And one harrowing weekend over and done with!

Well, it's done.
The memorial took place on Saturday and I think it went pretty well overall.
I started writing up a post but it got too big, so I'm breaking it up into multiple posts.
This is Part 1.

I had tried to get stuff done on Thursday Night because I knew I probably would not have time
on Friday, what with roycalbeck flying in, and with Marie from New York already in L.A.
Oh yes, Roy came over for the memorial and stayed at the Kzinti Freehold for a couple of days.
It's been ages since I've seen him, so I was glad he came and hung out. We had many laughs!
And Marie is a dear dear friend of Pascal who flew in just for the memorial. She visited Pascal in the
hospital while she was in town for business in late February. The Sibling told me to take good care of
her because she was very dear to him and a "good soul". If you've seen the helicopter photo on the
Memorial 4-CD Set front cover, Pascal is riding on the motorcycle while Marie is in the helicopter,
in the passenger seat, holding the cable connected to Pascal's headphones.
So anyway, on Friday I purchased some foamcore boards, some spray mount (graphic design school
flashback!) and set about putting together a couple of photo tributes to display at the memorial.
You can see the result in the next post.
But for now, here's Friday's recap.


Friday April 4th
Roy called me up at noon to let me know he had landed at LAX and was headed my way in a rental car.
I gave some shortcuts to avoid the miasma of the 405, using La Tijerrrrrrrra and La Cienega and the 10.
So he got here in okay time and knocked on my door. I showed him around the place and asked him if he
had had lunch yet. He said no, so I waved a coupon for BOGO Kingburger at Fatburger under his nose,
and his eyes lit up! So yeah, we went to Fatburger and ordered a decadent lunch: 2 Fatburgers, 2 orders
of onion rings, 1 order of fries, and 2 drinks. Only Mitch Beiro can eat 2 Kingburgers by himself.
Those things are too big! It was a really tasty lunch.
Next, we clambered back into the rental (a new looking Chrysler Sebring 4-door) and went to Bloom Café.
I had some paperwork to fax in and Jean-Louis lets me use his infernal device.
Marie called me up and wanted to get together for dinner. I made sure Roy was okay with it, and Marie
was okay with me having a friend along, and I told her I'd call her back in the evening.
After Bloom, we headed towards Downtown, realized there was nothing there, so we slowly curved back
toward the Kzinti Freehold and went there. We showed each other stuff on the Internet and caught up.
I showed him "Half Life: Full Life Consequences", which he's already seen.
We find a sequel which isn't as funny but has its moments.
Then he tells me about "IMPS: The Relentless - Chapter 1", which I promptly download.
Okay, not so promptly. It takes a while, as Chapter 1 is a 261meg AVI file!
But it's worth it, wow! If only for the hot spaceship on spaceship action. :D
It was 8pm by then, so I called Marie. She had been sleeping most of the day, having had a rough week
in the Concrete Jungle. We picked her up at her hotel and went to Mel's Drive-In on Highland.
The food was good, the service okay, but the place was pretty noisy. I had a Cobb Salad and we argued
as to whether the Cobb Salad is originally supposed to have chicken in it, or turkey.
I just checked Wikipedia and I was wrong. It's chicken originally, not turkey.
You win this round, Roy and Marie! (:shake-fists!)
As we got up to leave, the opening of my back pant pocket caught on the lower corner of the seat,
making it lift up as well. I sensed it almost instantly and tried sitting back down, but the chair
had already moved out of position, so I fell on my ass!
The table behind us was full, except for the one seat behind me, so no one was harmed, not even me.
Only my pride was bruised. I hate those stupid pants with the too-big pockets...
Anyway, Marie was tired so we dropped her back at her hotel.
We wanted some dessert, so we swung by Swingers on Beverly Blvd, but it looked really crowded, so we
tried the Santa Monica Swingers instead. It was crowded too, but not as much, and the crowd was fun.
I got a Smurf Shake (Burst Of Blue, which is blueberry and banana), and Roy had the Elvis special:
peanut butter and banana shake. I tried some and I gotta admit, it's pretty darn tasty.
Then we went home and crashed.


Continued next post...

Harrowing Weekend: Part Deux

When we last left our Hero, he had gone to bed on Friday night.
It's now Saturday.
This post is gonna need a cut tag because it's got pictures in it.
And it's loooooooooong.
Once more unto the breach, dear friends!

( Memorial report with photos )

So anyway, things had wound down and everyone had gone. I had hugged Selenesue goodbye and thanked
her for the help and the tasty ratatouille. Roy and I tried to get Gizmo and Coyote 7 to stick around
and go grab dinner somewhere. Gizmo had to go home, but Coyote was interested. So I racked my brains
trying to think of some place cool in West Hollywood or Hollywood.
And all I could come up with was In-N-Out on Sunset, near Hollywood High School. Blargh.
But the kids were okay with it.
So we rendez-voused (thank you Wil Wheaton!) at said In-N-Out and managed to score a booth.
I called Spino on a whim and he actually answered his phone! Shit! Goddamn! Get off your ass and jam!
We made plans to have lunch with him on Sunday before Roy flew back to Phoenix.
Then the food was ready, so we ate and we gabbed for a good long while. Later, we walked out and
gabbed some more. Eventually, we had to go home. It must have been midnight by then. Geeze.
Coyote 7 went home, and Roy and I went back to the Kzinti Freehold.


To be concluded...