when goodbye gifts become gone gifts

it has been a long time since i have blogged and for that my dear readers, i apologize. i promise to blog more often as i do miss it.

anyhow, my best friend and her husband recently moved from philly to the land of blondes and spray tans, yes, you guessed it, LA.  even though in philly, they lived 15 minutes from me, i had the comfort of knowing that they were there. right in the city.  i could text or call my bff and she would come over to do crafts, draw and watch korean horror movies while munching on dried seaweed. now, yes, we could still do that, but one of us would need to jump on an aeroplane and after a 6 hour flight, the craft night horrorfest would be a go! totally not the same.

even with skype, IM, chats, texts, emails, instagram, etc. these are all poor substitutes for a bff. i know a lot of people in philly, but i only hang out with a few people, mostly because i hate crowds and i think i am a bit quirky that not everyone can relate to me. but my bff gets me. she understands that i would rather stay in on a friday night and sketch and doodle while watching a marathon of firefly than sitting at a bar where i can't hear anything but limp bizkit blaring. ew.

when my bff told me she was moving, i think i was in a bit of denial. LA sucks. LA has freeways. who bikes in LA?! why is everyone so tall in LA?! LA is not philly. i remember she told me she was moving at my birthday dinner. it didnt seem real. as the month of may got closer and closer, it sunk in that this was real. granted, i have had friends move and i have moved, but it never gets easier. my other bff (who is the twin sister of my bff moving. i know confusing right? just try to follow along) arranged to have a going away party. it was at the house of a girl who i didnt really know. anxiety hit for me. awkward to show up to a party at the home of someone you dont know. the night of the party, i showed up with my friends marshall and brendan. they were posse for the night. i bought mini cupcakes for the party. we showed up early. after a few hours, my bff and her hubby showed up. which was a relief to me since i had spent the night just eating grilled chicken and asparagus as i believe my chit chat was not cool enough for some.

i got to chat with my bff for a bit and as i left she assured me we would meet up before she was leaving, which was in 4 days. i didnt say gbye then since it wasnt time. instead, i gave big hugs and said let me know when we are brunching since i have a gift for you.

people who know me know that i do drawings. i do monster drawings. i do doodles. i worked on a ink and pencil drawing for my bff. i went and got a frame for it. i spent time thinking about it and what i should draw. it is an arduous process, but once i am done, i am proud to give the drawing away.

the days went by and nothing. when i did get a text to meet up, it was while i was working and across town. oh phooey. i stared at my drawing that i had done. i felt sad that i didnt get to say goodbye. i got cheated out of that. now as i look at my goodbye gift i feel foolish. goodbye gift? they already have moved away. i remember texting her that i needed her LA addy so i could mail the gift. my cute goodbye gift is now a "youre gone" gift. it doesnt sound as pleasant. well, neither sound pleasant, but good thing drawings dont expire. they keep real well. i just hope so does my friendship. i hope it doesnt expire. :(

send me hugs. i miss my bff.

xo, pearly

Wizard World-Comic Con 2008

check out my photos on flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23146691@N06/sets/72157605399777780

comic con is a big thing for artists, collectors, gamers, dorks, geeks and people who still think goth is cool. philly's comic con is small peanuts compared to san diego's and ny's, but philly can hold her own. no doubt.

my girls didn't go with me this year. i was a bit disappointed, but my good friend dave came down from ny to geek out with me. most people go to comic for the full 3 days, i prefer to go one day, but totally make the most of it. meaning, getting a good breakfast that morning, usually the down home diner, one needs bacon and eggs, protein! need energy to browse thru bins of comic books looking for that back issue, the issue of thor, the what if professor x became juggernaut, finding first generation transformers, etc. also, the diner is literally a 3 minute walk to the comic con. word.

having consumed a hearty breakfast, camera charged, smiles on, we enter the kingdom called comic con, or as i say, heaven!

the place was crawling with people and kids. this time, however, there was no pikachu and we did not pretend to kick pikachu. so no angry mob of sugar high kids chased us...this time!

the first thing when entering comic con, always do a full walk thru. i always go to each table, stand, vendor, etc. and do a scan/browse. there is so much to take in. once you do that, you make a mental list of where you wanna come back to. this way, you don't miss any deals.

i talked and met michael oeming. my friend dave actually met him in ny. they have mutual friends. ah the bookpress bizness! and they chatted it up and then dave introduced me as a big fan. i am! hello! oeming and bendis=RADNESS. powers is so good. retro girl. anyhow, i spurted out something retarded like, " i like to read." wow. charming pearl. charming.

picked a cute cartoon portrait of pinhead for my dad. happy father's day. it is a cool gift since he is a big horror movie fan and a fan of hellraiser. who the hell isn't?!

i picked up 4 books on the walking dead series....oh here is my pet peeve. i think the people, the crowd that goes to these convention understand that we all are collectors. we all are looking for something. i would like to think we would help each other or at the least be considerate. for example, my boys were helping me look for issues of walking dead. then some dude would say, hey if you iron man #1, can you pull it for me? we all agree and say, if you see walking dead #2, pull it aside. all these alliances. spoken codes. comic commederie. fingers dry from flipping thru comics. throat parched from the unventilated stale air. i was kneeling on the floor. flipping thru issues. then some dude kneels down next to me on my left. he started to browse on the box i was about to look thru. i had only this one box left. i didn't realize that he saw the issues of walking dead in my hands. the volume numbers in clear view and #2 was missing in this equation. he flips thru the bin and the pulls a walking dead #2. i look and i gasp! i was about to say something, but he smirked. he looked at me and smirked and paid for the one issue i needed. wha?! i guess egg on me for not saying something to him when he was next to me. i should have asked him to look for issue 2 for me, but it all was a blur. it happened in one hot minute. word to the boys, if a girl has several issues of one comic and you notice she is missing one issue, DO NOT TAKE that issue!

there was the usual costume contest. wheeljack should have won. ooh, some dude was chamber. yup, that is not an orange beard he sports, his lower jaw was exploded off. xmen. gotta love them. read my yelp review on comic con. i was dying of laughter when black manta booed dave. hey, dave thought it was wonder woman. he is a comic guru, but i think his blood sugar was falling. mine was. we needed to eat lunch. anyhow, it was donna troy. wonder woman's sister. she told him and black manta stated, "you are at a comic con and you don't know comics!" whoa. harsh words from a villain who killed aqua man's baby! comic con is a great mix of the geeks. the goths. the lonely. the smelly. the creepy. the slutty. and the common thread? the love of comics.

i like that my world is filled with good friends who love comics and can appreciate the need to find all the new avengers issues, a place where it is ok to play magic with D&D 20 sided dice, where babies can be dressed up as final fantasy characters, where you're only as good as the writer and artist who made you and even rewrites can make you better than ever, ie. green arrow.

missing philly while in seattle

seattle is a pretty city. see pics below. i like that it is grey. i don't like how often it is grey. everyone in this city is into organic foods, going green, very friendly, laid back and educated. there are some hippy people, ie. drum circles and what not, but i did like how everyone was into a healthy lifestyle, biking, hiking, sailing. quite different from my cheesesteak home town.

while in seattle, i decided to try as many coffee shops as bodily possible. i went to one in the queen anne district and the dude made a fern leave/frond on my coffee froth. cute huh? i thought so.

here is my list of pros for seattle
1) my new nephew max (cutest baby in the world)
2) chowder. it is good.
3) fresh fish and hence awesum sushi
4) easy street records
5) space needle ( i don't care if that is touristy and tacky. it is cool. spacey.)
6) coffee places are everywhere and i don't mean starbucks and most use free trade and organic beans
7) it is a clean city. no litter. no homeless people really. no graffiti
8) food here is more expensive. just going out to eat is more expensive
9) drivers yield to pedestrians and are pleasant about it and don't honk or curse at you
10) it is grey for 7 months out of the year

cons for seattle
1) lots of hippies, old hippies, new hippies
2) drum circles (yup, even if it is cold out, here they are drumming away)
3) the birthplace of starbucks
4) it rains. a lot. the only city perhaps where everyone carries an umbrella with them 24-7
5) not a walkable city. they didn't have ben franklin design it like philly!
6) crazy big seagulls. they could eat me
7) no graffiti or any type of urban decay
8) there is no bustle of people, out on a saturday night and there was still no people out! wha?!
9) grunge
10) it ain't philly.

being such polite people made me on edge. sometimes, i think it is refreshing to hear someone curse out a cab driver. ah, home.