Two Birds with one stone

I am now OFFCIALLY home from vacation. (My previous post was actually done from my In-laws computer) There are a number of things I wanted to "hammer" away at regarding post topics but I am going to stray from my usual offensive, but always sincere and honest, rhetoric in order to reflect on a couple of highlights from my trip.

Of course there was the wonderful time of family reunion and meeting my "new" nephew for the first time. But those events are to be expected during the Christmas season. That is what it is all about.

This particular trip, however, had more to it that is not something one comes to expect when on Christmas vacation. I had the awesome opportunity to hook up with, not one, but TWO fellow bloggers .

If you are a frequent visitor yourself then you may be familiar with them already as they comment from time to time and are linked in my "Bloggin' Buddies" section.

They were her Royal majesty The Queen of light and joy and my most treasured adversary Mandora.


(TIO, The Queen, and Mandora. I had to doctor another photo of me over top as I forgot to put my "Verbal vigilante" mask on!)

It was great being able to hook up with them out in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Often when one has dialogued with people over the "Net" there are many questions that are rolling around in our heads about the person at the other end such as:

"Are they really like this?"

Do they honestly believe that?

They talk tough, but are they really a wimp in person?

They say they are single BUT are they really married?

Or in my case,

"What on earth do they look like?"

Then we try and put an image together in our heads of that person based on what we have learned of them online assuming everything they have shared over a period of time is genuine and sincere.

I was most certainly not disappointed with these two (the Queen and Mandora). In fact, I would say my assessments of these two were pretty bang on and what I expected. Which demonstrates to me they are true to form. In other words, what you read is what you get!

First the Queen. I had the pleasure already of hooking up with her this past summer/fall (it was near the end of summer) when she was in Manitoba so I already had the heads up about her BUT I never posted about it as she did. So allow me to tell you a few things about this woman of mystery. Her moniker is most definitely appropriate. She can almost literally light up a room with her joy. Her laugh is contagious. No matter how down one may be in life her humor (and laugh) will soon have you laughing and giggling right along with her.

People feel good around her and her talent does not stop there. What an exceptional artist. Now I am not one of these artsy fartsy types who thinks dipping a brush into a paint can and whipping it on to a canvass constitutes a masterpiece but this is not her style anyway. She applies a lot of time and effort in her pieces and everyone one of them has specific, intentional meaning behind them. She taught me how an artist recognises the difference between what is truly art and what is garbage. I walked away with a deeper insight and maybe just a little more appreciation towards the art "culture".




(I can always rely on Mandora to "ignite" the storm of debate. BTW she is seven feet tall so you have an idea how big I am. OK, I made that up)

Now on to the equally compelling and unique Mandora. It was a special meet. You see, Mandora was my first! (Get your minds out of the gutter people) By that I mean she was my first left leaning voice of adversity. We met across a crowded blogger space last year when she went at me about my views on Saddam and Iraq. I knew right then that we were destined to "combat" from that day forward and we soon became bloggin' buddies. It has been a tumultuous and volatile relationship but it has survived (LOL)

The bigger question was could she survive meeting me for the first time and looking upon the "Man behind the mask"? When she first saw my face she could not believe that there was someone better looking then Brad Pitt. I think her words were "(gasp!) YOU ARE A GOD!!!" OK, OK, I made that up too! I look more like that wrestler "The Anvil" so I was just pacifying myself.

Anyway, we also hooked up a couple of times and had a meeting of the minds. Mandora, although holds true to her fundamental or core beliefs, is not closed off to suggestion or considering other's perspectives. She is also not one who wants to "get into it" (debate) right from the get go. My impression was that, for her, there is a time and a place where the discussion will arise. In fact she struck me to be more open minded then I had pegged her for that I almost suspected she was a secret Right winger on a covert special ops reconnaissance mission. But that was another thing I learned about her. She really does not care for the left/right labels. On some of the more controversial morality issues she tends to lean left but there were other issue's where she would lean more to the right.

Overall she was just a pleasant person to interact with. I'll admit, not as feisty as I anticipated, but I suspect that maybe that was a good thing. Beside's, first time meetings should not be about how you can get a person's goat but just getting to know them period.

The meeting with these two ladies was a memorable one. Even though they post their picture's (yes, that is really them you see on their site's) it feels somewhat more complete when you meet them face to face in the flesh. Thanks ladies for making my trip that much more special.

Until next time...