55 and 50 Party - Disneyland and Zlick!

[innerSpaceman]

I haven't had time to read the plaque yet - but the shadow box with the velvet rope contains a swarth of cigarette-burned carpet and of course the velvet rope from none other than Grauman's Chinese Theater. They were swiped from a garbage bin behind the theater by my friend Peter (btw, here's his photos of the shindig) right after the first 6-week camp-out, line-up in Hollywood for the Star Wars prequels.

I had been a veteran of the original trilogy's line-ups in Hollywood, and joined this new group of fun kids for the next generation's follow-ups. Little did I know then that I'd be making more lifelong friends. But '99 was followed by 2002, and then 2005, and then our friendships continued to this day.

So Peter has hoarded this stuff in his garage, hoping some day to frame it for a special occasion. Wow!

I was so touched by this elegant and unusual momento of great times and the beginnings of wonderful friendships. The whole gang of them got together for the much more expensive part of framing the wonderful items ... and it was easily the best group gift of the night (ok, the only group gift of the night), and truly one of the most magnificent birthday gifts I have ever received.

[innerSpaceman]

Originally Posted by CoasterMatt

I'm compiling a gallery of weekend fun pics, and when I went to run the batch, found out there's 55 photos

Here's the gallery- lemme know if you want any prints, the originals are a bit better- I had to resize and compress to get these up on Facebook.

Yep, I want em.

For the record, though I love looking at photos on Facebook - the site SUCKS for sharing. Photos are crappy size, low-rez bah.


As you might imagine, I like quite a few photos from quite a few people - but if you posted them only on facebook - would you please drop me a line so I can request the real deal of selected pics? I would be ever so happy if you would.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

and truly one of the most magnificent birthday gifts I have ever received.

I'll say, what an inspired and personal gift that was!

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

Pfft, yours among the absolute best. The 50th Birthday Photo Collage worthy of display in Disneyland was the funniest, bestest thing ever.

Malkozlick Malkozlick Malokzlick

MalkozlickMalkozlick_web.jpg

And the collectible figure? Well, how much longer do I have to decide? I want them all!!! Right now, I still want to go with Jungle Cruise Skipper. He's so cute!

Good question. Anyone know when the Kevin Kidney figures are released, all I've seen is "later this summer".

Paraphrase of the conversation after Steve learned that we will be gifting him one his choice of those figures when they are released:

Steve: Oh no, what a difficult choice! Because...

Me: ...the Tomorrowland one is the obvious choice thematically

Steve: Yes, but then...

Me: ...the Skipper is more your type

Steve: He's totally my type!


For the record, if they were already out and we had just gone and bought one, we would have bought the Skipper.

[lashbear]

Originally Posted by RStar

Well Lash, you'll be visiting during the 60th anniversary, perhaps there will be much merriment to be had then. Do you know the month of your visit?

I will be trying my hardest to talk the Stoat into July... Hmmm - the 60th... Maybe I'd better book the hotel room now.

[RStar]

Originally Posted by lashbear

I will be trying my hardest to talk the Stoat into July... Hmmm - the 60th... Maybe I'd better book the hotel room now.

Yeah, see what you can do....

[Not Afraid]

That photo collage was amazing. I'm glad it was hung in a place where I could see it. What an awesome gift!

[innerSpaceman]

Various Responses:

Originally Posted by RStar

Steve- how in the world did you get "Gay" on the name badge????

It's a real name badge, albeit a DisneyWorld one. My co-host Laurie gave it to me as a birthday gift. (Many may not have seen her around much, she was in charge of the food and the kitchen - a great big hand for her, please, jeebus what a job!).

She'd been holding onto it for 4 years to present it to me on my 50th (which she did, on my actual birthday). I was touched all evening of 55/50 because so many people told me they'd been holding their gift for 2 years, 1 year, 3 years - waiting for a suitable occasion. Awesome.

Originally Posted by €uroMeinke

Perhaps we can all bring our pics from birthdays past for a bit of a slide show and nostalgia - or maybe any childhood Disneyland pics and we can make our own Ken Burns live documentary

Heheh, I tried to hint at it in my pre-party cryptic response, but yes - obviously - there was a slideshow of fabulous photos - very Zlick-centric of course, but naturally featuring so many of the LoT shots.

I'm planning on updating it with some photos from the recent event - - and more. In fact, €uroMeinke had posted some photos of the first Gemini Cricket meet earlier in this thread, but it was too late to include them in the show (it was one of the very first party projects, completed some 5 weeks ago).

SO - if anyone has any prime photographs you'd like to contribute to a future and ever-evolving version of the slideshow, please get them to me. Some may have already been included, but you never know (I doubt anyone watched all 90 minutes!) - my "collection" of Disneyland photos has been very haphazard, and I never intended to present them in this fashion. Most of the photos I've obtained in the mouseplanet/Fab/LoT era are low-res versions - so really, anything you think might be worthy of the ages, please get it to me in the next few months or so, and I'll have a new version of the slideshow by Christmastime. We can keep adding to it forever! Heheh.

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Paraphrase of the conversation after Steve learned that we will be gifting him one his choice of those figures when they are released:

Steve: Oh no, what a difficult choice! Because...

Me: ...the Tomorrowland one is the obvious choice thematically

Steve: Yes, but then...

Me: ...the Skipper is more your type

Steve: He's totally my type!


For the record, if they were already out and we had just gone and bought one, we would have bought the Skipper.

For the record, I love the Tour Guide one as well, and she'd be my second choice. But obviously, let's go with the obvious, the gut feeling, the instant attraction - and my choice is - d'uh - The Skipper!

Thanks for the great double gift. Wow.



Other great gifts from the LoT folks were the Dick Nixon campaign buttons from EH1812 and nirvanaman - so perfectly timed with me already wearing a "GAY" name badge. What a riot!

The 55/50 cuff links crafted personally by Not Afraid were another stunning gift. And yes, there was no hesitation to cut the buttons off my shirt so I could wear them right then and there at 55/50. What an amazing gift. Love them!


I opened many other gifts in the morning, some of which I'm so sorry I didn't get the chance to do with their benefactors in person the night before. Some laughs could have been had.

On the LoT side, Joe and BJ went simple but funny in recalling our the Hearthstone days when Joe was a drinker (and what a drinker!) - they got me a liter of 7-up and Seagrams 7, with a box of Sweaty Ass Crackers.

And, oh my, there's still one gift I haven't opened - it was all styrofoamed and taped to death, so I brought it home with all the freight and promptly forgot about it. Better go get it now.





In closing - I tried to mojo CP for this, but I must spread some around first. Suffice it to say it's the best description I've read of 55/50, so it's worth repeating:

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

I'm just glad survived the 55/50! I thought he was unlucky enough when we met him in the parking lot on Saturday - he had to drive all the way home that morning to recover his forgotten park tickets. I guess getting your arm stapled is a sight worse but at least it probably didn't take nearly as long.


We had an incredible time. Hard to fit it all in a short post. Friday night was a legendary moment in time. The ambiance was perfect in that it was everything at once - swank and chic, dressed but not stuffy, warm yet cosmopolitan, casual yet stylish. The food poured out the kitchen, from classic cocktail fare ("Hot weenies, anyone?") to family style courses ("How do I eat soup and carry a drink?") Steve was barraged with wonderful gifts, each one inevitably sending him into conniptions on the floor. It was great seeing those from Steve's other circles, people we have known for many years of amazing events. I wish we could have stayed to hug all the late arrivals and witness the late-night hijinks but the few hours we could be there were still incredibly magical.

Saturday was a different kind of fun, laying around in the room, swimming in the pool. Theo did spectacularly well, as he always does.

There was something so right about the suite setup. In many ways it was a dream come true for us long-time APers. We've always wanted a lounge with air conditioning, unlimited laying around benefits, full food service and bar, and perhaps even a pool? The fact that it used to be a swanky space but had the magic sucked out of it over the years only to be given a turbo injected theming boost by our awesome hosts made it even more apropos.

Thankfully, we have today to recover. All three of us needed a break. Theo had a 3 hour nap this morning...and so did I. GD is napping on the couch as I type this.

Infinite thanks to Steve and his crew of master chefs, interior designers, and general mischief makers. You are legends in your own time. *tip of the hat*

Happy Birthday, everyone.

[innerSpaceman]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

I haven't had time to read the plaque yet - but the shadow box with the velvet rope contains a swarth of cigarette-burned carpet and of course the velvet rope from none other than Grauman's Chinese Theater.

I think I just pretended to read it that night. No glasses, 3 tequila sunrises, and a good dose of pot brownies = no reading ability for me.

So, I finally checked it out.

Originally Posted by The Plaque

Presented to Steve Zlick. In Honor of his 50th Birthday.

"The force will be with you, always."

Ok, I may cry all over again.

[Alex]

It is fabulous that such crappy movies produced such a wonderful present.

[RStar]

Oh, I did enjoy the slide show, and got a good laugh at Steve's long hair in the 70/80's!

Of course you all would do the same if you saw my picture from the 70/80's!