Costume is ready and in a bag. The major accessories are even "Seaweasel Approved" - which basically means that she squealed and wants to steal the belt I made. Tonight I will pack and tomorrow I'll be headed off for a weekend of geek-bliss. =)

***FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO MAY WANT CRASH SPACE***

I have had a few people express interest in taking up some of the space in my room. At present, I'm not sure how committed any of you are. Therefore, I'm giving priority to: adnate, fishknifeseller and leiland (and Lairian if he shows up, but I'm under the impression he has no interest in such shenanigans).

Should things wind up with a need to rearrange, or make the room unisex, I may poke Snoopy and Dr. No about taking Adnate in exchange for GwenRose, but that can be determined at the Con.

Other cuddlesluts may be welcomed depending on how much space I have, comfort level of those in the room and proper bribes.

If you will be there and know you would like some space (and don't mind possibly sleeping on the floor or in an over crowded bed), let me know so I have a head's up please!

Shar and I went to the title company office yesterday at noontime and signed a whole pile of documents. Then I went to the bank and got a very large cashier's check and took it back to the title company.

The loan should be funded today or tomorrow (depending on how slammed the bank is) and we should have the keys tomorrow or Thursday.

We're homeowners. *insert gleeful squealing here*

( The rest of yesterday )

Productivity today was partially scrapped in favor of seeing the new Star Trek movie. Yes, I know...opening weekend...I said Shar wouldn't want to...I was wrong. I was wrong about several things.

I was really hesitant - really, really, really hesitant - about this movie. I figured I'd end up seeing it because Shar wanted to and I do like Trek, but I really expected it to suck. Even after hearing my friends tell me that it was amazing. I expected iTrek, Wormhole Xtreme, Galaxy Quest with a good effects budget...I expected it to suck and be a horrible revision of my youth.

Oh my god was I wrong. I was so very very wrong.

By the time the credits rolled I was honestly speechless. I'm still not quite sure what to say about it. It was...just...WOW. WOW.

And for the record, it truly scares me how similar Sylar and Spock really are - not just because the same actor has done both roles, but because if Spock were a homicidal maniac, he'd be Sylar.

Also, Zachary Quinto...really hot.

The wedding was lovely - and I know everyone says that, but really, I've been to some that just weren't. This one really was.

The Brazilian Room is a lovely facility on the top of a hill in Tilden Park. No cell service, but plenty of trees and a length of lawn spilling down the hill that makes me wish we hadn't been all dressed up and could have just rolled down it. Finding it was tricky, but it makes a beautiful location for an outdoor ceremony.

Nitehunter officiated and the whole thing went off without any visible hitches. The bride was appropriately beautiful. The groom was appropriately handsome. The attendants all looked appropriately stunning in dressed and tuxes (and wow...I had no idea how well the guys can pull off hats!).

The DJ kept the reception running at such a smooth pace that I didn't realize how long we'd been there until we hit the last dance and filtered out at mid-afternoon. There was an amazingly good lunch (must remember that spinach salad!) followed by some moving toasts (points to Poeso for managing to get those of us who rarely "ruin our makeup" to do just that) followed by the appropriate dances, tossing of flowers and undergarments and cake.

I think the bride MIGHT have some things to say to the groom about rummaging about under her dress "looking" for the garter - but it was hilarious. There was satin and taffeta and half of the Admiral...and a squirt gun? and a flashlight? =D I haven't laughed that hard at a reception in a really long time.

They kept the whole thing very light hearted, a good touch of silly and therefore very very fun to be at. It was a good day to be part of.

And to the happy couple -- Congrats again and if possible, I would really like to get a copy of the "Friday Night Group" photo! I want that for my wall. Pinkies out everyone! =)

Now I really need to get to that ridiculous to-do list I've developed for myself.

New Year's Eve requires more of a post than my brief comment yesterday, but at the time I posted last night, I'd only just started to find pieces of my brain again. I think it fell out sometime during the party and scattered. I've located about half of it at this point, and will be trying to find the remainder shortly here. Apparently it was good enough that I'm still in recovery phase. Thank god I had today off from work - I went to bed at midnight last night but didn't get to sleep until almost 2am for some reason, and then didn't wake up until noon. (*grr* Didn't want to lose so much of today!)

But I'm fed and working on caffination, so I'm going to take a stab at just what made it a good end/beginning to another year.

( Auld Lang Syne )
Seeing as everyone else seems to agree with me, I declare the end of 2008 a success and here's to a better, happier, brighter and significantly less dramatic 2009 for everyone.

And now, to get cleaned up and try to salvage what remains of my Friday before I gather up all the misplaced belongings and remaining left overs to bring to Poe and Killian's tonight.

As anyone who's seen my computer desktop knows, I don't have a problem with "busy" designs. For several years now, my preferred desktop for my work machine has been a collage of photos of my family/friends creating a cacophonous riot of color and smiling faces that makes some people grin and others say, "My god...how can you WORK with that background?"

Of course, the first of these creations was done close to when I started my job, and has been added to in pieces over time but not updated recently. Since I've been here almost 6 years, and not updated the collection much in close to 3 years, it's a little out of date. Babies have been born, marriages have ended, new friends have been introduced and social tectonics have reshaped the landscape significantly.

So yesterday, after I found my glasses, I spend a good bit of my day going through the photos on my "brick" (external hard drive) and creating a new background.

This one is sized to the right resolution for my current system, so everything is much crisper and clearer than it was. Previously, I was stretching the old collage to fit the screen. Like the original, before any modifications, there are some spaces where I can squeeze in photos as time goes by and things change. There's a little more family and a lot more friends, and it makes me smile.


There are a few people missing from the collection, since I didn't have photos of a few folks. I'll have to remedy that, and I really need to remember to have a camera handy at parties more often, so that in another 3-5 years, when I need to update for more weddings and births and other social shifts, I'll continue to have a supply of photos of the people I love doing the things that they love...and hopefully in clothing that I can continue to put into a collection of photos likely to be seen by my co-workers! =D

Thank you all for giving me something to make me happy during the day and remind me why I keep working. I'll put a friends locked copy of the image up in my LJ collection if people want to see it...

[ETA: Compressed copy uploaded, with f-lock, to gallery. I had to shrink it to get it to upload in a reasonable time. Can be found here.]

I'm extending my weekend just a little bit by catching up with LJ and posting a bit about what I was doing all weekend that kept me away from the computer. As is usually the case, when I'm able to get to a computer (which is most weekends), no one posts, but when I don't get to the computer all weekend (as happened this weekend), everyone and their cousin posts. I skimmed. Hopefully I didn't miss anything important. It was totally worth it for a weekend of completely ignoring my responsibilities as an adult-type human being.

On Saturday, I went rafting on the American River. After telling us tales of the fabulous rafting trips she's taken with her family, and hearing us say, "That sounds like SO MUCH FUN!", leiland organized a day trip for the Tuesday night game crew and their significant others. Her father and brother were kind enough to act as guides, and despite some small scares and a big cut for admiralorko, it went smoothly and everyone seemed to have a really great time. I know I did.

I've established that I do need to get a hat if I'm going to do that again though - or really anything that will have me in the sun all day. Apparently my hair is simply not thick enough to protect my scalp, and what I thought was just some slight tenderness yesterday has colored up to a nice, even pink tone over most of my head. Seeing as I'm getting a sense of deja vu as I type that, I suspect I've made this realization before and it just didn't stick in my memory.

So, we got wet and slightly burnt and had splash wars with lairian in the inflatable kayak and swam and taunted each other and generally had a grand time. The Admiral didn't bleed to death (though he did get to have a number of stitches and staples to pull his leg back together after all was said and done) and Lady J didn't bruise her tailbone, so we'll call it a win for the home team I think. :)

And yesterday I went out to the City with gwenrose, lairian, leiland, adnate and ladyj77 to poke around the vintage clothing shops in the Haight. We didn't find a lot of interest to actually spend money on, but there was plenty to drool over and it was a generally pleasant afternoon's ramble. Capped off my evening with dinner with GwenRose and Adnate, and then the season finale of Dr. Who.

The dishes didn't get done. The lawn didn't get mowed. The groceries didn't get bought. But I could care less...I have time to catch up on all that crap and it felt really good to have my little mini-vacation from adulthood. Too bad I had to come back to work today. =)

Snoopy sent me a link to Starbuck flavored happy.

GwenRose sent me promotional images from David Tennant's production of Hamlet.

My cousin confirmed that she's coming to visit next month for most of a week. *bouncebouncebounce*

There are definitely worse ways to start a day. *grin*

for Angelina Jolie fetishism... *drools*

Shar and I just got back from catching a showing of Wanted and if you'll pardon the pun, it's EXACTLY what I wanted in that movie.

Cool cars, a VERY hot chick, a few hot guys, explosions, chases and copious amounts of gun-fu.

And one of the best last lines I've heard in a very long time.

I was smiling all the way home. (Ok...so I've been smiling all day...but I was smiling particularly widely all the way home.)

I finally broke down and got a display pedestal to put my jewelry on when I take pictures of it, and I had an excuse to give it a try last night. Maybe it's just the necklace I was photographing, but I think it's going to work really well. I now have visions of spending part of my weekend organizing my collection and taking better pictures of some of my older stuff to replace the shots I currently have on DeviantArt.

Oh, and if you'd like to see what happens when gwenrose hands me a bag full of garnets and tells me to cut loose with just a rough idea for a necklace...the results are over here.

Usually I don't post things until the commissioner has received and approved the finished piece, but I just loved how this came out and couldn't wait to post it. Loved it so much that I may break my rule about never duplicating a piece...

It's just so...slithery! *purrs* It's the kind of piece I'd like to wear with something really low cut for the pure pleasure of feeling it drape against my skin and slide down my cleavage. *grins evilly*

Gwen...you won't mind if I end up with a near duplicate for myself, right? ;P

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*

< insert obligatory sun worshipping post content >
< include declarations of wonder for the current temperature >
< recognize that you all think I'm crazy >
< purr a lot >

Yeah...What he said... *grin*

Thank you again to stride, aetherknight and adnate for a fabulous evening of getting spun around a floor and using muscles that haven't been used in forever. (And which now ache in marvelous ways...)

I still miss cues from my leads and my waltzing needs work, but in all, I'd say I didn't make a complete idiot of myself - and even if I did I had fun doing it, so that's all that really matters. =D

And good god damn is zydeco fun! *grins and boogies in place* It felt really good to use some of what I learned in that salsa class I took a few years back, and the music is utterly infectious - which probably explains how I managed to stay on my feet through the full two hour lesson and most of the three hours of music, despite being silly enough to wear three inch heels. (Fortunately, my ankles are strong enough that they're stiff, but in the "muscles being strengthened" kind of way...not the "wow that was really stupid *facepalm*" sort of way.)

Wanna see what I've been doing to occupy my time lately?

( Sure you do! )

Oh, and I've also been trying to get to the gym more, am devouring the Dresden Files books, have finished Season 3 of Dr. Who and keeping busy at work.

And cleaning plum wine off my ceiling. (Note to self - the wine is not salvagable after having pineapple sitting in it all night. Returned to the bottle, it will carbonate. Champagne has NOTHING on carbonated plum wine - either for loud bangs when "uncorked" or for fountaining of contents. While amusing, it would be advisable to find a better motivation for cleaning the kitchen.)

And I went to Cirque du Soleil for the fist time on Friday night. Wow. Seriously. Just WOW. (but how could I not love a circus with seelie sluha and unseelie satyrs on hamster wheels.) Poe and Killian were a couple rows in front of me, so they couldn't see the look of fascination and wonder on my face for most of the show, but I am properly convinced that I should have been finding a way to get tickets and join the annual birthday trip to Cirque for several years now.

of Dr. Who. (Our copies of Seasons 2 & 3 arrived on Saturday.)

I watched something like 5 episodes yesterday and, predictably, had time travel related dreams.

I'll be picking up Torchwood as soon as it's available, but in the meantime (thanks to Punning_Pundit), I have pictures of Captain Jack snogging "Captain John" (aka James Marsters aka Spike from Buffy).

Now if you'll all excuse me...I'll be in my bunk.

I should probably be finding something to eat. I made the mistake yesterday of not eating between when I got up (around 8am) and about 4:30pm. It was a bad thing. I suspect however that the minute I pull something together, my phone will ring - so while I'm waiting for calls or email from the office (no, I won't be ranting again just yet), I figure it's a good time to take a few minutes to note that this week has been, in majority, a Very Good Thing(tm) and perhaps remind myself to be grateful of that fact.

First off - reason eleventy-bazillion and one why lairian totally wins: chocolate drizzled cinnamon roll shortbread cookies. o.O Seriously... I know I've said this before about his cookies, but these are little bites of heaven, or possibly mana, or probably both. They're amazing! *hugs tin protectively*

Secondly - rasharmyr gets triple husband brownie points for putting up with me (and my profession in general) yesterday. Not only did he NOT have a screaming hissy-fit about me spending most of a vacation day on work (and I think he might have been well within his rights, since I assured him I'd only need an hour or two), he also tolerated MY screaming hissy-fit about spending most of a vacation day on work and he reminded me to take breaks and he accepted that occasionally shit happens with far more grace than I did.

And in general, it's been a good week. There was dinner and a movie with Poe, Killian and the little one on Sunday, and then the holiday (mmm....beef) and then Japantown (again with Poe, Killian and munchkin) and then cookies and a movie with Shar. There were many many things that balance the things that I am continually tempted to complain about.

Best of all, I'm back to relaxing as of 3 minutes ago and there's New Year's Eve to look forward to! (Better known as "the night where I get to kiss EVERYONE*!" (* assuming they're willing)

So now...breakfast...and snuggling my hubby...and the rest of season 1 of Dr. Who which I am now thoroughly hooked on and will probably require that we obtain a copy of season 2 with all due haste and as much of Torchwood as I can get my grubby paws on as well. *fan girl squee*

This is Ninja...everyone say "Hello Ninja!":



Ninja is dbvixxen's new kitten, to the delight of The Munchkin (who is eventually going to get old enough to wish I didn't call her that), and he is your typical bundle of just-weaned-kitteny cuteness. (Vixxen tells us that Ninja would have been named Ceiling Cat, but that she decided it would be too hard to explain that to the Munchkin.)

Luckily for me, Ninja is also a very sleepy kitten - being that cute is hard work! Since Vixxen just picked him up yesterday, she didn't feel comfortable leaving him home alone while she came to game, so Ninja came along and we all got to spend some quality time with the fluff ball and it happened that he fell asleep on me while I had him. There's something very soothing about having a small bundle of fur curled up against you sleeping his afternoon away.

I just spent three very happy hours on a wooden bench, so utterly entranced with what I was watching below me that I didn't even notice my backside going numb.

Every fiber of my being that loved my English Lit studies or my Shakespeare class or my Chaucer class or ever wanted to be a theatre major or ever loved a good British or Scottish accent was swooning with pleasure. Every bit of me that's been to faire and listened to costuming gossip/wisdom was thrilled. Every nerdy, geeky, pentameter loving bit of me was utterly consumed with the masterpiece unfolding on stage before me.

This was Shakespeare on a level that I have never seen it performed before.

Amazing, period accurate costuming. Skillful and expressive acting. ALL THE MUSICAL CUES from the original script! Singing, dancing, audience participation...it was...indescribable. *swoons*

I am filled with jealousy for every person who lives in or near London and has the opportunity to see this every summer. If/when I'm ever back here, a performance at the Globe will be on my agenda, no matter what they're playing.

( Lest I gush you to death )

Got myself a balcony seat to Spamalot - the very epitome of "nosebleed seating" - and found it to be delightfully, marvelously, fantastically ridiculous. It wasn't quite as "Can'tBreatheLaughingTooHard!!!" as The Producers was, but it was fabulously Monty Python.

It's not just "Holy Grail: The Musical" -- they kept almost all the best quotable bits, added musical numbers, utterly ignored the 4th wall and updated various spots for modern humor. I'm still trying to figure out how they did the Black Knight routine so well. It was a rollicking good time. =D

When I got out, the pub across the street was no longer serving, but the nice bartender told me that there was an Italian place around the corner still open, so I found myself having dinner in a lovely little place just down the street. I treated myself - appetizer, entree, glass of Chianti (really, REALLY good chianti too), and tiramisu for dessert with a pot of tea. *swoon*

It was one of those evenings that comes along all too infrequently - and now I'm back in my room, replete and purring, slightly warm from the tea and slightly limp from the wine, feeling deliriously sated and nearly purring as I grin from ear to ear.

Living for the moment is definitely ALL it's cracked up to be... =D


(and for the record - Yes. This time I _am_ trying to make you jealous... ;P)

Went to see Transformers tonight with Shar, Gryphon, LadyofDragons, Jeebachu, GwenRose, Snoopy, Thumper and Stride.

OH. MY. FREAKING. GOD.

I didn't really get into the cartoon as a kid. I've seen the animated movie because of Gryphon.

This was about 18 BILLION times cooler than anything the cartoon ever was!!!

Seriously.

Just...WOW.

Then we came home to find out that if you leave the heater on long enough, not only does the hot tub get pleasantly HOT, but the entire pool gets to about the temperature of bathwater.

I couldn't resist that and spent almost an hour in the pool. This is pretty close to bliss as far as I'm concerned. I'm _really_ going to enjoy having water to dive into whenever I choose. *happy sigh* We've turned the heater off for now, but it'll get turned back on tomorrow. I'm sure I'll regret that much energy usage when my next PG&E bill arrives, but for now... *bliss*

Oh, and Poe likes the necklace. =) She and Killian and their little one joined us for dinner.