Oh, happy day. :) Congrats to all my married friends and those who have been waiting for this day. This entire fight proves that endurance, patience and love eventually triumph. #lovewins

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. :)

Got a long to do list at work but feeling like I'm not getting anything done today. Yesterday I got treated to bagels for Secretaries'... er, "Administrative Professionals" Day, and today is my boss' official going away party (I wanted to wear black with heavy veils but everything was in the laundry).

Still, can't complain - I'm seeing friends tonight, I get to sleep in tomorrow, I'm seeing different friends tomorrow night, and I'm spending the day Sunday with the new boy, so all in all not too shabby. :)

So a couple of notes for my friends. This has been on my mind for the last few days so I wanted to express it.

First, I was once asked, "Why do people make fun of you all the time?" My answer was, "Because I allow it." Please don't take my good naturedness for granted, because I find that hurtful.

Second, yes, I do have lines, although they're pretty far afield. If I point out that you're crossing them (and I'll do my best to be clear about it), I'd appreciate it if you took it seriously (especially since I like to think that I rarely invoke them). If you don't, or if you continue to dance across my lines because you think it's funny to poke me (see my point above), I'll be sad to see you go. (NOTE: The words "I'm sorry" mean a lot to me. I hope I use them in my dealings with others.)

Third, my Facebook page is my space. I appreciate the comments and likes, of course (who doesn't), and I don't mind some constructive criticism now and again, but there's a time and place, folks - if you don't like what I post and have nothing but snark to say about it, consider just scrolling past it. It's a big internet, so I'm sure you can find someplace else to play instead of pissing all over my living room.

Finally, knock it off with the slut shaming. Since in most cases I openly encourage you to fly your own freak flag however you see fit, I don't think I deserve derision in return.

That was it. Thanks for listening.

The halcyon days of yore are gone, people. *sigh*

For those who have known me the longest, I have sad news.

Mom is filling in the pool this week. The halcyon days of summer pool parties are officially over.

Goodbye, old friend. I replaced your liner, painted your coping, backwashed your filter, and spent countless hours enjoying the company of friends and family in and around you. I wish we could have had one last fling, but your time has come. Rest in peace.

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. :)

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. :)

First of all, Scrapple, cheesesteaks and black cherry wishniak soda are the native delicacies of Philadelphians.

Second of all, I may have found an easy solution to my bed problem at Pennsic. (Also may have to deal with my fault roof again this year, but I'll fix that later.)

Third of all, my games library is now completely updated on BoardGameGeek, including the new cards I just bought on eBay.

Fourth of all, I need to stop talking about food, Pennsic and games and do some actual work at work. :)

I posted updates on Facebook, but for your enjoyment I put them all together in a timeline (including pictures!):

Friday, April 12:
11:24am: Moving is the pits.
1:42pm: Funny how loading a U-Haul in the rain feels like Pennsic...
4:18pm: 10 hours to load it, 2.5 to unload it.


Saturday, April 13:
8:21am: YARD SALE TODAY! Who's coming? :-P
2:09pm: Thank you, landlords, for telling me 2 days before I move out that you "have a problem" with me steaming cleaning the carpets myself. Um, the lease just says steam clean, not pay for professionals to do it. (And don't bring up "we pay the electric and water" when say I wanted to save money, because the professionals use electric and water, too.) Also, wipe down the walls? Seriously? Um, no. And I'm sorry you told your new tenant he could move in on Monday after we talked about Monday being my last day - it's not my fault you can't keep your dates straight.
5:27pm: PURGE ALL THE THINGS
7:37pm: Running out of steam, but I think I did pretty good today. If promises are kept, I'll only have the bed and couch to deal with. :)

9:51pm: Treating myself to dinner because I need to. :-/

Sunday, April 14:
3:12pm: Good talk with the rational landlord who said to ignore the prissy one. :) Also, a woman came back from yesterday and bought three more items, and I have three offers for the couch and mattress from Craigslist (plus an offer from a thrift store to come pick them up). One more trip to the storage unit, a couple of trips to the new place, and then I start cleaning. w00t! :)
4:11pm: When did I go through a turtleneck phase?
6:27pm: How telling is it that my storage unit is sorted as follows: kitchen, paperwork, books, Pennsic, tools, stuff, stuff to get rid of (donate), and stuff I might actually need? Yeah, that's what I thought... :-/
9:13pm: My new roommate made me dinner. I think this is going to work out juuust fine... ;)

Monday, April 15:
12:12pm: Somebody please tell me that's a *light* at the end of the tunnel and not an oncoming train...
3:33pm: UGH. The last 10% really does take 90% of the time. :-/

Tuesday, April 16:
11:29am: Move is done. EXHAUSTED. Last load was waaay too late last night, then cleaned, vacuumed and steam cleaned the carpets. Car is still full of stuff. So glad to be sitting at a desk for 8 hours. Now begins The Great Unpacking...
1:16 pm: Things I learned from this move:
- I'm old
- When people offer to help, say yes
- Rent the truck longer
- Start earlier
- Pay to have someone else do it
Oh, and NEVER MOVE AGAIN EVER.

Wednesday, April 17:
11:03 am: Made it to work yesterday, then came home, promptly fell asleep, and woke up in time to go to work again today. Hopefully those 14 hours will get me right as rain. :)

I'm also going to post something longer about how I viewed the move from a more personal perspective. ;)

The word is given - I move in a month. Your prayers for Bob, please, the poor bastard... ;)

(No, I'm only moving across town, but it's a necessary step in order to save money for a bigger move; and no, Bob's just a friend.)

Things learned this weekend:
* I will always cry when Lal dies.
* "Amadeus" is still my favorite film.
* Gay bars have turned into places for hanging out with friends.
* I'm jonesing for the new "Doctor Who."
* My kitties are big wussies.
* I'm broke.

Working on making some small-to-medium-sized changes that will hopefully lead to long-term financial gains. We'll see how they go...

Flight's booked - New Orleans for a Big Gay Wedding at the end of the month. :)

P.S. Fuck Delta right in the earhole.

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. :)

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. :(

Mousie #4 released this morning into the (far away) wild. This is getting old.

The Cough du Désespoir is being managed with treatment, but it really can't be gone fast enough for me.

Lovely dinner last night with local friends at a good Japanese restaurant. Meeting up with more friends over the weekend for games and food.

The SCA proves once again I'm a glutton for punishment. (And I thought fandom was rough.)

So yesterday the Board of Directors of the SCA, after a months-long debate period, ruled thusly (and unanimously):

"Each competitor in a Royal List must be fighting for a prospective consort of the opposite sex unless the Crown has elected to permit a competitor to fight for a prospective consort of the same sex."

What that means is that two men or two women can now fight to be King and King or Queen and Queen of their kingdom, with the caveat that the currently reigning King and/or Queen has the option to deny them entry to the competition.

This is what we're calling "inspirational equality," as the idea behind it is to have the ability to fight for the one who truly inspires you, regardless of who it might be. It's also not just an LGBT issue - who says a daughter can't fight for their mother, or a brother fight for his brother, if that's who truly inspires them to greatness?

Given this dialogue only seriously started just a couple of years ago (something we queers in Clan Blue Feather had been kidding around about for 20 years), this is a huge first step. Alas, the BoD didn't take a more decisive forward step by leaving that caveat in, but based on what I know of their deliberations, they felt like they hadn't gotten a clear mandate like they'd hoped (they recently did a Society-wide census and although a majority favored equality, there were clearly areas of the map that did not). Given that, they came up with this imperfect (ha!) step. I'm hopeful that it will prove to the nay-sayers that not only is it not a bad thing, but it's actually a very good thing for the SCA, and the Society won't crash and burn because of it. (Similarly, the SCA got better when they made other changes, such as letting women fight, making positive changes for the disabled to access events, etc.; we're supposed to be re-creating the best of the Medieval period, after all.)

So, being all excited, a lot of people started celebrating this victory, even while acknowledging there is still more work to be done (it will definitely be interesting when the first royal couple decides to deny a same-sex couple the right to fight, which will likely end up back in the BoD's lap and we'll have to re-evaluate yet again, but I'm confident equality will win out in the end). And certainly there were those who were opposed to the idea altogether that have rumbled and threatened to boycott any same-sex reign and whatnot. What I found most disappointing, though, were the ones who supported IE but who were also grumbling about it, that it didn't go far enough, that it wasn't really a victory at all, etc. Certainly they had a point, but I felt their timing was kind of shitty.

After getting into a couple of online discussions about it, I wrote this to a friend on LJ:

"... I'm more concerned that [so many people] were so quick to jump on the news as bad rather than good. Not only did it feel like my feelings were being shit on, but [also on] all those who were taking a moment to celebrate the progress before buckling down for the next wave of work to be done (not saying you or anyone did it intentionally, that's just what came through my filters). It also kind of struck me that the first person I saw post about it was Master Guiseppe (joeguppy), who has not only worked hard for this change (as in personally in touch with members of the BoD discussing the matter passionately), but is also the husband and co-Baron of the first same-sex baronial pair in SCA history (along with Master Giles). When a whole bunch of people come down quite vocally and basically say, 'Stop celebrating, this isn't a win at all!', it read to me like a backhanded slap to [them]. ([They] didn't take any of it that way, but I did.)"

I'm more than willing to admit that some of this also stems from other things going on of late (as in several people, friends and strangers alike, both disrespecting me and feeling free to shit all over my feelings), but the whole idea of one group of people telling another group of people that they were wrong for feeling so happy about what they saw as positive change just struck a nerve. Then again, maybe I'm just a cranky old man... MAYBE. :P

Regardless, I, personally, am quite pleased with this step, and I realize there are more steps to take to make the SCA a better place for all those involved. Onward! :)

Who remembers when Tastykake Butterscotch Krimpets came 3 to a pack wrapped in wax paper? Or that infamous repeating phrase, "WATCH THE TRAM CAR, PLEASE?" Or clickers that actually clicked? :)

Just found out that Christos died after a short battle with cancer. For those who didn't know him, he was an amazing, funny, talented person I knew at Pennsic.

I know he wouldn't want anyone to be, but for the moment I'm very sad. Eventually, though, everyone will remember his amazing spirit, unflinching devotion and creativity, and the fabulous, outrageous life he lived.

Working on weekend plans. I'm thinking Ren Faire on Saturday, then wine festival on Sunday, then taking Monday off. :)

Just sent off two letters of recommendation for dear friends who deserve recognition for their talents (one in the SCA to get him his damned Laurel already, and one who works at Walt Disney World and is just amazing at his job). Never the wrong time for a kind word!

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...

Cannot overstate how much fun I had on Saturday.

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So, heading back to Cove Point for more of their wine to bring to Pennsic, and everybody had such a good time they want to do it all again. I'm broke, I'm exhausted, but ye gods I had fun. :D

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? ;)

I should NOT be allowed in BJ's this close to Pennsic...

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. :)

"Being Mean to Fat People Is Pointless: A Good Old-Fashioned Plea for Civility"

"Shame is stagnation... Bullying is not activism. Hurting is not helping. Cut it out."

Indeed. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I've learned more about self acceptance, self pride and breaking through societal shame more from my fat friends than I ever learned in all my years in the gay community. (Although props to my trans friends - they're pretty fucking awesome, too.)

Just checking that I'm not crazy:

You unintentionally offend someone. They tell you so. The appropriate response is:

A. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you."
B. "Go fuck yourself."

(If there are other options I'm not thinking of, please enlighten me.)

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. :)

Let the Pennsic drama commence!

Happy First Contact Day, and happy anniversary to the Medians - 27 years of Fine Oriental Cookware and Quality Ball Bearings! "We're Fucking YOU Now!" :D

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.

The NAMES Project Quilt was on campus this week. Always sobering. Some of these people were so fucking young...





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So I got my new car, a Nissan Cube. It's time to deface it! What do you think? (Any of these may end up on there eventually, but I'm wondering which should christen it first.)

Last Tuesday the brakes finally went on the truck, which pushed the car-buying process into high gear. I took Wednesday off, made a ton of phone calls, and got all my ducks in a row. Thursday and Friday a co-worker took me to work.

Friday night I made it back to the house, having been delayed finishing up since Tuesday. Quincy had said his new tenant might be moving in some stuff last weekend, so I wanted to put all the stuff I still had to move out into one space so they'd know what not to touch.

Saturday I had the truck towed to the dealership and signed the paperwork on my new Nissan Cube. He matched the lowest price I could find, but tacked on a few things I'd hoped he wouldn't, and didn't give me as much for my truck as I could have gotten if I sold it, and the payments were a tad higher than I'd hoped for, but all in all this really was the car I wanted, and I'm happy with it. It's nice to have a reliable vehicle, especially since I drove it home in a snowstorm. (Well, that was after I got a parking ticket while I was having dinner. Who still has parking meters at 9:00 p.m. on a Saturday night? Bethesda, that's who.)

I went back over to the house Sunday and moved more stuff, and then more on Monday. Tuesday I cleared out what I wanted from the garage (mostly stuff from Dad). Wednesday I ran errands, then last night I went for what little I was taking from the attic (mostly stuff I'm really just going to sort through and throw away, and a little bit of the Christmas decorations, mostly stuff that Mom made). We were also having an electronics trash day on campus today, so I grabbed a few things to be disposed of. Since that was basically the last of it, I said goodbye to the house and left; as of today, it's no longer my house anymore.

This weekend will be fun. I'm going to skip gaming tonight so I can go home and take care of a few things before I drive to Frederick, and then tomorrow I'm doing a Virginia wine tour with Sev and Matt (Pennsic friends) and some of their friends. Apparently I need to come back Saturday night because they're calling for snow on Sunday.

My back is absolutely killing me and I'm feeling a little down, but I've got a lot of stuff to keep me busy, and I know this weekend will be a blast. :)

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

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

I would like to have a wine and fondue party.

I'm a little behind, as I took the weekend off and did all but nothing in order to try to get better. Fortunately, I'm feeling better, and sounding better, but the cough persists, so I'm going to my doctor this afternoon to make sure it's nothing serious.

If something significant has happened in your life over the last week or so (births, deaths, alien invasions, dead rising from their graves, etc.), please let me know directly. :P

HAPPY SCOTCHTOBERFEST EVERYONE!

New shiny that caitlin_sd made for me! It's for my medallion next year in Clan colors. Squeeeee! She's got stuff on Etsy at http://www.etsy.com/shop/BeadsAbove. :D



She's so talented - embroidery to DIE for, garb, and now jewelry making. STOP IT WOMAN! You're making the rest of us look bad. :P