Brain Flotsam V2.007

I'm back from the adventure that was WorldCon, ready to read the great entries in the Snarry Games that I missed, and catch up with the BLU and Merlin Big Bang entries.  w00t!
I should also go grocery shopping.
My travel season has come to an end, except for short weekend drives to local events. No more flying for a while, not until Christmas in all likelihood.
It's been a fun summer, though, full of great people, exciting places, and gorgeous fun.

Now I really do need to concentrate on unpacking my apartment into something more livable. And finishing this wedding quilt that's been sitting on the shelf all summer.

Also, Jim Kirk is a total manwhore. (It made sense in Montreal.)

-- Jaye and I are going to hell.
-- Jaye fell asleep in the panel on Consciousness.  (I fell asleep in the Putting the World in WorldCon panel)
-- I feel like I walked several miles along the corridors at the party hotel.
-- the Polish restaurant in Old Montreal is awesome, as I remembered it, and I really must get back there for dinner.
-- We are still in search of decent coffee, but the place in the Palais serves "cafe mocha" ghetto-style, which is hot chocolate with regular coffee poured into it. OMG, it is So Damn Good.
-- became a pre-supporting member of the Texas 2013 bid. Yay.
-- found Jake randomly by the elevators at the party hotel.
-- random guy in the panel about Genocide in Literature spent 5 minutes of panel time summarizing the most recent Star Trek movie.
-- Charles Stross predicts human drivers will be illegal in 30 years...
-- Paul Krugman to Charles Stross: So where do you get your ideas?
-- Opening Ceremonies included a really good contortionist. Those folks always make me cringe a little, though, when they fold their spine backwards just below their diaphragm. Eep.
-- Neil Gaiman seemed shorter than I am when I ran into him (almost literally in a narrow doorway). That is so weird. Also, he did not offer Jake a blow job. (But hey, it's only Thursday.)
-- Margarita ok. Aquavit excellent. La Fin du Monde local microbrew AWESOME.
-- Now Jaye and I are going to bed.

I'm off to Montreal for WorldCon, be back next week. 
I'll try to get net access, but for the most part I'll be off the grid.

This is actually not so much a report as a Yay! Photos! post, with occasional commentary. That link goes to my Flickr set, which will in turn sometimes sync up to the Azkatraz Flickr Pool.
Here's my Mug Shot:

( Further adventures under the cut )

I've forgotten the LJ usernames of half the people I met already, but if anybody wants to pop in and remind me, feel free!

Well, I managed, by staying until after 7pm yesterday, to finish the deadline stuff for work today, so that I have a few loose ends to tie up before leaving for Azkatraz, but mostly things are done.

I'm flying out tonight, so perhaps I'll see some of you guys at the hotel?
If you don't have my phone number and might want it, drop me a line at zephrene AT gmail, and I'll pop it over to you.  Otherwise, I expect I'll see quite a few of you at HBP tomorrow, and at various volunteering gigs Friday.  :)

I'll be back, and hopefully more productive, in a week, but only until the time rolls around to leave for this year's WorldCon in Montreal.  (eeee, exciting!)

See you in San Francisco!

I have this unfinished WIP that was really close to my heart - and still is, in its way, and I'm wondering now whether or not to finish it.  It's a one-shot featuring Harry and  Luna, in my Far Away as Moonshine ''verse, which I love to pieces despite the extreme rarepair-ness of it.  :P

I also have a bunch of prompts to fulfill for my now-defunct but still inspiring table on Luna.
Haven't been feeling the writing bug lately, but now that my ApolloCon stress is mostly done for the year, and I'm gearing up for Azkatraz, HP is back on the brain. (And I just can't do fic for Merlin yet. It took me years to work up to it in HP, maybe someday.)

To write, or not to write? Maybe I'll just keep drawing...

And oh crap, officially less than two weeks to the Con and I need to frame my art for the Gallery and Auction!
And print postcards... And test my DVD cable... And move all the pr0n off the  laptop that's traveling with me.  Yeep.

Catching this journal up...

( mid-trip report, April 30 )

and a Readers' Studio report:
( it's a wow sort of weekend, May 2 )

The finish of the Readers' Studio was great, and then yesterday I got to see Michelle and Andy and Milo and Vic and Ali for dinner, then E and I played the first half of a cutthroat game of Super Deluxe Double Scrabble, which has twice the tiles and a bigger board featuring QUADRUPLE letter and word scores. w00t!

Ok, I'm going to see how much of this I can get typed before my battery warning goes.

Yesterday a huge storm front started through southeast Texas, and it was still here this morning.  Parts of west Houston were so badly flooded that school was cancelled and people (like my dad) were told to work from home. Mom and I braved the rain at 5:30 am anyhow to go to the airport.
I arrived in good time at the gate, where we were told that we were delayed because our pilots were in Austin and couldn't take off because of the weather in Houston.
My 7:56am flight ended up taking off just after 9am.
So I arrived in Newark late, and made a plan with E that I would just hang out in Union Square to wait for her because there was no way I'd get to her place by 2pm. It was 1:30pm when I got off the plane, and at about 2:15 the NJ Transit train I was on heading for Manhattan stopped at Secaucus Junction. And sat. And sat. And then the conductor got on the speakers and told us we were delayed because there was a huge brushfire blocking the tunnel to Manhattan.  NO trains were getting through in either direction until the fire was under control.
At this point I am really regretting not getting something to eat at EWR, so I ate one of my emergency protein bars. Thanks fro that tip, Mom!
Well, I sat in the train for almost an hour before they told us the train was officially terminated and the whole lot of us went to transfer to an NJT to Hoboken to get the PATH train, which was nowthe only way to get to Manhattan.  On the train to Hoboken we can see the smoke from what really looks like a HUGE fire over the ridge, and there are at least three fire department helicopters in the sky.
So we took that train, then the PATH, and it was crazy but orderly and we didn't have to pay extra. I got above ground in Manhattan at 6th Ave and 14th Street a little after 4pm. I stopped to get a mechanical pencil, go to the restroom, and pick up something to eat.
Now I am sitting in some dappled shade in Union Square where there is free wireless (I <3 NY) eating a goat cheese salad from Whole Foods Market and wondering if I should take off my shoes and socks.  It's hot! And I have a tiny bit of battery conserved but not enough to do anything of substance except post this.
So I will.  :)

Hello, Fandom.
I hope I've gotten all my looming deadlines in because I am miles from my tablet... soon to be 1800 miles!
I'll be in New York City for the next week - Tuesday to Tuesday. 
The Tarot Reader's Studio is Beltane Weekend, plus there shall be much social time with friends far and near, including visiting from Australia. Yay! Glee! Wahoo!

I'll likely not be out of electronic contact, but it all will depend on the ready availability of computers and/or wireless.

Coming in May, I hope: finishing the unfinished fanart in the archives.  Plus of course the next set of deadlines. Fun times, indeed.

Ok, so I noted that I haven't updated here with anything of substance in over two weeks, which we all know is the internet equivalent of ten million years.
I'm still living in what I like to call cardboard chic, a house full of piles and boxes and no real organization.
True to prediction, though, I am spending a lot less time at home. Dinner and/or coffee with friends, meetings, meet-ups, a con, family events, and evening classes have all conspired to keep me far from home.
And I'm going out of town for a week starting next Tuesday. I'll be in the New York metro area, attending the Tarot Reader's Studio as well as hanging out with my beloved friends in the vicinity (and some coming in to town from afar, including Australia! Wow!).
That said, I expect to be spending more time at home in May. I have quilts to make and paintings to paint, for one thing. Plus a lot of tarot cards and still some fan exchanges to finish.  Plus the three Big Bangs I decided to sign up for. Mmm, fun. I also have books to unpack and an apartment to arrange. I also plan to acquire an actual TV. No, really! I'm going to set it up and watch it and everything. Probably.

That plus the whole Summer of Cons (ApolloCon, Azkatraz, Anticipation - I sense a theme here.)  should keep me busy.

A Joyous Imbolc to all - may good things grow from here.

I fail at weekend productivity, mostly.  Although with the assistance of Fabric-Stash Enabler Mom, I did acquire some smokin' awesome additions to my stash (and the things I actually needed for my current project) during a trek through Houston's southeastern neighborhood fabric stores.  We should learn that in most cases, we will find fun novelty fabrics at the chains, but for quality color/value cottons, going directly to The Painted Pony would save some time and money.  ;)
The only thing we didn't find was the Hoffman Challenge fabric. It's on some of the online retailers, but not yet in stores around here. We'll wait a bit and check back.

We also went to the uber-awesome catfish joint and scored a party platter overflowing with hushpuppies. WIN.

I did not actually get the fabric washed, although that's probably good as now it has bonus cat hair to wash off, too. Apparently my quilting table is Zephyr's new favorite nap spot.

Suffered through the Sunday blahs and Sunday night insomnia, which really made for a grand morning today.  Ugh.  Did manage to get my iTunes playlists transferred to Sofia at last, and got rid of most of the repetitive entries in the Library. Also acquired hotel accomodations for both ApolloCon and WorldCon. w00t!

Did some art, including laying in colors for the commission portrait for llnm. Finally. It'll take several more color layers to get it done, and I'm not sure that I'm happy with the chosen palette, but the nice thing about digital is that I have a great amount of control over individual colors. Did not do any writing.  Did a lot of reading, both of the fanfic and regular variety. I finished Skulduggery Pleasant (hey! It has a sequel!) and have gotten firmly addicted to The Stepsister Scheme.

Lalala. I think that was it. I got the feeling there was some kind of nation-wide sports event going on, but it never really got onto my radar. I will probably catch up on the cool movie trailers over the course of the next few days.

I just made my flight reservations for Azkatraz!
w00t!
I'll be arriving Wed night, hurrah!

Ok, I'm back! Hooray!
I had a wonderful fabulous time and hopefully there will be pictures later and stories and stuff, too, but I was much too busy to do much internet stuff while I was away.
Now I have lots to do! Eep!

Wow, Ginevra's screen looks wildly huge after a week of Sofia's. LOL.
Sofia is going to be a great little music machine for my office, though.

Ok, must go catch up, and unpack my stuff.

Things I have done that are fun:

- went to see The Day the Earth Stood Still with my dad. We snarked. And enjoyed ourselves. And snarked. It was good.
- played two rounds of The Downfall of Pompeii with my mom. w00t! Sacrifice them to the volcano! Muahahahaha!
- made cinnamon pecans, watched Donna bake while entertaining the little one, played with Lando, danced Lando around the kitchen, introduced Lando to Sandra Boynton's brilliant Hippos Go Berserk! counting board book, and ate yummy festive holiday pound cake (which isn't fruitcake. really).
- watched A Muppet Family Christmas  and A Muppet Christmas Carol with Donna and Lando and, later, Jon.

also done:
- laundry. lots of it.
- moved furniture, re-arranged my room, sorted books, sorted more books, including antiques, moved boxes of toys, and helped mom hook up her computer to the network printer.

coming soon:
- baking cookies! (maybe.)
- playing more games with the family.
- big extended family Christmas meal and game playing.
- making art.
- sewing.
- moving all the boxes to make space for the new craft table.
- packing for Philadelphia (what do you mean it might snow in December? Where did I put my boots?)

Where are people talking / planning for Azkatraz?  Am I missing a crucial post on their LJ comms full of comments, or an especially active area on the bbs?
Or is it just too early to see anything?

Is anybody else arriving Thursday or earlier for the movie, who wants to hang out?
:D   I should take some touristy photos of SF just to prove I was there and that I left the hotel.  (Good grief, leaving the con hotel - what a concept.)

I'm back from my second wedding weekend, with good news!
Mom called at 10:30 to tell me our power came back on! Hurrah!

Wedding weekend was lovely, but wow it was cold in the Catskills at night. I hadn't packed for that, had to borrow clothes.  ;)
Wedding itself was a fairy tale, and it was wonderful to see so many friends, old and new.  I even got a referral while I was there; one of the groom's friends was so enchanted with the ceremony he wants advice about his own wedding. Not sure if that will be another wedding for me or not, as he lives in the UK and that brings its own special brand of legal hurdles, but it would be nice. Still, interfaith weddings are what I do, so I'm happy to email the couple about theirs. Fun times, indeed.

Now that we have the power back I can't wait to really get going on my pending art projects. Whee!

I am marrying some good friends of mine this weekend in New York.
Don't burn down the interwebs while I'm gone (you know how well fire travels through tubes.)

So far I have been taken as the Dark Lord six times, McGonagall once, and Bathilda Bagshot once.
"Nagini" has killed four Snapes and I've been AK'd by one for giving his cohort bunny ears during a photo.
Fun times.

I actually went out and bought this green nightmare fantasia pseudo-medievalish pre-packaged costume for the Masquerade at Portus. It may need some emergency re-tooling, but at least it was relatively cheap and I didn't have to sew that stretch velveteen. Eek. We hates the stretch fabrics, we does. (Although the Magical Mystery Sewing Machine may make that hate disappear, we'll have to try it sometime and see. It sewed a button on my dad's shirt like magic, yo! A button. Fwee!)

Anyhow.
You know what else is annoying? Going to a masquerade wearing glasses. Most masks are right out.

Otherwise, I think I'll be wearing street clothes under my (home-made!) cloak for most of it, and carrying a tote bag of art supplies.

And wearing a bright green snake plushie. Maybe if I drape myself in black some Death Eater cosplayers will mistake me for the Dark Lord and do my bidding. Muahahahaha. Mostly, I expect I will be finding art-related activities or squeeing in mad fangirl glee over Wizard Rockers. (Ministry of Magic is playing! Eeeeee!)

I'll be at the hotel Thursday morning. See some of you lot there.

Baby was adorable.
Friends were lovely.
Airports were boring and uncomfortable.
I am home safe and sound.

Wow, a lot of great fic and art and meta can pile up in six days! Catching up slowly...