Polt's Palace: My, oh my, do you want to say.....

Tuesday, May 03, 2016

My, oh my, do you want to say.....

Back on New Year's Eve, I was at the ParisPeking household, like I usually am on that day, and while ALCMDPP was on his laptop, at point he said, "Hey, would you want to go see George Takei speak in Frederick in May of next year?" And I said sure....and then totally forgot all about it.

A few weeks ago, he reminded me we were doing this, and it was taking place Monday evening May 2nd....last night. So, this was my yesterday.

I got up a bit later than usual, hung out here around the house doing basically nothing whatsoever. Then, a little after 3 in the afternoon, I drove to the ParisPeking house. There and I sat and talked with Mrs. ParisPeking and the three ParisPeking girls, and played with their two dogs. We waited on the babysitter to arrive, and after she did, the Missus and I left and I drove us to ALCMDPP's place of employment.

Once there we picked him up, and then I drove the three of us (following his 'directions': "Just follow that Lexus, just following the Lexus." "Why is your turn signal on? No, doesn't matter if the Lexus has the signal on, turn it off!" "Turn at the next left...the next left....Nonono, the NEXT left after the next left!", etc, etc, etc) to the 'amazing' BBQ joint he knew of. Black Hog BBQ. It tastes MUCH better than it sounds. Very tasty. I don't think I'd make a special trip just to go eat there, but I would eat there again, for sure.

After this, we drove to a Parking Garage near the Weinberg Center where George Takei was speaking. And then since we had like an hour and a half until a half hour before the show started (follow that?), ALCMDPP suggested we just walk around for a bit. I suggested we get some ice cream while we did so. Which is kinda weird cause I'm not a huge fan of ice cream. But for some reason, I wanted it then.

So we walked a bit around downtown Frederick, going into a local comic book store there, but not spending any real time inside. And then we made our way to the Carroll Creek Promenade (what I call the riverwalk), and there I found a place called Sweeties...a store about nothing but desserts!

I got an ice cream cone of Strawberries & Cream ice cream, Mrs. ALCMDPP got one of chocolate, and Mr. ALCMDPP, killjoy that he is, declined to get any. So we ate them and sat both inside the store and outside at a table and chairs there, and enjoyed the evening, and watching people walk by.

After finishing the cones off, we then walked to the Weinberg Center and waited for the speaking to begin.

Finally, George Takei took the stage. He looked pretty good for a 79 year old man. He talked for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, and took questions, and did the entire time standing up! On his feet, speaking without notes or teleprompter or anything like that. Kinda impressive I thought.

He started speaking about Star Trek, transitioned to the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII (and his personal memories of the internment), then to his political activities over the years, to his coming out in the media at 68 when Governor AH-nold vetoed a marriage equality bill, to marrying his husband Brad as soon as California finally got marriage equality. I'm probably missing some things though. He took questions on how he handles trolls on social media; on his play "Allegiance", and on the time on Star Trek when he was shirtless and fencing.

All in all, it was an interesting time. Informative, funny, poignant, personal, and well worth the time and money spent. I dropped the ParisPekings off at his truck and they drove home as I did in my car.

I had to pee like a racehorse...so on I-70 on the way home, I stopped at the rest stop and used the bathroom. When I left the building, it was pouring down rain, like in a torrential downpour! I got to the car without getting totally soaked, and made it home, despite the downpour, safely.

So, here's some pics:

The menu at Black Hog BBQ.

The ParisPekings....both VERY well dressed, and me in my jeans and tshirt.

Strawberries & Cream ice cream...and this was a SMALL!

Mrs. ALCMDPP and her chocolate ice cream, also a SMALL!

Bah Humbug.

The ticket.

Okay, this was a pretty cute guy who was there, and I wanted a pick, but I had to be somewhat sneaky about it, and he was moving fast, thus the blur. yeah, I suck at being a stalker.