Sunday morning started out early. No, that's exactly what I meant to say...heh, let me explain. After getting to sleep sometime after 1:00am, then tossing & turning from a sore foot, heat, strange bed, etc (not to mention semi-hourly wakeups), I was awakened at 7:30am by a knock at the door. Now, don't get me wrong, I AM a morning person (to the dismay of my coworkers), but not when I've been woken up after not much sleep. Don thought she'd heard me out and about earlier, and was a little shocked when she got to see her first view of me in "RAPH" mode as I grumpily greeted her at the door. <G>
We headed into town around 9:30, to get set up for the party at Words & Pictures. Thanx to Molly at Mirage, we had party favours, gift bags, prizes and all sorts of fun stuff (not to mention HEAVY coffee mugs, which do NOT break when bounced off of the side of one's foot...have I mentioned that I'm accident prone?).
Here is a shot of the party area. There's a fine mix of TMNT stuff (plates, cups, napkins, tablecloth).
Donatello was quite surprised that there WAS Next Mutation stuff out there...heh heh. Since there wasn't quite
enough to go around, Don bought Tarzan plates n' stuff (which was quite interesting, considering what happened
later on....). In the background is a Next Mutation Cake that Don had brought...slightly repaired, thx to the heat.
No one had problems eating it <G>.
| So many goodies, so little time..... |
In the meantime, the rest of us passed the time with pinball and the arcade game. This particular shot is actually kinda funny, 'cause TN managed a shot that surprised us. Look closely at the pic, and you can see the yellow ramp on the right side of the game (by Scratch's Mom). Normally, the balls roll down this ramp (and the green one on the left, by Don). TN managed to flip a ball up onto the ramp, and got it stuck off the side of the ramp (the arrow is pointing at it). No matter how hard we tried, we could NOT get that thing loose...until Seven hip checked the machine <G>.
| No comments on the slightly over endowed April that appears on this machine, we made enough of 'em while there <G> |
Ok, the party is finally ready to begin, as Michaelangelo makes an appearance! Dancing and singing up a storm, Mikey got all of us to 'come out of our shells' and party along. We played games, too, like Sewer Rescue, Hot Pizza, Spin the Sai. Sewer Rescue involved a small box, with magnetic TMNT and villains in the sewer, waiting for us to rescue them, with a fishing pole. There was no way of seeing who you were snagging, until it was out of the box. Those that rescued a villain (*boo* *hiss*) got back in line to try again. Everyone took turns and prizes were given to those that saved us Turtles. Brent rescued Leo and TN rescued Don (no surprise there <G>) fairly quickly, PG rescued Mike (with much joyous hugs from Mikey) and then we waited, and waited.... EVERY other character was rescued before Laci finally rescued Raph (heh, I was just playing hard to get, while I cleaned up the sewers - you know me, never one to miss out on a good fight <G>). Spin the Sai was played similarly to Spin the Bottle (no closets involved, much to PG & Brent's dismay <EG>), with the last person pointed to the winner. Likewise with Hot Pizza...just like Hot Potato. Mikey joined in for this game (I'm notoriously absent during the games, having served as photographer & videographer).
People in picture, starting by the Pizza sign and going clockwise: PG, Laci, Seven, Mike, Don's
Mom (standing), TN, TN's Mom, Scratch, Scratch's Mom, Phil (from W&P) and Brent
| <-- Why was one of the pizzas for the game missing bites? |
| Mikey congratulates Brent on winning a game...what a host! |
Just as Mike was getting ready to serenade us with another song, we were invaded by Bebop! (no pics, and no video...I
was fighting with the video camera at the time). Bebop was not played as originally planned, Savanti was supposed
to play the part, but had gotten SO into the role during that during dress rehearsal, it took Don AND Seven to
get him out of the costume!! Seven ended up doing a fine job with the part (even made great strides with the voice...).
Mikey and Bebop eventually left (after pictures) and we all settled down for cake n' pop.
Ah, yes...the drinking of the pop (or soda as those of you south of the border call it...well, south of the Canada/US border, anyway <G>). Savanti showed what an incredible talent he is, by opening cans of pop with his tongue! Well, his own cans of pop, anyway...the rest of us opened our own cans.
| Laci happily contemplates Savanti's talented tongue (yeah, I know this comment may cause RaphDa-yed15) <WEG> |
By now, the museum has opened to the public (oh, yeah, the fine folks at W&P were kind enough to let us have the first leg of our party there, before they opened for the day...Thanks, guys!!), so we all packed up our stuff and headed to Don's hotel room, for the next part of the party. First, however, Don's Mom drove us around NoHo a little and showed us the building where the FIRST Words & Pictures Museum was. Kewl looking building, huh?
|
Bet there were no ghosts hiding in the corners in THIS building! |
Ok, on to the hotel. The gang crashed in Don's room for a little while, then headed to the pool, for a break from
the heat. Unfortunately, the heat had already done some damage, and I crashed in my room with the lights off and
the air conditioner on, trying to defeat a headache. Half hour/45 minutes later, I EMERged (heh) feeling much better.
Chatted with Don & TN's moms for a while, then went to see how the pool crew was making out.
TN, Savanti, Laci,
Don & Seven enjoy a refreshing dip in the pool. PG & Brent were watching from the sidelines.
| There is NO possible smart alec comment that could do this shot justice, so I'll just let the pic speak for itself <WEG> |
Savanti was more than willing to show us his various swimming/diving/other styles in the pool area. First off,
he showed us how well he could belly flop (this, actually, is the preliminary dive <G>)
|
Savanti shows off his diving techniques while Laci watches |
Next, Savanti showed us how one belly dances, when part of one's body is under water. Certainly handy information
for you to know, huh?
| Savanti performs the dance of the seven veils, with just his bathing suit! TN's expression speaks volumes on male belly dancers, doesn't it? <G> |
We had fun at the pool. Eventually Don, then TN left for the comfort of the air conditioned room, leaving PG, Brent,
Laci, Savanti, Seven & I. PG & I were staying out of the pool (but not remaining totally dry, thanx to
Savanti & Brent's various dives, not to mention the water fights). By the time the 'prunes' decided to leave
the pool, a new expression had been born.
|
Savanti shows us the proper ninja etiquette for entering a pool. |
My new expression became "TOO MUCH INFORMATION!", as stories were told. And the heat got to me, as the thoughts of bubbles came to mind (NO laughing, PG!!!). Finally, we headed back to Don's room for pizza (and the local pizza place even had a garlic sauce for the pizza...YUM!). We watched the TMNT anime, munched on pizza, laughed, (mostly at Krang's voice) and had TN translate some of the anime for us. By 6:00, most of us were ready to head into NoHo for a movie.
Heh, I say 'most' because one of us really didn't wanna go (and thanx to the lack of sleep, sore foot and previous headache, was developing a bad attitude). Well, lets just say that the crew in Northampton got to see me being VERY Raph like. Any of you who think I'm not 'Raph' enough for the part online should talk to this crew -- they will DEFF tell you otherwise. To quote Savanti: "I was expecting you to be more like Emer...but you're ALL Raph!". Is this a good thing? <G> Not to say that I stormed off in a huff, but I did pull a "RaphFunk". *shrug* It was over by the end of the movie.
Which movie? Tarzan, of course. And during the movie, the realization hit Don that Brent resembled Tarzan! TN & I both thought of the "Ape-Boy" nick (a play, of course, on Sailor Moon's Tuxedo Mask-Cape Boy) and Voila! Brent now has a new name! Once we got back to Don's hotel, Brent even demonstrated his "Ape Boy" abilities for us.
| Back row (l to r): Raph, Savanti, Laci, Don, Seven (bent over). Front row (l to r): Brent, PG & TN |
| Everyone tries to get settled in for a group photo. Notice Brent down front - Ape-Boy all the way! |
+
Back row (l to r): Raph (falling off bed), Savanti, Laci, Don
Front Row (l to r): Brent (same expression as previous photo), PG & TN
| Nope, still not quite settled in, as Lacitar shows just HOW ticklish she is. I'm just trying not to fall off of the bed (and, no, that red eye look is NOT the evil look I'd been accused of giving Savanti that weekend... Bwahahahahahahahaha!!!) |
Back row (l to r): Raph, Don (leaning on Savanti's head), Savanti (hidden behind Ape-Boy),
Laci, Seven
Front Row (l to r): Brent (got that whole Ape-Boy thing happening), PG and TN (snuggling Don)
| Ok, we're finally settled down. This would have been a good shot, if Savanti wasn't hiding behind Brent. |
I don't know how many shots of us all on that bed were taken. I may have more attempts on my 2nd camera, plus there were at least 3, maybe 4, other cameras on the go. The mask I'm holding got put to use later. How, you ask? Well, after this photo session, I took off for my room, to remove my eyeballs (or remove my contact lenses), and while I was in my room, I was possessed by an evil presence! Yes, those that have been to the Dalnet channel #TMNT have met her, and now she appeared in person...DiscoRaphCindyBrady invaded the party! She had been slowly infiltrating, if you look at the above photos, you'll see the flashy pony tail holder and the blue disco ball earring. Well, when I returned, the hair was doing the Cindy Brady pigtails, had the mask on and was dancing to music only I could hear. Oh, yeah, I wath talking like Thindy doeth thometimeth, too. (no offense intended to those with speech impediments). Essentially, the rest of the night was spent eating cake, watching the rest of the TMNT anime, drinking pop...and then Don dragged out that HORRIBLE "We Wish You A Turtle Christmas". Heinous!!
How do you cope when someone forces you to watch something as horrible as "We Wish You A Turtle Christmas"?
Well, TN certainly found a good method, as she snoozes, huggling onto a Donnie plushie. We all coped differently,
but we all survived it. By now it was getting late, and we tried to keep the noise level down, as the neighbours
had complained of the noise the night before. The stunned silence at "Turtle Christmas" certainly helped
<G>.
| "Turtle Christmas" claims another victim as TN seeks refuge in her own happy dreams...is that Donatello plushie smiling? |
The final part of the night involved Don modelling the Leo costume acquired from Molly at Mirage. Unfortunately, it was a child's costume and the fit was not quite right for Donnie. Evidently, there exist pictures of Brent wearing his costume (he had won one as well), but he managed to squeeze into more of the outfit. There exists a story about Brent's costume, but I'm not going into it here <EG>.
The night over, the party done and everyone shaking off mental images of noisy neighbours, we all parted ways for
the night. Monday was to be a travelling day for most of us and we all had long drives ahead, so we thought we'd
get some sleep. Once again, I was up until the 1:00am showing of Bewitched. *sai*
| Next on Jerry Springer: Turtles who think they're someone else, and the mothers that laugh at them. |