Crazy day - came in to find a crisis in progress, only to discover that I was probably the one that (accidentally) caused it. Fortunately I quickly found a solution, so I didn't even get the finger-wagging I was expecting (my boss is AWESOME and I'm going to miss her when she leaves).

In the brief panic of realizing I'd made a mistake, I quickly plowed through the most important items on my to do list, so it turned out to be very productive (in an OMG PANIC kind of way).

I ducked out at lunchtime for a doctor's appointment for my back, but it turns out they mistakenly put me down for tomorrow, so I turned around and went back to work.

Took some time to call Verizon about having changed my plan when I (finally) got my new phone last week (a Galaxy S4), and not only did they fix the problem exactly as I thought they should have, but I got a little bonus on top of it. Left positive feedback with the rep's supervisor. I'm also having fun customizing the phone, although there are a few things I need to learn that are different from my old Droid X2.

For some reason late in the day I got a superbly terrific headache, so when I came home I decided to lay down for a little bit... which turned into 3 hours. Oatmeal for dinner it is!

In other news, our long national nightmare (i.e., my sister and her daughter not speaking to each other since Thanksgiving) is over - a detente of some sort has been reached. I was also informed that my sister and mother are coming to DC on Thursday for the Cherry Blossom Festival, so I'm taking the day off and spending it with them.

All this after a weekend that included a nice date (although it tends to cast a pall over things when your date's brother gets shot in the head), another nice date (albeit short), and another nice date, along with a nice dinner with friends. :)

All in all, a crazy, potentially-bad-turned-pretty-good day. :D

P.S. Oh, and I have an offer from a crazy sexy new friend to spend my birthday weekend with him in Disneyland. SCORE!

I really need to get back to posting here. I really prefer posting more detailed stuff here rather than Facebook, for my own sake.

This past weekend was fun. Friday I left work early and took my car to the dealership for an oil change and tire rotation, and was told my next oil change will need the factory maintenance. I'm willing to lay out for it because I'll continue to get the free oil changes, and so far they've been worth the trouble.

From there it was off to pick up Kyan, head to Union Station for dinner, accidentally run into Neil, pick up Dmitri, then head over to Town to watch Neil's gay bear stand up comedy. (He was great!) Then we went back to Matt and Sev's place.

Saturday we were up and after a drive that took 1.5 hours to go the last 5 miles, we made it to the MD Ren Faire. Booze, food, friends, it was all good. Afterwards was dinner, then dropped off Neil so he could head back to NYC, then back to Matt and Sev's again.

Sunday we bummed around Frederick, which is a very charming town. Dropped Kyan off at his place and Dmitri off at Union Station before making a little, er, pit stop (short stocky HOT little black guy - woof!), then home again, home again, jiggity jig. ;)

Today was a good news/bad news day. Good news - my insurance will cover more than I thought it would, I didn't owe anything for today, and my gums are healthy. Bad news - will two root canals, three pulled teeth, a list of little stuff, and then will have to decide bridge, implant or plate. :( Still, I think this will go better than I originally anticipated, and I have no fear of dentists, so no biggie.

Oh, and it's my birthday tomorrow. No plans, although friends may take me out to dinner. We'll see. No worries. :)

Don't tell someone you've been on a few dates with about the amazing date you had last night. Tacky, tacky, tacky...

Interesting weekend:

Friday - Had some trouble getting home in the snow (should have left work earlier but didn't realize it had come down as hard as it did so quickly), but was amused watching others who clearly had no idea how to drive in bad weather (although being stuck at the bottom of the hill watching them keep sliding back down, the amusement didn't last for long). Got an unexpected phone call later Friday night from a visiting friend (WB), but the snow had stopped and the roads had been plowed so I braved going out to get together for a bit.

Saturday - Was unexpectedly and annoyingly blown off by a friend to attend an AFW dinner together, but I decided to deal with it another day and went by myself and had a splendid time. Always a fun bunch of guys, plus 3 new people showed up, so it was fun meeting and chatting with them, and the food was excellent (Busara Thai in Tysons Corner, if you're looking for a decent restaurant on the west side of the DC loop). Afterwards some folks wanted to go to the Korean spa, but others wanted to go to Secrets, so I got talked into going (especially since two of the other guys going had never been before, so I knew it would be amusing to watch them). Naked men, dicks swinging, blah blah blah, but the music was good and the crowd was nice, so I enjoyed it for a while.

Sunday - Met two co-workers for lunch to catch up on all the latest gossip on campus. Ran some errands afterwards, but made it home in time to watch Obama and Clinton's "60 Minutes" interview, then "Downton Abbey," then some old school "Doctor Who" (Hartnell in "The Aztecs" - man she was a cranky bitch!).

Monday - We'd decided to have a little birthday breakfast at work as we had a few January birthdays, so I was going to get up earlier than usual, but then I got a phone call (rather late in the morning - 7:00 a.m., when we usually get a call no later than 6:00 a.m.) saying we were opening at 9:20 due to the sleet/rain mix we got, so I slept in a bit longer before getting up, getting ready, and stopping at Panera's for bagels. Still had a nice breakfast, though - enjoying a French toast bagel right now, actually. :)

So a pretty full weekend. I find that by going out and doing something Friday night it really makes the weekend feel like a weekend, but this weekend I had more than usual on my plate. This week is supposed to be quiet, though, and no plans for next weekend so far. :)

I realized I haven't updated what I've been up to the last couple of weeks, but basically it was DC Pride, and then CON.TXT over the past two weekends. I'll include pictures to make it interesting. :)

The weekend of Pride I took off early on Friday so my co-worker and I could use his truck to get a few large items I still had at the old house, including a broken washer and dryer I needed to take to the dump. That went well, but then after stopping for gas I passed my co-worker on the side of the road - he'd been rear-ended in stop-and-go traffic. I felt bad, but he pointed out the other guy's insurance would take care of it, so I stuck around for a while until the cops showed up. Later that night I went to gaming and although there was a little more snark than usual, it was fun as it always is.

Saturday was the Capital Pride parade. I drove up around noon and met up with Asians & Friends Washington at a park in Alexandria for a BBQ and pot luck, which was much fun - quite a lot of people showed up, so I got to meet some new folks as well as hang out with people I've already met (and this is a really, really nice bunch of guys that I'm really starting to look forward to hanging out with every chance I get).

From there I went into town to find parking. My usual spots on the fringes of duPont Circle were, of course, completely filled, as well as the immediate area being cordoned off for the parade. I gave many thanks to Al Gore for inventing GPS, because I was finding areas of DC I'd never driven around before, so it was actually kind of neat. Had to park a bit of a hike away from the festivities, but I figured I need to start getting into shape for walking around Pennsic. :)

I stopped off in the circle to meet up with folks, but apparently they'd changed plans while I was parking, so I went with plan B and hung out on the steps of another member's townhouse, which was right on the parade route and right next to the reviewing stand. In the past when I've gotten tired of things I've tried to find new ways of experiencing them; for example, when the pride festivals got boring, I ran a booth, so it was fun again. I've watched a million parades in my day and was expecting another boring one, but I discovered that standing next to the reviewing stand was QUITE fun. Not only was Lena Lett, the drag queen hosting, incredibly funny filling the pauses in between groups, but she was announcing who each group was, which was really useful since half the time I couldn't see banners or signs or t-shirts from where I was.

Speaking of parades, I've had some queer friends in the past say that pride parades were bad for the community - too much rampant, un-middle-American sexuality, and not enough "normalcy," so it gives us a "bad image." (Insert appropriate amount of eye rolling here, but don't hurt yourselves now!) Not only do I wholeheartedly not agree with such claptrap, but I've been trying to find out if these friends have attended a parade since, oh, 1991 or so. NEWS FLASH - they're BORING. So for shits and giggles I decided to Tweet each group as it went by, and then did a little analysis. From least to most, we had:

5 humanitarian groups
5 healthcare groups
6 sports groups
8 bar/clubs (3 of these had scantily-clad people on them - the horrors!)
10 governmental groups
11 political groups
11 religious groups
15 social groups
29 community groups
35 businesses

Boy, we're a bunch of Radical Fairies out there with cockrings and nipple pasties and leather chaps, aren't we? Oh, wait - no, we're not. The parade was sponsored by, among other such controvertial businesses, a bottled iced tea company, a car rental company, a national bank and a trash removal service. OMG CALL PAT ROBERTSON.

The most lurid thing I saw besides men in Speedos was the live cast of Rocky Horror Picture Show, and the group that got the biggest applause was the Mormons for Marriage Equality group (followed closely by the ususal favorites, PFLAG).

Anyway, I made sure to thank Lena afterwards for being so entertaining. I got a picture:



After that we all went to a great little Thai place for dinner, and again there were quite a few folks that turned up, so I got to meet even more people. On the way home I stopped off and hung out with another friend. Much fun! :)

Sunday I got my hair cut, checked out hotels for my upcoming party, had dinner with a friend from DC who was down in the area and I hadn't seen in a long time, and then went shopping at K-Mart. (I know, so exciting, why don't I update more?)

Work's been a little hectic with the end of the fiscal year coming up shortly, plus I've been putting in summer hours so I can take the occassional Friday off. One night I got stuck on the bridge on the way home in construction and I thought there were worse places to get stuck for a few minutes:



So then last weekend was CON.TXT, a bi-annual slash convention that Stuart (minotaurs) introduced me to 6 years ago. This was my third, but by the end of it was really the first one where I was noticed. :)

I got there Friday afternoon in time for a Doctor Who panel, which is always fun to discuss with slashers and geeks. I checked into my hotel, helped out with some logistical stuff, and then unloaded my games to play while the Friday night dance was going on. We had 4 tables going at the height of it, so it was a good time.

I'd been fighting a chest cold all day, so I decided to skip breakfast and the morning panels I wanted to go to and slept in instead. I eventually got up, got something to eat, and hung out at the con for a while, helping wherever needed and meeting some new folks. I hit another Doctor Who panel, went to dinner with brak666, went back to my hotel room to rest for a minute... and woke up around midnight, so I missed the video show. :( Still, I needed it, and I think it actually prevented me from getting *really* sick over the weekend.

Sunday I made it in time for breakfast and the art show auction, and managed to win a piece even though ceciliatan tried to outbid me (foolish woman!):



It's my second piece by digitalwave, and although I have no interest in the fandom (it's "Supernatural"), I like the way she does wings. ;)

After that I went to an Avatar/Korra panel, volunteered some more, checked out of my hotel, and went to the dead duck panel (their hiss & purr). I made it home, collapsed with the kitties, and tried to get better.

One thing I did do at the con was to create my own white-faced whistling duck (of which I am their king):



Alas, whatever I fought off over the weekend gave me bronchitis. Last year I let my cough go way too long and it drove me crazy, but this time I recognized it quicker, so although I was feeling good Monday, I felt crappy again Tuesday, so I called out sick and only got up to go see my doctor, who gave me a cough suppressant and an antibiotic (so far I don't need Prednisone like I did last year). I'm sure it'll be gone in a week, but I'm determined to make sure it's over and done with before Pennsic.

This weekend is gaming, an AFW dinner, and hopefully my packing dry run for Pennsic (new car, no idea what will and won't fit). The following weekend is my party, then no plans for July 4. I have my traffic court date the week after, and then it's All Pennsic, All The Time until I leave on the 27th. :)

tl;dr - PEEKCHOORS!

So what's new with you? ;)

I never do weekend updates, but I should.

Friday - staff/faculty picnic at work as the kiddies are all graduated and gone. Left at 3:00, excited for an early day... and promptly fell asleep when I got home. Ah, well - my exciting life strikes again. (I spent 3 nights last week in DC seeing friends and whatnot, so I guess it took its toll.)

Saturday - up and out to dinner with AFW. Such a nice bunch, I wish they had more activities planned than just the monthly pot luck (although people are starting to think the same and are talking about a monthly restaurant dinner as well - just like my old LYC days!). Had a tentative date planned but he flaked, which is becoming more and more problematic around here (and I thought it was more of a left coast thing).

Sunday - another date flake, but didn't waste the day - discovered a new diner, visited Fairfax (which is kind of adorable), and chatted with some folks, both new and old.

I'm working 9-hour days to get every other Friday off for the summer, and although I had contemplated going to War Practice but couldn't really afford it, I'm already looking forward to Memorial Day, CON.TXT, Pennsic, and throwing my own summer shindig around July 4 sometime.

I think that's it. Boring, I know, but there it is. :)

So after falling asleep on the couch last night I am well rested for my weekend - gaming tonight, pot luck Saturday, and trying to get out from under in the area of "still living out of boxes" at home.

Multiple social networks are hard, so I'm trying Hootsuite. It covers Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, FourSquare, and even MySpace of all things. No LJ (heaven forbid), but it does cover Wordpress. Also doesn't cover Google+, but I hear it's under development. Regardless, this should help me post stuff a little easier.

Also, gamed all day yesterday. Much fun. :)

HOLY CRAP EARTHQUAKE! 5.8 north of Richmond. Whee!

I laugh at my campus' overreaction.

Edited to add: Photo of the devastation

OK, so urban_bohemian posted about the "America I AM" exhibit at the National Geographic Museum, and I realized I'd never been there, so I followed the link on their address page to get directions.

I swear on Quincy's life¹, this is exactly what Bing gave me for directions:

( Er, WTF?Collapse )

I believe I may submit this to Failblog.



¹Well, you'd need to take that a little more seriously than you would normally, I suppose...

Running myself ragged. Friday night was a party with friends, then Saturday we had to cancel plans to hang out with friends at the Ren Faire (see my last post as to why). Was I able to at least get some work done? No - we headed into DC Saturday night for dinner and clubbing with mike14780 who was in town from San Francisco for an interview. Got home waaaaay too late, so most of the day Sunday was spent sleeping, although I did manage to finish sewing the shirt for my costume. Yesterday I had to leave work a little early to go renew my driver's license, and then last night I had to run out and get a few more yards of fabric, and stayed up waaaaay too late cutting the patterns. Tonight we have to get our hair cut, take the car back in to get looked at (making weird creaking noises since we got the axels replaced last week), and I have to actually sew the cloak and pants to finish my costume. I was hoping not to take the day off of work tomorrow, but we'll see how much I get done tonight, because we're leaving to Mom's at some point, then Thursday we'll stop and see friends for a while in Massachusetts on our way to Vermont, then the convention is Friday through Sunday, then it's an overnight stay seeing friends in Albany, and finally stopping at Mom's to pick up the cats on Monday and hopefully getting home at some reasonable time.

UGH.

I am less than threeing the rain, as the sound of it makes me happy and calm.

I am not less than threeing last-minute event logistical changes. Fortunately I have good street cred on campus and people jump through hoops for me the few times I beg a favor. Hooray for being diplomatic and politic at work.

Got a lot done last night - litter boxes, vacuum, laundry, talked to Mom, and watched the latest Ken Burns documentary. Still need to organize some stuff, put some other stuff away, go food shopping, return something, and do one little repair item, but it's doable, as Q is going out tonight with the boys.

And my sister might be coming down next weekend. Yayzers.

Survived Pennsic, and, as always, it was amazing and wonderful and full of drama and heat and fun and rain and laughs and shopping and friends and stuff. :)

Been easing back into life and work and dealing with all that entails, including students returning to campus this past week. This weekend we got out of the house and went to the DC doll club meeting, did a little shopping, had dinner at Red Robin, and then Q had to go to work, and I'm going to bed soon.

On the down side my computer got fried and we need to buy a new one - well, two, actually, since Q's been without a computer for quite a while now and we'd been getting by on just mine. Now we're down to my very, very old laptop, but it does the job until we can figure out what we're going to do next.

That's it for now. I'll get back to updating again in due course. Hope everyone's doing well, and feel free to give me any big updates I might have missed over the past month or so.

Meant to post about the weekend with Mom.

( Cut for those bored by my lifeCollapse )

Meanwhile this week has been... well, this week. Returned Q's rental car Monday, then stayed late at work so he could go to a party. Tuesday we had to deal with house issues, then pick his car up from the mechanic after work. Last night it was Cici's for dinner, then picked up a few necessities at Walmart. Tonight I'll probably cook, and hopefully they'll let us go early tomorrow for the weekend. Q's working, but Kyan, Sev and Matt may stop over on Sunday (Kyan says he wants to go to Pennsic this year, but Q doesn't think he's going to actually do it). I got a bead on a gaming day in Alexandria on Monday which I may head up to, but we'll see how the weekend goes. Next week I'm only in two days, then taking off Thursday and Friday to head up to Philly for a doll con Q is going to.

So, yeah. Lots going on, I guess. Oh what fun. :P

Spent the day Friday touring some of the monuments. Did a loop of the White House, Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, WWI Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, and one I'd never seen before, 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence Memorial, which I rather liked (I'll post pictures later). It was about 4-5 hours of walking, so we were bushed by the time we were done, but I still had a 3-hour drive up to Mom's.

Saturday was doing stuff around the house, and then helping my sister move a couch. Afterwards we took Mom to Applebee's for dinner.

Today we got up a little earlier and went to Generations (nee The Little Inn) in Media for brunch with defenestr8or and buddykat, which was wholly pleasant - both the food and the company were beyond satisfying. We zipped home, grabbed the cats, and made it home so Q could get to work.

One bit of unfortunate news - found out last week that Gaylaxicon in Montreal has been cancelled this year. Disappointing for boywhocantsayno and his team, no doubt, but on the plus side the bid from Atlanta for 2011 has been approved, so we'll just see them 6 months later. And fandom chugs along... :)

Office was around 88 this morning, but it looks like the A/C *finally* kicked in as it's down to 85.3 right now. Turns out we weren't on the waiting list - the chiller broke, but no one bothered to tell us until we pestered them about it. Took 'em long enough. Now I'm warned the building will be freezing for the rest of the summer. Lovely. Also, the pollen has been outrageous in this heatwave - my truck looked like it had a yellow paint job overnight.

Anyway, lots to do today, DC tomorrow, Mom's for the weekend, and brunch with the Medians on Sunday. w00t!

Several interesting dominoes have fallen of late that lead to an intriguing potential chain of events:

1. So DC is doing gay marriages now. Cool.

2. Maryland's AG also just informed the state legislature that the mini-DOMA they passed last year does not preclude them from recognizing same sex marriages performed out of state (at least until the legislature decides to pass another bill). Even cooler.

3. Several folks where I work have been pushing for same sex partner benefits (or, at least, better benefits - the system they have right now is weird) for a while.

4. Maybe Q and I should get married in DC, then let the college know Maryland now recognizes us as married, and then see them change their benefits accordingly.

5. We could be state-wide heroes and pariahs all rolled up into one.

6. PROFIT!

Wow, really, Catholic archdiosese of DC? Really?

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/03/03/d-c-catholic-charity-drops-spouse-coverage-over-gay-law/

Way to perpetuate your bigotry by punishing your employees (and the poor and homeless last month).

Honestly, WWJD? I don't think he'd do that.

So other than friends dying, we had a decent weekend.

Friday night I went gaming with the local group, and I got to christen my new copy of Ticket To Ride. Our organizer lost his job and is moving back to Seattle, so I volunteered to take over the Meetup site and help work on someplace to meet if no one volunteers their place.

Saturday we hit Waldorf for Q's comics, then headed around the loop for his doll club meeting. Nothing much of interest for me there, although the people are extremely nice and I do like chatting with them. (They also found out I have a couple of dolls in my past, specifically the Star Trek Ken and Barbie, as well as Cockring Magic Earring Ken and Western Stompin' Ken, all of which can be blamed on Natalie.)

Afterwards we hit Ikea for some new bedding, then met up with Sev and Matt for Thai food and to poke their fat little kitties.

Sunday was spent in happy, lazy slothdom, although I did do a few chores and booked a room at Charles Town Races & Slots for a birthday weekend we're going to on Friday.

This week will be mostly chores and such. Lots to do - work, plane tickets for Q's brother's wedding, planning out the next few months and figuring out what we can and can't afford to do, food shopping, taxes, Q's resume, etc. My Gorgeous Life, indeed.

To whit:

• A boring weekend and week so far. Q was working all weekend, so I stayed in and futzed around the house a bit (managed to finally get the Christmas tree packed away, for example). Nothing too exciting.
  
  
• Monday night I fell asleep when I got home from work, but last night we went out to dinner and got some shopping done.
  
  
• The new Olive Garden finally opened this week, but of course it's packed to the gills. Hopefully the novelty will wear off so we can go eat there soon. It's not gourmet, but at least it's another choice. I really need to put together a list to help us decide where to go since neither of us can ever make up our minds, and we end up forgetting half the restaurants anyway.
  
  
• Finally got my own copy of Ticket To Ride, which I'm quite happy about. Alas, the local gaming group organizer is moving within the next few weeks, so we need to decide what to do next (I'm willing to help organize, but I can't host - our place is just too small).
  
  
• The College has a new president. Can't wait to see what the students and faculty find to rail about.
  
  
• I see that Virginia's governor has chosen not to extend equal government job protection to the GLBT community. He's a choad, and I empathize with my friends from VA.
  
  
• Some people need to actually go away when they say they're going to go away - not 2 years later. GO AWAY.
  
  
• More snow coming tonight - huzzah! I'm appreciating it for what it is, but Q's oh so over it.
  
  
• This weekend I have gaming on Friday, then I think we're going to Ikea on Saturday. Next weekend we may go to a casino for Angel's birthday. At some point we want to do a taco night, but not sure when.
  
  
• Looking ahead on the calendar, and we have lots of travel coming up we need to plan for - Q's brother's wedding in April, CON.TXT, Philly Wizard-Con and a Tonner con in June, Pennsic in July/August, Gaylaxicon and another Tonner con in October... whew!
  
  That's it. I know, boring stuff, but that's my life. O woe is me.

It's sleeting at the moment, on top of the several inches on the ground. They're saying it's going to get very worse overnight. They're also announcing power outages in DC because of the wind and heavy snow/ice, so I'm thankful we decided to pick up the camping gear last night. And why are they calling it "The Blizzard of 2010?" There's still 10.75 months to go. What if we get another one at the end of the year? Stupid news crews.

Also, the TV keeps going out. NEVER EVER EVER GET SATELLITE TV. EVER. HATE.

Q worked the first half of the week and went to visit a friend who returned from the Philippines Wednesday night, so last night was the first night we really spent together. I made stir fry and we caught up on some stuff on the TiVo. Today we're having lunch with a co-worker of mine. Yay.

Surprised our boss on Wednesday with bagels. She specifically said, "No cake!" so what choice did we have? :)

I think I may have finally cleaned up the malware on the computer. Avast works really, really well - thanks, suba_al_hadid er, scout1222! Maybe now I can play some City of Heroes this weekend.

The house has, remarkably, remained fairly clean. I do have a few follow-up items to do, though, so I'll try to get some of them done this weekend.

Snow's coming on Saturday, so we expect to be snowed in, or at least stay in because it's supposed to be bitter cold.

I am sooooooooooooooo sleepy this morning. *yawn* Bagels and tea are good, although a small, traditionalist part of me keeps telling me I shouldn't like cinnamon and brown sugar cream cheese, but I do anyway.

I think that's it. Have a good weekend! :)

Going to see "Avatar" in IMAX 3-D tonight. Yay. Spending the rest of the weekend cleaning. Boo.

Friday night was fun, as Q didn't have to work so he joined me at gaming. We played Soaps, Betrayal at House on the Hill and TransAmerica (I recently bought another copy of Five Crowns, but no one was up for a rummy game). There was also a new person joining us, so that will make 6 core players in the group plus Q whenever he decides to tag along.

Saturday we got up relatively early (for me) to head up to DC for Q's monthly doll club meeting. Our friend Ed was coming down from Philly, so we wanted to make it. Alas, it turned into quite the ordeal. First, we got out the door a little late, but still with plenty of time. Then right out of the gate we got stopped at the two-lane bridge out of our area for about a half an hour for construction. OK, so we would be a little late, no biggie. Then once we hit the outer loop around DC, everything came to a standstill. We inched along for an hour and a half, Q cursing out the GPS on our phones for being moronic, and debating back and forth about what to do. Finally the choice was made for us - the car dinged that we were almost out of gas, so we scooted across to get off at the next exit. Wouldn't you know it, it was that's the exit they were forcing *everyone* to take, as 495 was completely closed between somewhere around the arena and 50. We got off, found a gas station, and then spent another 45 minutes trying to find a way around all the congestion (ended up going all the way out past Bowie - it was a mess!). What should have taken a little over an hour ended up taking *four* hours. NOT HAPPY.

Anyway, the meeting was still going on, and everyone was very nice about us making it finally, and we stayed and chatted for a while. Unfortunately Ed couldn't stay for dinner, but we dropped one member off on our way into DuPont Circle to meet up with our friend Frank, who was visiting from San Diego. We met up with him and another ex-San Diegan, Bob (friends of Q's and Frank's from the Gay Men's Chorus), and had a lovely dinner at Thai Chef and drinks at JR's (where Q once again proved he still had it, based on the boys hitting on him when my back was turned). It was quite fun, and made up for the horrendous afternoon stuck in traffic.

Sunday we both slept in, caught up on TiVo, and Q went to work. I watched the first two hours of "The Prisoner," and although I can certainly see its faults, it was an ok watch and I'll finish it out, if for no other reason than to see Ian McKellan, who is most stupendous no matter what he does. (I should avoid watching it too close to bed, though - I had some weird dreams last night...)

So now I'm at work, a nice short week. Tomorrow we're having a little pizza lunch, and doubtless they'll let us go early. Q's working all week, but we did get an invite to see friends for Thanksgiving afternoon. Q also found out he's not working next Sunday like we thought, so we're considering heading up to Mom's on Saturday, since if we don't we likely won't see her until Christmas.

So that's it. I know, SO exciting, right? :P

So, on the one hand, the Catholic church is EXTORTING Washington, DC by threatening to pull all of its public services if same sex marriage is approved, impacting one third of DC's homeless (the majority of whom are ostensibly heterosexual, it should be noted), as well as other services.

Let's read that again - THE CATHLOLIC CHURCH IS BLACKMAILING THE U.S. GOVERNMENT AT THE EXPENSE OF THE PEOPLE IT PURPORTS TO CARE ABOUT.

Let that sink in for a bit.

Meanwhile, on the other hand, the Mormon Church gave its full support to an equal rights bill in Salt Lake City that bans discrimination against gays and lesbians in housing and employment, and it was passed unanimously by lawmakers. WTF is up with that?

Of course, the ordinances had to include very specific language that clearly exempted THEM from being affected by the law, but, hey, it's a step in the right direction, right? So let's just forget the MILLIONS OF DOLLARS they threw at California to ban gay marriages there (which, of course, they're still against), m'kay? THANKS!

BIZARRO WORLD OMG!

My sources:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/11/AR2009111116943.html?hpid=topnews

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_gay_rights_mormons

So, all in all, a nice weekend.

Friday we had a little fete at work, but no one got dressed up (except our statue downstairs, who I did up as Michael Jackson). I made a lame attempt by wearing an Incredible Hulk t-shirt and would unbutton my dress shirt if anyone made me mad. :) I had planned on playing some City of Heroes Friday night, but the week got the better of me and I ended up falling asleep on the couch right around the time Q left for work, waking up just long enough to feed the cats and climb into bed.

Saturday we were up and out around noon to attend Q's doll Halloween gathering in Alexandria. He wore his kilt, I wore my chiton. Good turnout, nice people, and the doll he repainted for someone was well received. From there we went to look at a custom dollhouse another member is looking to get rid of, but it's an actual HOUSE, i.e., a small cottage for someone 16" tall. Like HUGE. (Like NO WAY was it coming home with us. Ever.)

After that we stopped and picked up dessert and booze for the evening party, and drove into DC. We got there a little early, but we and the hosts were happy to dig into the food anyway (and there was PLENTY left over at the end of the night). Q, of course, changed into another outfit (his Middle Eastern garb, very flashy). A good time was had by all, even though at points I was totally lost since they were all speaking Tagalog. :) Alas, they all decided to go clubbing, so I was dragged to Secrets for the first time. Meh. Finally got out of there after 2:00 (old 2:00, not new 2:00), and had to pull over for a certain someone to throw up on the way home (first time I've ever seen him do that, poor boo).

Sunday was a restful day of sloth - I caught up on e-mail and such while Q started painting a new doll for a competition at the Tonner convention he's going to in New York this weekend. This week should be mostly quiet - nothing major planned except some food shopping and Q leaving on Friday.

So that's it. Back at work today, for what it's worth. Cheers! :)

Oh, and here's a pic:

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These are the most God awful bagels I've ever had. BLEARGH.

Anyway, had a little get together with queer staff and faculty last night, which was pleasant. Wine, cheese, fruit, cider, pumpkin pie, cookies, and dish dish dish! It was just a few of us boys, so it was nice to catch up now that we're all back on campus.

Tonight and tomorrow I have no idea what we're doing, and Saturday is two Halloween parties, one with the doll freaks, and the other with Q's friends in DC. Should be amusing. I'm probably wearing my SCA garb, which is cheating, but I'm too lazy to put anything together. Not in the Halloween mood as I normally am, I guess because I knew we weren't going to be at the house Halloween night, so I didn't decorate (not that it matters - last year we got 5 groups of kids, so I kind of lost my enthusiasm). We are doing a little Halloween cider and cookies party on Friday in the office, so at least that's something.

Friday night the local gamers decided to get together after all, so I picked up one of the guys and headed over. Everyone seemed raring to learn new games, so the five of us ordered pizza and played Apples to Apples, Carcassonne, Betrayal at House on the Hill, Management Material, Transamerica, and Zombie Fluxx (without the zombies). T'was quite fun and I didn't get home until 1:30 a.m.

Saturday we headed up to DC to have a late lunch with mike14780, who was in town for a conference. It was a nice relaxing few hours at Circa with wine, cheese, calamari, salad and sandwiches, and it was fabulous catching up with him again (we do miss him so). The weather was horrendous, but we managed to survive it. He left for the airport and we had to head back because Q had to work Saturday night.

Yesterday was spent being slothish, although we did make it out to do some food shopping and eat at Cici's (and since we were the last people in the place, we got the rest of the cinnamon rolls - YUM!).

Today is work. My poor boss is having pet crises, so I feel for her. I also got to go back to my old department and review some mid-semester stuff they need to do, and it reminded me how much I both enjoyed working there and how glad I am to have left! :)

Not much going on this week. Q is heading to see his family over the weekend, we're having a little queer staff/faculty gathering next week, and we're making plans for two parties on Halloween (I'm skipping giving out candy this year, as last year we got a grand total of 5 groups of kids all night long).

That's it. How's with you? :)

Today turned out to be more productive than I thought it would be. After Toy Story we stopped in Waldorf and got dinner at Denny's, and when I got home I was unusually tired for it being only 11:30, so I decided to take a little nap... and woke up at noon today. :) Typical.

I took advantage of getting up early (and for me, noon on a Sunday really is early) and dismantled the anti-theft device in Q's car. Seems we're not the only Ion owners who have had the problem of the car locking up on cold mornings, and the favored solution (since Saturn never provided one) was to snip the wire and be done with it, which I did. Hopefully now Q will be able to actually come home from work in the wee hours of the morning, rather than having to sit 10, 20, sometimes 30 minutes waiting just to get the damned car started.

After that I cut and trimmed the lawn, moved some stuff around to where it should be, cleaned up the back porch, and vacuumed the living room. We got a surprise visit from our friend CJ (our last friend from the old guard down here) who stopped in to make sure we were still alive, and it reminded us we need to have a party soon (hopefully we'll be able to plan something when my co-worker Tricia returns from the northeast, plus there's Gaymas in just a few months). I made a nice dinner, and I wrapped up with checking e-mail and the web and playing solitaire (which I'm oddly addicted to lately).

All in all we'd rather have been in Sacramento, at Gaylaxicon, or at the march in DC, but I think I did pretty good for an unexpected staycation. We're both back to work tomorrow, but I'm expecting a light week this week. I'm also hearing from a little birdie that I'm being volunteered to run a certain convention again - hmmm...

G'nite! :D

My friends list seems a little sparse the last few weeks or so. Is everyone migrating elsewhere? Please don't tell me it's Facebook, or I may have to take a hostage, AND NO ONE WANTS THAT.

Meanwhile, the Toy Story double feature was fun, although sadly lacking in a Toy Story 3 trailer. WTF? I thought they were advertising that as part of the whole reason they were doing this promo in the first place? Bastards.

We didn't do the big march on Washington today because we are broke. I'm not too upset, as I really didn't want to go (been there, done that, ad nauseum), but Q never has, and he really wanted to go. Bah. We really need to get our finances under better control.

Had a lovely dinner with a co-worker, then gamed with the kids (I'm their new club advisor). Played a couple of games of Carcassonne, and clearly hooked one of them on it. Also got a random e-mail from Meetup.com about someone starting a gaming group in the area, so I'm going to go to that, too, and see how it goes (only 2 of us so far). There's still that group that meets at the local bookstore, but they weren't as inviting as I'd hoped they would be, whereas these other two groups are. Q also scored tickets to see Margaret Cho this weekend, so we're driving to Richmond on Saturday. Should be fun.

Otherwise it's been a slow week. Spent last weekend at Mom's and the doll event, and got a few things done. Took Monday off. Today my boss was out all day, and I was quite productive. Next weekend we're going to DC for another doll event, but a friend is coming down from Philly, and maybe we'll get to see some DC friends (of which we have one these days, looking at Kyan). Then we need to decide if we're going to Sacramento, Minneapolis, Walt Disney World, or the Philippines. :D

The week with Q's brother and his fiance visiting has been going quite well.

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Totally spaced on the fact that Uncle Rashid is coming down to an SCA event local to me on February 28, so Q and I are going. It's called "A Day in the Middle East" and it looks like a pretty relaxing event, so it should be fun (hopefully Q has off that night so he can enjoy the whole day). With luck Uncle will stay the weekend - yay!

If anyone else is local or in the DC/MD/VA area, let me know.

Not too much to report. Last week work kicked my ass, and it's not getting any better. My one boss is valiantly working to keep us from drowning by trying to stay proactive and upbeat, but it has its limits. This week is looking just as bad - last week of classes this week, finals next week, and the added goodtime funness of moving into a new building next Tuesday. Oh joy, oh rapture mine.

Q and I are chugging along. He's still working oddball hours, but it's been working out OK. Last week we managed a few date nights - Wednesday was BJ's and Chick-Fil-A, Thursday I finally finished off the turkey and made burgers for dinner, Friday I worked late (again) and we ordered in pizza, Saturday we finally went to see our friends' new baby and then went to IHOP and food shopping, and yesterday we lazed about a while before I put up some Christmas decorations. BEHOLD OUR GAY AGENDA.

We're looking ahead to Christmas, but it's gonna be wonky. My last day at work will be the 23rd, after which I will hie to Pam's for the 24th (24th!) Annual Margibtinlin Executive Board Meeting and Holiday Extravaganza. Alas, I'll be heading home the next day because Q has to work Christmas Eve and Christmas day, then has a whole one day off before having to work his normal weekend schedule, so we will probably not make it up to see Mom and the kids until New Year's Eve. Maybe I'll host a party, I don't know. At least I get a full week and a half off. And then, sometime in January, is Gaymas, with whoever's left in this godforsaken place.

On the plus side, the campus radio station is playing all Christmas music, so it's getting me in a better mood. Yay.

Um, that's it. SO FAR. There may be more. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

So, anywho, Gaylaxicon last weekend.

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Doug and Bob are metropolitan policemen with a difference. Doug likes nothing more than slipping into little cocktail frocks, while Bob bouffants his hair for a night on duty...

Er, actually, I stayed late at work on Friday so I could get enough work done that I could take off Monday. Alas, we don't get Labor Day off since that's when the students return for the semester, but since we don't actually have classes a lot of the non-essential people manage to swing the day off anyway. (Me, they owe a couple days comp time, so I'm taking it.) Afterwards I came home, made dinner for me and Q, and then he went to work and I went to bed.

Yesterday we both got up late and were hoping to make it up to DC in time to see Kyan's new apartment, but didn't leave until about 6:00. Instead we headed straight to Fogo de Chão, a Brazilian barbeque restaurant, where our friend Matthew was having his going away party (he leaves for California in a couple of weeks with the Navy). After waiting an HOUR for the guest of honor and his entourage to arrive (grumble grumble), we had a very, very nice dinner, if rather expensive ($225 for the just the two of us - yowza!). If you've never done Brazilian barbeque, I highly recommend it - it's such good food, and such an amazing amount of MEAT. I was the last one eating, and I think I might have even outdone Q, which is quite a feat. I especially loved the bacon-wrapped chicken and any red meat that was well done. Yum! :D

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Afterwards they decided to head to Town but we declinded and instead went and surprised Kyan by showing up at The DC Eagle where he works. The expression on his face when he rounded the corner and saw me of all people was priceless, let alone his reaction when he realized his parents were looking at him in his underwear. :) We hung out there for a bit, and then headed home.

The rest of the weekend Q is working and doing more doll stuff, and I'm working on various household chores, like bills and laundry. We're likely heading up to Mom's in a couple of weeks when he has a rare Saturday off, and she's said I can invite some of the Medians over if I want to do the birthday thing early. Oh, and she also told me on Friday that my Evil Sister is now officially divorced, my troublesome nephew is going to community college for the semester, my oldest nephew headed off for his last semester of college before graduating in December, and my Good Sister is mad at me for not calling her on her birthday. D'oh! (It always falls during Pennsic and I'm always a horrible brother for not remembering.)

So, anyway, I gots bills to pay. :P See ya!

Argh. Hectic week so far. Next week the students arrive for orientation and move in, so we're busy beavers right now. On top of that we discovered Price isn't sick, he's just been acting out. Wonderful.

Still, we managed to make it over to Solomon's Island for a nice dinner at a local restaurant. We haven't done enough of that since we moved here, so now that we're planning to leave we want to at least say we hit some of the local sights.

Tomorrow's another hectic day, but we're hoping to make it to DC to see Kyan's new apartment at least. Whee!

Bedtime now. :P

A most busy weekend. Friday afternoon Q came down and we had lunch with a new queer staff member on campus, who Q liked because he drinks, too. (Kind of late in the game to make new friends down here, but what the hell.) We gave the house a thorough cleaning both Friday night and Saturday, much needed after several weeks of pre-Pennsic planning and neglect. Yesterday we went shopping for a new house phone system and other odds and ends, plus I started to really dive into my Pennsic laundry (I was kind of surprised how much garb I *didn't* wear this year - I have too much anyway, plus I made more, and the weather cooperated for a change so I was wearing stuff I hadn't worn in years).

This week it's working on resumes, bills and other mundane chores. At some point we need to make an Ikea run and see Kyan's new place in DC, plus head back up to Mom's.

And now, just to make your Monday more interesting, here's a print I got from Sandra SanTara at Pennsic this year (more original artwork to come once I scan it):

( Artistic Nekkid Butt - CLICK HERE!Collapse )

So I haven't posted about the slash con I went to, or Pride, or our anniversary...

( A tale of gayocity, six guys, and 175 women...Collapse )

So all in all a lovely weekend, even if I didn't find anyone who shared my fandom, nor did I get inspired by anyone else's. However, I must give a shout out to the VERY friendly and welcoming slashers, including the bright and sparkly justacat, the highly amusing barbana, and the proud new owner of an Adipose, brak666. Thanks for a great weekend, and many thanks to minotaurs for both the membership and letting me hang out with him all weekend. I've no doubt that I'll attend another slash con soon, hopefully the next one in San Diego at least, and hopefully some of the folks I met will come to Gaylaxicon this year in DC.



*Not that it was all that hard - ask me about my fandom!

I am at a slash con. What has become of me?

Had a lovely weekend in Philly going to Wizard World and seeing Mom.

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Alas, no pictures from the weekend as I'd forgotten my camera, but it was fun nonetheless. We may go up again over July 4 weekend as I get an extra day for some reason, but it depends on what someone wants to do for his birthday. :)

Q was working days yesterday and today, so it was nice to spend time after work having dinner together. Tomorrow I have to go to a class for work in the morning, so we're doing lunch in Waldorf. This weekend I'm hoping to get some more stuff done around the house, because we're busy the next two weekends (next weekend is Capital Pride and minotaurs is coming into town for CON.TXT, to which he bought me a membership, and the following weekend troystar will be in DC and Q is going to a wedding in Albany).

Oh, yeah, and there's some kind of anniversary coming up, too. 5 years of pain and misery I mean, "joy" and "happiness". ;)

(Oh, and I can't resist posting Q's quote of the weekend: "Fandom smells funny." At times, so very, very true...)

The NYC Comic-Con was quite fun. We left after lunch on Friday, drove to the train station, hopped on the bus, and got to NYC in very good time. It left us off right near everything we needed to be near, and the cost was right, so I'd definitely recommend it and would do it again (although next time I think we'll try one of the other carriers instead of Greyhound). Had a fight with Expedia over the hotel room, but ended up with a refund for one night, so it worked out.

Saturday we hit the con, and I am excited to report that I have a new boyfriend:

( Isn't he cute?Collapse )

All my pictures are uploaded onto my Fotki album if you want to take a look at the other folks we ran into.

Saturday night we went to the reunion concert of Kids in the Hall, who were of course hilarious. They brought back some of everyone's favorite characters, including Gavin, Cathy and Kathie, the Chicken Lady, the Headcrusher, and, of course, Buddy Cole, who waxed poetic about Jesus being gay. (I also did not know that Buddy Cole had a blog, although it looks like it's not being updated anymore.) Afterwards we stopped at Junior's for cheesecake.

Sunday we went back to the con for another once-through of the floor (not as big as San Diego, of course, but still very impressive), and hit the "Gays in Comics" panel before leaving back to the bus and heading home. We stopped at Applebee's for dinner and were home by 10:00 to find two somewhat miffed kitties who were reluctantly happy to see us, I'm sure.

Quincy picked up a couple of comics, a few more figures, and two Wonder Woman dolls at a pretty good deal. I got three games - Zombie Fluxx, Kill Doctor Lucky (the board game version), and a card game whose name escapes me at the moment, but it involves making horrible things happen to your own character in order to win Gloom (thank you, jsciv!). Derek's big purchase was the wooden sword, we bought a Wonder Woman doll for Bobbi, and I picked up a couple of gifts for folks as well.

So, a busy weekend with lots of walking and travelling and spending too much money, but all in all it was a lot of fun and worth the trip. Quincy wants to go to the Wizard con in Philadelphia in May, and minotaurs already bought me a membership to a slash con in DC in June, and then we'll see. Whee! :)

Margaret Cho and Liam Sullivan are teh funnee, and running into urban_bohemian is teh kewl.

This weekend will be spent doing taxes, and slothing. OH YES IT WILL.

Gabbo and Biran came to visit us this weekend. Yay! Much silliness and Wii-ing, punctuated with a round of Gay Monopoly, clubbing at Town, and yummy good food. Hopefully I can arrange a similar weekend with Uncle Rashid soon.

Yesterday was quite hectic at work as we had an event I was running, but fortunately all went well and I've been getting a lot of compliments. This weekend we're thinking of going up to Mom's, but Thursday night we're going to see Margaret Cho, next weekend we're going to the NYC Comic-Con, and I still need to do taxes, so I'm not sure if it's going to happen or not.

For today, however, I want...

• Quincy to be happy
  
• to lose some weight
  
• these chest pains to stop
  
• my new trees to survive
  
• to go see Mom
  
• my nephew to be successful
  
• some chocolate
  
• teriyaki chicken for dinner
  
• new neighbors

That'll do... FOR NOW.

Anybody ever take one of the express buses from DC to NYC before? We're heading up for Comic Con next month and I keep hearing about it being a good deal, so I figured I'd ask. :)

Had a good weekend. Got all the house lights up (similar to last year), and just need to follow up with a few odds and ends (gonna decorate the big tree out front this year). We also started our shopping, which reminds me of how much money we *don't* have. We're heading up to my mom's for Christmas and the annual Margibtinlin board meeting & holiday party, but most of our local friends will be in NYC for New Year's Eve, so we're planning "Gaymas" sometime in mid-January like we did last year (*much* easier to deal with that way). Now we need to find a sitter for the kids.

Speaking of, Posh and Prince continue to be cute and fuzzy, and ever-hungry noodges as well. It's definitely different having two cats versus just one, but it's worth it when they deign us worth enough to sleep on top of. They're finishing off their medication for the kennel cough they got, but now we're fighting ear mites. Whee.

Quincy's been going out a lot in DC over the weekends, but has been nice enough to leave me home. They did go to an event at Remington's, the c/w bar, and now they all want to learn how to two-step, so I guess I'll be dustin' off my boots sometime soon to show them how. Yee haw. :)

Work is work. I love the students, but some of them are just too stupid to live. How did they get into college? It's sad at times. Otherwise, though, I do love the work, and the office, so it's all good. (I am, however, looking forward to that week and a half off soon.) Oh, and my umpteenth review was as expected - satisfactory, not outstanding, and somewhat snarky despite the distance. No worries - it's done, and doesn't affect me one whit.

I think I'll make cookies this weekend. We have our office holiday party on Monday (the students leave Friday), so it'll be fun.

The weather's been nuts. This time last week the whole place was covered in snow, and today it's going up to the 80's. Weird.

Oh, we found out a couple of weeks ago that a friend of ours is HIV+. Kind of a downer, but I know he'll come through it shining, not only because he's a lot stronger person than he thinks he is, but his best friend is a great role model in that respect.

That's it. Get back to work. :P

Fun welcome home party for Greg, but Pride House hasn't seen this much retroperistalsis since New Year's Eve. (Fortunately, none of it was in the car or on the rugs.) Quincy was quite far gone by the time he passed out, much to the amusement of everyone present (except me).

Due to said hard partying, you'd think there'd have been less on Saturday, but you'd be wrong. After getting a very late start we ended up at the mall to do some shopping, but after we ate I wasn't feeling so hot, so I left the boys at Kyan's so they could go out to the new DC club, Town. We were supposed to go to a housewarming, but at that point it wasn't happening, although I do feel bad since we just met CJ and he seems like a good fellow. No doubt we'll make it up to him at some point.

When I woke up around 8:00 a.m. on Sunday and realized I was still alone in bed, a quick phone call revealed the boys STILL hadn't made it home. *sigh* The things I put up with. I hear they got in around 9:45 a.m., so Sunday was spent with much resting and Chinese food.

Work today, but it's nice and quiet. No kitties until tomorrow. I tried to find another vet who could take them earlier so we could bond over the weekend, but no go. This means we pick them up and then leave the next day for Mom's, but they'll adapt. Also found out the vet we're using does laser declawing, so we're going to schedule them for that soon, too. Shopping tonight for kitty supplies, plus baking cookies and getting ready to leave on Wednesday.

Well our friend Greg surprised us this morning by banging on our door after a year in Afghanistan. Turns out he got home last night, but with no cell phone couldn't reach us (he didn't have our numbers anymore, and we were out at a party). It's great having him back home. He's going to stay with us for a couple of days until he checks back in on base.

Other than that, a nice weekend. The boys went out clubbing Friday night, but I stayed home and cleaned the house. Saturday we ran some errands (including picking out our new kitties, if you didn't see them already), and last night was the party. Today was spent catching up and celebrating by eating out, then those that have off tomorrow went out clubbing again, but Q and I have work, so I'm off to bed shortly.

Had a lovely Jack Benny birthday dinner last night at Famous Dave's in Waldorf with Q, Derek, and minotaurs who was in Baltimore visiting his family. I miss him, and my other good San Diego friends, a LOT. And just to prove what a raging, slashy bastard he really is, as a present he bought me a membership to Con.txt, a slash con in DC next June. ::shakes tiny fist:: Q got me the new Reba duets CD and Annie Lennox's new CD, which I didn't even know was out. Kyan skipped out on dinner, so he owes me now (being his BFF and all). Thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes! :D

Today at work I realized I'm going to need to learn the lovely dance of pleasing two disparate bosses, but I think I'm going to get the hang of it. Tonight we went food shopping, and then I watched "Last of the Time Lords," which was quite amazing (as most of this season has been).

Quincy's busy matting and bagging two new pieces of his artwork for Gaylaxicon this weekend, and I just finished putting everything together for Thalia's artwork as well. (She did fairly well at Conjecture last weekend - sold half her pieces, which isn't bad.) Now I need to pack and get everything ready to head out tomorrow after work.

Alas, we're driving - I'm usually pretty good at managing airfares, but none of my usual mojo was working this time, and I couldn't get anything cheap (and flying with two people instead of one becomes costly - accursed homeowning!). Ergo, we're driving at least half of the 10-hour drive Thursday night, and the rest Friday morning, which is good, because I'll get there in time to hang the art in the Art Show myself. We'll have to leave Sunday morning, alas, since neither of us gets off for Columbus Day and we'll have to be back at some reasonable time, but it's all good. I missed Gaylaxicon in 2006, and I really did miss it, so it'll be good to get back and see some old friends again, meet some new ones (looking at terracinque), and share a room with defenestr8or and catch up with him.

So I'm packing the last couple disks of Deathly Hallows to finish that up, and Q's packing his iPod full of Spice Girls, since he just got tickets to their show in December in Las Vegas. Not sure if we're both making the trip or if he's just gonna go with his fag hag, but either way I know he'll have fun seeing his divas.

Then, when I get back, all in a row, minotaurs, jsciv, mike14780, and someone else (who was it?) are all coming into town (well, DC) over the next couple of weeks. Whee! It'll be great to see everyone, but man, it's gonna be a little crazy for the next few weekends. Hee!