Philly Tart Convention

Yeah, yeah, Sam. . .I'm posting as fast I can. Trying to find the energy.

So, anyway, that Saturday (the 6th, I believe) I woke up early and headed down to Philly. Now, I should mention that I got a message from someone the night before about getting a ride into Philly. See, a few of us (who had never met) had decided to go and see GB's soccer movie, The Game of Their Lives, in Warrington since it had finally come in there. I had already seen it twice in Charlotte but figured it would be fun to go again and thus meet some of the girls before the party. Anyway, the girl who needed a ride lived nearby. I mailed her back with my cell # so she could call me in the morning. No calls while I was driving down.

Jami and I had decided to meet up at her mom's house but I was running late (shocker there) and so we went straight to the theatre. Got some pretzel bites cause I hadn't eaten more than yogurt and a breakfast bar. Met up with a few of the tarts and we all settled in to enjoy the movie. Now, one of the tarts and I had spoken on the phone a few times. With my cold and everything, my voice was deeper than usual, etc. She was surprised when she saw me because, as she put it, "I don't want to offend you but I thought that you were black!" (she is) lol Why would I be offended? Not at all. Amused though. I am so the opposite that everyone has laughed about it. It was all good.

Jami and I broke from the others so that we could go to her boyfriend's, Alan, apartment and change. He lives in the city. Well, on the way, the stranded tart called and said that she could go but needed a ride. Well, I tried to get Jami's attention to get her pulled over but she was clueless. Finally I called her cell but it was too late to turn back because we were on the turnpike by this point. Traffic was horrendous. The girl begged and pleaded. . .talked to Jami about it. . .and after much debate, Jami said that she would go back for the girl. She felt bad for her cause she sounded like she really wanted to go. Well, so did I but I also didn't want to miss the party. See, the problem for me was that even though I went to school in the area, I don't know it as well as Jami. And trying to find the girl. . .get her. . .get downtown. . .that was just too much for my brain to handle with being ill. I think that I was running on sheer adrenaline. But Jami, bless her, had no problem with helping the poor girl. So, we split up and I made it to the party a little late.

It was no problem getting to Dave and Busters (where it was held) and I splurged on valet parking because I wasn't sure about that whole situation. Very glad I did because I think going in circles in the parking garage would have made me sick (it did later when Jami drove me outside). Found the room with no problem. Suzanne, one of the site moderators, was keeping an eye out for me and we managed to meet up pretty easily. We had never seen wach other before but had spoken on the phone. She's great. . .quite hysterical and an all around nice person. So is Ally, one of the other mods with whom I had been writing. It didn't seem odd at all to be meeting up with them. It was like old friends reuniting. Very cool. Suzanne had brought her young daughter (I believe she is ten). A very precocious and darling girl.

The dinner and events started shortly after I arrived. I managed to talk with the organizer of the event and she was happy that I had remembered to bring a copy of Sam's GB videos as well as copies of various GB tv interviews. These and other people's played in the background as we ate and talked. Dinner was ok. I couldn't taste anything so I can't say more than that. There was a raffle after dinner but I didn't really win anything. There were a lot of cool prizes and things. I got an extra gift bag which I later gave to the girl Jami fetched.

Ok, a few weeks ago, Andrew Loyd Webber auctioned off articles from the POTO movie on ebay. Nothing that GB touched went for less than $2000. You heard me right. Well, one of the tarts had purchased a good bit of the items: a pair of shoes, a pair of gloves, a mask, and the one black cape. She also bought the quilt that another tart had made as a charity item (the money went to some charity in GB's and the site's names). The woman kindly brought all of these items with her and patiently held them up for us to take pictures. Then we got to pose with the cape wrapped around us. That was incredibly generous of her. So, Ally and I posed and had fun with that. We also posed with the "Flat Gerry" -- a cardboard cutout of him. That was just for the heck of it.

Jami and the lost tart finally showed up over an hour and a half after I got there. So, it was good I didn't go along because I would have missed stuff.

One of the other highlights was seeing a student film that GB had been in years ago. The Jewel of the Sahara is very tongue in cheek. It's also a very bad film and we were roaring. GB did a good job and I honestly don't know how he kept a straight face through it. Jami said that it was worth all of the aggravation just to see it (she is not a tart). Eventually Jami left to hang out elsewhere because she was getting tired of all the GB talk. Actually, if she had just stayed, she would have realized that Ally, Suzanne, and I were talking about other things too. lol But it was ok. The four of us (add in Suzanne's daughter) were actually the last to leave the room because we were having fun talking. Eventually the staff chased us out so they could clean up the room.

And so we went back to Alan's and crashed. I was exhausted but happy to have met Ally and Suzanne face to face. Makes being friends more real somehow.