Thursday, March 06, 2008

Just call me "Indiana Hegstrom"...


Well...so much for that whole "where the hell is my topic" thing.

Last night, I had an adventure of sorts.

Let me lay it out for you - one of my best friends from high school (Wendy G.) was here for WIRAC. It's an international conference focusing on renewable energy sources, and it's held once every four years. It was here in DC this year, and she called me over the weekend and said she'd be in town and would I want to get together.

Well...does Oprah annoy me? The answer is yes, and so was the answer to Wendy's invitation.

So...Wendy's conference was at the Washington (DC) Convention Center (a very gorgeous space, BTW, and I recommend visiting it just to see the artwork. That alone is worth it). I thought, "No sweat...I'm a DC-ite...I can get there on the Metro with no problems, I've got time to kill, yada yada yada."

*insert derisive Nelson Muntz from the Simpsons laugh HERE*

Well, being the brainiac I am, did I remember to get the address and exact name of my friend's hotel?

*more derisive laughter*

And of course, since I didn't get the address, I just decided I'd go to the convention center since I was pretty sure I'd find her within a group of 6,000 people.

*Rolling on the floor, gasping w/derisive laughter and yuks at this moment*

I should have known better, really. So to make a long story kind of short, I wound up stopping at four different locations or so. Among the highlights of my night:

  • Having a small panic attack at the Hilton Garden Inn on 14th and I Street NW
  • Asking for confirmation of directions every five minutes or so (I get a little paranoid).
  • Walking, walking, walking...in the relative cold...wearing a black coat and looking like baby Shaft walkin' down the street. (Yo' damn right...insert "Shaft theme" here!)
  • Did I mention the asking thing?

At least it was an effective way to kill time until I was able to get together with my friend. We were able to catch up and just have "girl time", an important part of any nutritious life. She's a good friend (we've been friends for 20+ years) and always fun. She did say she was "humbled" to share time with me last night...not sure what she meant, but "humbled" wasn't a qualifier I would have picked. I would have just used "happy".

Another thing? I did some praying to Big Ernie last night on this misadventure. I was ready to turn back and go home (at least I knew where THAT was), but I softly prayed, "Big Ernie, tell me what to do".

I didn't hear words per se...but I got a feeling that I should just go for it, and go for it I did. I walked through a neighborhood I wasn't familiar with...IN the DARK...and nothing/nobody touched me. Nobody took advantage of this dumb-ass, lost as vanilla ice cream in a snowstorm girlie.

It was like Big Ernie was guiding my path and clearing the way so I could get to my friend. It was like he wanted the two of us to see each other and share time together, you know? He was making it possible as only He can...with lots of variety and near-misses.

So if B-to the-Ernie reads this blog, in the name of your son (Little Ernie?) I thank you for my safe journey and my friend.

Have a good 'un, mah peeps!