Ooh, Shiny!

Fall is officially here. And it actually feels like it today, although I'm sure SoCal will throw a crappy-ass Indian summer my way just to make me pissy. But hey, for now I'm celebrating the fact that I actually am wearing a shirt with sleeves to my elbows but don't feel like I'm going to die of heat prostration.

Erik and I revisited our lost youth on Friday night and saw a triple bill of the Motels, Berlin, and the Bangles at the L.A. County Fair. All three acts were great, but I have to say I was more impressed by the Motels and Berlin, even though the Bangles were the ostensible headliners. Martha Davis sounds exactly same -- she nailed that high note at the end of her famous cover of "Only the Lonely" as if it hadn't been 25 years since she first recorded it. And I don't know what Terri Nunn has been up to, but apparently part of it has involved drinking the blood of virgins to stay young, because she both looked and sounded amazing. She did a cover of "Somebody to Love" that seriously blew me away, and she wrapped up Berlin's set by singing "Take My Breath Away" while riding on a security guy's shoulders as he walked her through the audience. I'm not sure I'd have that much breath control if I were trying to sing while bobbing around on a rent-a-cop's back. Add to that the most amazing yellow gibbous moonrise over the San Gabriel Mountains and a shooting star as we walked back to the car -- well, it was a wonderful evening.

The funny thing was, that same night I was thinking about a friend (and ex-boyfriend) from junior high/high school, because he was really into music and was the first person who introduced me to punk and new wave and the L.A. music scene. I remembered very clearly listening to the Motels over at his house. We'd lost touch and hadn't really spoken for about ten years. Well, the next day I get a message on my cell phone, and who was it from? Rick! Talk about your freaky coincidences. We played phone tag for a bit and then finally managed to connect in the late afternoon. For some reason he'd been thinking of me and decided to Google me, and he found my contact information that way. He had no idea Erik and I were married, so that floored him, to say the least (he always knew I'd had a crush on Erik back in high school, but the last time Rick and I had spoken, Erik was still married to his ex and I was in a long-term relationship of my own). Anyway, he's become quite the successful illustrator -- he's done work for a bunch of people, including Wizards of the Coast.  He was always drawing back in the day, but he went through some really rough times, so Erik and I are just so, so pleased that he's doing so well for himself. We're trying to figure out when we can all get together, since he's in south Orange County, which is probably about 50 or 60 miles from where we live. I know we'll get it together eventually. I'm just really glad that at least one of the background question marks in my life seems to have been solved.

I also seem to be in remarkably good shape today, considering how much red wine/port/hookah/weed I consumed last night. :-o My brother grows some good shit. (OK, for the record, I do not indulge on a regular basis. But Bill gave me some a while ago, and Erik brought it out last night...so it's all HIS fault.)

So, because of the gas crunch and possibly because he's having a slight midlife crisis, Erik's thinking about getting a motorcycle. He actually rides his bike to work a few days a week (it's about 15 miles one way...he's hardcore), but he'd like to have a motorcycle for greater flexibility and mobility. At first we were thinking about just getting a scooter (either 150cc or 250cc model), but after he sat on a couple at a local dealer he decided they were really too small (Erik's a big guy -- 6'4" and probably around 250 lbs). After that he looked at some of the Japanese bikes -- cruiser styles, not sport bikes -- but the ergonomics just weren't that great for him because of his height. His knees would hit the gas tank, or the handlebars would brush against his knees if he turned them too far, that sort of thing. This dealership had mostly the Japanese bikes, but they did have a couple of used Harleys, so Erik decided to take a look at those.

Seriously, I wish I'd had a camera. The first one he tried was a Sportster, and it was OK. The second was another Sporty, but this one had taller handlebars and fit him a lot better. Erik got this little gleam in his eyes when he sat on that one, but the best was the Wide Glide with custom pipes -- man, he got on that thing, and all of a sudden he had this sort of glow, like a kid who's just unwrapped his bestest Christmas present ever. I thought, Uh-oh....

So I have a feeling we're going to end up with a Harley at some point. It's probably going to be a bit of a wait, because they're more expensive, and he just wants to save up and pay cash for one, but I think it's funny, considering the fact that he said he really didn't want a Harley because they're overpriced and you're just paying for the name, blah, blah, blah. But boy, get him actually sitting on one and getting the feel of it, and it's a whole other ball of wax.

Suz, if you see this, let the guys at HB know that Erik's drunk the Kool Aid and is looking for a good deal on a used Sporty or Wide Glide. ;-)

Gary Gygax is dead. (He's the guy who invented Dungeons & Dragons, for those of you who aren't quite as geeky as I am.) I fully credit Mr. Gygax for getting Erik and me together, because who knows what would have happened if the cute guy in my guitar class hadn't had those weird character sheets in his notebook, the ones that made me ask, "What are those for?"

And the rest is history. RIP, Mr. Gygax. You helped me and countless others get their inner geek on.