FIRST! NYC Meet-Up 08 Pics
Turns out I only took about 3 1/2 pictures the entire day I was hanging out with everyone, but here they are:
Here is moe., mr hash and synnove in Times Square: (there's wickerkat, Mark Grover and mexicretin in the background)
balthazar, glamhoth, top gun, succotash moon and smartazboy:
succotash moon, moe., smartazboy, balthazar, glamhoth and Alex Pallix:
synnove and succotash moon:
Finally, the elusive Smile of smartazboy:
Kevin looks totally consternated to be standing next to the hottness that is Alex.
There is hope, but not for us.
SOME ONE FRENCH KISS MOONIE FOR ME!!!!!!
you know what, pica? I'm in love with all of them, too!! i took the world's worst pictures...i didn't even get any of derek!! but everyone was taking lots of pics so hopefully they'll post them as soon as they get home.
who´s dave btw? and where´s little derek?
Kevin looks totally consternated to be standing next to the hottness that is Alex.
he was looking HARD. kevin's the bomb, btw.
ME JEALOUS.
dave is top gun. i think those pictures were taken when derek and shana went back to check on melody who wasn't feeling so well.
WE NEED MORE INFORMATION!!!
how fun, you weirdo's !
Everyone was cool and chill. Derek was really outgoing even though he claims to be shy. Alex was very nice and soft spoken, great accent. Moonie was awesome. Not as quiet as I was expecting. Shanna is very motherly, always looking out for everyone. Very sweet. Frank is Frank. Glam was reserved and quiet. Kind of how I expected him actually. But he always went out of his way to hang with us, which was cool. Dave showed up at the end of the night and bought us all drinks.
My hair looks hideous, btw.
I missed meeting you moe! I suck and could not come down on Saturday. I also did not get to meet Moonie. This makes me sad.
Not that this makes up for it, but here are a few pics I got with my camera phone...
This is Bethany (mexicretin), Vitaly, and half of Frank. We are waiting for Derek to get through customs in Terminal 4. I suck so I had not brought a "Welcome to the USA" sign for Derek and Alex, so Vitaly got some cardboard and a marker from one of the stands and improvised. Yes, he wrote "TEH CULT" on it.
Derek finally came through and like an idiot I neglected to snap a pic. He greets everyone and immediately starts emptying a suitcase full of gifts, including Cujo underpants for everyone!
At this point we're worried that we missed Alex because Derek's flight was delayed half an hour so we scurried over to Terminal 7 to meet her. As luck would have it she was not through customs yet and we were able to greet her when she came out. She works her way through all our introductions, finally reaching Derek, who says "and I'm IRONMAN!" and I almost fell over laughing.
Tom and Vitaly pounce on Mel at some random bar Thursday night.
Wider shot to get Frank and LIz in there too.
A screwed up shot of Brother Jimmy's on friday night. Kinda hard to identify anyone, left to right I can see Mark Grover, Tom, Mel, Alex, Liz, then on the other side of the table is Richard (wickerkat), Frank (i think), and Caleb (thirstygerbil).
Sadly I had to leave a bit early on Friday to catch a midnight train. Fortunately though everyone was heading from uptown to downtown at the same time so they all switched trains at Grand Central and let me snap this quick pic before running up the stairs. Again, hard to make people out, but from left to right you can spot Rob (anxious phoenix), Derek, Liz, Caleb, Mark Grover, Richard, Bethany, Shana, Alex, Mel, Kevin (GLAMHOTH), Tom, and Frank.
While I didn't get to spend as much time with them as I would have liked it was still a great time and I'm grateful to everyone who made the trip out here. Apologies to those I missed, hopefully it won't be too long before another chance comes up.
jase, we were talking about you, so you were kinda with us in spirit :) i'm sad we didn't get to meet, though... we were supposed to come out for friday dinner but the weather was just too iffy to be driving.
why didn't you come? we were all hoping to see you 
You got Levi into the picture too !!
Okay, this is just going to be a few of the photos, I don' t have the energy to do them all right now. But, since I am still sick and in the hotel room I figured I would post a few. I just changed my flight, I don't know where I will stay tomorrow night, but I'll be damned if I spend the majority of my trip in the bathroom. Fuck that.
Derek looks surprised. He doesn't like pictures, the silly boy. This is from the bar Thursday night (Alex, Derek, Shana)
Vitaly loves Frank, and suckers.
A bunch of lookers! I don't know why Derek is so camera shy. (Derek, Shana, Tom)
Alex, Jase's wife (I feel like a tool for not remembering her name), Jase, Derek, Shana.
Tom and Vitaly made a Melody sandwich.
Dinner Friday night at Brother Jimmy's. (starting from the left and going around the table: Mark, Tom, Me, Bethany, Alex, Kevin, Liz, Derek, Richard, Frank, Shana, Caleb) The guy next to Caleb in the black is a friend of his whose name escapes me... And Jase is taking the picture.
Vitaly stuck part of his Heineken label to Bethany's face.
Tom and Vitaly's second hand shaking contest. It went on forever, I'm not sure who won.
Vitaly and me looking stupid.
There will be more later! Can't give it all away before the trip is even over!!
"after feeling under the weather a few days one time I went to check my symptoms online. web MD informed me I had Scarlet Fever." -Cam Cam
"I think I got hit on too. An 80-year-old woman said my glasses are very attractive. I told her that hers were pretty nice too.". -Steve
"Bloke came home from work and I'm still in my nightie. I call that a successful day off." --Sarah
Oh my god. I love it.
Brentinlouis Wrote: What was that rule about being intentionally annoying?
Oh my goodness you guys, looks like soo much fun. I wish I could be there! Have lots more fun and post lots more pictures!
well, i love this one for obvious reasons, because my name is in it.
Tom and Vitaly clearly made melody sick,
and look at frank's face in the background here!!! hahahahahahhahah!
Brentinlouis Wrote: What was that rule about being intentionally annoying?
^^ im pretty sure that's a sleeved arm, shotgun..
__________________________________
play hard, like it's work to be done.
Great photos, it looks like we're all missing out on a lot of fun, but from here on out pictures should list Cult Usernames, not real names, unless you're an icon like Frank.
That's not her boob, it's Tom's elbow. Thus: sleeved arm.
Lovely pictures guys, looks like you all had a great time. I'd say more, but frankly I'm not in a good way. So instead I'll say a little more, but not much more, though it's all still more, I guess, I'm just saying you all look lovely and seem like you had a great time. Also, yes, more usernames, less real names. And more talk on funny happenings, recountings, etc.
I think I'm going to drop out of college again.
corellion!!! unignore me in chat.
Brentinlouis Wrote: What was that rule about being intentionally annoying?
Oh god you guys, this is great! All of you look PRETTY. It's really weird seeing all of yous together and shit, but in a good way.....
And Moe! We do indeed have the same hair! Woo!
Yes, I am wrecked in this picture.
Who is Caleb?
Melody, Jase's wife's name is Natalie.
You guys can't even comprehend how jealous I am right now.
There is hope, but not for us.
Who is Caleb?
thirstygerbil
Kevin looks totally consternated to be standing next to the hottness that is Alex.
a little, but mostly I was totally consternated to be standing near to the hotness that is Frank.
Also, i just woke up. i missed out on hanging out with culties again, but on the other hand, i now don't feel like falling asleep where I stand. Everyone was ridiculously nice. Although if I were to do it over again, I would have brought a camera so I could be taking pictures instead of in them (this is why you may not see as many pictures of Synnove as you damn well should, she was always behind the camera).
Oh, so it looks like Alex Pallix is as gorgeous in real life as she is in those fancy ebay photos?
There is hope, but not for us.
Kay...
WOW. I love everyone! I'm going to make a thread about this sometime soon-ish 'cause I have an Exciting Special Thing I want to do, but yeah... meeting people was... great.
Who the hell is Bethany? And goddamn I'm jealous I'm on the other side of the country.
Wow awesome you guys! Great photos. I hope I can make it to a meet up some day.
Brilliant photos guys, looks like a good time had by all. Insane jealousy being felt over here.
Are we 100% certain that Glamhoth didn't send Jonathan Safran Foer in his place? Sneaky devil.
Also, looks like fun!
I knew there was somebody he reminded me of! Glam and Derek should show there faces around here more often, they are very nice to look at.
Actually, I have to admit, looking at those pictures I thought, 'oh, jesus, I do look like mclovin'.
also, if you were perhaps wondering what Jase meant when he said Cujo underpants:
[IMG]http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc217/desk_lamp/barca.jpg[/IMG]
Frank also brought awesome Cult meetup t-shirts which i don't have a picture of because I put it in the laundry to wash. Maybe someone will fashion parade both of these things when they get back to their homes.
Those underpants are brilliant.
derek you're a real cute fecker, and if one of these happens again i won't allow myself to miss it, too much fun!
derek was totally hoping you would just randomly pop up unannounced during some point of the meet, morey.
We've had a great time. I have had way too much fun and probabaly shouldnt drink for awhile. My flight just got cancelled so I get to stay a little longer than expected. YAY!
Whenever the next meet up occurs, you know I will be there.
Everything went fine until I got into Chicago. My connecting flight was delayed for an hour, and when I got into Moline, IL, it was like white out conditions. Roads were covered with snow and ice and everyone was driving like maniacs. I got lost because I couldn't read the road signs. I decided to check into a hotel because interstate 80 is all snow and ice covered.
I had a great time!! The cult has really helped to merge generation X and generation Y. Richard, thanks for all nice gifts you gave me and all the encouragement and talk about writing. Caleb and Jase, thanks for your expertise with questions I had about publishing. llBarca, thank you for the care package you brought me. The next time I come to Ireland I will definately let you know! The disposable camera worked out great because my own camera wasn't working properly at Brother Jimmies. I will send you something in the mail to give you a little taste of Iowa. Tom, thank you for putting together dinner on Friday night and being the hostess with the mostest. Frank, thank you for lunch on Saturday and the snazzy t-shirts. I'll send you a suprize one of these days! Everyone else I didn't mention by name, thank you for your graciousness and just being who your are.
They always say that when you die you won't remember your acomplishments or the money you spent, but what you did. This was something I will always remember.
[IMG]http://www.chuckpalahniuk.net/fan/workshop/topdogs/Mark_Grover_Junior_copy_editor.gif[/IMG]
I was gonna post in that thread you made about what happened when we went home, but i just took the train and went to sleep, so I decided not to say anything.
I probably should have decided to do that just now as well.
Looks like everyone had a blast (master of the obvious)!
frank when are you scheduled to leave nyc???
mel and i are meeting for dinner tonight, and i think jt and tom are coming with.
Melody has a gift for you from me, though.
I'll come if you make the cinner at JFK.
Frank and I will be camping out there for a while.
woot!
Sigh...I'm kind of bummed right now, cause I didn't get to see everyone to say goodbye before they left. Just called Frank to see where everyone was in hopes of seein them off, but the van pulled up to the hotel as we were on the phone. Bleh. So I didn't get to see anyone on Saturday because of a surprise bday party for my uncle (which started late, of course), or on Sunday (because New York was in the Superbowl, for once), or today (because my 11am meeting didnt start until 12, of course). So that all sucked hardcore, and I didn't get to spend nearly as much time with everyone as I would have liked. But that said...
I absolutely loved everyone who came. Y'all are the most awesome bunch of people ever. The people I knew well were every bit as great as I was expecting, and the few people I've never really talked to much were just as cool. From the very beginning when I met JT and Jase at JFK to welcome people, it was like hanging out with a bunch of life-long friends. The gifts from everyone were awesome - you guys are way too nice...and between Frank, Derek and Shana, I basically have a whole new outfit now! Saturday was a blast and it was awesome having so many people show up for the dinner and come out to the bar afterward. So many good times. From Derek introducing himself to Alex as Ironman, to Mel's thread notebook, to my hand-waving contest with JT - it was all tons of fun. And I couldn't get enough of everyone's accents - especially Derek's and Alex's (but even Mel's and Shana's and Bess's regional diction). Also, seeing Frank drunk was another highlight.
Soooo...this meetup proved that everyone here really is as nice and fun and generous and whatnot in real life as they have always been on the interweb. There are a whole bunch of Culties who I could totally hang out with all the time in real life if they only lived closer. Hopefully I will get to see some in the not too distant future (July - I'm lookin at you Frank). Best idea ever...thanks for inspiring everyone to come Derek, and thanks everyone else for coming and being so neat. I'll probably think of more to say later.
SO much fun. I know Shana took many pics, so I expect those up soon.
Great people, everyone was so much fun. Friday night at BJs and then those two bars was just great.
Mark was great roommate, even is he didn't go to any of the AWP panels. (the conference was great, i'll post up a summation later, i'm still sick, got home about 1 am last night). We had a blast talking about our novels, and baring our souls late into the night. Derek is everything you see here and more - so nice and generous, should have the ladies all over him. We had so much fun at The Strand looking for books. Alex is such a sweetheart, and another beautiful soul that should have no problem finding a nice guy. I really enjoyed our talks. Can you crash me a fag? The three of us, and Liz had a fantastic brunch at Bar Americain, Bobby Flay's place. SO GOOD. Liz thanks for setting up the Brasserie dinner it was great, and the MoMA was so cool. Kaetea (Kristin) joined us too, and her stories were so hilarious and filthy I can't repeat them here. Caleb (Thirstygerbil) and I had a blast at the AWP at panels on sex, violence, realism, etc. Very cool. Of course Tom and Tit were a blast, so funny and cool. Moonie is such a sweetheart, I had lots of fun chatting her up. Shana, always a bit reserved, is so smart, and such a great writer, I loved talking to her as well. Jase only hung for a bit, but he's my hero for hosting all the writer's websites we hang at and work at together. Melody is so sweet, we had a great time chatting. And I'll just make a general statement that everybody is very kind, smart, and good looking, I expected a much more motley and delinquent group. Rob was fun, we talked politics, and he toured us around, great guy. Frank ,the godfather, was so nice, LOVE the t-shirts, such a great guy. I didn't get to chat with Jenn much, but she's a sweetie. Balth was a quiet intellectual presence, and I had to ask Glam about the Beastie Boys, since he's from Brooklyn, we had a great convo about film school. Levi I have a gift for YOU. Alex and I went to the Dylan's candy store, it was cool. Did I forget anyone? Shoot, tell me if i did, it's all a blur. OH, Bethany, a very funny girl, cracked me up. OH, and Mama Bess, another sweetheart, and we're both designers, so we had a lot to talk about, except she's down in Hotlanta.
Thanks everyone, such a blast. Can't wait to do it again. You are some of the nicest, coolest, and most generous people I know.
Peace,
Richard
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man I only got like 2 hours sleep last night! haha it was totally worth it though to hang out with you guys. I am back in London now, and feeling rather sad that it is all over
it was so amazing to meet everyone and I had lots o fun...I'll post more tomorrow and get some photos up too.
Richard, how did I manage to get in your summation of the new york trip? Anyway, thanks for the gift, whatever it may be!
Brentinlouis Wrote: What was that rule about being intentionally annoying?
are you kidding? you're in her room while she's showering? that's a very glamhoth like thing to do. Put that in the rumors section!
oh, wait, are you tied up?
Brentinlouis Wrote: What was that rule about being intentionally annoying?
I AM IN LOVE WITH ALL OF YOU!!!!!!!!!!