Look what Sergio made us for Christmas! Matching "Suck Me Beautiful" T-shirts!
OK, I really should explain the story behind this... it goes back exactly four years, when Sergio was still living in Vancouver and working at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel front desk. It was Saturday afternoon, and Sergio had four hours off, so he booked one of the hotel rooms and invited Eliza and me over for a matinee and some afternoon imbibing, since there were leftovers from a Christmas party in the hotel. (I dug up the photo from that afternoon's silliness.)Sergio thought he'd requested the film American Beauty in the hotel room, but instead we ended up with American Pie. If you've either seen or even heard of them, you'll know they are completely different movies!! We ended up watching all of American Pie because it was so over-the-top dumb, and there was one line in it that really cracked us up: Chris Klein wooing college girl Tara Reid with the fine line, "Suck me, beautiful...", to which she bursts out laughing. Anyway, that line stuck with us and became our regular greeting to each other, which got us a lot of weird looks as you can imagine.
Fast forward a few months to March 2000 in Portland. Sergio, Eliza and I drove down there one crazy weekend, and on the way to the airport we'd picked up this guy who was sitting on a bench at the bus stop with a snowboard. I was driving my Volvo wagon, so we offered him a lift to the train station. He got in, thanked us, and said, "Hey, you guys are beautiful!" To which we turned and looked at each other, and said, "We know..." Maybe someone even said, "How did you guess?" -- he must've thought we were all either extremely egotistical or just weird.Fast forward again a few months to the summer of 2000. I was walking north on Burrard Street towards Robson, and on the sidewalk in front of the Sutton Place Hotel was Chris Klein, signing autographs! I thought, "What a coincidence! Here's the original 'Suck Me Beautiful' guy!" I was really tempted to speak to him, but what to say? "Oh, I thought I'd introduce myself to you since you started something that is now out of control"?? So, while I was considering what to do, I walked behind him as he walked to the corner of Burrard and Robson. The light was changing, and I was only a few inches away from him... hmmmm.... we crossed Burrard and it occurred to me that he must be SO SICK of that whole "Suck Me Beautiful" thing... after all, he didn't write it, he just uttered it in a movie. So what did I do? I just called Eliza to tell her that I was a couple of inches away from Mr. Suck Me Beautiful himself, and I didn't say it!! Eliza, who was in IKEA with her aunt, couldn't believe it!
So, anyway, that's the story behind the t-shirts. Not exactly a short tale, but a real conversation-starter, that's for sure. Serg, who is in town visiting from Ottawa for Christmas, presented us with the t-shirts as we were having dim sum at Kirin in City Square, and people gave us odd looks as we held up our t-shirts for the photo-op.
Vancouver Aquarium
After dim sum, Sergio and I went to the Vancouver Aquarium to find Nemo. Or at least Allan, Michael and Madeleine. I was surprised to find out it was Sergio's first time to the Aquarium!
Nemo?
We did find Nemo, as you can see. I haven't seen the film, but Alvin bought it for the kids, so they've seen it a thousand times already and I can watch it with them whenever. At the Aquarium they had clownfish in the kids' area and did little educational puppet shows and such, which Michael had plenty of attention span for, but not Maddy. Allan had to run around after her, while Michael was enraptured.
Sergio and I were supposed to meet Eliza and Kristin at Bistro Sakana, but it was closed, so we ended up at Samurai instead. There, we met up with Matt, a Global Freeloader from Australia who got in touch with me months ago to mention that he would be in Vancouver to attend his best mate's wedding up at Whistler. He was spending a few months in the area, so I suggested that we meet up first and see how things go. I think he got more than he bargained for in meeting the three of us instead of just me! We headed over to my place so he could check things out himself, and Eliza could get some ferry tickets and sign the company Christmas cards. On the way back up the hill on Thurlow Street, we saw something rather bizarre in a window of a condo:
Wha?
This looks, yes, like a mannequin with a sort of Santa suit! That, with the flamingoes in the foreground, made for an odd photo.
(L) This martini is called "Curious George" and of course has creme des bananes in it.
(R) Matt and Sergio looking romantic! Ha!
It's Matt's first week in Vancouver -- his first week ever outside of his own country -- and he's already got a ton of stories about things that have happened to him! He's staying with a guy on Nicola Street who just happens to know everyone in the entire city, so that has a lot to do with it. Matt never had a martini before, so when we were informed that on Sunday at Jupiters all martinis were $5, we were like kids in the candy shop.
Needless to say, a late night for Sergio and me...
