michael

I would like to retitle this entry as follows:

The last time I saw Matt Maldre, Man of Action!

I gave Matt a call on a Thursday about a plan for Friday night, to see if he indeed was the Man of Action I took him to be when we first met. He seemed to me to be the type to be ready to do just about anything that sounded good to him at any moment, and he would come packing an aplomb of excitement and fun. (not certain aplomb really works in that sentence, but if it doesn’t in terms of meaning, it works in terms of it’s graphical resemblance to bomb, and that it’s something he comes packing.)

I asked, hey, are you up for a hybrid kung-fu-matial-arts-narrative dance performance?

He was. He did. He’s awesome.

It didn’t hurt our evening that the show itself was pretty neat, like nothing that I had seen before. The Matt-time I got was limited to the minutes before the show which included learning a quick kung fu move, doing the wave, and being entertained by the silent ‘house staff’/performers. Afterwards we had lengthy talks on the train ride north.

A good time, a good man.

Casey and I stayed with Michael in Chicago as she made her way across the country. I couldn’t possibly list all of the ways that Michael is awesome, but here are some of the highlights.

First of all, he gave us amazing directions to his house. That’s a big deal, since we had to drive through Chicago to get there. His directions were so detailed that we never felt lost or confused. Instead, we were not surprised at all to see a McDonald’s in the middle of the road at the Skyway toll plaza.

He also told us exactly where to call him when we got close to his house, so that he could stand outside and help us park. There happened to be a free space in front of their place, so he stood in the space so that no one could park there while we circled the block after missing our turn.

He made us chili and gave us beer.

He let us crash at his place and even told us where to get breakfast.

He took an afternoon off and walked all over Chicago with us.

He bought us pizza.

He introduced us to his friends, who are also awesome.

He took lots of shots with us.

He even went to a karaoke bar for us.

In summary- Michael rocks. He showed us an amazing time in Chicago and I will never forget it!

He can tear a bathroom to pieces with his bare hands! Like, down to the studs! And then he can go to a party and a bar later that same night!

Also, he’s incredibly funny. He has an ironic sense of humor which doesn’t make me laugh out loud as much as snort with hilarity. which is better, in my opinion.

Also, his wife is similarly clever, plus an accomplished sketcher of all manner of weirdness. And surprisingly good at making sense of my own really horrid pictures.

Oh, and according to my hubby, he wears an eyepatch . . . at least that’s how he (hubby) drew “Lazlo.” He said it’s because Lazlo is a Hungarian name . . . like that explains anything.

And finally, he’s more competitive than he lets on. . . .

Making the trip to my second Chicago 43T meetup was much more relaxed than it had been to make the trip to my first one. This is most likely because I relied on public transportation. I was looking forward to seeing RuthG’s domicile, and it turned out to be just as tasteful and charming as I had thought it would be. When I walked into the dining room where everyone was gaming, my eyes went to michael first, because he was directly across the room from me.

I had no idea who he was.

This is a big deal to me, because not only have I been subscribed to him since very shortly after I started my account on this site (and therefore have seen his partial pictures time and again), but also I had a dream a few nights before the meetup which starred a character named Patrick which somehow I knew (dream knowledge is weird) was really supposed to represent michael. Nope, he looked nothing like that dream character whatsoever. Nor did he look like what I thought he would look like, based on his partial shots; his skin was much tanner, and his face much broader. Plus, he had stubble, and I’d always assumed he would be very cleanshaven. Don’t ask me why, I don’t know.

If you look at his tags, it would seem that just about everyone seems to agree that michael is a funny guy. The word I would use to describe his sense of humor is “dry”. Also, I would say he has a “sly wit”. Gamers beware: he has a strong competitive streak, wanted to “crush” all of us at Rigamarole.

The meetup happened in two parts; there was the gaming, and then a smaller group of us went to a nearby bar. michael and his wife opted not to join the bar group. This saddened me a bit, because I was looking forward to talking with them more, but it was all right. It’s my understanding that a second gaming meetup is going to happen again before too long. I definitely hope michael will be a part of it!

We played board games. And wow, he’s got a GREAT sense of humor. He had me cracking up all night.

To play board games, plus he has super cool things on his 43things list, like: cross stitch (actually, I want to learn how to knit, but haven’t sat down to do it), post 43 stories about my father (that is so cool and honorable), and develop a web portfolio (yes another webbie!).

Damn, he’s the coolest 43Thingist EVER. He’s helping me set up a blog and I think he’s as excited about it as I am. He’s also just always doing nice things for people, just cause that’s the way he rolls.

What a fab person.

Casey is just the bestest.

She keeps cheering me (for reasons I have not yet discerned, nor she revealed) and every time she does I cannot control my facial musculature, which contorts my face into a doofus grin.

I’m trying to figure out how to easily hang out again in proximity, as soon as she stops traveling the world on her rampage of infectious awesome conquest. She cannot be stopped, and honesly, why would you want her to be?

When we were saying goodbye, him turning to jump on the train and me going back to my stuffy hotel, he reached out his hand to give a shake goodbye and I immediately grabbed him to give him a big ol’ hug.

What a wonderful person!! There was absolutely no awkwardness except for maybe the first initial moment when I said, “Um, Michael?” cause I wanted to make sure it was really him.

We went out to eat where I had some fantastic gumbo and we talked about internet identity and what we actually do at our jobs and we talked about strange opportunities that randomly appear in our lives.

We walked. We looked at a lot of art, ranging from ridiculously ornate settees to hairy sound suits.

Michael became an instant friend and made my first day in Chicago absolutely perfect. I’ll totally jump at the opportunity to go to Chicago again just to hang out with him and hope that one day he can make it down to North Cack so I can be his tour guide for a day. I can’t take him to Heaven on 7 in Raleigh, but I bet we can find some angry chickens somewhere.