Article 3125 of alt.fan.jen-coolest: Path: newsflash.concordia.ca!donald!david From: david@donald.concordia.ca (David Gaudine) Newsgroups: alt.fan.jen-coolest Subject: A Grimm Fairy Tale Date: 13 Mar 1995 19:05:40 GMT Organization: ORGANIZATION? HERE?? You must be kidding!! Lines: 127 Message-ID: <3k2524$76s@newsflash.concordia.ca> NNTP-Posting-Host: donald.concordia.ca Xref: newsflash.concordia.ca alt.fan.jen-coolest:3125 Here it is; "A Grimm Fairy Tale", the story of a longtime Jen fan who finally got to meet the Jen for whom afjc was named. My trip started in Cambridge (Boston). Since Jen Yuan was in town the same weekend, I left a phone message for her. My intention was to leave a vague message that only she would understand. Unfortunately, it was so vague that they didn't know it was for her. The fact that I didn't know how to pronounce her name didn't help. Next stop Hoboken NJ. After Jen L. performed the herculean task of finding me a parking space in Hoboken, we went to NYC for a mini Jenvention; 2 Jens and 3 Jen fans, not bad, except I prefer the other way around. :) The 5 were myself, Jen L., Jen L.'s David, Jeff Berg, and Jennifah. (sp) For all but Jennifah, this was a warmup for Mardi Gras. The next day I went back to NYC to Jeff Berg's office. Upon returning to Hoboken I found that I had left something rather important in his office; my list of addresses and phone #'s for all the Jens I was supposed to visit! It doesn't take long to get from Hoboken to NYU when you're desperate. ;) Next stop Philadelphia. It's a nice place for a walking tour, since most of the attractions are close together. I took pictures of Jen Y in her TD outfit; those will be among the very few Jen gifs I make. As far as I can remember at the moment, this was the only place where I actually had any ice cream. I bought a couple of small containers of B&J because I don't think you can get that brand here (in containers); I ate it all myself since Jen Y. was recuperating from some leftover Chinese food. Then Washington, where I learned 3 things in my first 2 hours; - Don't drive west along K street - Don't drive west along H street - Don't drive. I met Jenn Biller, but Jen Hill managed to nimbly avoid me. *pout* The next night I stopped in Kingston TN. No Jens in sight! :( Finally I got to New Orleans. I found Jenn A's house right away, but nobody was home, so I spent a couple of hours looking for them. Most of that time they were there, while I was elsewhere searching. At midnight Jenn and most of the others went out to a bar. I decided I wasn't up to it, so I stayed "home", along with Jenn's friend Jenny T; the best decision I made all weekend, since Jenny T quickly became my new favourite Jen (the first time in 15 years that I've had a favourite). Then at 2AM Jenn's friend Mattie, who I was supposed to stay with, picked me up and took me to a bar for a couple of hours and then to her place. Her boyfriend wasn't too happy; "Let me get this straight. It's 2am, you're going to pick up a guy you've never met, take him to a bar, and then take him home to sleep?" I met him the next day and everything was ok, though he still got her to stay at his place the remaing nights, which worked out fine for everyone. Because everyone spent half the night in bars, and we had a bit of trouble finding each other the next day, the day basically started at 3pm. That's when I met Jen Grimm. Jen Grimm, Ron, Jenny T, Jeff, Mattie, and I started for the infamous French Quarter, but the first 3 on that list ended up stopping for hair braids and tatoos. (No, Jen Grimm didn't get a tatoo.) In the French quarter Mattie, the sexy one in the group (wow!), did her best to collect some beads without showing anything, but the guys were being picky. At one point Jeff thought he was going to have to rescue her from 3 marines. In the evening we saw Rex "open" Mardi Gras. Well, we didn't actually "see" anything from where we were standing, but we were there. Rex asked the mayor to approve a list of rules for Mardi Gras; "No school", "No work", etc; fortunately the Mayor, after due consideration, agreed. Later I had my first seafood "Po-boy", and found that the rumours that someone with my sensitive pallette couldn't eat in Louisiana were unfounded. On our way to the restaurant, Jenny T had Jeff and I on her arms and kept bragging to strangers "I have 2 good-looking intelligent men with me and you don't!". I'm not sure why she said that to the women *and* the men that we passed. Did you ever see 2 more intelligent men in your life? No, I was just going to mention that. That's one of the things I noticed about New Orleans; if you speak to complete strangers, they answer. Later a parade passed by, and I added to my bead collection; previously I only had what the Jens and the woman doing the hair braiding gave me. On Mardi Gras itself, it was pouring rain as time for the parade approached. We made our contributions to the local economy by buying umbrellas. I watched the entire parade, and studied the secrets of getting people to throw beads to me, while some of the others stayed at a party eating crawfish. (Interesting things... no strong taste at all, but you burn your tongue if you lick your fingers afterwards because of the spices in the water that stay on the shell.) That afternoon Jenn, her David, Jen Grimm, Ron, and I went to some sort of Indian wedding. However, Jen, Ron, and I soon left and headed for the French quarter for the afternoon. Now, here's the "fairy tale" part. On the way home, walking in the dark along St. Charles which was almost deserted, I felt a touch on my arm and turned to face Jen Grimm. She took my hand and made a gesture. When I didn't understand, she took my other hand, and before I knew it we were dancing. I can't remember ever dancing in my life before, so my first dance *ever* was under the streetlights on St. Charles with Jen Grimm! Could there be a bigger thrill for a Jen fan? :) After that, anything else would be downhill, so I left the next morning. :) I was heading for St. Louis to visit Nifer, and while checking my map I suddenly realized for the first time that I was passing through Memphis. Normally I notice things like that *before* I start the trip. Naturally I went to Graceland, though by the time I waited overnight for it to open I didn't have time to do anything but buy souvenirs. Then in St. Louis I investigated the important issue that was on my mind: "Why hasn't Nifer posted lately?" It turned out that there was a technical reason, we weren't being snubbed after all. :) I visited a favourite non-Jen in Macomb IL, was stood up by another favourite in PEEoria IL, and then found Jen Fausti in Chicago, she already posted about that. In Toledo I saw Jen Radon, and Jenny T who gave me the beads that I'd forgotten in New Orleans. I decided to make a run for the border, i.e. get home from Toledo in one day. I left at 2 PM, stopped briefly in Guelph to see Jen Robertson, and got home at about 4:30 AM. That's a couple of hours later than I expected, due to a snowstorm; the most dangerous trip of my life. At first traffic was slow, then I tried to make up for lost time by driving 60 MPH on a road that I could barely see. I kept the car pointing where I suspected the road was, and fortunately I was right. Well, that's it. I was on the road for 17 days, but it was worth it; I got to meet Jen Grimm *and* my new personal favourite Jen! :) -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Gaudine, Programmer, EMC Lab Home: (514)481-0837 Concordia University, Loyola Campus, Montreal Work: (514)848-3118 Rarely speaking for anyone important david@donald.concordia.ca