Had a great, long weekend with Ray. Things are going well. :)

I went to work on Thursday, and Ray came down late that night. Friday he went in with me and practiced over in Montgomery Hall, our music building, for a while, then we met up with Clint, a friend and co-worker of mine, for lunch in the Great Room, our campus dining hall. Afterwards he got some more work done, and I got a surprising amount of work done myself, knowing I was planning to leave early. Ended up staying later than I thought I would, so we hit Long John Silver to grab food. Friday night was game night, and he took to it quite well - in fact, he made me play Splendor with him after we got home. :)

Saturday we were supposed to meet Kyan for lunch but he bailed, so we slept in, hate a late breakfast, and did some housework (he'd brought some laundry with him). We finally broke for dinner, went to pick up Thai food, then Clint came over and we ate and played Gay Monopoly (Ray won handily).

Sunday we decided to adventure around, and ended up doing a wine tasting at Cove Point Winery (my favorite), then did some shopping around town. When we got hungry, we went to Golden Corral (his first time), then home for more board games (I think he's hooked!).

Ray stayed over Sunday night but left first thing Monday morning, around the time I was getting up to go to work.

I'm totes sprung. He's awesome. :)

I think I'm actually finished packing for Pennsic with 8 days to spare.

 

I guess that means it's time to start a new project! :-D

Internet's been down at the house since Wednesday, but all that did was help me get way ahead in my Pennsic prep weekend. Got the tubs from storage, unpacked them, sorted them, and am washing what needs it from last year. Next is weeding, re-packing, and figuring out if there's anything else I need (I have an urge to sew, which is never good). Otherwise had dinner with friends Wednesday night, gaming tonight, and a BBQ tomorrow evening. The great work continues! (And only 14 days to go!)

Got a lot of stuff done this weekend - cleaned the floors, sorted through a bunch of crap, saw friends for dinner, inventoried my wine collection, played games, and groomed the cats. None of it was the stuff I was planning to do, but at least it was productive. :)

So it's been a while since I posted a detailed update, so here's a quick and dirty:

April 12-15 - Moved from Lusby back to Lexington Park, from a basement apartment to sharing a house with a local friend. The cats approve of him, so I think we're good.

April 19 - The college where I work had their first Lavender Graduation. It was adorbz.

April 20 - Attended my first Spinners game, the Philadelphia ultimate disc (frisbee) team that my two oldest nephews play for. It was the season opener in Silver Spring, so I drove up to hang out with my sister and my niece. They were surprised to see me, and they won, so w00t for them.

April 21 - Mom's 76th birthday. Thankfully I remembered to send flowers.

April 26 - Went to the DC Eagle for Kyan's birthday. T'was amusing to meet his Facebook friends and watch him pound shots of Tequila. Got a hotel for the night, but alas was stood up by a local prospect, who is now relegated to the trash heap. C'est l'amour.

April 27 - While waiting for my Cube to be serviced at the dealership, got an unexpected call from my friend Huey. Seems his sister was making him drive her from NYC to DC to pick up her new car, so he decided to make a day of it. I picked him up, we got something to eat, then went to the AFW pot luck, and then met up with some of my queer co-workers at Secrets (it was Leonard's first time in DC and Clint's first time at Secrets, so we had a lot of fun). Drove back to the house to crash.

April 28 - Drove Huey back to the Metro station to get his car, and he headed home and I ran some errands.

May 1 - Dinner out with the local old queers group. Bad food, but great company.

This weekend - Looks like Gaylaxicon in Atlanta isn't going to happen (I was holding out hope), so instead I may do some gaming tonight, and then tomorrow I may go up to DC for the first Gay Day at the Zoo, but will definitely go up to Baltimore to meet up with Joe and Will for the Games Club of Maryland Game Days they're coming down for, and play a few games and have dinner and hang out for a bit.

Coming up I've got an ifCon meeting next Saturday, then going to Frederick for a birthday party Saturday and Philly for my sister's 50th on Sunday the following weekend, and then probably have people over Memorial Day weekend. I'm also trying to find time to get up to Cooper's Lake to get my tent roof out of storage since it needs to be repaired.

So, yeah. Life is life. :)

While moving I've been unpacking more personal insights than packing belongings...

Last night was supposed to be stuff, but instead, zzz...

After moving some stuff over the weekend, I ran out of boxes on Sunday, but got more from work yesterday. Tonight there was a huge backup heading home over the bridge, so I turned around and did some shopping and got something to eat instead of sitting in traffic for an hour. When I got home I went around the development and posted signs for the yard sale on Saturday and posted ads online (hopefully my landlords will join me, since it was their idea in the first place).

The plan for the rest of the week is decide on a storage unit tomorrow, sign the paperwork for it and pick up a rental truck on Thursday, move all my stuff Friday, have the yard sale on Saturday, list anything that doesn't sell on Craigslist on Saturday afternoon, steam clean the carpets Sunday, and then I'm out by Monday. Hallelu!

Weekend started out productive and fun - Friday night was dinner and board gaming, and Saturday was a haircut, lunch and shopping. Then Saturday night I suddenly felt the flu hit me so I crashed and burned into sickness and bleh. Spent the day Sunday under the covers, taking vitamins and trying to sweat it out. Felt good enough to come into work this morning, but not sure how long I'll stay. :(

Oh, look - I have a couch under all this crap...

Spent the weekend getting ready for Pennsic. Ye gods I spend so much work getting ready for my vacation it's exhausting. (And it would be worse if I didn't have the storage unit there.)

Friday I got an eye exam, a haircut, and did some gaming, but Friday was spent in the rain under a tarp spread between the back of my car and the front of my landlord's truck while sorting through tubs full of garb (as I don't have any room in my apartment to spread out). Fortunately Sunday was bright and sunny so everything dried up and I did a practice run of loading the car (which, after putting in the things I know for a fact are going, turned into a "fuck it, I'm just leaving everything in there" real-time run).

The rest of this week will be spent sorting through and pulling stuff I'm not taking (as I'm running out of room) and various other tidbits, including the finishing touches on a gift I'm making for an old friend.

I'm also crazy busy with stuff at work, including a checklist of things to do, and today felt like a total waste.

However, if all goes well I'll leave for Philly Friday, drop off the cats at Mom's, and then head out to Pennsic on Saturday. FINALLY.

P.S. Did I mention MAJOR land grab drama? Oh, the fun never ends...

This is my evening mental checklist (the first four are my downstairs list, i.e., before I go upstairs to bed [which I don't do anymore, but I'm OCD like that], and the second four are my upstairs list):

• Thermostat (moot now since I don't control the A/C)
  
• Door (locked)
  
• Phone (in my hand to carry upstairs)
  
• Water (dish filled for the cats)
  
• Eyes (contacts out)
  
• Teeth (brushed)
  
• Pee (self-explanatory)
  
• Alarm (on)

May I just say I'm totally geeking out about grocery shopping for the fondue party I'm having on Saturday. Such a geek. :)

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? ;)

Finally getting around to setting up my old TiVo. So far so good, although I think I may have accidentally fried the one I reappropriated from my mother (which means I lost out on a dual tuner, but oh well). If all goes well the next step is to rearrange the room so I can watch TV from both the couch and my bed, which will consist of the rest of my weekend methinks.

Lovely weekend in Philly for Mom's birthday. Drove up Thursday night, and found she'd already done a lot of work around the house and in the yard. Spent Friday and Saturday doing mostly yardwork and little repairs around the house, food shopping, and food prep.

Sunday was the party, and we had a good turnout of around 30 people including kids. I've come to the conclusion that Mom likes being the indirect center of attention - she loves being the one to throw the parties, but not the one for whom the parties are thrown. Still, we all had a good time catching up with family (despite the rain). I do wish my oldest sister wouldn't get so worked up about things, though - very distracting.

Monday she had a tooth pulled in the morning, so I went with in case she wanted me to drive her home (she did). I hung around for a bit, she foisted food on me, and I finally left in the afternoon.

So, yeah, nice enough weekend. Oh, and also stole back Mom's 80-hour TiVo since she got a new DVR from her cable company - score! :)

The rest of the week looks mildly entertaining - haircut, LGBT community pot luck on campus, gaming, and possibly more gaming. :)

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.

Well, I didn't buy a car yesterday, but I think I'm poised to buy one on Saturday.

What happened was I was just about home on Tuesday night (still moving, BTW - ugh) when what was previously a tiny, almost undetectable squeak turned into a grinding metal-on-metal brake problem. I've been working on buying a Cube since Thanksgiving, and I figured I was nearing the end of the process anyway (been doing a LOT of research, calling, price comparing, etc. - it's the Libran in me), so I took the day off Wednesday and worked this thing to death. I was prepared to call AAA, tow the car directly to a dealership, and sign off on the papers if I got the right deal, but it didn't quite happen, although I think I've got everything lined up.

So, yeah. w00t. :)

Thank the lord and little green apples my desktop is up and running again, with more memory and a wireless card to boot. I less than three my geeky IT-type friends! :D

Dear Brain,

Listen, today I told you we were going to do ALL THE THINGS. Please focus and stop getting distracted, OK? We've got work to do!

Love,
Me

Edited to add: GIP

It was a good Thanksgiving - no traffic either way, fantastic time hanging with Mom (both shopping and getting chores done), dinner was superb as always, got to hang out with friends playing board games all day Friday, and rented a Cube again so I enjoyed the drive.

Had an obligatory family squabble, although oddly this time it involved me being mad at someone else (rare in my family). I nicely but firmly told my oldest sister that not only was I hurt that she said I didn't have any concern for my nephew's allergies to the cats (which I had to bring with me, but I kept locked away until they left), but that I no longer cared for her (ill-informed) disapproval that I apparently don't do enough chores for Mom when I come up. I expected her to get huffy, but I didn't expect her to storm off in a huff. Oh, well - not my pig, not my farm. :)

Been busy at work this week, but on the plus side I finally found a granola mix I like, so yay for healthier snacking. :D

Oh, I'm sorry, what was that? My weekend? Er, gaming, laundry, a little cleaning, and a lot of sleeping. Boring, but productive. :)

12-hour day yesterday, but totally worth it. It's the end of the fiscal year this week, and I'm all SPEND SPEND SPEND! Yeah, none of it's for me, but it's other people's money, so that's fun. :) Plus, working longer days so I can take Friday off and have a much-needed long weekend. Mom threatened to kidnap me for a weekend in Florida, but I think I'd rather stay home and get some stuff done. New washer/dryer arrives next week, too, so need to get the old one out of the way, and packing for Pennsic continues apace. w00t.

Meanwhile... NEED TEA.

I've always wanted to be able to stop time. Then I'd have all the time I needed to do whatever - nap, clean, relax, read, whatever. I think it's one of the reasons I like Pennsic - it really feels like my real life has been put on hold while I go off and do something relaxing.

A mere 2 months until Pennsic. I'm not planning any projects this year (sewing or otherwise), so I'm just sort of counting down the days. I do need to get organized, though, which will take some time. Ah, well - I'm just looking forward to it, for the most part.

Friday - Board gaming with the local group, then folks hung out at our place where we exchanged iiiiiiinteresting gossip. Tried a new sparkling wine (Barefoot moscato), which was pretty good.

Saturday - Since all the local pharmacies have adopted the opposite hours from everyone else (i.e., stay open later on weekends), I had to drive all the way to Waldorf to get Q's allergy medication. Still, it wasn't so bad, and I made an evening of it, including picking up the Mumm sparkling wine I'd been waiting for, grabbing dinner, getting gas, and shopping at Wal*Mart (including running into a co-worker who wasn't supposed to be up and about after her hip replacement surgery, but I'm sworn to secrecy). Also somewhere in there did some minor fix-its on my truck and finished sawing the wood to finish the shelves in the attic.

Sunday - Taxes, but worth it for the hefty refunds (all of which is already spent). Talked to Mom, and she's decided on a new car (finally!). Feeling flu-ish. Bleh.

Monday - Sleeping in the hopes of fending off whatever I've got. BLEH.

G'nite!

Much accomplished today - productive day at work despite losing power for a short while, finally put on the new registration stickers on my license plate, bought a game I've been looking for for weeks (Burn Rate, out of print so hard to find), avoided crashing on the couch and/or getting sucked into the computer all night, got the nifty custom glass gaming tokens I ordered, checked the car for leaks and topped off the fluids, dished some dirt with Gabbo, paid some bills, ate dinner, did several loads of laundry, graciously forgave Q his callous disregard for my feelings from the weekend, pulled together our tax information to do later this week, updated my to do list, and am now off to bed to cuddle with some kitties. Brilliant! All that after a mixed bag of a weekend (shopping, cleaning, friends over for dinner, Q's aforementioned transgression, sloth, chores, sleep).

I suppose I should stop grousing about how no one updates their LJ and update mine once in awhile, huh? :P (And no, I'm not spending all my time on Facebook like some of you other turncoats.)

The weekend was good. Friday night we had another date night and went up to Waldorf. We were going to go to Red Lobster (Lent and all), but it was packed, so we went to Mimi's instead, which was a good choice - I got the dijon brie chicken, and he got something with shrimp. (One thing the waitress couldn't explain is why a restaurant with a French New Orleans theme chose to label its special menu "Price Fixed." WTF?) Afterwards we saw "Rango," which was extremely well done and I liked it more than I thought I would, and Johnny Depp was as creative and enjoyable as I usually find him to be.

Saturday we spent the day cleaning like mad, and then some friends who needed some serious decompression from life came over. Much drinking and noshing and "RuPaul's Drag Race" watching ensued, followed by an abrupt time change. It was good to see everyone and get a chance to let off some steam.

Sunday consisted of major amounts of sloth.

This week's been quiet, as it's spring break. My boss was out yesterday, so a good day to relax and catch up. Alas, Q's brakes were making noise, so I was up way wicked early this morning to meet him at the mechanic to drop off his car on his way home from, and my way going to, work. (Turns out we need both rear brake pads and rotors, so good call on my part.)

It's a short week for me, as the college graciously gives us Friday off (whoopee), then we leave for Sacramento next Wednesday - w00t.

Oh, and why is everyone hating on cats today? Back off, or I'll shred your face. :P (For the record, we own two, but we also love dogs and are looking forward to being able to have one someday.)

So, anything snoo with you? :)

Did I mention I survived Gaymas?

This all took place 2 weekends ago (Jan. 15). Took the day off Friday and cleaned like crazy (mostly the pantry, which needed it before I could put everything away). Finished vacuuming about 30 seconds before the first guest arrived on Saturday afternoon. We played a few games and had much fun, but, alas, my lingering desire to play massive amounts of Cosmic Encounter was not quenched - just one round to teach the basics and didn't even get into alien powers. Much sadness. Later on the rest of the folks arrived, and much revelry was had (although nothing too shocking this year, which I'm sure had nothing to do with the fact that Kyan couldn't make it). There was food, drink, gift swapping, Wii playing, and two board games before everyone left. It was a little different being kind of an all-day affair for a change, but I think it worked out ok. Sev and Matt stayed over, so we had breakfast with them before Q had to run off to work, and I ran off to the couch for a good long nap. :)

Speaking of food and cravings, I didn't make it for the party, but I did finally satisfy my hunger for my mother's "Cha-Cha Chicken." It's the simplest dish in the world, but I do love it. For Christmas she also made me and my sister our favorite chocolate chip cake, which was so good I scanned and stole the recipe from her. Now I'm just waiting to get the urge to start playing City of Heroes again, although my new computer isn't quite up to snuff. (It can handle Plants Vs. Zombies ok, though!)

Other than that, life chugs along. Work is good - the other day I had the odd urge to completely clean out my e-mail inbox, and it was quite nice to see it empty. Now I just need the urge to do the same with my physical inbox...

caprine pointed me to Noir Jewelry which has a Marvel license to make rather expensive Wonder Woman jewelry. Perhaps if someone is *really really good* they might get something neat for their birthday. (But they'd have to be *really really good*.)

Speaking of, Q came home from work and hugged me the other day. It was a "d'aaaaaaaaaaaaw!" moment (mostly because he didn't then ask for dolls or a favor or something). :D

That's it. Poor Q is working a long week this week, but he'll get some OT out of it. Not too much on the schedule for 2011 except for a trip back to Sacramento, Gaylaxicon in Atlanta, Pennsic, and the Tonner convention in Chicago. No doubt other things will creep in as the year progresses, but for now, that's enough.

Oh, and happy 2011, all. I usually make one attainable resolution every year, and have made each and every one, but this year's I'm keeping a secret for now. ;)

Cleaning aaaaaaaaaaall day, and still not ready for Gaymas tomorrow. Whose bright idea was it to have people over earlier than last year?

Oh, wait. Mine. BAH.

On the plus side, the pantry's spic 'n span, and the fridge has been cleaned out. Tomorrow it's attic, vacuum, and... oh, yes - PANIC.

G'nite!

Hullo. Haven't posted much of substance lately, so I should rectify that.

Holidays were pleasant. Drove up to Mom's on the 22nd, went to the Medians Christmas party on the 23rd, was regaled with debauchery and silliness, and drove back on Christmas Eve. Q worked the weekend, so we had a quiet Christmas together, and managed to go see friends and game a little. Went back up to Mom's on the 28th, went to a New Year's Eve party in NJ, and my sisters and the kids came down New Year's Day to do the whole family Christmas thing.

We got some decent loot, including a new iron, lots of gift cards, some goodies from WDW, a couple of games, stuff for the house, and cash monies.

Work's been quiet but chugging along, getting ready for the kids' return next week. New carpeting in the Library went smoothly and looks great. Have plenty of things to do to keep me busy this week.

Gaymas is this weekend, so lots to do there to get ready, too (didn't help that I fell asleep on the couch after work last night). Looking at some afternoon gaming and then drinking and general revelry at night. Didn't do nearly enough this past weekend to get ready, but might have a snow day tomorrow, so that'll be a plus. (BTW, weather, if you're going to snow, could you just please go ahead and SNOW? This back and forth BS is annoying. KTHNXBAI.)

Otherwise all is well. How's with you?

Feeling a bit less stressed today. Had to run the car to the mechanic yesterday at lunchtime, but he called and said he just needed to adjust the struts to stop them from creaking (although he said they probably need to be replaced at some point - UGH - but for now the car is completely safe to drive). Left work, went home, got our hairs cut, picked up the car, did a little shopping (couldn't find plain red gloves, so may make them myself), finished up some work I brought home to finish, and finally finished sewing the pants (got to bed around 2:30 a.m.).

I'm still left with the entirety of the cloak to sew, but after a brief chat with a co-worker this morning, I'm feeling comfortable ditching the lining and hem for now (it's cheap fake velvet, so it naturally curls anyway); otherwise I'd be in the hotel room sewing away on Friday night once we get there. I'll probably give it the old collge try anyway (I'll be able to leave work at lunch today, thankfully), but if I don't finish it I've accepted it and am not stressing about it.

Once home it's pack and off to Mom's. Going to be a heck of a weekend...

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.

Thank you, dryer *and* car, for both breaking down at the same time, right before a major trip. Are you two in collusion with our bank account, or perhaps the cats?

I have taken a 5-hour energy.

I CAN SEE THROUGH TIME.

Well at least I don't have to feel bad about leaving early yesterday during a lull in the deluge, as they closed the place down about 15 minutes after I left. So what did we do during the monsoon? SHOPPING! Of course. We're weird.

One of my several Halloween costumes is coming together - yay! I'll post pics once I get further along.

Otherwise, OMG OCTOBER.

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.

The good news: I get the house to myself for the weekend! :)

The bad news: Q's gone for the weekend. :(

The good news: I can get a pretty good used computer to tide us over for only $50, and it helps out a worthy cause.

The bad news: The A/C in the car is smoking.

Other stuff going on as well - still doing Pennsic laundry, lots of financial stuff to straighten out, looking ahead to Halloween already, etc. - but those would be today's highlights. On the edge of your seats, I'm sure. :P

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

Mom's coming down this afternoon to visit for the weekend, so that'll be fun. I'm going to give her a campus tour and introduce her to my friends and co-workers and both former and current bosses, and then we'll have dinner in the dining hall. On the way home we're going to drop off Q's car at the mechanic to take care of a few things while he's gone. No solid plans for the weekend, other than a little shopping, doing some stuff around the house, and a potential trip to Waldorf. I'm hoping she'll stay through to Monday morning so she can at least say hi to Q when he gets back Sunday night.

Oh, and I really need to post about the wedding and meeting Q's family one of these days, don't I? :)

Skipped lunch and stayed at work a little late to wrap everything up, but got done what I wanted to get done. Q is sick with allergies, so he stayed home tonight instead of going into work, which is just as well. I bought new luggage and picked up Panera's for dinner, and tonight it's been getting packed and ready to go. I'm going to throw a few more things in my bag then hit the sack, although I was smart enough to book us a later flight so we don't actually need to leave the house until noon. Then it's drop off the kitties, head to the airport, and enjoy a lovely eight hours of go and stop and go and stop and go and stop and go and STOP... eventually. :)

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... :)

Is it weird that the thing I'm most excited about the trip next month is getting into my storage unit?

Friday was Annapolis and a tux fitting, but no suit for me (Men's Warehouse was far pricier than I thought it would be). A quick stop at the mall, then back home for tacos, margaritas, Uno, Uno Attack and Uno Tippo.

Did stuff around the house for the rest of the weekend (Q was working). Filled out the census, took care of some mail, blah blah blah. Mom called in a panic because she saw a mouse in the house, which amused me.

Tossed and turned all night last night and woke up quite ill, so called out sick. Slept in, feeling better. Quick run to Target tonight, but otherwise just catching up on online stuff.

Work tomorrow, Mom's this weekend. My gorgeous life, indeed.

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.