Early Grab Meet of sorts

So, at long last I'm getting around to catching up on telling my side of the story-- the same story that you've most likely already read about on both Scot's and Lisa's blogs :-)

I went on a last-minute trip to the UK on business last week, and when I talked to Fuzzy about it and learned of his plans to visit Lisa in Wales, decided it would be a perfect opportunity to join him and surprise her!

I didn't tell anyone about my trip, so don't feel too bad if you've been left out of the loop. I wasn't actually sure if I'd be able to make it to see Lisa at all, and I didn't want to get our hopes up only to be disappointed. As luck would have it, that wasn't the case.

So, I had a layover in Chicago where I got to meet my first Grab friend-- Scot! He's blogged all about it, so you can read the details there, here's the two of us at O'Hare International Airport:



The first few days of my stay in the UK were pretty uneventful. Watched a lot of German TV, something I miss from my days in Germany :-D Did some shopping, got my hair cut, and brrrr-- tried to stay indoors as much as I could!

I was able to get time off on Thanksgiving to join Fuzzy and Alex on the long drive to Wales. We checked into the hotel and after Fuzzy phoned Lisa to let her know we were there, I made my way to his and Alex's room. We wanted to position Fuzzy by the door, videocamera in hand, to film Lisa's expression, and were still working out the logistics (freakin' closet was in the way) when there was an unexpected knock on the door. We looked at the time and stared at each other. Lisa!? Nah, too early!

So Fuzzy pushed the peephole cover aside and peeked through, then jumped back in a near panic, whispering loudly: "It's Lisa!"

Flustered, We scrambled to try to get him in position with the camera, not realizing that Lisa could hear our whispers and movements through the door.

After a second knock, we gave up, and Fuzzy and Alex retreated to the back of the room while I flung the door open.

Oh, the look on Lisa's face-- priceless! The expressions on her face changed from brow-furrowing confusion ("Who the hell..!?") to eye-widening shock ("I recognize her!") to jaw-dropping shock ("It's Helly!") before the inevitable screech of "OH MY GOD!" and the big hugs that followed.
To be honest, she didn't cuss us out as much as we'd expected! I guess she was too stunned to call us many names.

You've already seen most of the important pics on her blog, so I'll just showcase a few of my favorites (forgive any duplicates):
 
Lisa and me, posing as two innocent angels (quit laughing so hard!)



Here are 3 Grab CLs: Lisa, Fuzzy and Helly



Can't leave a shot of Alex out:



This menu cracks me up-- "pud"s?? Sounds sooo dirty!



This picture cracks me up too-- I came across quite a few establishment that sell not just Chinese food, but "Chinese and English food". This one sold Chinese take-out AND fish 'n' chips:



A COUPLE OF AERIAL SHOTS:
The view of the sun-kissed English countryside (hey, where are all the rain clouds??)



These next two are my favorites:
First up, a view of the English Channel as we flew over the last of England



And then, a view of the start of France on the other side of the Channel:



So there you have it. Quite an adventure, and a mini-Grab-Meet across the ocean and across an entire country!

We spent Thursday evening enjoying dinner together, and then a little pub crawl. Coming from California, where smoking is banned in nearly all public establishments, I'd forgotten how smokey it gets in the bars of Europe. And having karaoke at two of the pubs was a plus-- both Alex and I enjoyed our turns up on the mic :-)

On Friday we picked up Lisa at her house and had lunch together, then went shopping-- or more aptly, as Lisa pointed out, Alex shopped while the rest of us looked on.

All in all it was a good trip. I enjoyed seeing a different country, and being scared out of my wits driving on the wrong side of the road. Realizing first-hand (well, I'd already had an inkling of it from my conversations with my British friends) that English, contrary to popular belief, is NOT really a universal language. Reminding myself to be eternally grateful that I live in southern California, where not only is the weather magnificent (yes, I've had enough of the bRRRRR-inducing weather of England and Wales) but the cost of most everything is much lower than in the UK.

And last but not least, it firmly cemented some friendships forged online-- friendships I hope will last a lifetime. So Scot, Lisa, Fuzzy and Alex-- I truly enjoyed meeting you and hanging out with you, and look forward to many more meets across the miles! :-)

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/199046647)

They Come To Life...

Ever since I was a little kid and lovingly played with my huge menagerie of stuffed animals, I always maintained a sincere belief that my stuffed animals came to life when I was either sleeping or not around. Kind of like in the Disney movie "Toy Story".

As I got older, that theory obviously diminished in veracity, but to be honest, I never discounted it entirely. Sure, I know the odds of that really happening are very very slim, but unless I can prove with certainty that they DON'T come to life when nobody's looking, well-- that possibility is never zero, is it? Kind of like Schrödinger's cat in the box...

This morning I arrived at my desk with an interesting surprise. I keep Shaun the Sheep and Wallace (of "Wallace and Gromit" fame) on my computer at work. Today I found this:



Wallace apparently keeled over in the middle of the night and did a face-plant right onto my computer. Notice how his hand is still on Shaun's head, perhaps in an attempt to catch his balance and break his fall? Doesn't look like it helped. Makes me wonder how much he had imbibed last night ;-) And just makes me wonder even more if my stuffed animals really did have a raucous party last night when the last of the staff had gone home and all was quiet in the building....

(and in case you're wondering, yes, I propped the Rottweiler up next to them, with pen and pad. When I came upon this amusing "crime scene" this morning, my imagination went into overdrive and I decided that Rocky would serve quite nicely as the investigating police dog :-D)

(originally posted at: http://www.myspace.com/hellykwee/blog/194391348)