Ha! The Cilantro thing came up at the Kosher Chinese place in Brookline. Did she look under Coriander?

She did, but coriander is also not in the dictionary.

Dinner was fun. We stayed and talked and laughed until they had locked the doors. Nilly is very huggy and got a number of fantastic gifts, which i will leave it to the givers to post about. I'm SO GLAD I went.

What sort of impression do our gatherings generally make on the non-Buffista significant others who attend?

Patrick says to remind him of drama people from high school and college, but he hung out with the drama people, so he's happy.

Glad to hear that meara got in on the Nillyaction! Sounds like a lovely time for you all!

Dinner was super fun! thank you to Vortex for executive decisioning a plan that worked out quite well. Anne & I got to the shopping center where the restaurant is a little early and wandered around a fairly large used bookstore while we waited for the appointed hour to arrive. The first thing I picked up when in the store was a 50 States Activity book. Thank you Universe for finding a PERFECT little gift for me to give to Nilly.

Who is the bum-diddliest, most shiniest, and Nilliest of Nillys!

Thank you to everybody who helped bring her to us!!!

Also, it was so nice to finally meet a bunch of my almost localistas. Everyone is so nice! I still feel all glowy.

ETA serial comma

t glum

I didn't bring Nilly a gift. I was going to bring her a little bottle of lotion from the store where I work, but couldn't decide which she'd like, then ran out of time. Poop.

t /glum

Is Nilly on her way back? DC is her last stop, right? If she hasn't left yet, when is she going?

Frank, she's heading out this afternoon. At the end of last night's F2F, she and CaBil were making plans to visit the Air & Space Museum this morning.

As my small group of buffistas were sitting down to dinner here, we noted that the DC dinner group was likely just breaking up. There was a moment of silence.

I miss Nilly.

if all has gone according to plan, at this moment, Nilly is at the Air and Space Museum with CaBil. Her flight leaves at 2:55, so collective travelma should be sent at that time.

Wanna know a nifty spousal relations thing I learned after last Monday's event, Matt?

Sure!

When a heterosexual hypothetical married woman (hmw), goes out without her heterosexual hypothetical husband (hh), for an evening she's been long (and vocally) anticipating, and her hypothetical companions (hc) are people her hh has never met (from a board hh does not generally read), there are some things to keep in mind.

The interested hh will engage hmw in conversation, when she returns home. This is pleasant for both parties, as his interest is warm and sincere.

However, when hmw was only told hh that she was attending a party for an Israeli female friend (Iff) who is on a once in a lifetime trip, yet nearly half of hmw's conversation that didn't focus on Iff, or the party as a whole, focuses on some guy named, "Matt," (sgnM), the hh may experience some uncertainty.

Now, I need to take care that I am not painting anybody's hh in a controlling, jealous, or otherwise unflattering light. For the sake of argument, we are assuming that hmw is her own person, with her own interests and friends, and that her hh appreciates that, and would not be happy married to a "Yes, sir" type of hwm.

However, let's say our hmw realizes at some point while she's telling her hh about the evening, that she had gone far past, "Oh, and this guy Matt came up from Tennessee, too" territory, well into sgnM-likes-carrots country. Perhaps she's said things like:

sgnM's appearance was a last minute surprise. His work always has him so busy, I wouldn't let myself believe he was coming 'til I met him.

If we'd had the spare room set up, I would have asked sgnM to stay here, as his lodging plans fell through.

I was as excited to meet sgnM as I was to meet Iff.

I found myself uncharacteristically shy around both sgnM and Iff at first, because I just couldn't believe they were really there, and then because I was afraid I'd monopolize them. I'm angry at myself for that, because I wasted too much time.

Who is sgnM? Oh, he's this really great guy from the board. Haven't I told you about him before? He writes these hysterical recaps, and a lot of times, we're just of the same mind.

sgnM has the nicest voice, and pictures don't do him justice.

If hh is an easy going guy and good man, hh may find himself not quite sure how to process all this information about sgnM, and even feeling badly that he's wondering if he should process it. And at first, the hmw may be oblivious to her hh's uncertainty.

If, during her blabbering, hmw manages to notice the "Huh, what should I say" look on her hh's face, it's awfully nice to be able to say, "Honey, sgnM is gay."

This lesson is easily adjusted for the edification of not only the heterosexual hypothetical married man, and his heterosexual hypothetical wife, but also for same sex couples as well, provided they are both exclusively homosexual, and assuming anyone who fills the role of sgnM in their scenarios is heterosexual. We might, however, have to tweak it a bit more for relationships involving a bisexual spouse, and/or a bisexual version of sgnM.

ijs.