Planning:
Once the date and events were decided, it was now time to find a hotel. Miss Tif and I both came up with a list of hotels. Bren and I agreed on a hotel and hoped Jean would like our choice. Luckily she did and the reservations were made. The hunt now began for discount tickets for Six Flags. I then found out that my sister�s company had � price tickets for employees. I asked her to get as many as she could � we needed 10. At first she got 5 � great how do I decide who gets them. The begging begins � pleeease get me 5 more, which she did. Jinx contacted me to let me know Melantha would be arriving at JFK and needed directions for Mass Transportation from JFK to NJ. I had no idea about mass transportation and even if I did there was no way I was going to have Mel take it. I volunteered to pick her up and take her to Miss Tif�s. Around the same time that I would be at JFK, Miss Tif would be at Newark picking up Aleja. Both Aleja and Mel were staying with Miss Tif. Miss Tif thought it would be nice if we all had dinner together, so we decided to meet at a Chinese restaurant. The next issue would be Friday night and our outing to NYC to the comic strip live. We all agreed to meet at the hotel and follow each other in. The only problem, Jinx would be in the city already. Jinx contacted me again and we came up with a plan. She would leave her car in NJ and I would go get it on Friday with Jack and bring it to the hotel. The last detail how will I get the key.
The Chaos begins:
8/16/00 It was raining in NY and there were delays at JFK. I assumed Mel�s flight would be delayed. I got a call at work from her, I assumed she was calling to say her flight was delayed. Instead she was calling to say she was catching an earlier flight. Not a problem - just leave work earlier then I was originally suppose to. Couldn�t be that easy, could it � of course not Aleja�s flight was delayed. * Frantically tries to get in touch with Jinx and Miss Tif * Whew spoke with Miss Tif and made new arrangements. I arrived at JFK early went to the terminal to verify the flight was on time only to find out I was at the wrong terminal. Got to the right terminal and waited at baggage claim with my �Welcome To NY Melantha� banner. We spotted each other immediately. We hugged and laughed got her bags, next stop NJ. Arrived to NJ safe and sound, on our drive pointed out the best thing about NY to Mel * what is it you all wonder * Shea Stadium, of course. We had dinner, then on to the next destination Dairy Queen. We were so busy laughing that we missed it, after a couple of wrong turns we found it got our blizzards and one for Aleja and one for Miss Tif. While at Dairy Queen we spoke with Jinx, we got a couple of strange looks from other customers, cause Mel and I was laughing so much. Last stop of the night Miss Tif�s house * in case you are already thinking it * we missed the turn again. Finally we got there; we actually pulled up to the house at the same time as Miss Tif and Aleja. Hugs all around. We ate our ice cream, got to meet Samson, talked for a little while and then sadly I had to head back to Long Island. Miss Tif walked me out to the car and we talked some more, wound up leaving her house an hour later then I planned.
8/17/00 Pretty quiet day; with the exception of not being able to get any work done. My special delivery from Jinx arrived, the key to her car and directions. Got home packed my car and tried to get some sleep. Whew no wrinkles in the plans today.
8/18/00 Arrived at work trying to figure out how I�m going to get through the next few hours. Constantly checking to make sure I have the 6 flags tickets, Jinx�s car keys and all the emails and directions I somehow accumulated. I got a call at work from Jack; he was in the city and needed directions to the hotel. OK directions given and a time made for meeting. Finally it�s 12:00 time to leave. My 45-minute trip took 2 hours, thanks to bad weather and construction. Finally I got to the hotel, notice Jack�s car and then him coming out of the hotel. Luckily he got lost and got there 10 minutes before I did. After convincing Jinx on the phone that Jack would not have problems driving her car in the rain we were off. My pager went off, I assume it�s one of the guests. But was I wrong it was my boss, not even on vacation for 3 hours and he can�t survive without me. We found the car without any problems (thankfully I knew what Jinx meant when she mentioned a jug handle in her directions). We decided Jack would follow me back to the hotel. Next thing I knew Jack, pulled up next to me and was motioning for me to turn, I thought he was going on the parkway in the wrong direction, so I shook my head no. He waved again; he wanted to fix Jinx�s windshield wipers, who knew he was a mechanic too. After quick repairs, we were on our way back to the hotel. No one else had arrived yet so I decided to torture Jack. Ok get your minds out of the gutter, I found Nascar qualifying on TV and made him watch it. I realized I had left my cell phone in the car got the phone and saw I missed calls from Jinx and Keith. This was the beginning of a trend for me, either my cell phone was on and not with me or I had my phone but kept forgetting to bring phone numbers with me. Jack decided to take a nap and this is when I realized I would be rooming with sleeping beauty (he doesn�t like to wake up). Miss Tif called to say she was in the hotel and that they never heard of me. She said the name of the hotel and the town (all I heard was the name of the town) and said yeah that�s where we are. Unfortunately, it was the wrong hotel. We went to the lobby and met Mimi, then Miss Tif showed up and then off to dinner. While we were eating my pager went off, it was Jinx. Yep - wondering why we weren�t in the city yet. Finally we arrive at the comedy club and had our $7 dollar beer, in case you are wondering no they are not that expensive everywhere in NY. We found the table, but it was hard to say hello�s to everyone, so that had to wait until the show was over. We headed back to the hotel, time to decide who would be in which car, for some reason my car was very popular the whole weekend, I know it was not because of my driving * weg * We all went back to mine and Jack�s room until my �neighbor on the other side of the wall� as he put it, complained about the noise. Before we left however I put on ESPN to catch the Jets highlights (already knowing Wayne Chrebet had made a great catch). I let them all hear how to correctly pronounce Chrebet. Off to Bennigan�s where I became a little anti-social. The Met game was on TV; Keith and I sat at the end of the table so we could still see the TVs. Time to order drinks, WooHoo we all got proofed. Couldn�t sleep, instead stayed up to about 5:30 watching bad movies.
8/19/00 After a quick run to Dunkin Donuts for coffee and food, I finally get to meet Bren and Helen, my fellow Long Islander�s (more hugs). So our great adventure of getting to Great Adventures begins. I thought LI had a lot of traffic. We were in the car for a while and my passengers needed to make a pit stop, so how would we let the other cars know? I had my phone but didn�t have any numbers with me. Let me think what would I do if I were in NY, make a new lane. So I pulled up on the shoulder next to Jinx�s car. We finally get there; first thing I look for - a beer. With that out of the way time for the rides, first one only Keith, Mel and I went on. I was hoping this would not be the trend for the day. Luckily it wasn�t, next ride more participation the log flume. Which thanks to a little splashing from Keith became a very fun ride. After a few beers, a henna tattoo (I still think we all should have gotten real ones), a lot of fun and laughs it was time to go back to the hotel. My damn pager goes off again, it�s about 11:00pm. You guessed it my boss again. I call him, have a few 4-letter words for him (most people would have been fired), solve the problem and seriously considered throwing my pager out the window. If everyone thought the rides at 6 flags were wild, they had no idea what they were in for on the ride back to the hotel. I was just glad my 2 passengers (Mel & Mimi), seemed to be calm, I probably shouldn�t have told them when we were doing over 90. We got back to the hotel safe and sound, without getting a speeding ticket. Jinx was planning on leaving so I walked out with her. We had to move some stuff from my car to hers. As we got out of the hotel, I got a whiff of something awful. Jinx informed me it was a skunk. I have never smelled a skunk before (hoping I never will again) and never thought the first time would be in NJ.
8/20/00 Time to get ready for the big BBQ. Bren and Helen came by my room and helped me wake sleeping beauty. Bren, Helen and I decided to wait in the lobby for everyone and got a chance to talk, although we did realize they day before that we don�t have to say any words to let the other one know what we were thinking. For the ride to Jinx�s my passengers were Jack, Mel and Jean. Jean and I talked sports the most of the time, Mel asked questions and tried to follow what we were saying, Jack didn�t say much. I decided I should give my camera to Aleja to take pictures, since I had only taken 2 since the gathering started. Can�t wait for them to get developed. I spent a lot of the day playing bartender, everyone seemed to like the drinks. Although they kept asking if there was any alcohol in them, time to break out the additional vodka. We also inventing a new drink (The Chrebet Special). Played some darts, Keith kicked butt. Later on Aleja and I decided to play and take over the radio. We had Metallica cranking and were having fun until I broke one the darts in the board and we couldn�t get it out. Jinx brought out chocolate covered strawberries; she told me that she remembered a post I had made mentioning that I liked strawberries and whip cream. She came out with a bowl of plain strawberries and a can of Ready Whip (what a hostess). Of course when there is whip cream interesting things can happen, unfortunately they didn�t get that interesting but I would like to see the pictures when they get developed. Bren and I decided that we were having so much fun we needed to have weekend Nascar gatherings. It was getting late and time for some of the guests to head home. Time to say good-byes to Bren, Helen, Aleja and Miss Tif. The rest of us planned on having lunch together the next day. Back at the hotel Jack, Keith and I hung out with Jean and Mimi in their room. I was amazed to hear about the pets Keith and Jean had. In case you guys forgot I HATE SNAKES. Jack was heading back home that night so I had the room all to myself.
8/21/00 It�s almost over, and I�m not ready for it to end. While we were lobby we all discussed how we would complain about each other. I really think the hotel was glad to see us go. How many times do you see a group of people insulting each other and laughing hysterically at the same time? After lunch I had to get my last fix of Dairy Queen and they had my favorite Banana Split Blizzard. Time for good-byes and a few more pictures. Jinx, Miss Tif and I promised we would get together again. Lots of hugs and then it was time to get Mel to JFK. We were running late and hit traffic but I got her there on time. That was it I said my last goodbye.
Summary: It was a great weekend, you would have never known it was the first time we all met. I know I�ll get to see some of the guests again but I really hope I get to see everyone again. I miss you all.