happyWednesday was gaming and t'was quite fun. It's definitely much more interesting now that we have about double the number of people coming regularly. Hans brought over the Lord of the Rings board game, which I now want to add to my games wish list 'cause it's not whether you win or lose, it's how fast Sauron defeats you. We also played Carcassonne, which is always enjoyable (although now that I've played it at Conjecture with all the expansion tiles, if not the actual expansion rules, I may have to punch them out of my set and start using them!).
Thursday I stopped off at TPCS to drop off some paperwork on the way into the office, and on a whim I turned on KLSD, the new Air America station in San Diego. Lo and behold not only did I get to listen to Al Franken for the first time, but it turns out he was actually at UCSD at that very moment! He was doing a road tour and the first stop was us! I remember having read about it but didn't realize it was that day. I also was very entertained - not only is it always a joy to hear like-minded people on conservatively dominated AM talk radio, but Franken was very funny, and I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed his humor. Good times.
Anywho, at lunchtime I went on campus for their quarterly vendor fair. Most of the stuff is of course marketed to the students (posters, sunglasses, etc.), but there's a guy who carries bookbags and such and I finally got a new
I stayed a little late at work getting some stuff done before I left (since I was taking Friday off) and went right to the hotel for Conjecture. Turns out we had lots of hands on deck to help out, but I did help them get the Art Show panels off one of the trucks and up to the ballroom, and I stopped into the Con Suite to see if they needed any help, which they didn't. They did, however, need to go get some more decorations, so we decided to road trip out to the temporary Halloween store in Mission Valley since I needed something for my costume as well. I met up with the Con Suite gang there, but next thing you know I turned around and they were gone (they thought I'd already left to get more stuff at Party City). It was all good - I stopped in Marshal's to get a pair of pants, talked to </a></b></a>
quincy while I shopped, got a faboo dinner at Koo Koo Roo, and headed home to pack.Of course I got up later than I wanted to on Friday, but it's all good (technically I didn't have to be there until about 6:00 pm anyway). </a></b></a>
daniel helped me pack the car and then helped me pick up stuff at Smart & Final for my SDQSF parties and a few things the con needed, then helped me unload once we got to the hotel. The con had already started and was going quite smoothly (so much so that </a></b></a>allison showed up after I did!). I jumped right into bidding on a piece of artwork (which I won and posted about earlier), and snatched up the last of two plushie alien queens for Daniel (who could resist?). I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around, had a sandwich in the Con Suite (Stella did a superb job this year), and eventually realized it was time to get ready for the Meet the Guests Ice Cream Social. I changed into my black velvet pants, ivory silk shirt, forest green velvet jacket... and fangs. With my hair slicked back it was quite an ensemble. I waited for Allison, introduced her, and had a smashing fun time before things segued into Iron Hack.After my job was done I had a pizza in the hotel restaurant with </a></b></a>
john and </a></b></a>myke, then headed upstairs to get read for the first of my two room parties. Daniel had gone out to pick up </a></b></a>
tri, who helped me decorate while I changed into one of my antique silk kimonos. Lots of folks showed up - Corby, Wyatt, Jennifer, </a></b></a>hans, </a></b></a>stuart, and quite a few other people. T'was quite fun. One guy, Peter, was a new transfer student to UCSD, and although he was more than a little flirty, he was very tired at the end of the night so I let him crash on the couch in my room.I got up Saturday to find Peter already working away on his laptop since I was next to Prog Ops and could access the wireless - what a geek. I put on my Starfleet uniform (DS9 era), grabbed tea and a bagel in the Con Suite, and headed to the Masquerade panel... which only </a></b></a>
cathy attended. Bah. We were determined to beat the bushes for more participants, which I did for the rest of the day. I took another tour through the Art Show and Dealers Room, then had a panel on costuming from movies and TV with Sue Dawe, who is always fun to chat about costuming with. A bunch of us ended up going to Ricky's for lunch (which was pretty good diner food, IMHO), then it was back to the hotel to change into my costume for the Masquerade.What did I finally decide on? Well, while perusing different costume shops for ideas, I saw quite a few half masks that cover only your eyes and nose but leave your mouth free. I like the idea of them anyway, but it seemed doubly appropriate if I wanted to wear one and be able to MC clearly. Then I remembered I already had one from a few years ago, which fit nicely with the horror theme of the con, and thus was born... The Phantom of the Opera! I stood in the hallway to the kitchen, and after Jim Hay did his chocolate thing I turned on the fog machine, </a></b></a>
sandra turned on the fog machine, and I entered from the swirling mist. Very fun!We also had a kick-ass Masquerade - by the time we were finished we had 11 entrants, 7 prizes, and quite a few of them were first-timers. Yay! At the end of course I revealed my true face - no, it wasn't my horrible visage, it was the mask under the Phantom mask, as in a double mask. Very fun, although it freaked Tri out a little. :)
Afterwards it was my second room party which was even better attended. I had brought along Superfag, which we watched, and then everyone clamored for more so we watched Sorority Girls From Hell and Rejected as well. (I didn't feel too geeky as later I found </a></b></a>
darrel playing short films off his laptop in the Westercon party as well.) There was also an interesting woman (who oddly enough was born in Media and has relatives in Aston - small world!) who is shooting a pilot for a fannish reality show and asked if I'd be interested! You never know - after all, Quincy really wants us to get on The Amazing Race...Sunday I got up, put on my Psi Cop uniform, had a quick cup of tea in the Con Suite, and then went to my morning panel, "Horror Costuming - It Doesn't Have To Always Be Black." Much fun. After that I stopped in the Mad Science Fair, our signature event, to make sure things were running smoothly (they were, for the most part), and then went back up to my room to pack up, load my car and check out. Then I got to be auctioneer again for the Art Show, and even though there were only 7 pieces going to auction we had a great time (including $118 for the negative, backward printed program book that Zathras printed because he got everything at the last minute). I had time before the final panel so Corby, Wyatt, Daniel, Tri and I hit Fashion Valley for food. I helped run the Hiss & Purr, and for the most part there was much more purring than hissing, which means we did a good job again this year. Yay! Then we hung out in the Con Suite for a little post-reveling, and just as we'd decided to go to dinner, </a></b></a>
adam called a SanSFiS Board meeting, which was supposed to last five minutes... which I then interrupted a half hour later 'cause we were all starving! Fortunately it all worked out and most of us ended up going to Brians' for a nice wrap-up to the weekend. After that it was home, unloading the car, then BED!Monday was back to work, only to find that I'd gotten extra money in my paycheck, which was very unexpected (and put right into my savings account). After work I caught an episode of Farscape, talked to Quincy for a while (he's back online!), had soup for dinner, and played a bunch of Zuma since Corby was kind enough to hack it so I didn't have to buy the full version. :)
Yesterday was a slow day, but I got a lot done. I ordered some chocolate from my co-worker's kid's school. At lunchtime I went looking for fondue pots at a couple places (including a thrift store) but couldn't find any. I did, however, finally get a CD clock radio, which I've been wanting for a while, so there's an early birthday present for me. I also got a reimbursement check from my insurance company, so more money for me! Daniel started at the security place today so I wanted to take him out to dinner, then they told him they're going to give him a different assignment since he can't work next week, but the house (and Tri) went out to Islands anyway. Hopefully his interview at SDSU next week will prove worthwhile. And right before we left someone in
san_diego responded to my call and offered me a fondue pot she doesn't use. Yay!Today after work I'm going to see Liz to get a haircut, then home for gaming. (I'm skipping the LYC lobster dinner night because last year I went and I was the only one that didn't order lobster - I got steak instead, and it was way expensive.) Tomorrow I need to go get this fondue pot in Carlsbad, then Friday night is the party. Carson is coming into town this weekend so I'm sure we'll spend some time together, plus Saturday is Stanton's birthday and a Dopefest in Huntington Beach which Daniel and I may attend. Monday is Mom and Dad's anniversary, so I will probably send flowers because I know Mom will be a wreck. (Oddly, it's also National Coming Out Day.)
I should also mention that Quincy is coming into town next weekend (YAY!) and has already said he wants to go out clubbing, so all you folks take note if you'd like to join him (heaven knows I don't, but I will 'cause I lurves him).
