megfowler.com

Here’s the quick version:

A long, long time ago, in a land far, far away (known as my other apartment) I had a blog that was read by about 20% of the people that read me now. This blog was a good thing, as it led me to start THIS blog, which was an entirely new beginning/fresh start/move of great awesomeness.

I don’t carry much forward from that old blog, save for some excellent fellow bloggers I met in the trenches. One of them is Eric (who was actually a HUGE proponent of me starting MegFowler.com. You can thank him later.)

Eric is a lighting designer in San Diego and ALSO had/has a blog. When he popped onto the scene about a year after I did, I received multiple emails from other bloggers with subject lines like I THINK HE’S SINGLE and DO YOU LIKE CALIFORNIA and DO LIGHTING DESIGNERS MAKE GOOD MONEY and WOULD YOU MOVE.

Because the Internet? Likes me to date. And Eric? IS actually single.

But anyhow.

Eric and I commented on one another’s blogs and then became good email/chat/Web/phone friends, and then he also began doing all those same things with the lovely Catherine (whom I live with.) From there, we all became friends and stuff and it was super good.

Well, Catherine and I were already friends (which makes living together easier.)

Then Eric came to visit us in Vancouver, which meant we became real life friends, which is kind of like going into the Sephora store vs. ordering online. In other words? WAY BETTER.

Then we went down to California on the best road trip of all time to visit Eric. It was truly amazing. Once in California, we learned that a) it is good to live across from a coffee shop; b) Eric is the best driver on earth; and c) YES I WOULD MOVE TO CALIFORNIA. JUST NOT THE MIDDLE PART BECAUSE I DIDN’T LIKE FRESNO.

Since then, he has come here three more times, and we went down there again this September. We’re all friends as a happy trio, and with one another independently. Awesome.

But the most awesome thing is when he gets asked by Canadian border security what he’s doing visiting NOT ONE BUT TWO women he met on the Internet.

The answer?

Having a lot of fun. BUT NOT LIKE THAT.

None of us are dating or are planning to date (save for the fact that Cat and I are Hetero Life Mates) and that’s all good.

We’re just happy as we are.

So why am I telling you all this?

Today is Eric’s birthday. I’d send you to his blog, but he hasn’t updated it since last April, after one of his trips here. All the comments on that last post are like WHERE ARE YOU? WHAT HAPPENED? and I don’t want you to add to the drama.

Okay, okay, twist my arm, here’s his blog: EverybodyThinksImWorking.com.

Great blog title, no?

Great writer, no?

Yeah. I know. But he’s a busy guy and if he blogs again, you can bet it will be awesome but not because I told him every day HEY ABOUT YOUR BLOG?

I don’t do that anymore.

Here’s what you need to know about Eric before you join me in wishing him a happy birthday:

He can make me laugh harder than most people on earth. And comes back with a marvelous laugh of his own.

He is as addicted to coffee as I am.

During one of the most difficult years of my life, he was a complete rock. As in, total dependability. As in, “remember to call you after your medical appointments” kind of dependable. No matter where I was at or what I needed, Eric was there.

He knows everything. I’m only 5% kidding, mostly out of jealousy. And he’s whip smart. But doesn’t use whips. I think.

For that matter, he’s brilliant at his job. BRILLIANT. An artist. Any theatre would be lucky to have him. Seriously.

Yeah, he’s one of those people who is good at 30,000 things but doesn’t tell you until he makes you the Best Dinner Ever and you’re like, what? You can light things AND cook? Oh yeah, and did I mention the driving? And the piano thing? Also the writing? Jerk.

Despite the overaching power of his own awesomeness, he will always believe in you slightly more than you do. Or a lot more. Depending on what you need.

He has the loveliest parents ever. Really. I actually phoned my mom after leaving his parents’ home to ask her why she wasn’t nicer. That was a good call, let me tell you. KIDDING, MOM.

My parents have a big crush on Eric. It’s a bit awkward. “You guys, stop staring.” Apparently Eric’s parents being nicer also means they had a nicer child. KIDDING, MOM.

He also lets you choose his haircut. Don’t ask.

So to our Eric, on his birthday:

I’m very, very, very thankful for the Internet, if only because I got to meet you.

May this year be the most inspiring, exciting, fulfilling year of your life.

And may people always be the beautiful friend to you that you are to them.

Love you!

NOW WISH ERIC HAPPY BIRTHDAY! GO!

Right now, our dear and beloved friend Eric (who is visiting in a week, but hasn’t updated his blog since two visits ago, and one visit to SD for us) is watching the Ducks go at the ‘Nucks in Anaheim.

That’s right. Eric — he of this entry — is at the hockey game, leaving jubilant voicemails for me about the Canucks being in the lead.

Since he’s a Canucks fan.

I think my work is complete here.

Right now, it is 10 C (50 F) in Vancouver, with a rain warning, and lows of 8 C (46 F) tonight.

In San Diego, where I was last week (and the week before) at this time, it’s 21 C (69 F) with lows of 16 C (60 F). No probability of precipitation.

Seriously.

Come on now. I don’t even own any fall clothing. Or a raincoat.

I actually wouldn’t need to buy shoes or fall clothing if I lived there. I could live in skirts and Havis and be done with it, since I don’t work in a corporate environment. Sigh.

It’s not just the weather that bugs me, though. I love seasons in general (although I don’t know that Warm Rain/Cold Rain qualify as seasons.)

It’s that I went to Southern freakin’ California and felt good about myself and my body for ten full days, even though I am larger and don’t have all the “right” clothes — and wore less clothing, to boot!

If men looked at me, it wasn’t to scoff. I literally always felt like I fit in, even in a place often described as one of the more shallow locales on earth. No one ever looked askance at me… not even women with fake boobs in bikinis!

Funny thing, though. As soon as I got back to humble, polite Canada, I felt immediately under scrutiny, and that I didn’t look right or have the right things on. From the moment I arrived at the airport, actually. And ever since.

What the heck? Talk about a chill setting in.

I really gotta figure out why that is.

Yes, I’m home.

And back at work.

And still tanned, but fearing a fast fade into pasty white oblivion.

Vancouver is about 10 degrees cooler, 20% more humid, and the pillow-stuffing sky doesn’t even remotely resemble palm trees outlined in azure.

BUT.

If vacations lasted forever, they wouldn’t be vacations.

They’d just be… well, who am I kidding. That would be awesome.

I’m going to write up the whole experience in the next couple of days, but I just wanted to say HI! HELLO! HOW ARE YOU?

And give you a tiny little love list to make up for my lack of Friday Love last week.

THINGS I LOVE

Laundromats with old ladies who point at your underwear and go “Oooh!”
Kindness
3-song playlists
Remote control boats at the Santa Monica pier
Bad girl eyes as created by this and this
Iced coffee
Crooked frozen smile
Fritz and Shirley
Peppermint gumballs
Lil’ Fiji (Eric brought these home and I went bananas. I call them Weejis. But not oujias. NOT TO BE CONFUSED)
Wearing a red muumuu at the beach
Freckles
Artichoke hearts
Drinking coffee at 1 am, but feeling so relaxed you fall asleep anyway
Snake bites (not the deadly kind)
Stepping away from all the chirping of Internet pundits for a bit to remember you know how to make your own opinions
5 new pairs of Havaianas (These in beige and black; these in rose and gold; and this style in brown with pink straps and dots. Mmmm.)

And you? Come on. I know it’s Tuesday, but this is a two love list week for me.

One must love it up when one is back to work!

Once I’m back home, that is.

Oy.

This sped by like a freight train.

Lots of pictures and silly experiences to share, from giving a woman a concussion in a Denny’s at midnight to having my pants come off after a particularly awesome wave to spending an unholy amount of cash on flip flops.

Stay tuned.

Love to all.

Catherine had a root canal yesterday.

And not just a root canal, but one with an abscess they discovered underneath!

WOO!

Yes, emergency dentistry when you’re away from home is no picnic, especially when the Vicodin they give you makes you ill, and you have to make do with Advil and Tylenol instead. She’s pretty tuckered out.

So we’re running close to home and low-key for now. We’ll see how things evolve in our last couple of days here.

In other news, San Diego weather reports indicated it would rain today… and it’s bright and sunny.

Good try, San Diego!

(NO ROOT CANAL STORIES OR HORRIFIED COMMENTS. NADA. UNWELCOME.)

(Sympathy is good, though.)

(photos by Eric)

Oh, sweet vacation.

I love you.

In fact, I don’t think I can express quite how much.

Not because there are rainbows and lollipops and flying ponies and sparkly flowers popping up everywhere, mind you (how scary would that be?) but simply because you show me the Other.

The Not My Normal Life.

The Absence Of My Routine.

The Let Go Of The Pressure.

The Stop Thinking About That.

The Sleep In A Little.

The Just Be.

And I swear, it shouldn’t take me a thousand mile journey to discover any of it, but that’s how I am.

So… thank you.

Thank you for bringing me here.

Thank you for windows down on the highway.

Thank you for warm tortilla soup and good, fresh bread.

Thank you for being able to laugh at things that no one else needs to understand.

Thank you for sand in between my magazine pages.

Thank you for lemonade sherbet in a waffle cone.

Thank you for whales and dolphins and all their magic.

Thank you for hair ropy from the salty waves, twisted on top of my head.

Thank you for $5 shirts that match my eyes.

Thank you for coffee consumed in pursuit of flavour, and not simply survival.

Thank you for late-night chats about everything and nothing.

Thank you for freckles appearing like constellations on my nose.

Thank you for fog giving way to mid-morning sunshine.

Thank you for cheeks sore from grinning.

For this, you definitely get a postcard.

Love,

Meg

I’m beyond happy to be here.

I can’t even tell you how much.

Everything is lovely.

I promise to write like a good girl soon, but until then, how about some pictures?

Mmmm.

Oh, yes… and driving fun:

Love to all. We’re doing well.