Farewell Bloggers and how I got stood up for lunch

Sorry kids, no links to blogs today, too tired and I don’t have the energy to go through it all…but that doesn’t mean I don’t love you lots, I do. On Thursday of last week, I called Maudie to see when she was coming in, during our conversation she said she would love to have lunch/dinner with Iggy and me on Sunday if at all possible. She had some plans of her own during the trip and Sunday would work out best. I jumped on it. Of course I would and it would be great fun.

Thursday night at the IP, when Iggy hit the Geisha Bar, and after things settled into a dull, grinding blogger event noise, filled with intermittent new arrivals and people trying to pull their luggage through our crowd with standing room only around the bar, I asked Iggy if we could do a threesome lunch on Sunday. He jumped on it. Of course. It was mentioned a couple of more times during the next few days and when I left the PokerTek show with Wayne on Saturday night, I told Iggy I would call him on Sunday around 3 p.m. On Sunday I called Maudie, somewhere around noonish to reaffirm. We picked a placed that she could meet me and I would pick her up behind the IP. She was to notify Iggy if she saw him and I was going to call him. My call went to voice mail. I left him a message.

When I left my side of town, I called Iggy’s # again, voice mail. I arrived behind the IP, right at the right time. No Maudie! I called Iggy again. A moment later he called me back. These aren’t his exact words but they are close – Everyone’s going home today. I hope you don’t mind, I’d like to stay here and see everyone. It just feels good to be around them and share a hug. I’ve been drinking heavily and I really want to be with everyone…

He went on to tell me that Maudie was there, they were all in the Sport’s Book Bar area and most of them were going home today. I told him I’d find a parking place and come up. I did. Have I ever told anyone how much I hate the IP parking garages? There are more than one, multiple levels of hell, secret ways to get there, and should be used in some classic horror movie where a killer is stalking you and you only have so much time to find your vehicle, if you don’t….*strangled screams*

I found the Sport’s Bar, that’s another part of the whole IP scene that leaves me wondering if it’s another universe in the fabric of time, held together by the smell of decay, body odor, stale cigarettes, and the Dealertainers that try to take one’s mind off of a dying establishment as they whisk the $$ out of yourpockets in games you can’t win.

Poker Bloggers were hanging out in groups, some watching whatever the hell was on the TV, cheering and screaming for a team that did something (don’t ask me, never watch the stuff), and others were seated at the bar, with their back to it, chatting with others standing in front of them. What a wonderful group. I love these people. They are so warm, happy to ‘hang’ even if it is for a short interlude over a poker game, a drink, a story, and nothing in particular. Maudie was D-R-I-N-K-I-N-G! But so was everyone else in the bar. Alcanthang immediately rounded me up a glass of water when I told him I couldn’t handle anything else. TKS Al.

I milled through the groups, chatting for a moment, hugs, more pictures, more hugs, Joaquin asked me to marry him *probably in our next life*, and I finally decided that I wanted to head up to Hyman Place and get a giant, baby Riot hug for my evening entertainment. I told everyone goodbye, got more hugs, and even though I got stood up for lunch, I had one helluva great time. Thank you all so much. I leave you with this picture:

The ‘night shot’ blogger pics will go up soon. And I’ll throw in a few more random photos here and there. If you join the private blogger’s forum, in a few weeks, I’ll tell you how to receive all the photos I’ve ever taken at these blogger events. Woo Hoo!