squishycon 2001

my humble take on a convention devoted to me.
22 January 2001

This entry would have been up earlier if I hadn't gotten locked out of my house on my porch after giving an interview this afternoon. I had been outside for so long I guess Ray thought I had left. Then the phone never stopped ringing. Hi, now it's late.

Here we go.

We left about two hours later than we had intended. This was due mostly to me screwing around, trying to find a particular song on Napster for the road trip. So, I'm finishing email, trying to pack, calling stee at work to figure out if I had found the right song, trying to finish work up, cleaning, getting the cats situated, and remember everything I wanted to bring.

So, sometime Friday afternoon we left, thinking we were heading out on a road trip.

• Nicole Conte - "Bossa (something something something)" - Eric
• Talking Bout My Baby - Fatboy Slim - Eric
• You Make Me Sick - Pink - Pamie
• Southside - Moby & Gwen Stefani - Pamie and Eric
• Creep - TLC - Pamie
• Sexy Boy - Air - Pamie
• She Bangs - Ricky Martin - Pamie
• Raspberry Beret - Prince - Eric
• Never Said - Liz Phair - Eric
• Interstate Love Song - Stone Temple Pilots - Pamie and Eric
• Madness of Love - Graham Parker - Eric
• Who Fuckin Tonight - Fat Man Scoop - Pamie
• You Can Do It - Ice Cube - Pamie
• Into Your Arms - Lemonheads - Pamie and Eric
• I Think I Love You - David Cassidy - Pamie
• Independent Women (Part One) - Destiny's Child - Pamie
• Shot In the Arm - Wilco - Eric
• Into the Mystic - Van Morrison - Eric

We left with music blaring, fast food being gulped, pumped for Vegas and immediately got stuck in traffic for an hour and a half. After that, we started making up trivia questions for each other (Allison had sent a 52 games to play in the car game for the drive from Austin to LA) and this game eventually just became "Stump the other one with a question about your friends."

It was a great road trip. Lots of laughing and stories.

We made it there in about six hours. We decided to go straight to Tongs, which I had no problem finding, as I had just been there for the MBTV summit last August.

I was nervous. I ordered a Blue Hawaii. I babbled to Eric. I watched a blonde sit in her car and talk on her cell phone for a very long time. I wondered if I should run out there and announce, "I'm Pamie! You're here!" Then a man showed up, opened her car door, waited for her to get out, and the two of them entered the Karaoke bar. She wasn't a Squishite, but she was about to meet them.

People were running late. Finally Allison called, saying she couldn't figure out where I was. I had been making jokes since the last time I was there that the place was called "Tong-ta-tong-tong-tong's," and then had convinced myself that the place was actually called Fong's. Allison had looked up Fong's on some Vegas map and found a Chinese restaurant that had Karaoke. I was wondering where the umbrellas were in the fruity drinks that Fong's had boasted.

"Dude. You're at Tong's Garden. We're at Fong's Palace!"

I had told every single Squishite the wrong place. I'm an idiot. What are the damn odds that there's a Fong's and a Tong's in Vegas and they both have Karaoke? I ask you.

Well, everyone found the place eventually. The MATH club (but mostly Anna Beth, as she told me to tell you), had brought me a Pretty, Pretty Princess game, complete with jewelry, stickers and a crown.

I think the singing started pretty much right after that. The DJ was giving me the hairy eyeball from the moment he saw me. I was pretty sure he recognized me from this summer. I walked up to sing and asked him. "I remember you, Pam," he said. "You bring your friends again?"

I tried explaining that this was a new party I had brought in for a different web page, but his eyes glazed over immediately. So, I'm pretty sure he thought Anna Beth was Sars and that Fred was djb. It was easier that way. But Hannah was wondering why they kept saying they knew her from LA.

Funny that the last place I saw the last time I was in Vegas and the first thing I saw this time is the Karaoke lounge of Tong's. It's everything you could want in a Vegas party palace. It's small and empty and cheesy, and you can just walk in and take over. If you're lucky you get to hear the locals sing Karaoke in Chinese, Korean or Vietnamese. It totally rules.

I don't line dance, though. That's when I take pictures.

Okay, I did it once. But it was at prom. I was just trying to fit in. I know someone out there has a picture of me doing it, but I hope by now it's been lost.

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