Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.

P9270027, originally uploaded by KierDuros.

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.

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.) :)

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.

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.

Come out and see the last showing of The Spanish Tragedy. More info here. Curtain up at 8 p.m. (So hurry!)

And tomorrow, I'll be at home watching commercials interrupted by some football game that I hear is going on. If you're looking for something to do, feel free to drop by.

Last night was the Dessert Party at baboh and bathalamus's place.

It was an experience.

It all started with me actually baking. German Five-O Cupcakes. Apparently, I did OK, since everyone who had one loved it.

That hurdle overcome, the rest of the party was all about pushing my own boundaries and pushing through all those little anxieties that creep in when surrounded by a whole bunch of people you don't know at all and a small handful you've spent nowhere near enough time with in varied situations.

But I think I'll go on at length about that later in the week.

Suffice to say I have reaffirmed my ability to treat people as people no matter how pretty or naked they may be.

It was a good night... and I didn't take anywhere near as many pictures as some other people did. Mainly because I'm modest (and project that a wee bit on others, no matter what they're doing) and I haven't been in some situations enough to fully grasp the protocol, let alone feel personally comfortable about it.

Of course, these are all things I'm more than willing to work on, as the opportunities arise. :)

Yep. That's water coming out of the vent in the ceiling. It's spilling over, across that entire section of ceiling, from the washer/dryer closet area (the open door to the right of the photo).

If this had happened when I wasn't home, pretty much half of what I own would have been ruined, as it was in that section of kitchen and in the bedroom where this water also flowed.

Currently looking for a 1 bedroom place that will hold about 700 sq. ft. of stuff, near a metro station and be around $1000/mo.

Alternately, a 2 bedroom, 2 bath place that's around 1000sq. ft. (preferably more), is near a metro station and, when split with a roommate, rent $1000 or less per month. (Also, a roommate who is not insane, does not smoke and has no pets.)

Current apartment is about 920 sq. ft., 1 bedroom, a bit too far away from a metro and a bit too damp too often. Rent is $1056/month.

Expenses that will hopefully be cut in the move: land line and commute.

Expenses that will be added: laundry.

Hopefully those will balance out somewhere.

Willing to give up: autonomy and in-apartment washer/dryer.

Apartment hunting makes me ill.

Dreading taking current apartment management to task in the morning... on a day when I have a ton of work to do... after not getting enough sleep.

Made it out to College Park last night to see The Rude Mechanicals' production of Julius Caesar. As expected it was a darn good show.

There were some very interesting staging choices, the main one being to do the performance in the round. That in and of itself lent quite the different feel to the show. The lighting cast interesting shadows on the walls and (actual) stage area of the church hall.

Of course, the performances were solid. It was nice to see entropicalia in a part with some meat. She can be downright scary... as Cassius should be at times.

Really, this story is one we should all be a bit more familiar with in this day and age. All the conspiracies and suppositions behind them. The missteps and overreactions. It is a tragedy and if we were more familiar with it, we'd be more aware when we're walking down a similar road.

Of course, a lot of Shakespeare is like that. ;)

Rainbow in Columbia Heights after a storm blew through. Looking down the street next to the Giant supermarket. Lots of people were stopping to take pictures. This is probably one of the brightest rainbows I've seen recently.

Our friend caligulette made the haul up from Florida all in one stretch and then proceeded to party like a rock star all night long in celebration of her relocation to the DC area.

It was a fantastic night.

These are the pictures.

Got up early on Saturday morning and made the crawl over to brlindtillnow's place for tasty pancakes.

From there, a bunch of us made our way down to the Kite Festival near the Washington Monument and, of course, the Cherry Blossom Festival around the tidal basin.

It was nice--a little chilly in shady spots, but nice. More importantly, the company was good. I always like having the chance to run about with people I've only met once or twice (or never before). You learn so much more through actual out-and-about interaction than you do in the dark and loud club-type environment (or the almost pre-scripted for geek-dom game nights... which are, of course, fun in their own way).

After a few hours of watching kites, marveling at cherry blossoms and eating cheese and pretzel chips, that crew called it an afternoon and I segued into the second group of friends of the day.

dallendoug, nofcna, rhiannon720 and a few other people spotted my hat in the crowd and popped over just in time for me to join them in their wanderings. Later, as other people went their own ways, dallendoug's mom joined the crew.

We did a whole lot of walking around--again checking out cherry blossoms and magnolia trees and kites--and eventually decided it was time to eat. We didn't quite realize what time it was and found ourselves trying to get seating at the beginning of the dinner rush. What we didn't know at all, as we hit the Gallery Place restaurant area, was that our search for food was timed perfectly to coincide with the circus getting out.

Yeah. Crowded doesn't even begin to describe things.

And so, we hopped on the metro (ok, more like fought our way on) and decided DuPont circle would be a more sensible venue for food. Which it was. mmmm... tasty Thai food. (And super thanks to having friends willing to spontaneously pay for dinner... despite my protestations. Makes it all the tastier.)

Still needing to waste a bit of time, we headed down the street a little more to Cosi and chowed on some dessert type things.

Again, I parted ways with my traveling companions and made my way a few bocks down to Spellbound where adventure was had. (But that's another story all together.)

All in all a very good day. Of course, come Sunday afternoon when I woke up, my legs and feet were hating me something fierce. But that was expected.

Saturday was mreraser's birthday.

As is the usual process, there was a big ol' get together at Bridges (his normal watering hole). Since I've been feeling guilty about not hanging with him and the rest of the VA crew--and totally missing them all--I made the jaunt down there.

A good bunch of people showed up... many of whom I hadn't seen in months or longer. It was good to meet and re-meet everyone who was there.

The night was, as far as I could tell, was a rousing success.

Highlights (for me) included:

Totally geeking out over sci-fi stuff with skunque.

Watching mreraser totally work a room full of his friends while getting more and more shots shoved at him.

Actually hanging out with break_away01 (even though we kind of met in passing once or twice a few years ago... I was pretty distracted by other concerns then).

Being one of the last guests standing (as usual). Of course, that means I win. :)

Getting to see Heather for the second time in about two months.

Chowing down on the uber tasty cake that krizsa brought (even though it was never officially cut... we just devoured it with the forks that were around).

Meeting a bunch of people who I only kind of remember meeting before.

Yeah... I've been missing the VA crew a bit since I can't make it down there regularly. All y'all rock.

I'm going to have to work to make sure it's not months before I see them again.

This past weekend was purly and l0qii's wedding.

I've known l0qii since my college orientation, way back in '93. I haven't known purly anywhere near as long. But I am, without a doubt, exceptionally happy for both of them.

The trips up and back from the wedding were a bit rough--about 8.5 hours or so to do a normally 6-ish hour drive. Friday we hit traffic and weather. Sunday it was just traffic, and it was all south of Baltimore. So. Not. Good.

But those few days in between made up for those rough bookends. The hotel was nice. The ceremony was in a beautiful location--on the top of a (small) mountain next to a (small) castle. It was a very quick ceremony.

It wasn't quick enough to avoid the random professional photographers who descended upon the bride and groom, though. Yes, that's right, random professional photogs. They were apparently at the location getting some other shots and were very happy to have an impromptu (and free of charge!) wedding shoot.

Things like that would seem very unusual and out of place anywhere outside of my group of friends. But, as l0qii would surely tell you, random can be a wonderful thing (and an accurate descriptor of so much of our lives).

After the ceremony, we all made the trip to a nice rustically appointed restaurant for a cocktail hour and dinner. Another naturally beautiful location brought to life with a gathering of friends.

The good times did, indeed, roll. And the pictures only tell part of the story.

If nothing else, I look forward to many anniversary celebrations in the future.

Now if only they didn't live so far away... :)

Nope. Just the most creative application of costuming and wordplay at the Seven Deadly Sins theme party last night.

Here's a hint: They're a bunch of lions.

Figured it out yet?

Yeah, that's right. They came as Pride.

Thankfully, the fall that often follows Pride didn't really show up. :)

The party was great. There was a preponderance of Sloth, Pride and Wrath. Greed was also represented. Not a whole lot of planned Envy or Lust. Only the normal amount of Gluttony.

It was an interesting night, with some great opportunities to talk with some people at length (like faeriemage and a couple of other people I have yet to track down here in LJ Land).

Enjoy what pictures there are, I could have sworn I took more, but apparently Sloth inhabited my shutter clicking finger. ;)

I rolled in after 6 a.m. and didn't get to sleep until after I had been up for more than 24 hours.

That always makes for a good night.

I was lucky enough to get to the closing night of the Rude Mechanicals production of Coriolanus.

I always like to see live shows twice, if possible. There's always something different to see--especially when cast members rotate into different parts. Perhaps more important with a show I'm not familiar with, like this one, I can follow the plot better the second time around.

Coriolanus the second time around, in a different venue to boot, was at least as good as it was the first time. Many of the scenes felt tighter (to be expected after a bunch of performances), even though a lot of the blocking had to be modified for the smaller stage.

Even more fun was the cast party after the show. By far it's things like those cast parties that remind me of everything I love about creative people (especially performers of all types). The stories, the flow of ideas and hopes for the future--it's like a narcotic for me.

They are closer to being "my" people--or at least challenge me to try to keep up with them.

All in all, a fantastic end to a wonderful day.