Detroit, 1999
Mar 12/99
I had been considering a trip to tide me over to Convergence V at the
beginning of April, and the choices were Boston for the pirate themed Hell
night at Man Ray, or Detroit to attend the detgoth list outing to the
Cranbrook Institute of Science. Detroit was chosen since I could drive
there. I convinced Elixxer to come along and Mac was able to secure us
crash space with his friend Art. I drove up to Lixx's place in Brampton on
the Friday night. On the way there I noticed that my head lights seemed a
bit dim. Stopping for gas, I checked them for dirt, but it ended up that
the drivers side headlight had burned out. *sigh* The gas station didn't
have lights, so I made a note that I had to go to Canadian Tire first
thing in the morning. Got to Dorothy's house and parked behind her car,
and brought my contribution to the night's festivities (a carrot cake) in
with me along with the stuff I didn't want to leave in the car - ie
everything. After I whumped everyone's asses at Trivial Pursuit, I
retired to bed in an attempt to get enough sleep so I could drive safely
the next day. Unfortunately, the other guests were a touch inebriated and
decided to stay a while longer and be noisy. I hid my head under the
covers and eventually managed to drift off at 2am.
Mar 13/99
The alarm went off and Dorothy woke me up at 8am. A quick bit of toast,
and partial make up job so Dor could face the world, and we were off to
Canadian Tire, which ended up opening at 8:30am. A parking ticket for
obstructing the side walk greeted me. *sigh* I'd meant to be on the road
by nine, but it was 9:45 before I'd changed the bulb and stopped so
Dorothy could get her coffee fix.
Breezed through the border at Sarnia, found Art's place in Royal Oak
easily with his directions, and were sitting and relaxing by 1:30. At 2:15
or so, we decided to head to the Cranbrook and meet everyone. We weren't
last at least. Spotted Monica right away, reintroduced myself to some
people I'd met at C4 and went in to see the In the Dark exhibit. It was
more aimed at kids, but I had fun. Breezed through the rest of the museum,
loved the mineral gallery. Michelle and Michael then kidnapped us and we
went shopping - Dorothy decided she must visit a Hot Topic so we hit the
Oakland Mall. I got a Malificent doll at the Disney store and resisted the
Villains and the Nightmare before Christmas snow globes. Drove into
Detroit proper and went to Showtime, but didn't pick up anything, though
we did see some Siren frock coats at a considerable mark up. Decided on
food, but we stopped at Michelle's mom's house to let the dogs out
briefly, then headed out for Thai food. Dorothy was not impressed, though
I really liked my sweet and sour stir fry. Michelle and Michael attempted
to give us directions back to Art's, but we managed to go almost back to
Port Huron before finding something we recognised and getting back on
track. Mac and Monica were waiting for us there, and we played with the
parrot (read: Dorothy flirted with it) then got ready to head out to they
Labyrinth. Mac graciously offered to drive us in the baby SAV, Art had to
stay home on call. It was a bit cold at the Lab - it was a dark smokey
basement, but the music was grand. We missed Scary Lady Sarah's appearance
by one weekend, but the regular DJs kept us amused. Talked to blackZ for a
while and enjoyed him and mauraway dancing - two different styles but
wonderfully energetic. I danced to a few songs, but the smoke made it a
bit hard. At closing the DJ cranked the volume and starting composing
techno songs on his keyboard. I quickly left before my ears could start to
bleed in earnest. I shivered on the stairs, still shielding my ears
from the sounds coming from downstairs, and propped myself against the
wall so I wouldn't keel over. Dorothy and I both had tried to get Mac out
of there, but he was having a bit too much fun experimenting with the DJ's
sound equipment. Eventually got everyone in the SAV and I nodded off as we
drove back. I woke up as we pulled into the parking lot of an all night
diner and saw Art waving at us. I was a touch annoyed that it wasn't my
bed I was approaching, but I had some mozzarella sticks with a mystery
dipping sauce - it was not blue cheese no matter what the
waiter said. Paid the exorbitant bill and finally got to go back and
sleep. Art took the parrot into his room since she decided to be quite
noisy as soon as the lights went off. I curled up on the pappazan chair
cushion that Art had put on the floor, and lent Monica my sleeping pad.
Dorothy claimed the couch and I was asleep before I saw where Mac crashed.
Mar 14/99
The sun and Mac and Monica woke us up at 11 am or was it 10? Far too early
anyways. Had some delicious green tea with honey after a much needed
shower. A slow and painful getting ready process later, we packed up, said
goodbye, almost absconded with Art's keys, then hit Einstein Bros for
bagels and map consultation. Decided to go to Ann Arbor to find masks. I
wrote out directions for Dorothy to read back to me as we were going, and
we were off. Made it in an hour after we found parking - it was free, but
we got harassed for change by a guy who wanted a late birthday present.
The Costume Attic was closed but we hit Scavenger Hunt where I finally
picked up some silver cuff links, and the army surplus store, but the jump
boots were too expensive for me. Hopped on the highway and had a fairly
easy drive home, though we had to stop to eat and pour some Earl Grey into
me. I tortured Dorothy with some Tom Waits on the CD player, then relented
and put in Faith and Disease for the last leg. Dropped her off in
Brampton, forgetting my carrot cake pan, and made it home with no
annoyances. Filled up the tank for tomorrow, walked in at 9:30pm and
decided I had time to log in check email and write this up. Bed time!
Back to my diary page.