There's nothing worse than having a temporary physical deformity the first time you meet complete strangers.  I suppose it could've been worse. I could've had the chicken pox or a bad hair-dyeing experience, but no, Sunday morning I woke up looking like the Godfather.  My right cheek was swollen to abnormality.  It seems I had an irritation that caused the swelling and I was less than thrilled.  As you may recall,  Sunday was the first ever Seattle Blognic where a variety of Seattle area bloggers and readers came together to eat meat.  To the veg-types, this is known as a barbecue.  Despite my better judgment, I made the decision to go dressed as Marlon Brando and I'm glad I did.  In spite of my ailment and bulging cheeks, a good time was had by all.  There's nothing like realizing that indeed piles of flesh and bones do exist behind these virtual realities we call weblogs.  If more people realized this they might cut back on the hate mail.

I know I said I'd take pictures, but for the first time ever on this weblog, I lied.  I'm certain you understand however, that it would take an honest day in Jesse Jackson's office before my swollen, bee-stung face was going anywhere near a camera yesterday.  Thus ends my personal drama.

It was purely enjoyable to meet some of Seattle's finest thinkers in the blogosphere.  The event was organized by the very hip Matt Rosenberg of Rosenblog, the very much down-to earth Stefan Sharkansky of Shark's Blog, and the just plain nice and gracious Brian Crouch of Medved Fans (who by the way, also has a gorgeous wife).  Meeting peoples' spouses, kids and dogs was quite an experience.  In addition, receiving feedback and discussing blogging was humbling as always.  Strangely, I did get asked twice if I was considering running for some sort of political office.  Errr, absolutely, unequivocally not.  I also realized that I had no idea how to pronounce my own website.  So for everyone's info, Nykola.com is pronounced (Nee-Cole-Uh), like the "N" version of the cough drop "Ricola".  (You have to sing it for the full effect).  I know, not exactly catchy, but unlike some people, I never thought this thing all the way through.

So all that said, it was a good day and I look forward to doing it again sometime.  Maybe next go 'round we'll bring in the Liberals.  Now that would be grand ole party.

Stefan's got a more comprehensive recap of all who attended.  [Gushing] He even called me lovely and talented! [/Gushing]  I'm just eternally grateful no one took pictures.