Didn't update about the weekend. Friday was gaming, possibly the last at Danny's, the guy that started our local group. We're working on a new location, and in the meantime I've taken over the Meetup account. Saturday was a work get-together with Q's co-workers to meet someone's new fiance. There were margaritas and tacos. Sunday I slept in. Alas, we missed my niece's school performance, but I'm told we'll be able to watch the video with her in-person play-by-play, so hopefully that'll make up for it.

Tonight I spent a lot of money at Amazon. A few needed (and some not-so-needed) items now that some of our tax refund came back. The rest will be spent on tickets to Sacramento, fixing my truck, buying a suit, fixing my tooth, and possibly getting Q a new computer and maybe even get us a new TiVo. With luck, there might be some left over, but I'm not holding my breath.

Mom's dealing with Mary's death by helping Mary's sister with the estate and the house. She's not overdoing it, and it's good to get her out of the house and helping out. So far the family drama has been kept to a minimum, but it's early in the process still. Unfortunately, her memorial service is the same day as Q's brother's wedding - blah.

It's spring break this week, so the library is awfully quiet, which is nice - I'm catching up on a lot. I get Friday off, and we're thinking of having a taco night and watching Rocky Horror, just 'cause it's been ages since I did.

Looking ahead to the wedding next month, with a possible layover in San Diego to go through my storage unit, but we'll see how it goes. I'm all for Q spending a lot of time with his family, but between that being a lot of time for me to spend with them, plus, you know, the whole "OMG YOU'VE CORRUPTED OUR SON STOP BEING TEH GHEY REPENT REPENT!" thing. It'd really be a shame if I make it all the way to the PST and not touch base at my much-missed home. After that it's dolls, comics, sci-fi, slash and, of course, Pennsic to carry us through to the fall. Lots to do, lots to do...

So other than friends dying, we had a decent weekend.

Friday night I went gaming with the local group, and I got to christen my new copy of Ticket To Ride. Our organizer lost his job and is moving back to Seattle, so I volunteered to take over the Meetup site and help work on someplace to meet if no one volunteers their place.

Saturday we hit Waldorf for Q's comics, then headed around the loop for his doll club meeting. Nothing much of interest for me there, although the people are extremely nice and I do like chatting with them. (They also found out I have a couple of dolls in my past, specifically the Star Trek Ken and Barbie, as well as Cockring Magic Earring Ken and Western Stompin' Ken, all of which can be blamed on Natalie.)

Afterwards we hit Ikea for some new bedding, then met up with Sev and Matt for Thai food and to poke their fat little kitties.

Sunday was spent in happy, lazy slothdom, although I did do a few chores and booked a room at Charles Town Races & Slots for a birthday weekend we're going to on Friday.

This week will be mostly chores and such. Lots to do - work, plane tickets for Q's brother's wedding, planning out the next few months and figuring out what we can and can't afford to do, food shopping, taxes, Q's resume, etc. My Gorgeous Life, indeed.

To whit:

• A boring weekend and week so far. Q was working all weekend, so I stayed in and futzed around the house a bit (managed to finally get the Christmas tree packed away, for example). Nothing too exciting.
  
  
• Monday night I fell asleep when I got home from work, but last night we went out to dinner and got some shopping done.
  
  
• The new Olive Garden finally opened this week, but of course it's packed to the gills. Hopefully the novelty will wear off so we can go eat there soon. It's not gourmet, but at least it's another choice. I really need to put together a list to help us decide where to go since neither of us can ever make up our minds, and we end up forgetting half the restaurants anyway.
  
  
• Finally got my own copy of Ticket To Ride, which I'm quite happy about. Alas, the local gaming group organizer is moving within the next few weeks, so we need to decide what to do next (I'm willing to help organize, but I can't host - our place is just too small).
  
  
• The College has a new president. Can't wait to see what the students and faculty find to rail about.
  
  
• I see that Virginia's governor has chosen not to extend equal government job protection to the GLBT community. He's a choad, and I empathize with my friends from VA.
  
  
• Some people need to actually go away when they say they're going to go away - not 2 years later. GO AWAY.
  
  
• More snow coming tonight - huzzah! I'm appreciating it for what it is, but Q's oh so over it.
  
  
• This weekend I have gaming on Friday, then I think we're going to Ikea on Saturday. Next weekend we may go to a casino for Angel's birthday. At some point we want to do a taco night, but not sure when.
  
  
• Looking ahead on the calendar, and we have lots of travel coming up we need to plan for - Q's brother's wedding in April, CON.TXT, Philly Wizard-Con and a Tonner con in June, Pennsic in July/August, Gaylaxicon and another Tonner con in October... whew!
  
  That's it. I know, boring stuff, but that's my life. O woe is me.

Friday night was fun, as Q didn't have to work so he joined me at gaming. We played Soaps, Betrayal at House on the Hill and TransAmerica (I recently bought another copy of Five Crowns, but no one was up for a rummy game). There was also a new person joining us, so that will make 6 core players in the group plus Q whenever he decides to tag along.

Saturday we got up relatively early (for me) to head up to DC for Q's monthly doll club meeting. Our friend Ed was coming down from Philly, so we wanted to make it. Alas, it turned into quite the ordeal. First, we got out the door a little late, but still with plenty of time. Then right out of the gate we got stopped at the two-lane bridge out of our area for about a half an hour for construction. OK, so we would be a little late, no biggie. Then once we hit the outer loop around DC, everything came to a standstill. We inched along for an hour and a half, Q cursing out the GPS on our phones for being moronic, and debating back and forth about what to do. Finally the choice was made for us - the car dinged that we were almost out of gas, so we scooted across to get off at the next exit. Wouldn't you know it, it was that's the exit they were forcing *everyone* to take, as 495 was completely closed between somewhere around the arena and 50. We got off, found a gas station, and then spent another 45 minutes trying to find a way around all the congestion (ended up going all the way out past Bowie - it was a mess!). What should have taken a little over an hour ended up taking *four* hours. NOT HAPPY.

Anyway, the meeting was still going on, and everyone was very nice about us making it finally, and we stayed and chatted for a while. Unfortunately Ed couldn't stay for dinner, but we dropped one member off on our way into DuPont Circle to meet up with our friend Frank, who was visiting from San Diego. We met up with him and another ex-San Diegan, Bob (friends of Q's and Frank's from the Gay Men's Chorus), and had a lovely dinner at Thai Chef and drinks at JR's (where Q once again proved he still had it, based on the boys hitting on him when my back was turned). It was quite fun, and made up for the horrendous afternoon stuck in traffic.

Sunday we both slept in, caught up on TiVo, and Q went to work. I watched the first two hours of "The Prisoner," and although I can certainly see its faults, it was an ok watch and I'll finish it out, if for no other reason than to see Ian McKellan, who is most stupendous no matter what he does. (I should avoid watching it too close to bed, though - I had some weird dreams last night...)

So now I'm at work, a nice short week. Tomorrow we're having a little pizza lunch, and doubtless they'll let us go early. Q's working all week, but we did get an invite to see friends for Thanksgiving afternoon. Q also found out he's not working next Sunday like we thought, so we're considering heading up to Mom's on Saturday, since if we don't we likely won't see her until Christmas.

So that's it. I know, SO exciting, right? :P

This weekend was Sloth-O-Rama. We survived several days of rain last week (yay rain!), so Friday night we finally got up to Waldorf to pick up Q's comics, and we perused the mall a bit (and started our holiday shopping). Saturday we both slept in, and Q started back on 12-hour shifts. Once he left I went into full Bum Mode - TiVo, movies, internet, games, BLAH. Went to bed late, we both slept in again yesterday, lather, rinse, repeat. WONDERFUL.

No big plans this week - work, some grocery shopping, whatever. Saturday is his doll meeting, which I'll probably go to because I think Ed is coming down from Philly, so that'll be fun. Q has off Tuesday through Saturday, then it's back to work Sunday for 6 days straight - ugh. Poor boo. With him working we're not going up to Mom's, but friends have invited us over for Thanksgiving. I have off Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, so if the weather's nice I'll try to get some Christmas decorating done. I also have a plan for some family gifts that I may get started on as well.

So, yeah. Nothing to see here. Move along, move along...

So, all in all, a nice weekend.

Friday we had a little fete at work, but no one got dressed up (except our statue downstairs, who I did up as Michael Jackson). I made a lame attempt by wearing an Incredible Hulk t-shirt and would unbutton my dress shirt if anyone made me mad. :) I had planned on playing some City of Heroes Friday night, but the week got the better of me and I ended up falling asleep on the couch right around the time Q left for work, waking up just long enough to feed the cats and climb into bed.

Saturday we were up and out around noon to attend Q's doll Halloween gathering in Alexandria. He wore his kilt, I wore my chiton. Good turnout, nice people, and the doll he repainted for someone was well received. From there we went to look at a custom dollhouse another member is looking to get rid of, but it's an actual HOUSE, i.e., a small cottage for someone 16" tall. Like HUGE. (Like NO WAY was it coming home with us. Ever.)

After that we stopped and picked up dessert and booze for the evening party, and drove into DC. We got there a little early, but we and the hosts were happy to dig into the food anyway (and there was PLENTY left over at the end of the night). Q, of course, changed into another outfit (his Middle Eastern garb, very flashy). A good time was had by all, even though at points I was totally lost since they were all speaking Tagalog. :) Alas, they all decided to go clubbing, so I was dragged to Secrets for the first time. Meh. Finally got out of there after 2:00 (old 2:00, not new 2:00), and had to pull over for a certain someone to throw up on the way home (first time I've ever seen him do that, poor boo).

Sunday was a restful day of sloth - I caught up on e-mail and such while Q started painting a new doll for a competition at the Tonner convention he's going to in New York this weekend. This week should be mostly quiet - nothing major planned except some food shopping and Q leaving on Friday.

So that's it. Back at work today, for what it's worth. Cheers! :)

Oh, and here's a pic:

( Read more... )

These are the most God awful bagels I've ever had. BLEARGH.

Anyway, had a little get together with queer staff and faculty last night, which was pleasant. Wine, cheese, fruit, cider, pumpkin pie, cookies, and dish dish dish! It was just a few of us boys, so it was nice to catch up now that we're all back on campus.

Tonight and tomorrow I have no idea what we're doing, and Saturday is two Halloween parties, one with the doll freaks, and the other with Q's friends in DC. Should be amusing. I'm probably wearing my SCA garb, which is cheating, but I'm too lazy to put anything together. Not in the Halloween mood as I normally am, I guess because I knew we weren't going to be at the house Halloween night, so I didn't decorate (not that it matters - last year we got 5 groups of kids, so I kind of lost my enthusiasm). We are doing a little Halloween cider and cookies party on Friday in the office, so at least that's something.

Had a lovely dinner with a co-worker, then gamed with the kids (I'm their new club advisor). Played a couple of games of Carcassonne, and clearly hooked one of them on it. Also got a random e-mail from Meetup.com about someone starting a gaming group in the area, so I'm going to go to that, too, and see how it goes (only 2 of us so far). There's still that group that meets at the local bookstore, but they weren't as inviting as I'd hoped they would be, whereas these other two groups are. Q also scored tickets to see Margaret Cho this weekend, so we're driving to Richmond on Saturday. Should be fun.

Otherwise it's been a slow week. Spent last weekend at Mom's and the doll event, and got a few things done. Took Monday off. Today my boss was out all day, and I was quite productive. Next weekend we're going to DC for another doll event, but a friend is coming down from Philly, and maybe we'll get to see some DC friends (of which we have one these days, looking at Kyan). Then we need to decide if we're going to Sacramento, Minneapolis, Walt Disney World, or the Philippines. :D

Crashed after work last night - did not feel well. Slept through the worst of it, I guess, 'cause I'm at work today.

Looking forward to the weekend - I'm taking Monday off so we can spend the weekend at Mom's (Q still has to work tonight), and Q is going to a doll BBQ in NJ on Sunday, although the jury is still out as to whether or not I'm going with him.

Otherwise things are fine. How are you? :)

Unrelated thoughts du jour:

• My boss gave me a Star Trek Pez dispenser set today. OMG.
  
  
• I got a pedometer from the campus wellness fair and am thinking of joining the 50 Million Pound Challenge.
  
  
• Quincy's going to a doll fanatics meeting on Saturday so I'm staying home, doing some grocery shopping, and possibly playing some CoH (I'm long overdue)
  
  
• Pennsic laundry continues apace. I didn't know I'd bought so much red garb.
  
  
• Pictures from Pennsic are posted here. (Some are not work safe.)

Been meaning to post a picture of Q in the chiton and chlamys I made for him for his doll convention:



Notably this is also one of the last pictures of him with his long hair. HALLELUJAH! :)

Work yesterday was busy, but I got a lot done. Also submitted my resume for another position on campus, kind of on the spur of the moment, so we'll see how that goes (I want to learn more about it before getting too excited, but I know the people involved and I like them a lot). Got home, crashed, woke up, and went to bed. Q, meanwhile, spent the day driving to Chicago, and made it safely (and has reportedly already scored free swag, so I'm happy - the more free stuff he gets, the less expensive stuff he buys).

Today I slept in, but went out in the afternoon to the post office, the sewing machine store (getting my machine a tune-up, drooled over the sergers, and met the gay guy who runs the place), the local computer shop (in-your-face Christian business, but Q's power supply got fried in the last power outages and they're the only ones around, although I forgot to bring it with me so I'll have to stop back tomorrow to make sure I'm getting the right one), Jo-Anne's (contemplated some linen to make myself a chiton), K-Mart (bought myself a new sewing box), Wal*Mart, McDonald's, and home.

Something's screwy with our phone service - DSL works fine, and one phone works fine, but plug the TiVo in and the line goes dead. Doesn't even matter if it's plugged into the TiVo or not. I'm sure it has to do with the power outages we had during the storms last weekend, but it's really annoying.

I also need to prep the outfits I want to make if I'm going to get anything done by Pennsic. I'm looking at a couple of pairs of Persian pants, butterfly pants, hippari, a kilt, tunics, Middle Eastern robes (not sure exactly what style yet), and whatever else strikes my fancy. I almost bought some linen today, but am hoping to hit a sale (once you're spoiled by JoMar's it's hard to shop anywhere else).

Mom was talking about visiting this weekend, but I haven't heard from her. We're going up next weekend for Wizard Con in Philly, so maybe she'll come down some time in July before we head to Pennsic.

Other than that, no plans for the weekend. I'd sew if I hadn't just dropped off my machine, so I'm thinking City of Heroes. :)

Oh, and here's a picture of the outfit I made for Q:

( It's a chiton, it's an exomis, it's GREEK! )

Spent the last two days home sick. Stomach/head thing, plus couldn't sleep. Ugh. Back to work tomorrow, though - lots of stuff to do before another 3-day weekend. On top of that my sewing machine needs a tune-up, Q's computer power supply seems to have given up the ghost, and the power outages have fucked up the house phone lines.

In better news, I did finish Q's chiton, and I must say I'm proud of the way it turned out. He's going to look hawt. He leaves tomorrow morning. Meanwhile Mom may come down for a day or two over the weekend - not sure yet.

I also got a call from Celeb telling me that a former member of the BF encampment told him that if other camps knew how welcome we were and what a family we've managed to create over the years, they'd be insanely jealous. That made us both feel good. :) (Oh, and if you're going, there are 5 days left to pre-reg, and only 44 days until Pennsic. Lots to do, lots to do...)

I think that's it. I wish the last few days had been more interesting, but I spent the majority of them sleeping, sewing or feeling nauseous. Bleh.

Not that we did much. (Actually, what did we do? It's hazy.)

Thursday night we ate in. He had stuffed peppers and I had something else, I can't remember what. Friday I know we went shopping - Jo-Ann's (where I got a bunch of wacky fabric for garb), Petco, Wal*Mart, Michael's, and then Ruby Tuesday's for dinner. [Edited to add: Also took the cats to the vet for shots and a not-so-fun procedure for Posh. Not only did they act like feral animals but they looked at us sternly for an entire day.] Saturday we didn't do squat. We had multi-meat patties for dinner, but they didn't sit well with Q. We watched stuff on TiVo. We are both in love with Joel McHale.

Today the power went out twice, and Q thought he lost his phone so we were searching and cleaning for a few hours, but it was in the car. He went to work, and I made chicken stir fry for dinner. I also had nice chats with Uncle Rashid, who I'm still hoping to convince to come to Pennsic this year, Alexandros, who helped me with Q's chiton, and Gabbo and Biran, who just amuse me to no end.

Meanwhile, all weekend I've been working on his costume for this doll convention he's going to next weekend. Here's the sketch he made:

( Read more... )

The theme is Greece as they're launching a new Wonder Woman doll. You can probably bet on seeing him wear this at the Blue Feather Ball, too.

Q leaves on Wednesday, and Mom said she may pop down for a day or two this weekend, but otherwise I'm hoping to start working with the fabric I bought to get some garb done. It's nice to have a working sewing machine and some practical knowledge of what the heck to do with it all.

That's it. Last week at work was mostly heaven - both of my bosses were out, so it was just me and the new Assistant Director. Monday it was me alone, which was even nicer. Tomorrow one boss gets back, and the other gets back on Wednesday, so I guess it's back to the grind. Ugh.

It's been a productive weekend so far. In addition to (or perhaps in spite of) getting a lot of much-needed sleep, I planted flowers, cut the lawn, fixed a couple things and cleaned up a little around the house, and did some shopping. I had hoped to unload the Jeep tires Derek left behind, but the guy changed his mind. Still have other things to do, like make a toga for Q and tailor some work shirts for me, but I'm going to take tonight off and play some City of Heroes.

6 hours until a 4-day weekend. w00tness.

Alas, won't be going to Balticon for the day Saturday like we'd hoped as somebody seems to have spent all of our money on dolls.

Why is it I put my tea in the microwave to heat it up, and then forget it's there until the next day? Q and I laughed so hard about that tonight. :)

Had some freaky rain patterns today, and out of nowhere a HUGE thunderbolt struck campus today, and for the umpteenth time knocked out all phones in the late afternoon. Made for a quiet end of the day, at least.

I really need to write a formal reply to my review and point out exactly how much work I assumed last semester when my co-worker left. Upon reflection I don't think it was made clear enough by my boss(es).

I left work early yesterday to hit the MVA and never even made it because of my stupid insurance company. Stupid insurance company! Got it all settled today, so I'm leaving work early tomorrow to do it.

After that we're heading up to Mom's. Yesterday was her birthday (72!), so the Good Sister is meeting us at the house on Friday to do some surprise yardwork, then we're picking her up on Saturday at the airport after we go to a doll party in Philly (yes, DOLL PARTY, but at least it's with my old friend Ed who I haven't seen in probably 10 or 12 years). She's been in Florida for 3 weeks helping friends move down there, so I'm sure she'll be as happy to be home as to see us.

And how Q is off to take his pre-bedtime nap. He's SO ODD.

Food shopping last night. Laundry tonight. BEHOLD MY GAY AGENDA!

By the by, if anyone's interested in seeing some of Q's doll work, his first auction is up on eBay. We're hoping for many, many more. :)