When your dreaming brain needs someone to run about a field with a zither or sitar or other non-Western musical instrument and to act in sort of Bugs Bunny-like ways, Alan Alda really does present the perfect casting option.

I failed to mention last week that lairian followed up on his plans to get a Playstation 3 and a copy of RockBand 2. We grabbed lunch and ran over to BestBuy (it's kind of fun to watch someone else spend that much money. ;P) and then brought the whole thing back to my place to get set up. Leiland joined us after she got off work, we got everyone set up with avatars and I proceeded to spend most of my Halloween happily trying to figure out vocals for a whole new list of songs. (Duran Duran's "Hungry Like the Wolf" - 100% on expert on my first try! Haven't managed to repeat that, but I will...oh yes, I will...)

As I have mentioned to both Lairian and Adnate, I think it's REALLY awesome that between me, Shar, Lairian and Leiland we have a complete band without any arguments about who's on what instrument. I loved that about getting my RB1 set up and it's just as awesome with RB2.

Even better, we're getting the rest of the group into it. Lairian brought the set to Poe's last night. He spent last week unlocking everything (homework sucks - play RockBand!) so there's a TON of new things that I'm dying to try, and I'm pretty sure that we're going to get both Poe and RoseRed up to at least "hard" on vocals before long as well. MishFish, Keshian and The Man With No Screen-name all have a gift for drums and Adnate is getting good at guitar.

Favorite bits of last night:

- "assistance" on vocals (and the backup singers were cool too)
- figuring out "Carry On My Wayward Son"
- watching Lairian positively SHRED on guitar on "expert" in AC/DC's "Let There Be Rock"
- Keshian and MishFish "double teaming" the drums (he dealt with sticks and she worked the foot pedal)
- AdmiralOrko's avatar creation

And I predict that we're going to be utterly sick to death of "Still Alive" by the end of the next group play session.

After all that, you'd think I'd be dreaming about RockBand - but no, instead I have dreams about working a Republican political campaign in the middle of a sci-fi/fantasy convention where my friends are working with David Tennant, and doing it all while wearing my climbing harness. Seriously, I have some concerns about my subconscious mind. There were a few bits that made perfect sense (mmmm...*grin*) but a lot of it was just baffling.

Snagged from muzadi.

seaweasel and poeso MUST watch this!

Sometimes, we win. This weekend was one of those times. =D

Saturday afternoon we had a surprise party for ladyofdragons to celebrate her birthday. Granted, we were a couple weeks after the fact at that point, but in some ways that worked in our favor, since it gave her plenty of time to think we'd forgotten all about her and keep her from suspecting that we were about to unleash our own brand of Communism in her direction. Thanks to RoseRed32, Keshian and Gryphon, the Dragoness was totally in the dark that there was anything happening besides our usual Saturday game, which made the look of shock and surprise quite priceless when she arrived to find 20-odd people waiting to tell her she rocks hard core. In all, I'd say it was one of the more successful parties we've had in a while.

There was cake and booze and the hot tub and a Communist Action* that induced tears and RockBand and the usual general insanity. It was good. And then I had a lovely lazy Sunday hanging out with Lairian and Leiland, which sort of capped the whole weekend experience. If I just didn't have to be at work it would be complete... =)

*Communist Action: Group project to buy something for someone that they would never have purchased for their self due to price considerations; e.g. fancy cameras, computers, iPods, etc.

How it all will end...( Cut for minor spoiler about the end of the last episode )

Hey...it could happen!!

my new ninja duckie?

Poe and Killian found a Ninja Devil Duckie on Sunday and bought it to go in my Prius, which is black and silent and stealthy like ninja.

So I have a ninja for my Ninja. And it SQUEAKS! *squeak squeak* =D

So...Zombie Strippers...yeah...um, NOT what I expected.

But I digress.

In her ongoing quest to find us questionable, tacky and downright bad (in all the good ways) cinema for our Friday night gatherings, the incomparably wonderful stride, managed to get hold of a copy of Zombie Strippers this past week. Based on the brief reviews I'd seen on one or two LJ posts, I was expecting something...B grade, campy or maybe parody. Based on the first 10-15 minutes of the movie, I was still expecting those things, but the "or" changed to an "and".

I was hoping for a low-budget cross between Shaun of the Dead and From Dusk Till Dawn. What I got was 20 minutes of good, ironic, tongue-in-cheek zombie movie parody and about 2 hours of...something else. It was bad - and not in a good way.

It was disgusting as well, which I say having fully enjoyed such delicate, clean-cut movies as Dawn of the Dead, Sin City and the aforementioned From Dusk Till Dawn. Bad, overblown gore doesn't make up for a lack of real plot in a zombie movie any more than bad, overblown sex makes a porno better. I don't expect a good, solid plot in either of those genres, and expect there to be a lot of filler, but there is some sort of minimal (very minimal) quality threshold required to make that work...and this movie didn't make it.

But we watched it. We watched it all the way through...and I think I don't even feel guilty that it was pirated (which should say a LOT to anyone who's talked to me about downloading television or movies).

And it meant I finally got around to seeing Lilo and Stitch, which made a good antidote movie for the evening.

Not to say that Friday night wasn't a good gathering. After all, I got to see Stride, got to curl up with cute boys and we appear to have managed a Borg-style assimilation on new blood. (Mmm...new blood...) *grin* And there were Jello brains. You can't go wrong with Jello brains!

The rest of the weekend has gone pretty well. I finished a necklace and earrings set last night during game, first project in weeks that I've gotten through, and still managed to have enough focus to play my part in saving the world. We've finished our superhero game and will be moving back to fantasy for a while, and the wrap up went well, IMO, by comparison to other game endings we've had.

Now I just need to get motivated on those Sunday chores...lawn, weeds, groceries, and maybe another pass at the pool. The hand-vac that I picked up seems to have made some difference, but it's taking a LOT of time to really get anywhere. (Gee what a shock.) If I haven't heard from the landlord today, I need to call him, since by now he should have had time to talk to the pool guy about a full cleaning AND he should have gotten my rent check, which means I need to follow up on that letter or feel guilty about being passive-aggressive about the problem. (I keep telling myself there are any number of legitimate reasons for putting it in writing, but I know, deep down, that those are just excuses for being a wuss about confrontation when it comes to my landlords.)

I want to buy a house...I really really want to buy a house... *sigh*

Ok....moving on. Maybe if I get my ass in gear I'll still have time to work on a couple of jewelry pieces and read some of my latest book of choice.

WHEE!

As always, I have more to say about BayCon and what a wonderful weekend it was than I could possibly ever fit into one post - which is probably just as well, since some things should just stay at BayCon. :D

It was the usual fantabulous weekend of geekery and good times. As in years previous, I was traveling with the incomparably fun and beautiful redminx and va_peterson, and Ms. Vicki's boy K as well. This year, dalisair was along for the ride as well, and I was blessed with poeso, cjl101, gwenrose, jeebachu and adnate coming out for the first time and stride and snoopyh42 making a return visit. I also got a couple of drive-bys on fallen42 on Friday night and got to see a good cross section of the Sta Maria crew, which is always nice. (chelleann77's ring is really gorgeous...if you haven't seen it yet, you really should.)

And this year, unlike prior years, there are already pictures up! Yay! (Thank you Snoopy and Dalisair!)

The Minx, Ms. Vicki and I decided to do a trio of Gotham City's bad girls this year for our Saturday evening costumes - Minx was Poison Ivy, Ms. V was Harlequinn and I reprised my Catwoman costume from Halloween. We also had Ms. V's man and cjl101 as not one, but TWO Jokers, which didn't bother Harlequinn one bit. And on the "good girl" side of the comic book, poeso was a SMOKING hot Zatanna and stride turned heads as Dark Phoenix.

Captain Tightpants, aka waywardbound, joined us for much of the weekend as well, which was tons of fun as always. I think Poe charmed him, but Gwen and I made sure to properly abuse him so he wouldn't get a swelled head or anything. Wouldn't want this BayCon to be any different for him than prior years. =)

And I owe him big time for one of the highlights of my weekend...turning Stride into an elder god. *grins like a maniac* The man is the (proud I hope!) owner of the original Illyria costume from Angel. I was in a state of hyper fan-girl squee for most of Sunday afternoon. (Still am really...and I'm absolutely holding you to that t-shirt promise from ComicCon! ;P)

Other highlights -- school girl night was fun, as always. I even found out that I'm not really as horribly awful at swing dancing as I thought I was, and I have decided that I really enjoy having bows on my stockings. (Now I just need cuter panties if I'm going to be picking up people's keys in that skirt.)

I gave in to temptation and picked up a third corset, because apparently I don't _need_ a velvet corset...I must.have.one. - because it's a _moral imperative_. And because, as I said any number of times this weekend, it's so _f&&king PETABLE_! (Mmm...velvet...mmm...fondling velvet...mmm...clothes that beg to be touched...)

Other lessons of BayCon:

- lipstick makes a pretty good imitation of leaving marks, without leaving marks
- spandex may be a privilege for most people, but the committee has voted and for some folks, it really is a right
- life continues to be good in the Ottoman empire
- it is still possible for me to be stunned by my own reflection...which sounds really arrogant (and probably is) but it's nice to occasionally look at myself and think, "Holy shit! I actually AM hot..."

Further notes:
-- redminx...thank you again for organizing the rooms, sharing your booze and for getting me into the BayCon experience to begin with. I have never failed to have a wonderful weekend and not the least of that is due to the pleasure of your company. *hugs*
-- waywardbound, if they get the Companion's Guild off the ground, let me know. I spent my entire drive to work thinking about how to build an Inara costume around that new corset!
-- poeso...we need to do the Firefly costumes again some year. See above comment to WaywardBound re: Inara. I have IDEAS! *plot plot plot* (and I think you might not object if the last few of your garnets went into jewelry for such an outfit? *grin*)

Now...I'm supposed to be working. But first, must go add a couple people to my f-list. *waves at dalisair*

****This post has been left intentionally blank due to the realization that I have NOTHING interesting to say. Please feel free to fill in this space with what ever you like. It probably would have been rambling about chores and exercise and the holidays. If you'd like to make something up, feel free. Heck, tell me about it. I'd love to get a rehash of my amazing weekend hike through Patagonia or how I set up an internet brothel or the adventures that resulted in unintentionally saving the world by entertaining a kitten with a piece of ribbon. It's got to be better than laundry, dishes and cleaning the pool!****


Edit: Ok...so one semi-interesting thing for the morning so far. Apparently Romeo left the house while I was in the bathroom and the front door didn't latch. This isn't uncommon - the door just doesn't latch sometimes. So I shut the door, picked up my computer, sat down -- and there was this blur of orange in my peripheral vision.

One of the neighbor cats had wandered in while the door was open and when it realized it wasn't in it's own house, it bolted for the (now closed) door. Not exactly my normal morning... And damn...now I want a cat. *sigh*

So I heard this song on the radio one night on my way home from work a few weeks ago...and I'd forgotten about it, but poeso caught it and reminded me that I'd mentioned it to her (and she is presumably laughing just as hard as I did).

I swear, this is the ULTIMATE expression of stereotypical married life sex...and one of the funniest things I've heard in a long time.

( Business Time by Flight of the Conchords )

Just finished watching the pilot for Bionic Woman.

What is it about tough blonde chicks with just a touch of psycho and a definite sense that they could kill me without blinking that gets me so hot and bothered? *shudder* *sigh* YUM.

(Of course, she's barely a supporting character...I suppose I'll have to decide if I like the show without her. But not just yet... *happy place*)

So, as usual, my weekend at BayCon was JUST AWFUL! *overly dramatic hand-stapling gesture* *huge grin*

God I love Con. =D

I had my usual round of fun with corsets and velvet and short skirts and dark make-up and hotties, and this year our Saturday costumes went particularly well. I think we're going to have a hard time topping this year in fact -- I'm not sure what we could do to follow up Orion Slave Girls, but it's going to have to be creative.

And the set up worked every bit as well as we hoped. It took about 3 hours of prep time, but it was absolutely worth it considering we were stopped for pictures within 100' of the elevator and then about every 5' after that for the rest of the night. It was PERFECT. *glow* redminx deserves a huge amount of credit for coming up with the idea.

The rest of the weekend was wonderful too -- got to floor Snoopy with a troop of about 15 school girls, received back and foot rubs, got to snuggle and kiss on cute boys, danced like mad, had a chance to hang out with some of the Sta. Maria crowd that I don't see that often and really enjoy (including a nice opportunity to hang out with Cesare which I haven't really had a chance to do before), and generally had a fabulous time.

Killian, Poe and Stride all dropped in to visit at various times, which was fun -- and I bought fangs! *toothy grin* God damn but I was having fun with those on Sunday night. (Fortunately I had a couple of very attractive "test subjects" giving me a chance to play with them.) And did you know it's possible to do a full backbend in a corset? Doesn't hurt to have a spotter (thanks Waywardbound) but I got close even without.

And I closed out the weekend with a showing of Pirates (SOOO worth 3 hours in the theatre!!! Mmmm....eye candy...) with the gang and some hang out and socializing time after - including a wonderful opportunity to snuggle with the boys. I didn't get my usual post-Con nap, but I'll live, and it was worth it to end the weekend on such a pleasant note. I think it's helping to ease the post-Con hangover this year.

Now it's back to reality. It was a bit jarring to realize I wasn't going to have FireOpal to gush to when no one was listening...but I guess I'm going to have to get used to that. Besides, that's what LJ is for right? =)

And I'll post pictures from the weekend as soon as I have them.

[EDIT: Pictures have been posted by other LJer members here:
http://pics.livejournal.com/rmjwell/gallery/00019er1 and here: http://pics.livejournal.com/rmjwell/gallery/00019er1?page=4 -- I'll put up my favorites in my journal and when I have a complete set]

Arriving at work this morning felt utterly surreal. It feels like a month since I left the office Friday morning.

Apparently my email agrees with this assessment - I have three times the new messages that I would normally have on a Monday morning.

Where the hell am I and what's with the handbasket?

So I maintain that cleaning the house for a party is a great way to get organized to start packing. (We've done a little, but there's still quite a bit to go...)

Last night was great fun and a success I think. =) It was wonderful to have so many folks around to ring in the year with! Here's hoping 2007 continues as well as it started. *crosses fingers*

Of course, every party has its miscellaneous clean-up, and on that note:

poeso -- I have your copy of Firefly...I've put it with Cthulhu and will return it to your keeping tomorrow at game
flame_of_kali -- It was wonderful seeing you! I have your Tupperware...it's clean and ready to return to you. We should figure out how to make that happen.
dbvixxen -- I think I have a pack of your smokes (Turkish Silver Camels?) and I have onion dip, so if you planned to bring some Saturday, no need. ;)

I feel like there's more to say, but I'm not feeling inspired, so perhaps I'll update later. In the meantime, Happy New Year to all of you I didn't get to see last night.

Thoughts while inspecting my outfit in the bathroom mirror (because I'm not keen on finding my skirt tucked into my pantyhose after the long walk down the hall):

"Hmm...you know...I bet this outfit would look really great with a corset..."


Probably NOT the best thing to be thinking about my work clothes. :)

Does anyone else ever have days where you want to be wearing a shirt that says "Get me drunk and take advantage of me!", or is that just me?


[Edit: just for the record - I love you all! I can't tell you how good it felt to log in again to 13 messages in my in-box and almost all of them made me smile or laugh. You made my day!]

But since I got a long nap this afternoon, I'm not. I'm close though...but I promised a pretty girl that I'd post up some bits of conversation from the evening.

( Conversations are always better out of context right? )

Email exchange with my boss today that I found kind of amusing:

Her: "Have you done [task she mentioned yesterday]?"
Me: "Not yet, got sidetracked by [more important task that came up yesterday afternoon and ATE my day]...I'll get to it as soon as I can."
Her: "So many choices, so little time!"
Me: "Yup - time to practice my juggling more!"
Her: "You're the best!!!"
Me: "Just no flaming torches please! ;-)"
Her: "Oh c'mon...you're a risk-taker at heart!!!!"
Me: "Well I was hoping to start with knives and broken bottles before moving up to the really flashy stuff!"

I know what I forgot in my collection of "things I would have posted about"...

snoopyh42 brought me Godiva truffles - he was waiting with chocolate when I got home from drooling over the hottie at the rock gym.

He was paying penance, but I'll have to get the chat log from him to properly explain it. I don't archive chat history on my work computer.

Oh, and I've been playing with my phone again...like new icon?

( Explanation of the truffles )