If there are one or more people on your friends list who make your world a better place just because they exist, and who you would not have met (in real life or not) without the Internet, then post this same sentence in your journal.


The lines blur between who I'd've met with or without the internet - sometimes it's friends on the internet who talk me into going places where I then meet people...y'know? :-)

Here. Just the pub sing so far, and I was shooting into the sun so they're fairly washed out for the most part, but thre's some nifty ones anyhow. :-)

ETA: I put them up at Walgreens, so as to make it handy for friends in places like St. Louis to get prints if they want to. This means you have to sign up for an account to view them, but it should still be free/no credit card info necessary just to view.

Couldn't have asked for better weather, really.

Saw: Wonderful, WONDERFUL friends, terrific musical performances, fun acrobatics, a very nifty moving statue in that garden where the washing well used to be, one joust, the falconer (once in performance, once out working with the birds in the crowd) and Will Shakespeare.

Enjoyed it all immensely, and came home with that wonderful feeling I get when I've been in costume outdoors in great weather all day. I'll sleep well as soon as I go downstairs.

And then for the weird and surreal - the Duck is no more. They finally condemned it for real and took it down. The "Inn" is now basically what was the Thistlecroft space. I spoke to some of the Ducklings and apparently they've got a little shed in the Place of Punishment now, for their backstage needs. And they have a barrel of water for when they need water - not sure, but I think the spigot might be built in there. The hearth they've got, though, is NIIICE compared with our best firepit. And the space is both well laid out and less likely for patrons to wander into trying to buy the crockery. Also I don't think a river runs through it during storms. ;-)

I managed to fill a card with photos - although quite a few of them are blurry attempts to photograph a falcon in flight (you will never manage it unless you practice, after all!) When I told my computer to download the photos from my camera it informed me the process would take 40 minutes, although I suspect it's going to be far less than that. So eventually I'll get them (or some of them) uploaded somewhere viewable, but that won't be tonight yet.

There was almost quite a mess when we left - when I had put my keys (including the key to my, y'know, brand new car) into my pouch, they apparently fell out again, right next to my car. So when I went to look for them they weren't there. But some wonderful honest soul found them and brought them to the Faire office and left a note on my car for me, so I was able to retrieve them - fortunately, before the office mailed them to some guy in Madison who'd called about keys he possibly lost at the Faire too. Apparently his keys and mine look a lot alike, because he'd described them to the office folk over the phone and it was close enough that they put them in an addressed envelope. In any case I described mine in such detail that they were convinced by my description and released the keys to me. And they fit my car and apartment, so I got to come home after all. I think we'd have had to sleep in the Faire parking lot otherwise. ;-)

Anyhow, good vibes to all those in need of them, and *HUGS*, and I hope I can go back to Faire again soon, because it was GREAT.

Because, by God, I should be pushing it more.

And John Kovalic posted a buncha pictures and comments.

His post reminded me to mention to y'all that I was in...hm, I think the cupcake room party, when Peter Mayhew (best known for playing Chewbacca) walked in. He walked by me, and I had to tilt my head all the way back and look straight up to see his face. THAT is unusual for me! ;-)

And then there was the room party in which I nearly tripped over a remote-controlled Dalek that didn't come up to my knees. Talk about feeling powerful...

What I particularly like about the con:

1. There's something for everyone, but it's remarkably safe to bring your kids to, if you're so inclined - you just have to monitor what they attend and keep them out of certain room parties, which generally monitor the door to prevent kids showing up where they shouldn't be anyhow.

2. This is the only con I know of with hot rice available all day. (I actually do get sleep at night, even at cons these days, so I'm not sure whether it's available all night or not, but it's been available anytime I go there, which is impressive.) And there are often fruits and veggies available, and various foods at mealtimes until they run out (like soup at noon, appetizers in the evening, toast or cereal in the morning, etc.) Plus, it's the only place I've ever eaten an eggroll containing burrito insides.

2.5 And if you prefer, there are restaurants at the hotel perimeter - among them Sofitel's, TGIF's, Burger King, and DQ, plus a well-stocked gas station (where I could go for mango juice, yay!)

3. There is House of Toast, where I often get toast with cream cheese, tomato paste, and oregano. Mr. Kovalic posted a picture of their full menu - up to three of those toppings on any piece of toast, generally wheat or white. And this year, they had sushi, too. (It's a room party, thus they are not allowed to charge for what they serve, although they can put out tip jars so you can help defray their costs.)

4. COF2E2. They also serve tea (and chai, this year.) And it's free to conmembers. All day. Need I say more? (This is where I got addicted to Teasource tea in the first place...)

5. People wear hall costumes - LOTS of hall costumes - all con long. And they're creative. And fun to play with!

6. Cinema Rex. They have comfy old sofas and chairs crammed into the room while they play movies, with popcorn, candy and soda always available and occasionally pizza brought in (during an evening performance, I think.)

7. There are games that are not too terribly all-consuming, that can be played while...say...hopping from room party to room party.

8. The room parties. Most are held in the Cabana rooms, and this makes them...well, easy to get to. Plus, non-disruptive of neighbors. Because the neighbors are having a party too. The other party zone is fourth floor, and again...the neighbors are also having a party.

9. The science room. And science panels. This year, although I was lazy and didn't attend them, I noted an astronomy panel, a reptiles panel, and a raptors panel.

---===---

Go, take a look at the lists of room parties. They'll tell you more than I could possibly fit into a post. Or three. :-) Sadly, I can't find the program guide from this year, that'd be even more handy.

Are we getting just a wee bit desperate, here?

Amazon.com recommends "Pentax F 67mm Lens Cap for Pentax SMCPDA 16-45mm Zoom Lens" and more

(By the way, current camera is a Nikon...)

Yours truly,

Me

*BOUNCEBOUNCEBOUNCE*

*hugs you all*

I have that new-car smell in my nostrils.

And she's TARDIS blue!

*Wonders if there are any arkbuilding classes available locally*

Y'know, orange can really be quite lovely in the right place.

I just wanted to try TextLJ.

(ETA: OMG, it works!!! Y'all are in trouble now.) ;-)

Earlier tonight I accidentally stabbed myself on the "Vezzini for President - Conceivable!" button I'd collected over the weekend.

Now, Princess Bride is on the TV station I'd flipped on earlier.

Coincidence, or is the universe trying to tell me something?

Either we just had an earthquake, or they just blasted down at the quarry and I felt it all the way up here. Or I just got remarkably shaky and it stopped as suddenly as it started. Hmm.

Speaking of odd stuff, I was watching Doctor Who last night, and just as they got to a very climactic point in the episode, with the music all thundering and stuff - nature decided to join them. So I got lightning and thunder to add to the episode sights and sounds, and lemme tell you, that was an impressive experience that I doubt will ever be duplicated. ;-)

Convergence made it to five days this year - techically. They started Thursday, owing to the holiday, and just to be able to say the con ran to five days, they started one panel at midnight Sunday/Monday. It was very cute of them. I wish I could say I was at my best and participated in everything I wanted to, but I was feeling wiped out still (probably from whatever bug I had the week before) and missed a lot. On the upside, I got a lot of naps in and enjoyed everything I did get to, so I count that as a great weekend. Plus, I am now feeling far better than I was when I went there.

It never ceases to amaze me to see the sheer variety of costumes at Convergence. Every year you see a wonderful mix of fantasy, comic/superhero, and Sci Fi costumes, and not just your run-of-the-mill ones, either. I didn't see him this year, but I've seen a Klingon Elvis Impersonator. And I really wish I'd gotten a picture of the silver people this year - phenomenal costume, that, but I never even got close enough to see how they did the faces without suffocating. And I saw a Calypso (POTC) in the elevator that made me annoyed I didn't have a camera on me at that point. I didn't even get to the masquerade, but the costumes were overwhelmingly WOW.

Plus, the room parties - while I often make comments about "Yay, free alcohol every night!" there's a lot more to them than just that. For example, at the Wonka's room party, they have chocolate fountains with a variety of items to dip into them, plus various types of candy, in addition to the test tubes of flavored vodka. (Green apple is the BEST!) And they have a game of Candyland out, and an Oompa Loompa passing out sprinkles to everyone in the vicinity, and Willy Wonka sits out front greeting and teasing people, and generally having more fun than should be allowed. Granted, the Cow Asylum (this year featuring the Beer Fairies) generally just has test tubes of mixed drinks like Alabama Slammers on one side, and beer on the other, but they also feature that little stage where people are sometimes incredibly funny.

There is no alcohol at the Dystopia party, but every year they give you your temporary bar-code tattoo and play video bingo (where you have to find clues in the video they run and mark them off on your bingo card) for silly prizes - this year my friend won her very own 'start your own cult kit' from them, featuring packets of Kool Aid and a bottle of cyanide just in case everything goes wrong (and other stuff, I don't remember what it all was except for the flashing smiley face pin.) And the Klingons, this year, were archaeologists (and serving shots of hard alcohol such as whiskey.) There was a lot of room for jokes with them. And Milliway's, as always, handed out towels (paper, but incredibly useful nonetheless) and this year served freshly-baked cookies (via toaster oven) and milk.

More later, I'm not done yet. Plus, with any luck, I will get some pictures up. GREAT costumes, did I mention?

A few snaps I've taken of the area - Lake Delton, and the roads near Baraboo, WI. I actually missed photos of some of the more spectacular things I saw because I have yet to master the art of driving and photographing things at the same time, sadly.

( Photos behind cut )

Stomach is remarkably settled, so the day's plans actually happened. (Little twinges, especially now that I'm tired, but otherwise just fine.) We went to the Spring Green Art Festival (arts/crafts show, very nice stuff there) and I managed to spend very little but had a great time browsing.

Then we went to a restaurant set up in an old bank building, complete with the old vault doors and teller windows intact and had some lovely wine and some veggie lasagna. I really liked the Snoqualmie Vinyards 'Naked' Riesling. And the lasagna had a LOT of veggies in it, including asparagus, which made me all kinds of happy.

Then we went for a little tour of the area (Spring Green STILL has flooding, although most of the roads are drivable now - unlike Highway 33 up north of here - but we got out to Richland Ctr and everything we could see from the highway looked pretty good out there.) Everything is very lush and green where it's not immersed or showing signs of recent immersion. I wound up with a few mosquito bites over the course of the day despite having repellent on, but when you consider that area traps typically catch about 50 mosquitoes per hour, and got up to about 300 mosquitoes per hour after the flooding last fall, and are currently catching more like 3000 mosquitoes per hour according to the news last week sometime - 3 bites is really not bad.

Lastly, we went out to American Players Theatre (the outdoor one near Spring Green and House on the Rock) for a production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" which was lovely and funny and delightful. Puck was wonderfully energetic, although just watching him kinda made my knees ache, and everyone else was just perfect for their parts too.

And now I'm tired enough to be contemplating bed, really soon. Oh! But this morning I woke up to find I had buddies on my window ledge outside - three baby swallows, with Mom occasionally dropping by to feed them. Absolutely adorable. And I made a big pot of babootie this morning, so I'll be well fed this week. (Although I'll probably freeze a lot of it.)

Early Edition Season 1 DVD arrived. Yay!

I'll be downstairs watching TV the rest of the night. ;-)

(Actually, I have to run out again and fetch some things, but otherwise...THE COUCH IS MINE!) *grin*

Google map of Wisconsin flooding and road closures - apparently it's remarkably up to date. :-)

The music sounds sketchy and I don't know if it's the recording or my connection. Although I have four bars; unusually good from home.