July 2004 Archives

Today, I met The Man, Ric Flair! I know many of you are going “What a geek”, but ya know what? It doesn’t matter. I’ve been a big Flair fan since I was a teenager, so we’re talking for like 15 or more years!

A couple of weeks back, he released his autobiography, “To Be the Man”. I noticed from looking at some websites, that the book was getting good reviews (it’s actually #5 on the New York Times bestseller list), and I knew that I’d eventually buy the book. I mean, after all, I do have his DVD. Well, I found out that he’d be touring, doing book-signings for the release of his book, and I looked at the dates to see if there would be anything close by. And indeed, he was scheduled to sign books today at the Borders in Frederick, MD. Frederick is more than an hour away, but that’s OK. So, a friend and I headed up there this morning.

We got there a tad after noon, but he hadn’t arrived yet. He was scheduled to be there from noon until 2 pm. So, I go in the store, and the place was packed. I got my book and a “gold colored ticket”, which ensured that I’d get an autograph. But “gold” was the last color that would be guaranteed him signing the book. If we would have been 20 minutes later, we might have ended up S.O.L.

So, Ric shows up about 12:30, in true Flair fashion, by limosine. Since I knew it would be a little while before those with gold tickets could get in line, I hung out at the back of the bookstore for a little bit. When Ric entered the bookstore, the “fans” went nuts. You could hear tons of people screaming “Whoooo!” either in homage or in attempts to get him to Whoo back. It was a comical sight. Ric takes his seat at the table, and begins signing.

There were some rules. 1) No personalization — all you’d get is a signature, no “To Brian” or anything. 2) He’d only be signing his book or DVD, no memorabilia (I left my DVD at home, shucks!). And 3) No pictures. Dammit. I was hoping for a picture with him. I did sneak a camera pic, which can be seen on my moblog There was a guy who was taking pictures, though and will supposedly email pictures to everyone who left their email address. The line for the email list was longer than Flair’s line (they needed more information).

Well, after hanging out at the back, we decide to just go up to the signing area to check things out… and there was Ric, having a good ol’ time meeting people and signing their books. He would joke with the kids, and shake hands with all. Every now and then, someone would come over the PA system to announce the next color ticket holders to come in line. And as they announced “Everyone who is here to see wrestling legend Ric Flair”, a few rednecks would start to “Whoo!” to which Ric would follow along and show them how it’s really done.

There was this really hot girl standing a tad behind me, who got a phone call during the signing. Ric cracked many of us up by telling her “Tell him that you’re not coming home tonight!” He was implying that she was talking to her boyfriend or husband, and that he’d (Ric) be taking care of her tonight instead. We all had a good laugh at that.

Well, after nearly 2 hours, I got the chance to go up to have my book signed. Ric was very nice, greeted me, signed my book, and shook my hand. What a pro! I’ll post the pic of him signing my book when and if I get the pic emailed to me.

He was only “contracted” to sign 400 books (that’s also why they had the colored tickets, to keep count), but he stayed a little later to make sure that those who didn’t get there in time did get an autograph. That was awfully nice of him.

The pictures I took were all outside at the limo area/loading dock as Ric was headed out (the other guy in the picture is referee Tim White, who was alongside Ric the whole time — not necessarily a bodyguard, but the “bad guy” who could tell people that they couldn’t take pictures, or have other things signed, etc… in other words, Ric didn’t have to sound pompous by saying “I’m not going to sign that”). It’s funny, when they were going to get into the limo, as Tim White goes to open the door, it was locked. And worse yet, the driver was no where to be found. They stood out there for like 5 - 10 minutes waiting for the driver, and finally decided to go back inside to wait. I wonder if that driver’s going to be out of a job later?

Anyway, between the people watching (wrestling fans are either rednecks or old people or really, really fat… at least those were the bulk of the people at this signing), and actually getting to meet a legend, I had a great time.

Ric Flair is indeed THE MAN!

Tonight, about ten of us took Fee out for her birthday. And we took her to a tapas restaurant in Bethesda called Jaleo . This was the second time I’ve been to Jaleo, and enjoyed it greatly. They make the absolute BEST sangria. I’m guessing the group had about 6 pitchers or so. My favorite tapas is still the one which has endive stuffed with goat cheese, orange sections and almond slivers. So easy, but so good!

All was fine until one of us started to “act up”. Donte, who has very similar mannerisms to Dave Chappelle, decided to LOUDLY act out those mannerisms. Yes, he was hilarious, but yes he was loud. I’d even go as far as to say he was disturbing some of the other guests in the restaurant. I was so embarrassed when the manager had to come over to ask him to keep it down. Donte’s response? “I was about to throw up until I saw your backside”. OMG, can speaking to someone that way EVER work? Ummm no.

Well, I’ve learned this before, but apparently I didn’t learn it enough. When going out to eat in a group, get a separate bill. I ended up paying more than what most of the rest of the group paid per person. UGH!!! One of these days, I swear!

So, our waitress was a really nice, tall girl, named Leslie. She was really cute, and the rest of the crew kept telling me that it seemed like she was flirting with me. So, I kept it cool, and kept feeling her out. I realized how stupid I was when I asked her how tall she is (she’s 5’11” barefoot, or 5’13” — her words — in shoes). So, I asked her if she normally goes after shorter guys or taller guys, and she responded that her ex-boyfriend was taller than her, but she doesn’t really have a height-type requirement. She did say that most of her boyfriends were about yea tall (hand between eyes and nose), though.

I didn’t catch it at the time, but my friends pointed out that she did say her “ex-boyfriend”… They even ventured enough to suggest that it was a hint that she was available. Well, I kept chatting, and kept trying to feel her out, and couldn’t get anything more than “she’s nice”. But I had to know, I had to try. So, when the bill had been settled, I walked the signed receipts and pens over to her and somehow asked if I could have her number that we might go out sometime. I’m sure I was stammering and looking away, and I felt like a kid in school again. Well… she smiled at me and …

… and she said that she was sorry, but she was seeing someone at the moment. Yep, I got shot down.

Well, what do you normally do then? Well, I just said something to the effect that I couldn’t go without asking and that I would kick myself for not trying. And she was so nice, and just said something to the effect that if you don’t ask, you’ll never know.

Well, that’s my first attempt at finding a date since March. And even though I got shot down, I don’t feel down about myself. In fact, I feel better about myself. Too many times in the past, I simply would not have asked. And I would have wondered for a little, and then forgot about it.

But, even after feeling so terrible about everything, and especially aobut myself a few months ago, I have indeed begun to rebound. The healing continues, and I’m actually excited and relatively optimistic. Me, optimistic? Who’d have thunk that? Things are looking up, and my patience, and being one of the good guys will eventually pay off. I know it will!