Comments on 4731 | MetaTalk

First set of random rememberances:

I was nearly a half-hour late, thanks to the particularly bad bus servie on Sepulveda Blvd. in the Valley (on the positive side, if the last northbound bus of the night were NOT five minutes late, I would have finished the evening with a three-mile walk).

Attending (besides myself) were (working my way around te table) scody, bedhead, electro with mrs. electro, lbergstr (who narrowly lost to me in the 'lowest user number' competition), stoneegg21 with significent other (winners of the longest drive to get to the meetup), and Monkeys Kimberly, jim_t and Space Kitty. If I missed anyone, let me know. (There's a blank spot in my mind between stoneegg21 and Kimberly that you might be able to fit one-or-two people into)

My only regret is forgetting just how powerfully so-called 'social lubricants' tend to suppress my personality (I once had a group comedy writing gig where I was the only person who wrote funny un-stoned). Even a single beer nursed over 2+ hours slowed me down enough that:
(1) I never finished my "writing about the sex life of Schopenhauer" anecdote.
(2) When the topic turned to the controversial social skill known as "gaydar", I forgot to mention that Robin Williams once mistook me for a gay tennis player.
(3) In a NON-Boyzone environment where the lovely, intelligent and unattached women clearly outnumbered the available non-gay males, I completely forgot to flirt.

[more later. languagehat is breathing over my shoulder]
posted by wendell at 12:57 PM on January 18, 2004

Special acknowledgements to:

Kat (aka bedhead) for suggesting the comfortable, centrally-located and really-hard-to-find location, and running home to get a camera when it was discovered that everybody there did NOT have cameras. (There was one knowingly-taken group picture. Post it soon, Kat)

Armand (aka azul) for the custom buttons that were the highlight of the 'swag bags'.

And to everyone who didn't complain too loudly that the bags did not contain ponies (I really thought it'd be so easy to find tiny plastic animals, and I was wrong).

[more later. it's just now coming back to me]
posted by wendell at 1:11 PM on January 18, 2004

pics? papparazzi? so???????
posted by amberglow at 6:25 PM on January 18, 2004

Yeah, we're all waiting for the pictures. I only read these meet-up threads for the pics and the accounts of what people are *really* like.
posted by orange swan at 6:54 PM on January 18, 2004

Photo is here. The photo is missing 3 of the attendees, who (I think) were outside at the time the photo was taken. From left to right: Mrs. electro; a very cute and charming girl whose name I totally forgot; electro; me; scody; lbergstr; wendell (standing); Sean (s.o. of stoneegg21); and stoneegg21.
posted by bedhead at 6:56 PM on January 18, 2004

pic of the guy with the hawaiian shirt (and buttons) !!
posted by azul at 6:57 PM on January 18, 2004

cool--a reserved table--and nametags! you guys were living large (now a pic of the swag, please!)
posted by amberglow at 6:59 PM on January 18, 2004

Oh, we had TWO reserved tables. Envy us.
posted by bedhead at 7:01 PM on January 18, 2004

I would also like to give kudos to wendell for pulling together a meetup in Los Angeles, which is nearly impossible to do because it's such a giant urban sprawl. And thanks to everyone who showed up! I know it was a little hard to find, but now you know where our little artists' community is, if you care to visit again.

I'm glad I was able to go get the camera, too - a benefit of living a few hundred yards from the meeting place.
posted by bedhead at 7:09 PM on January 18, 2004

For the record, the unnamed cute and charming girl was MonkeyFi's Space Kitty, unpictured were MoFi's Kimberly and jim_t, and whoever was in my mental blank spot.

And in the front left was the TiVo lunchbox in which I stored the 'swag', consisting of Armand's Meat.MetaLifter buttons and classic MetaFilter buttons (non-members got the graphics-only version), name badges (MeFi version and MoFi version), and a preview copy of my soon-to-be published Satirical Message Paper. The bags themselves were birthday bags with "Scooby Doo", "Powerpuff Girls" and "Lion King" designs, plus the More-Or-Less-Official MeFiSoCalWenCom04 Logo. I had also created a sticker for affixing to shout-out napkins that was never used. Also in the picture among the mostly-empty glasses you may spot the handle of my walking stick, and my unfinished Pizza. I'm definately entering the Too Much Information zone.
posted by wendell at 7:58 PM on January 18, 2004

Mef-Hi -- cute! (so where are the shoutouts anyway? not even one for the baby?)
posted by amberglow at 8:12 PM on January 18, 2004

wendell, I'm in love ... can I buy some of these buttons for any reasonable or unreasonable price? (I note the paypal link...) They're wonderful!
posted by anastasiav at 5:24 AM on January 19, 2004

nice one !
posted by sgt.serenity at 6:16 AM on January 19, 2004

anastasiav, mefi buttons coming up!
posted by azul at 6:23 AM on January 19, 2004

That looks like fun; I'm jealous!
posted by carter at 8:04 AM on January 19, 2004

wendell, I'm in love ...
Don't say that unless you're willing to relocate to L.A... or at least meet me halfway in Kansas.
oh, you're talking about the buttons...

Speaking of relocation, it was interesting to see that two of the attendees had just moved to L.A. in the last couple months. Or maybe they just haven't been in town long enough to become totally aloof...
posted by wendell at 11:10 AM on January 19, 2004

Oh dear, I'm late to the party again. Well thanks for organizing, wendell. Hope to see you all again.
posted by lbergstr at 10:04 AM on January 20, 2004

lb, you haven't missed much, except I did send a follow-up e-mail to all attendees and your hotmail address on your MeFi User Page bounced. (My User Page e-address is good...)

Besides you could probably dispell the rumors flying around MoFi that I blacked out while Space Kitty was doing something incredible...
posted by wendell at 12:38 PM on January 20, 2004

of course, it would help if I spelled the e-mail address corectly...
posted by wendell at 5:48 PM on January 20, 2004

Great job, wendell. Please let me know if you do it again. And hello to all the mefi/mofians who showed up. I had a nice time talking to you all.
posted by electro at 9:16 PM on January 20, 2004

Space Kitty was doing something incredible

meow...!
posted by quonsar at 9:31 PM on January 20, 2004

I'll also chime in this chorus of "a splendid time was had by all!" I really enjoyed meeting everyone -- hope we can manage another LA MeFi Meetup one of these days.
posted by scody at 10:34 AM on January 21, 2004

Before this falls off the front page, let me say that I'm going to keep the 'Meat-Up' site functional for organizing future gatherings, the next of which may come as soon as late Feb./early March for the benefit of
(1) everyone who said "sorry I missed it"
(2) all the attendees who said "let's do it again"
(3) Wendell, who has no life.

Tentative title for the next event: "MFLA - It Stands for Whatever You Want It To"
posted by wendell at 2:17 PM on January 21, 2004

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January 18, 2004
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