffeehouse and hung out and talked, checked email and all that. We checked the Urban Dead crisis (which wound up with about three people leaving our little group … it’s complicated) and chatted with Charlie. All day, I was staring at a place called Hot Box Pizza. I was getting hungry.

The Wolf Howls at the wolf park are one of the West Lafayette “things” … the wolf park has several packs of wolves that researchers and students can come and work with. On weekends, we humans pay money and the researchers show us how to say “howdy” to the beautiful lupines.

We sit in bleachers just yards from the wolves (there's a fence). We had a great time…the audience would go “Ooooooooooooooooo” and, when we quit, the wolves would all be responding in their beautiful, mystical voices.

After that, we went to Charlie’s, hung out, and ordered a pizza. If you’ve been paying attention, I’ll bet you can guess where we got it from. The menu was as suggestive as the name of the pizzaria!

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Bright and early the next morning, I set out for Bloomington Illinois. I got to the Flat Top Grill just ahead of the E2 gang. It was cool--my editor friend Joe was running this shindig, and, of course, his significant other Tom was there as well. I also got to sit at lunch between two of my friends and catch up on the latest with them.

We went back to Joe’s for some games, some beers and lots and lots of talking. I was really happy to get to spend a lot of time with Joe and Tom, who are two of the best friends I’ve made one E2. Additionally getting to know a certain Rogue Poet better and the video-game maven whose screen name is Passport. It was a wonderful time! (In the photo of us playing Chrononauts, Tom is the guy in the hat, to the left is Vandewal, to the right are Rogue Poet and Passport.)

Tom and I had some fun--he has an amazing steel-trap mind that can do some cool tricks. His thing is the Periodic Table of the Elements. He gave me a chart and I quizzed him, he could (at least 80% of the time) match up an element with its atomic number on the chart. Amazing stuff. He could do it in reverse too, I’d say a number and he’d have to figure out what element it was. He did that one almost as well!

To me, the friendships one can forge online are every bit as real as any that you can make in person. I think of the people on E2 who have gotten married, hooked up, or become lifetime best friends. I think of Suzi and her new British friends, Chris, Jess, Kat, and Matt. And I think of my own pals like Joe, Anni, Tom, Andy, Kevin, two Chris’s, Eric, and so many more. There are certainly some dubious sides to the newest technologies, but there are also some silver linings, and this is a big one.

Anyway, we got home safe, sound, and of normal size after our midwestern adventure. A splendid time was had by all.

(and I leave you with a picture of Andy and me!)