Hopefully, this will successfully embed a link to my Flickr album featuring highlights from our Halloween. We went to a party at friends' place, and KFP went trick-or-treating for the first time!
I haven't forgotten about all my LJ friends. Right now, I'm spending almost every available free moment (when I'm not diapering, feeding, comforting, reading to, or playing with my little Kung Fu Panda) working on the next issue of Wild Violet, as well as working on planning Wild Violet's 10th anniversary celebration, a reading to be held at 8 p.m. on Saturday, October 1 at Milkboy Coffee in Ardmore, Pa.
A couple weeks ago, I uploaded some Otakon pics to my Flickr account. Finally, I've added some captions and can share them. These are all from Thursday night. When I get a chance, I'll share more. Plus, I've got a week's worth of vacation pics plus entries I wrote while I was away!
Last weekend, we attended a special Otakon meeting, a staff get-together for staff in the Philadelphia area. Small, informal regional meetings been a tradition every April for several years now. This time, it was organized by one of the people who headed Gofer Ops in 2010, someone who once worked under me as a Gofer when I was a lieutenant in Registration. I finally got a chance to upload the photos.
Also, if you're interested, I wrote a short story based on the experience.
A few Saturdays ago, we played Confed online again, the role-playing game created and run by our friend The Cheshire Cat. We play over IRC so that friends far and wide can participate. Because we are now typing out our actions and conversations, I am taking much of this write-up from my fellow players' words. I apologize for not condensing it further, but that would take even more time, and I want to get this posted before the next session on Saturday.
Two Saturdays ago, we began a new adventure. The Cheshire Cat has for decades GM'd a role-playing game he created, called Confed (short for Confederation, an interstellar democratic alliance). In order to make it easier to play for those of us separated by long distances -- the most far-flung of whom is the Court Wizard, living in the Boston area -- the Cheshire Cat began an online version of the game.
Communicating over IRC, we used one room for action and another for out-of-character (OOC) chatting. This worked fairly well, until things got going, when it was difficult for The Cheshire Cat to pay attention to the OOC room. Essentially, he has told us that anything important to the action, including questions to him, has to be said in the action room from now on.
Playing the game this way was not only good for long-distance players but also made it possible for my husband, The Gryphon, and I to participate. We'd been skipping the recent in-person sessions, because it wouldn't have been convenient for taking care of our baby, Kung Fu Panda, just turned 7 months. This way, The Gryphon and I could take turns helping KFP out whenever he needed something. When needed, we could take a break away from the action quite easily.
Up until just about two week before New Year's Eve, we had no plans. Our friend, the White Rabbit, who has hosted an annual NYE party ever since I first convinced him to when our friend The Paper stopped running one at a local hotel, had decided to take the year off. Finally, My College Roommate stepped up and took over the celebration.
Of course, it was a pared-down affair, partly in due to her smaller digs. White The White Rabbit has a little house, she lives in a two-bedroom apartment with her son.
We probably would have arrived earlier at the annual Halloween party hosted by The Martial Artist and his wife, The Book Lover, if not for the Great Tart Experiment. We had some apples sitting around the house, bought at the farmers' market, and I suggested a simple apple pie. My mom used to make them in about an hour flat, using pre-made pie crusts.
The Gryphon, always the food adventurer, looked up a recipe for apple tarts. It looked fairly simple, as well, although it involved a couple more steps. And as we were in the grocery store, he uttered the words I should have known were a red flag: "I might as well make the dough myself."
Before I begin, let me just announce that Kung Fu Panda watched Sesame Street for the first time today and loved it. He watched a segment where Elmo goes camping, and they learn about words. He seemed greatly amused by the word "canteen."
On Saturday, The Gryphon threw a 40th birthday party for me, with the help of The Cousin and The White Rabbit, who hosted it at his place. The theme? A mad tea party, inspired by Alice in Wonderland, of course.
On our final day at Otakon, Sunday a week ago, my staff and I spent part of it shutting down Press Ops until next year. We also had a handful of press conferences and interviews to run, of course.
geeky
busy
bouncy
excited
cheerful
grateful
tired