Then I decided to fight the traffic up and down Rockville Pike. Why? Because I realized very late Thursday (like, technically, Friday, long after I should have been asleep) that all the makeup I thought I had... I'd thrown out a couple of years ago because it was either dried up or gooey in bad ways. That, of course, would make putting together the planned costume for this year problematic.
And so, I finally got around to hitting the places I'd normally hit, just about three weeks later than I should have. Most places were picked clean. (Though I did find a nice leather motorcycle jacket at Ranger Surplus in Rockville that I may have to go back and get... I need one that actually fits right.) But, over the course of a few hours, I did manage to get everything I thought I'd need.
"Everything I thought I'd need" turned out to be too much, as usual. Good news is, if I ever got some of the projects I have in mind off the ground, some of it will definitely come in handy.
Due to traffic and weather, I got home a bit later than I expected... and apparently (yet again) missed the large group of trick-or-treaters at my apartment. I'll be eating candy for a few weeks. Aw, shucks. :)
I forgot how long it took some liquid latex to dry enough so I could put makeup on it. That slowed down the costume putting together. I ended up rushing on the last bits of application... finally got out of the apartment just after 8:30-ish (about half an hour after I wanted to be at the party).
As always, Jeff's party was fun. He puts out a good spread and lots of fun people show up. My costume went over well, there will be pictures sometime soon. I got sucked in and totally lost track of time... so I didn't make it to Spellbound as I had planned.
But what I did do was have good conversations with interesting people who I really do want to spend more time with.
Overall, Halloween was full of win.
Got home earlier than planned... removed the makeup and then wondered what I should do with my "extra" time. Then I remembered that after Halloween comes NaNoWriMo. So, off I go to start the story... Feel Free to follow it here. :)
- Mood:
happy
This will have to happen again, with a little more planning. For something that was just kind of let to happen, though, I think it went pretty well. We all learned something or other, had some good times and tasty treats, and I did two Tarot readings.
I've also now been up for over 22 hours on less than 4 hours of sleep (and some odd minutes of not-quite-a-nap zoned out-ness during the day at work).
My ZipCar reservation starts at noon... and I realized today that I still lack a couple of important (and hopefully easily procurable) things for my costume.
Should probably sleep now...
- Mood: content
After a day spent cleaning, I made the run out to Spellbound for the normal Saturday night shenanigans (plus the extra added bonuses of it being the kick-off to the club's third year and the birthdays of two good friends). There were plenty of people out and about that I don't often see (which is always nice) and they were looking fantastic and having fun (which is even better to see). Heck, there were even people there that I'd only met once or twice before... who actually remembered me (and I remembered them, too, once the context of the previous meeting was put into place).
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
rachel_gothic made sure I got my dance floor exercise by enlisting my arms and balance to help her bounce and twirl about. I think we're both lucky I have a high self-preservation instinct... and an even higher desire to not see my friends hit the ground. Once again I was reminded just how much of a dance I am not and how much of my body awareness I've lost over the decade or so since I last took any martial arts classes. It was a whole lot of fun, though, and I'm surprisingly not sore from it.The night continued on from there. A bunch of us stayed to totally close down the club, then it was off a few blocks down the street for crepes. Mmmmm... tasty, tasty crepes. I wish I could do that every Saturday, but logistical issues and Sunday commitments many other weeks make it impractical, at best. But, really, not much better than chowing down with friends after an active night at the club.
From the crepe place, everyone kind of went their separate ways. Having not seen one particular segment of the crew in a while, I hopped in a cab with them to head back to
dallendoug and nofcna's place to see if much else would go on. Not much did, but Higgins told another couple of stories and shared some neat videos. Well worth the extra half hour or so.From there, as everyone else went to sleep, I headed out the door to take advantage of the early opening time for the Metro. Sunday was the Marine Corps Marathon. After a good walk to the metro station from Doug and Nu's place, I passed a whole lot of runners, just getting up for the morning. It was like college, when I'd pass all the ROTC guys on their way out and I was on my way in. :)
I got home a little before 7 a.m., still before sunrise, but didn't get to sleep until a little after 9 a.m. Around 11:30 or so, there were a few aborted attempts to get up and get back on a semi-regular schedule. I finally rolled out of bed around 2:30 p.m. or so.
The day was, again, spent cleaning and reorganizing things--both internal and external. It is progressing well and there will likely be some sort of metaphysical flavored get together at my place on Friday. (More about that in its own post.)
Of course, there was a lot more I wanted to get done today. Some of it may yet be done before I go to sleep (uploading bunches of pictures right now), but some will have to be squeezed in to the next few days, just to keep things vaguely on schedule.
- Mood: happy
Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.
On Thursday, I came home to an empty couch and a lot more floor space than I've had in a while. My buddy Josh, who's been staying with me for more than a year now, finally had enough going in his favor to continue his long-paused trip.
When he first rolled into town, the weather was awful and it took him a week or so to dry out. Such is the challenge of a cross-country motorcycle trip. Aiming to not leave under similar circumstances, his exit was postponed about a week from what he had planned. In that time, another mechanical issue or two came up with the bike and he found some good deals on a few other things he had been look for.
He left me with a new wireless router and a set of movies I'd been putting off buying for years.
Josh has done this stint of couch-surfing infinitely better than I did back in 2003.
I stayed with one group of friends for about nine months and another for three or four, plus a bunch of time back up at my parents' place in New York. During that time, I made no money until I finally got around to going through a temp agency. It's one of the reasons I'm in the sticky financial situation I'm in now.
I also didn't have a distinct destination in mind when I left my job with the newspaper. Well, at least not anything after DragonCon that year. It was only because my car broke down (the first time) in the DC area that I decided to stay here. That and I knew a good bunch of people (many of whom I don't see all that often these days)... but mostly because I figured "If the car likes it, it's good enough for me."
Josh is heading, eventually, to Seattle. Laura, his lovely and talented girlfriend, has been there a little longer than he was here. He has a lot of motivation to finish his trip.
I'm still in the middle of mine.
And in that time I've been "in the middle" I've set down some pretty decent roots in the DC area. I know a fantastic bunch of people (and meet more all the time). I've finally gotten into the vague area of "career" that I probably should have been shooting for since I graduated college in 1998. All in all, I'm pretty darn happy.
Most of the time.
Over the past year, I've been made aware, through numerous venues and experiences, of just how quirky I am when it comes to a lot of things. Living alone, it's easy to lose site of that. With someone else around all the time, sharing the same space and meeting the same people, the contrasts begin to stand out.
These quirks aren't all bad things, but some of them (now that I can see them clearly) annoy me a bit. Which, of course, means it's time to work on fixing them.
This time of year is good for that. It's the end of one hunk of a cycle and the beginning of another.
In my apartment, I'm taking advantage of the newly re-opened space and sorting through a bunch of boxes that have been hastily moved and filled and re-filled at various times over the past few years.
In my head, I'm doing the same thing, on a much deeper level.
When it's all done, everything will be better--on the outside and on the inside.
For now, though, the couch is mine. At least until the next friend in need of a place to crash shows up.
- Mood:
okay
Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.
After what somehow turned into a moderately stressful day at work, I trudged across town in the cold, misty, rain to pop in to the apartment warming party my co-worker was throwing.
Even leaving work later than I planned and getting stuck behind people who were walking way to slow for my tastes (especially for what the weather was doing), I ended up being the first person there. But only for a few minutes... others were close behind.
Before long, the modest (and well decorated--she is a graphic designer and stuff) apartment was full. Mostly of people I didn't know.
Thankfully, as is often the case, my friends have good people in their lives, so it was an absolute joy to meet everyone.
And since they were all new, I could easily fall back on a number of things that people I've known for a while have heard me talk about way too much. ;)
Woodstock (which I never did get around to writing about here back in August). Horror films (which I need to write more about over at ToobTalk). We even somehow segued into race relations, gentrification and economics.
It was almost like being back in college again. Except for the whole not going until sunrise part... the party dispersed a little before 11 p.m.
After weighing my options and factoring in how tired I've been lately, I decided to just head home... where I was more than happy to walk in and find Tank Girl on cable.
Yay Tank Girl and Jet Girl! (Even back in '95 it was clear I was into the "unique" ones...) :)
- Mood: amused
Of course, after a second day of working form home, dozing regularly, and knowing that a weekend was at hand, I didn't quite get up when I planned on. Well, I probably would have, if an automated phone call hadn't come in at about 8 a.m. on Saturday... about three hours after I finally decided to really go to sleep, so I could get up at 11 a.m., pick up my ZipCar by noon and then run some errands before heading up to Josh's going away part E was hosting up in Columbia.
I didn't get out of the apartment until 2 p.m. (ish), apparently missed the bus by about 5 minutes (since the bus stop was full of people when I got there... it couldn't have been too soon since the last one came by), and ended up taking nearly an hour to get from my apartment to the Wheaton metro station. This is why I dislike having to rely on public transportation--with the ZipCar it was a 10 minute ride back... and then the rest of the trip Northward to Columbia.
That shindig was fun--complete with awesome cheesecake (by
predigested, of course) and light saber battles. I even got to play with fire and meat... helping to get the grill up and running and the first couple rounds of burgers cooked just right. The requisite good friends and good times were had, and corpse_light can now head on his way knowing that he will be missed by myriad people in the DC/Baltimore area.I cut out of there around 9-ish to head south once more and pop in to the rescheduled monthly game night at
blindtillnow, cavenessity and devolutionary's place. It was also Alex's birthday. Again, much fun was had with awesome people... some of whom I hadn't seen in quite a while. It was nearly 4 a.m. when the last of us were chased out.Sunday was the last game I'm going to be running with the full 4-person crew that I started the plot with (as Josh is one of my players). Things got off to an uneven start and were interrupted by fun sidelines, but I still got in what I think is a nice exit for a player character in a sci-fi game--he's been captured by interdimensional slavers. So, not dead, but also not around... and more than able to return at some point in the future. Will he end up some sort of minion warlord? A bio-manipulated war machine? Or will he rise through the ranks of slaves and pressed gladiators in some arena and become Spartacus? Only time (and availability) will tell.
And now, while most have Monday off, I've committed to at least some work. Probably going in to the office, too, as it makes doing other things (like shopping) easier (mostly because, hey, I'm already dressed and out, why not do practical things)...
Yeah... pictures from the festivities will follow shortly. And I've realized there are some stories from last month that I still haven't gotten around to telling....
- Mood: okay
Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.
This is the first wedding I officiated. Renee is the sister-in-law of one of my oldest friends. The ceremony I performed was written just a few hours before the ceremony, hence the lack of memorization and the constant reference to the printed copy.
The bride and groom asked for something short and entertaining. They also asked for the Princess Bride intro. Based on the feedback I (and they) got from wedding guests, it appears it went over very well.
Here's (more or less) what I said:
[Said in that all too well known Clergyman voice]Marriage is what brings us together today., Marriage, that blessed arrangement, that dream within a dream.... (and if you are true to it) then love, true love, will follow you forever...
For those of you who don’t recognize that little bit of dialog, it’s from a movie called The Princess Bride. A bit of a fairy tale about Wesley, a lowly stable boy, and Buttercup, a princess, who fall in love, get separated by strange circumstances, and through a series of equally strange adventures, come together again.
Every great love story starts out with a “Once Upon A Time...” This is true of reality as well as fairy tales.
Like Wesley and Buttercup, Mike and Renee have had some adventures and gathered a unique crew of characters together to help them in their journey through unknown and perilous territory.
There have been ups and downs, and they even have their own ROUS (Rugrat of Unusual Sweetness), Kylie, to add to the challenges and joys of a life together.
Storybook love obviously exists in the real world. It may not always look as pretty or sound as poetic as what we see on the screen, but it’s the feeling that counts. Most of you know the bride and groom much better than I do, but I think we can all agree that they’ve got that special something that fairy tales are made of.
It comes through in their eyes when they look at one another. In their laughs when they joke. In that light touch after a hard day at work.
And this fairy tale love isn’t just between the two of them--it is among all three of them: Renee, Kylie and Mike. That makes it even more special and even more inspiring for the rest of us.
A lot of people toss around the word Love without much concern for what it can actually mean. Most of the time, it leaves me musing: “They keep using that word, but I do not think it means, what they think it mean.”
But here, before you today, you see what real love looks like.
The fairy tale is real.
Their love is real.
And now we make it as real in the eyes of the law as it has been in their hearts for some time.
Assuming, of course, there are no evil princes, black knights or dragons who would have any objections to such a perfect union. If there are, they should step forward now so they can be justly smited by he happy couple.
Do you have the rings?
Do you Mike take Renee to be your lawfully wedded wife and promise to treat her with the respect, caring and understanding that you have already proven yourself to be capable of, until the end of your story?
Do you Renee take Mike to be your lawfully wedded husband and promise to treat him with th erespec, caring and understanding that have already proven yourself to be capable of, until the end of our story?
With this exchange of rings and promises, you are now man and wife--free to be king and queen of your own domains, with a love that will inspire all around you.
Since the invention of the kiss there have been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure.
You can show us one that will make them all pale in comparison... or we can skip to the good part and storm the castle.
Or, you can just watch the video:
Please excuse the shaky nature of the video... my friend who was handling the camera was also juggling a still camera (and my cheap DV cam isn't that great to begin with... I'm particularly annoyed with the audio pickup and tight field of view on the lens).
All in all, quite the successful day. It made me very happy to be a part of it.
- Mood: happy
Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.
Ever since work on Browncoats: Redemption wrapped, the cast, crew, and friends have tried to get together at least once a month to keep the fun going.
This time around, it was the MD Renaissance Faire.
For some, it was their first time being at faire. Others more or less grew up there. Everyone had a fantastic time.
How can you not? Elephant rides, bodices and corsets, pirates, armor, mead, beer, wine, food on a stick... what's not to like?
Even better, because we're all from such diverse backgrounds, there's always interesting overlap in who we end up knowing or running in to.
Hopefully, I'll find the time and funding to make it back to faire at least one more time this season. And if I'm really lucky, I'll be able to drag some of these people out with me.
- Mood: amused
Friday was dinner out with a buddy I haven't seen in a decade and a bunch of people who I barely, if at all, crossed paths with in college. Very good to meet more people with their hearts in the filmmaking business. Documentarians, even. Kinda awesome.
Saturday was Dinner (for four) by Kier and a kick ass night out at a Mohawk Adam-fueled Spellbound where some very unusual things happened on the dance floor (you're going to have to wait 'till Wednesday for more on that). Mostly, it was just good times with great friends.
Sunday was, finally, a third date. There was food. There was talking. There was a wee bit of wandering. There was... a night cut much shorter than I would have liked due to illness (not mine). Such is life. :( But, yay! Three! That's a good number. I can happily live with wherever else that plot line goes from here on out.
Monday was spent doing next to nothing. Kicked out some work in the afternoon, easy enough and it has the client singing my praises... which should help offset the lag in some other things over the past week or so (mostly caused by technology issues and a doctor's appointment). Then spent the rest of the day watching a number of hours of things that have been sitting around since the last television season ended (things like Smallville and Lie to Me and The Unusuals). Got to clear the DVR off for the upcoming season, don't'cha know?
Tuesday will be back to work as usual. Going to be busy as anything, just like last week. yay?
Wednesday is the next DC Bloggers Meetup. It will be going on at Madam's Organ in Adams Morgan at 7 p.m. If you blog and are in the DC area, I highly recommend you show up. We're revitalizing and trying to focus the group a bit. Plus, everyone I've met there has been pretty darn cool. And since you, dear reader, are cool, you'd fit right in. ;)
Thursday... I never could get the hang of Thursdays...
Friday is a game night of celebratory proportions. Birthdays! Surgical Successes! Cheap, strange games! It will be, I'm sure, epic. (It usually is... but September is usually more so.) For more info on that... bounce me an e-mail or something.
Saturday I'm planning on once again being out at Spellbound. You should be, too. You may get to see me do... things. (That may, or may not, make more sense after Wednesday's Without Being Crushed post...)
Sunday is more gaming goodness, assuming I manage to work out transportation and related psychological issues (I really do hate people going out of their way for me--doubly so when it uses gas).
Anyway, I've once again screwed up the sleep transition from weekend -> week and will undoubtedly be paying for it tomorrow around 2 p.m. when I can barely keep my head up and eyes open... *sigh* old habits and all...
Welcome back to all those who were away--can't wait to see the pictures and hear the tales of your adventures.
- Mood:
awake
P9065199
Originally uploaded by KierDuros.
Just a quick note and pic from last night's awesomeness.
It was a very good and strange night. Much dancing. Much good cheer among friends. And, unusually, actual dancing with people. One of whom I'm going to have to track down to have actual conversations with somewhere where I can clearly hear what she's saying.
Glad everyone could come out--and that so many showed up for Mowhawk Adam. (And that pmhrh puts on awesome events.) :)
- Mood: happy
My buddy PJ and his partner in crime were spinning through town to shoot an interview for a documentary they're working on and, thanks to Facebook status updates, I was able to catch up with them... and the handful of other people who came out of the woodwork to do the same. Dinner at the Macaroni Grill in Silver Spring, spent mostly listening to them all talk about the film projects they're involved in.
Kinda awesome.
In my previous years down here, I fell in mostly with DJs and computer security people. Now it seems on well on my way to running with a film-flavored crowd (thanks in no small part to everyone I met on the Browncoats: Redemption set.
Now if only I could get myself to focus on one project of my own for any length of time... ;) (Actually, it's just fine... I kind of like helping out others with their projects... they always seems more impressive than anything I've come up with.)
Tonight I'll be having
gore_whore_5 and spirit_o_fire over for dinner before we all (including corpse_light) head down into DC for the Mohawk Adam fueled goth fest at Spellbound.I expect it to be an interesting night. I'm feeling feisty. :)
- Mood:
flirty
My awesome friend who's been kind enough to lend me her Jeep since October is taking advantage of that Cash for Clunkers program ASAP, before it runs through its funds again. I kind of figured that would be the case. My parents rushed to trade in their old truck a week or so ago, right before the first batch of money ran out... and I know my friends are at least as savvy as my parents when it comes to such things.
It was an unexpected and much appreciated gift to have something approximating my own wheels for so long.
But now I have to get out of all the bad habits I've slid into. A lot is going to have to be cut back on, excursion-wise. Everything is going to take me longer to get to, and some things are going to be un-get-toable on a regular basis. I still have the ZipCar option, but I'd be an idiot to use it as much as I did the Jeep. (I made that mistake back when I first got into the ZipCar thing... ended up spending waaay too much money to do way to few things while I had the car... really can't beat the ZipCar program, though... it saved my ass more than once.)
In other news, there's work being done on my bathroom ceiling. Since pretty much right after they last sealed it up, another pipe sprung a tiny leak. There's been an ever-growing damp/mildew spot above the tub for months and months now. When I went in on Monday to confirm that I was, indeed, renewing my lease (because, really, I can't afford to move--security deposits, rent deposits, time, comparable $/square foot ratio... this place is still the best deal in town), I ran down a list of things (almost all water-related, unsurprisingly) that should be fixed.
They cut a hole in my bathroom ceiling yesterday. They had the water turned off in the building today. When I got home there was a new note up outside saying that the water will be off on Friday, too, and a note inside telling me that the plumbers would be taking care of things on Friday. This leads me to believe that, once again, the mess of pipes for this building are in worse shape than they expected.
But things are getting fixed and more of my stuff is in plastic containers every week or so.
Of course, when I was dozing off earlier tonight, I noticed there's a water stain on my bedroom ceiling. I wasn't aware there were any pipes running where it is. If it gets worse over the next 24 hours or so, that'll be another thing added to the list.
Work for the next few weeks is going to be crazy. The boss left for a vacation in Africa on Wednesday. We've got three major projects going on simultaneously, all with September (or sooner) launch dates. And, of course, other clients who think they're the only ones in the world and/or manage to have the most inconvenient emergencies. At least they all pay their bills... I just have to be sure everything gets logged to the get charged properly. :)
I'm a little concerned that my sarcoidosis may be coming back. There's an odd soreness along some of the same areas that swelled up something fierce before. No real swelling yet, and some of it could be attributed to other things. I'm keeping a vigilant eye on the joints and tendons. Was already planning on (what was supposed to be my final visit) a doctors appointment by the end of the month. Still paying for that stay in the hospital. Would really like to avoid that again.
There are other things on the horizon... many much better than half of what I just spewed out. Some of them I'm not at liberty to talk about just yet--but as soon as I can, oh boy, will you all hear about it. :)
Welcome Friday... I only wish I were meeting you with more sleep behind me...
- Mood: awake
The celebration is at Apex, which I see by the website is DC's premier gay bar. Looks like a nice enough place based on the pictures. I've never been there before.
So this'll be something new.
And, with the crew that's showing up for the party, it's bound to be interesting, too. :)
Just hope I don't have to break too many hearts by tellin' 'em I'm straight... ;)
(Seriously, though, since I've been down here I've been hit on by almost as many gay/bi men as I have straight/bi women.)
- Mood: amused
corpse_light mentioned that his brain was about melted and I realized that, having had a full day at work, mine was well on its way there, too. Headed home and finally got to sleep around 5:30 or 6 a.m.Then the phone rang at 8:10 a.m. It was a wrong number. I surmise it was a collection agency, as they didn't respond right away when I picked up, asked for two different people, and never identified what the call was about. It took me another hour to really doze back off.
Next thing I knew it was nearly 3 p.m.
This severely cut into the time I had planned to do a lot of things. Like a handful of work on personal and freelance projects. Once subtracting showering and eating time and then removing the time spent fighting with the printer (and running out to get more paper for it and having to not let myself just buy a new printer), I had time to do next to nothing.
So, nothing checked off my To Do list, I made the trek out to bid farewell to
enlightened77 who's heading off to the left coast. I'll miss her, even though I never worked quite hard enough to spend time with her. She holds the distinction of being one of the people I most certainly should have fallen for but never have. Always seen her as more of a sister. So, doubly good luck to her on her new adventure!The party was good. I had a chance to reacquaint myself with some very spiritual people and meet some new ones. Hopefully our paths will cross again, even without B in the area.
This is especially true of the one lady who showed up shortly before I had to leave. She caught my attention as soon as she entered, but I was wrapped up in conversation with other people and watching the clock. On my way out, she caught me for a moment and told me she knew me. "From where?" I asked. "Not anywhere now," she said, "probably a past life." I affirmed that such a thing could very well be the case and that I very much would like it if she continued to find me again as I gave her my contact information and (now so much more reluctantly) rounded up the people who were heading to the next event with me and hit the road for Fairfax.
It was, of course, plans to see The Rock Horror Picture Show that pulled me away from a party I would have stayed at all night. (And if I hadn't committed to meeting people at the theater, I would have skipped the movie all together.) Things got off to a little bit of a late start, but I found the presentation and evening as a whole quite entertaining--again having good conversation with people I don't see anywhere near enough. Made for home earlier than I would have liked (though I don't know what other than standing in the parking lot talking would have happened otherwise) and finally dozed off at about 5 a.m.
Sunday was dedicated to D&D gaming, starting between noon and 1 p.m. I had made it a point to set my alarm before I went to sleep. I woke up wondering how long I had before the alarm was going to go off. Checking the time, I was annoyed to find that it should have gone off about thirty minutes earlier. Checking more, I discovered that the truth was actually that it was set to go off in about 11.5 hours. Stupid AM/PM setting....
Made it to the game on time. Kick much animated skin monster ass and avoided having to deal too much with the animated internal organs monster (ewww). Another bunch of hours of fun.
Of course, I managed to not be able to get to sleep Sunday until about 3 a.m. or so which made Monday's alarm (which did go off properly) so much more painful.
And now, here I am, up too late again. Mostly because I'm determined to get back into writing more. I've really let myself slide from most of my goals. (Granted, mostly for good reasons, but sliding none the less.)
The only thing that would have made the weekend better is if I had been able to coordinate plans with Cristina (she who I met randomly about a year ago and kind of accidentally asked on a date) so she could have been along for some of the ride. Haven't seen her in person in nearly a year now. Still kind of shooting for that third date... and doubting more each day that it'll happen before a full year of sporadic contact has elapsed.
Ah, well. Not dating just leaves that much more room in my schedule for other things. (And I'm very good at not dating.) :)
- Mood:
exhausted
Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.
On 19 June, nearly two dozen of my classmates and I got together for a semi-informal Class of '93 reunion at Roark's Tavern in Monticello.
The above picture was a little early in the night and some people who were there, weren't when the flash went off.
More on all this later. The important thing is: It was pretty darn awesome.
Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.
Because they look damn good when they're a little evil.
That's Vail holding a nicely wrapped package with a little origami demon head on the front. Inside? A book of Charles Addams' illustrations. Appropriate, in this case.
Vail and Jesse celebrated their 13th Anniversary the other weekend with an Addams Family themed party. They were, of course, the perfect Gomez and Morticia--virtually unrecognizable as their normal much more fair-haired selves.
The cake and creativity, combined with the obvious love they still have burning hot and deep after more than a decade, made the long drive on a Sunday more than worth it.
- Mood: amused
Kicked it off big time on Friday, meeting
rachel_gothic for dinner at California Tortilla in Chinatown. (It was nearby and we only got a mild drenching in the torrential rain we had to run through to cross the street... thankfully, I always have an umbrella with me.)From there it was on to Artomatic for opening night stuff. I could name-drop like there's no tomorrow with all the people I ran into there. And even then I'd certainly miss some. If I saw you, you know who you are. It was awesome. More really good art (in my opinion, at least) than there has been in years past. Check it out when you have the chance.
Got home from all the Artomatic fun around 2 a.m. or so. Didn't fully doze off until 3 or 4-ish. Slept very deeply.
I know this because when the phone went off at 10 a.m., I totally panicked. See, it was still set on vibrate from the night before and my first thought was "Oh crap! I didn't hear the alarm go off! That's work calling wondering where the hell I am!" Simultaneously, I was grabbing the phone... completely forgetting that I had it plugged in to charge. The charger's cord is wrapped around my nightstand lamp to keep it from sliding back behind the dresser.
It was shortly after I smacked myself in the head with that lamp (again) that it occurred to me it was Saturday and the only place I really needed to be was over at
dallendoug's by noon for some RPG goodness.And good it was. This is the first actual D&D game I've ever played in. Happy to say the character is still alive and has made it to third level. Yay!
Bounced out of there around 6:30 p.m. or so, hit home for dinner, then hopped down to the Metro station for the ride to Spellbound. As usual, had a fantastic time there chatting with people I don't see anywhere near enough and getting a suitable amount of exercise by looking like a fool on the dance floor.
Stayed there until about as late as I dared. Got on the next to last train of the night. Got home and didn't manage to wind down enough to sleep until, oh, 5:30 a.m. Knowing full well that the alarm would be going off at 10 a.m.
Go off it did, but I was aware enough this time around to not nearly kill myself. Picked up the phone on the first chirp, turned the alarm off, put it back down and was mildly confused to have it immediately start ringing again.
Turned out it was an actual phone call.
gore_whore_5 was calling to let me know that the game I was supposed to go to that day was off. Why? Because our fearless GM, spirit_o_fire, had failed his balance check after being attacked by a flight of stairs and suffered a critical hit to his ankle. They were still in the hospital getting it fixed. (So here's wishing quick healing and stuff for him... where are those darn clerics and magic potions when you really need them?)Needless to say, I quickly dozed back off (after sending off a note to the rest of the players) and my eyes didn't open again until after 2 p.m.
For the rest of the day, I did next to nothing. Which was good.
Other highlights:
Movies: watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall, the second half of Kung Fu Panda and all of The Happening. I liked all of them. Will add them to my list of reviews to write up.
TV: Almost done with this season of 24 and discovered that ABC started running Pushing Daisies on Saturday nights--without any notice that they were doing so.
Fun: Getting back into practice gently flirting with unavailable friends of mine. Maybe I'll eventually spin that up to flirting with people I don't know quite so well (or who aren't involved/unavailable). It's an exercise in expanding my comfort zone.
Projects: Formulating more ideas for bunches of them... now just have to sit down and bang out some content and/or more formalized concepts. I always get too hung up on the planning... need to have more doing. (Kind of like the flirting, I guess... hmmm... parallels in my life...)
Now, onward to the week! (Assuming I ever fall asleep... I haven't even been up 12 hours yet...)
- Mood: awake
This Friday is, in particular, tricky and bound to be full of awesome.
Kicking off at 7 p.m. is
devolutionary's band The Dark Dissolve performing an acoustic set.That's followed up by a big party on the 7th Floor (link goes to Facebook event listing) at 8 p.m. Without a doubt that'll go on for a good long while.
At midnight there's another performance, this time featuring
enlightened77 and Dead Violets. (Good news is they'll also be performing on another day, as I may have to bounce out of Artomatic space for other things.)So, somewhere between work at 7 p.m., I have to catch food somewhere. Probably somewhere along the Green Line, as I work in Columbia Heights and get out around 5:30 p.m.
Got all that? Good. Who's in for some adventure? :)
- Mood:
busy
Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.
I don't often go out to live shows. I'm not a music person (a lot of my friends are, and some of the knowledge rubs off, so I can almost hold my own in a conversation on the topic), but I do love to see what people I know create.
So, on 15 May, I made the trek down to Jaxx in Springfield to see some people I know on stage. Blind Till Now (pictured above, Video here) were on stage together for the first time. They rocked... and have been requested by numerous people to perform more/get cds or mp3s available and things like that.
The other band I kind of knew people in was Ego Likeness, a local favorite that I've seen perform more times down in Atlanta than I have locally. (All thanks to Dragon Con, of course.) As expected, they also rocked.
The other two bands, Middle Child Syndrome and show headliner Bella Morte, were pretty good, too. No pictures of them because, well, I wasn't getting great pictures to begin with and I don't know any of the people in those bands.
Overall, a good night and I'm really glad I went out. Not much better excuse to hang out with people than to all support the same mutual friends.
- Mood:
impressed
Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.
Online right now: the next section of Oceanus Procellarum (Book I) from Oletheros.
If you haven't been reading, go back into the archives and check this out from the beginning. If you like it, you can rest assured there's going to be more. In fact, Book II is available now. (I haven't seen it in full yet, but the little bits I have seen are at least as mind-blowing as Book I.)
And if you want to meet the guy behind it all, he'll be out and about at these venues:
- The DC Conspiracy Counter Cultural Festival (Vienna, VA) on May 24
- Heroes Con (Charlotte, NC) on June 19-21
- Small Press Expo (Bethesda, MD) on September 26-27
Speaking of out and about, if you're looking for something to do and want to support a good cause (and good music), check out Morrigan at this event:
Pre-Party & Adoption Event
Saturday, April 4th, 12-3 PM
with some very adorable WARL doggies
The Wonderland Ballroom
1101 Kenyon St., NW DC
in the outdoor courtyard
202-232-5263
All Ages, Free.
Me? I won't be around this weekend. I'm off in Ocean City being an extra in Browncoats: Redemption... that big damn fan film set in the Firefly universe that'll be raising a good bunch of money for charity.
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- Mood: busy
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