My Mommy told me that she and my Daddy were born in China, so when my new friends told me that they were going to eat Chinese food after TARcon, I was excited to join them.
And then I woke up the morning after TARcon…
“Why does my head hurt? Why is everything spinning?”
I remember meeting lots of new people, and a big party, but everything after that is fuzzy…even those pictures that I mentioned don’t bring back memories - I still don’t know what to believe, so I’m trying to pretend it didn’t happen.
I stumbled down to the lobby around 11:30, and ran into one of my new friends. He told me that something called coffee would help me feel better, so I decided to give it a try.
I started to remember something … I think this guy is also the one who told me that beer was good and that I should try it … I don’t know if I should trust him, but this coffee stuff sure is good!
After the room stopped spinning, we rode in one of those yellow cabs again (but this time I got to ride inside, instead of on the roof). The driver didn’t quite understand where we wanted to go, so he dropped us off on a really busy street full of people, and it was loud. We walked for a few minutes, and then went up this really long staircase that moved on its own (is it magic too?), and then we were in a really big room full of humans. They were making lots of noise, which still made my head hurt.
I sat at a table with some of these new friends, and one of the tried to feed me some food. He said it would make me feel better, but when I looked at the thing he was holding, it looked like a foot from a bird! Doesn’t he know that pandas are herbivores?
I decided I’d tried enough new foods and drinks for a while, so I stuck with tea and some green stuff (one of the girls said that it was cabbage and it reminded me of the stuff in the fruitsicles back at the zoo).
After we finished eating, I realized that my Rachel still had not appeared. Her friends were starting to leave, saying they had to return to their own homes. Was this it? The end of the party? Was there any chance that my Rachel might still appear?
I’m not ready to give up hope that she might appear, so I’m going to go on one final tour of NYC looking for her, or any clues to where she might be. After I have another nap, that is …zzzzzzz
May 18, 2006 at 3:05 pm | Travels | No Comments
Oh my goodness. Oh my word. What am I going to do? How did I get myself into this situation? Just how silly was my head last night?
You see, I stumbled out of bed this morning and checked my email. (Yes, I’m a stuffed panda with email. What’s weird about that?) I found some, well, interesting pictures in my in-box.
That’s not me, right? That’s an imposter, right? Or was I panda-napped during the party, made to drink more beer than a wee little panda should and then made to perform acts to garner my freedom?
I don’t know. I don’t know if I want to know. Don’t tell my mom, okay? Please? And please, don’t tell Rachel! She thinks I’m sweet and innocent.
May 18, 2006 at 11:22 am | Travels | No Comments
Excuse me if this post is a little crazy, but I’m writing at 2am and my head is still dizzy from all the wine and beer. I just got back to the hotel after the big party that my new friends told me about. They called the party TARcon and it’s a hoot! I’ve never seen so many people having so much fun all at once – and I’ve had crowds oooohing and aaaahing over me since the day I was born.
Everyone gathered at a bar in New York called Stitch. There was socializing, TV watching and then more socializing (that is, if butt-grabbing passes for socializing these days). My poor little innocent panda eyes are so jaded now!
I saw many of the same people I had seen at lunch and many new people too. Some of these people I had just seen on TV! How weird is that?
I had my first beer this evening as well. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. It seemed to mix oddly with the wine in my tummy from lunch.
Here’s the end of the show. The Hippies won – I know that will make Rachel happy. She gave her friends standing orders to grab one of the hippies’ butt. I guess that means she likes him a lot. Right?
Michelec and ToniW were friends from lunch.
MissAlli and her Music Stylist (what is that?) were there too. MissAlli writes about the show we just watched, but since she hates Rachel’s favorite team, I decided not to hang out with her too much.
Turns out this was a good thing because I think the Music Stylist liked me a bit too much. My mommy warned me about this kind of thing.
Here’s the lovely pseudostudent and her friend Rinaldo. I’d met pseudostudent at lunch.
Whereverthefk was also someone from lunch. Here she is with new friend IvyB.
Hey, it’s M. Darcy and DougInNY – they were at the lunch too.
This is Avi. He was on a different season of The Amazing Race. He gives good kisses. Well, for a guy.
Phil! Everyone seemed to excited to meet Phil. He talks kind of funny, but he seems like a good guy. He can do tricks with his eyebrow.
It’s Lori from the show I just watched. She said her flamingo Harold traveled the world with her on the show. I wish I had more time to get to know Harold because I bet I could learn a lot from him.
This is Tyler. This is the guy whose butt Rachel wanted people to grab. I thought I’d join in to try and get on Rachel’s good side. Love will make you do strange things, that’s for sure.
Oh. My head is swimming and it’s very late. Later than I’ve ever been up before. I better get some sleep. I wish my mommy was here to tuck me in…
May 18, 2006 at 2:13 am | Travels | No Comments
I’m writing this right after lunch. These TARflies are a welcoming, friendly and slightly nutty group – my kind of crowd! After arriving promptly at 1pm, I was checked in by a lovely lady named Lucinator.
She didn’t find my name on the guest list, but she said that she’d let me come in anyway since I’m pretty small and wouldn’t take up much room. She even made sure I got a chance to sign AirSteve’s birthday card.
After loading up with some soda,
I sat down at a table. Turns out, I was at the adult table. In hindsight, that might have been a mistake. They had a lot of something called wine at the table. I’d never had wine before, but they were very generous and shared it with me.
I’m not entirely sure that was a good thing. Turns out wine makes the world spin around and I kept finding myself upside down for awhile.
It also makes you very friendly – I made so many new friends:
Kanuck and Zron – they come from far away too. Their far away is from the same country as Rachel, but they didn’t bring her with them.
Jer has a snazzy rolling chair that he takes with him wherever he goes.
Tony, Marion and Brian were all on The Amazing Race show that Rachel loves so much.
Piperdown once promised to kidnap Rachel and bring her to the TARflies lunch, but it didn’t quite work out that way.
The Last Dodo is a good snuggler!
GinevradiBenci, ToniW, JenEx, KonaKini, and emjaytee are all very lovely ladies, but my heart still belongs to Rachel.
AirSteve seems to be a bit upset that Rachel isn’t there for his birthday. He was later given a big cake, but it was on fire and he had to put it out. He didn’t seem to mind, though.
Carissa and Kelley loaned me their clown nose for awhile. It’s almost as big as my head! Carissa was also on The Amazing Race show. Kelley had to stay home, so she understands what it’s like not to be able to go where you want to go.
The waiter even posed for a picture with me. I think all the crazy TARflies had frightened him a little bit. They kept chanting something about “cannolis now – or death!”
Lunch was a lot of fun, but still no Rachel! I thought for sure she’d show up to hang out with all these silly people. They told me about a party that was happening that evening – maybe Rachel will show for that. I’m going to rest up a bit and then head to the party.
May 17, 2006 at 5:18 pm | Travels | No Comments
I fell asleep just after posting last night, and had a few really strange dreams - maybe it was the pasta/chocolate combination.
This morning I got up as early as I could, and set out to explore more of the city. I’d heard of Central Park, and decided it was a good place to start. I met a beautiful dog named Babette who was black and white like me, except she had a bit of brown on her nose.
She gave me directions to Bethesda fountain, which was the starting line for the first Amazing Race. Surely Rachel would visit the fountain when she arrived in NY!
I waited and waited, but Rachel didn’t arrive. I tried calling for help, but they didn’t seem to understand how important it was for me to find my Rachel. :-(
They said something about prank calls and sent some officers to investigate, which was pretty scary! I decided that they wouldn’t understand either, so I hid from them!
I waited by the fountain as long as I could, but the TARflies had told me they were planning a big TARflies lunch and I knew I had to be there! They were meeting way down in Little Italy and I knew I couldn’t get there on time, so I hopped on the back of a delivery truck that was heading south.
It was another scary ride, but he was heading the right direction and stopped only a few blocks from the restaurant. I ran the last few blocks, and arrived a few minutes early. I had been told that we weren’t allowed to enter the restaurant until 1pm *or else* (or else what? I don’t know!), so I’m hiding in a potted plant and writing this post. I haven’t seen Rachel arrive yet, but maybe she’s caught in traffic.
Gotta run - door’s opening!
May 17, 2006 at 12:58 pm | Travels | No Comments
