It was once written that "April is the cruellest month". Well... if this past month has been
any indication... that phrase needs to be just out and out stricken from any future editions.
As it was last year with the ludicrously ambitious "100 Toothpicks" project, this early kick off of the same for 2014 has been an absolutely
amazing adventure so far. And - like last year - it's only due to the awesome hospitality of the folks of Legion World that it's been possible at all.
Folks following that thread have no doubt noted that this year's edition is
way more narrative-heavy than the loose knit collection of episodes from 2013. That's by intention, and is sort of my way of making up for my lack of participation in some of the ongoing LMB role-play stuff (there are only so many hours in the day), but I also hope that those who
aren't interested in that aspect are still getting a kick of watching my travels.
Of which... boom:
End of March kicked it off right as I met one of my all-time LW faves: Set! I've long been a fan both of Set's eloquent writing and his logical and reasoned approach to discussions. He's always struck me as a highly cerebral fellow, and - as a result - was definitely near the top of the list of folks I've wanted to meet. Well... no surprise... he's no less awesome in person. I was going to be up in the Northeast visiting some family so I dropped him a line asking if he'd like to meet for lunch. Quick as you can say Pizzeria Uno, I was chilling with an incredibly intelligent dude in a Wolverine jacket discussing funny books, cross country travel, and comparative religion!
Next, following some visits with family and childhood friends, I hooked up with my old LW buddy Kent Shakespeare (who actually grew up like two towns away from me, knew a lot of the same people I did growing up, but somehow never crossed
my path until 2008). Together we road-tripped downstate, reliving - for the first time - the shared childhood friendship we never had, on our way to lunch with another NY native, Chaim Mattis Keller. I sometimes throw out the phrase that I'm a "fan of fandom". Well, nowhere was that more apparent than with Chaim. I've always admired the hard work that went into the creation of his massive Legion Help File, so - to meet its creator (and, in the process, find out what a totally joy-filled guy he is) was a thrill. Chaim is a great guy, passionate about his family
and about his travel, having been to all 50 states! Mega-bonus points for his attempts to find me a "kosher martini".
From there, a series of Facebook coincidences led to my next meet-up. During the previous run, Quis Esq. jokingly scolded me on Facebook for passing so close to his city without stopping in. Almost at the same time, a post from the long absent Caliente popped up in my feed saying that
she was heading up there, as well. I've mentioned before how I
just missed formally meeting Cali back in the day, so I figured - what the hell - let's rectify that. Since she hadn't been on LW in so long, I knew she had no idea about my project, so I started with, "Hi... this might sound a bit crazy...". Little did I realize who I was dealing with. "Not crazy at all!" she said. "I'm there!" I spent an awesome day with the pair touring around Cambridge as Quis (as is his wont) served as local history expert and Cali served as my gateway into the horrors of bubble-tea
.
I knew that, at some point - if I wanted this project to be inclusive - I'd have to start casting my net farther and farther away. My next few folks helped me dip my toes into that water. No... you know what? Forget that... they helped me jump in head first. Making plans with Cali inspired me to see if I could meet up with another prodigal son, my all-time favorite LW artist... Sketch Lad. Concurrent to
that, I also decided to throw all reason and caution to the wind and just go for broke. As some people likely would have inferred from our not-at-all-subtle cross-thread table-tennis these past few days, there was a
third party present at the Ex/Sketchy meet-up. The two of us were joined... and photographed by (and this I reveal with full permission)... a certain kicky Thriftshop Debutante. While
no single paragraph wrap-up can
possibly do that day justice, let me say that I count the company and conversation we shared among the
absolute best of this entire project. I will let her fill in whatever additional details she would like to share, but - suffice to say - the fact that she and I spent three hours touring about
before spending an additional
five(!) at the restaurant with Dean tells the tale better than I possibly could.
Finally, I headed southward for the
eighth meet-up of this insane whirlwind month, meeting with the wonderful cleome... along with mr. cleome, and the evil cat, sid cleome. While - of course - for the sake of fiction I might have exaggerated our wild drinking exploits a
little bit, I
would advise anyone who frequents Portland's finer Tiki bars to avoid multiple drinks rated higher than "three volcanos". In all seriousness, I had a great time with this pair who both opened their doors to me... and sent me off in possession of one of cleome's beautiful art collages, of which I've long been an admirer. Thank you both again... and please tell Sid I'm healing nicely.
So there we are... all caught up!
Hmm... guess I better start making some new plans.
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) is growing much shorter. Who's left? Fickles, thothkins, Edie, a handful of others. Ibby hasn't met anyone yet, has he? 
