So let's talk cursed date. *g*

After a hella long time agonizing over the decision (this is something that can't happen again), I decided to tell Chaz I'd meet him at the Arboretum at 2. I set Andy McDriver with the address and off I went.

I made it two blocks before I realized my hat wasn't on the seat next to me, turned around, and ran inside. No hat to be found. I searched twice, got back into my car and remembered it was in my purse. Awesome.

I started to pull out of the driveway and then noticed - a freight train blocking my way. Brilliant. I get half a block down and there's a second freight train running the opposite way on the other track. Even more brilliant.

Finally, I was on my way. The drive was lovely, thanks to Andy's help. It was a breeze and I look forward to being able to visit again. I pulled in, flashed my mother's membership card and he waved me through. With no map. This is important.

I pull round and stop. The parking lot in front of me is full, and the arrow indicating parking is not pointing in a direction that is viable. I turn left. I don't know why. I just do. I see a sign for the exit, or main route. I stick with the main route. I drive. I figure that all roads must lead to the main visitor's center, which is in the center of everything. I am not wrong, but without a map, I fail to know the size of the Arboretum.

Finally, I had to text Chaz and admit I got lost in the scenic route but I am positive that I will be there shortly, just have to get back around to the visitor's center. He says he'll wait.

Meanwhile, I'm cracking up. I've been driving about 15 minutes inside this place now, the view is gorgeous and who the hell else would manage to do this??? Of all the things I imagined, this didn't even come up. He is less amused. I found a Big Rock Visitor's Center and pulled in to look for a map. It was blurry and unhelpful. I called him this time and explained where I am. He said he knows exactly where I am and to walk and meet him halfway.

Me: But I don't know where I am, or where you are.
Him: Don't you know your directions? North, South?
Me: No. Hmmm, I seem to be at P13 in the East Woods.
Him: I SAID, I KNOW WHERE YOU ARE!
Me: THAT'S GREAT, EXCEPT I STILL DON'T!
Him: Just walk. All right? Just walk.

I called my parents, who have a map. They advise me to drive, and I do. I arrive at P14, let Chaz know, and he says to keep on going to P15 and he'll meet me. As I drive, I see him trudging up the road. I wave and pick him up. I parked at P16.

At the end of all this, I realize that they who had maps failed to tell me that after P18 is the DAMNED MAIN VISITOR'S CENTER.

Unfortunately, this is where I stopped having fun. By that point, I was totally relaxed and amused and ready for a good time. He wasn't. We wandered, and now I understand how Liss feels walking with me - he got distracted by every plant, wanting to investigate it more. He seems to know a lot about plants (Him: I just wish I could tell apart the different oak trees. I used to. Me: When I worked with a second grader, I couldn't even help her identify Oak from anything else). Conversation lagged entirely and I was mostly bored and sweaty. I gave it an hour and then he drove me back to my car from the visitor's center.

I did get to see a wee little wild strawberry growing, though, and that was cool.

So, meh. I gave it a whirl, but the interest wasn't there. Gary offered dinner on Saturday, so I think I'll do that while I see if anyone else on Match catches my eye.

Back from Torchsong, and I had so much fun. I wasn't sure what to expect - star of the convention stuck in Wales with a badly broken ankle, another guest home grieving in Wales, a new convention guest I'd never heard of, lots of angry fangirls and some uncertainty as to how often I'd be able to see the two people I actually knew who were going. After all that, I am so glad I went. I've been to single day cons before with actors, but I've never met one. I've never wanted to. I picked a good group to start (and, well, end) with.

My one really cool story happened on Saturday. John did a SkyLink two-way video chat three times during the weekend. The first time was Saturday, sharing a panel with his sister, Carole. My seat (assigned) was H28. It was on the end, and it was on the right side by the doors. Perfect. I was just a row behind the mic, where people went to ask the guests questions. Since a, some fangirls are embarrassing and I knew I'd want to tune some out and b, I was sitting alone with no one to talk to and wanted something to keep busy, I brought my knitting to work on. As the tech guys were setting up the camera for John to see the person asking him a question, I noticed that it was kind of angled towards me. Hmm.

So he comes on, and he's hysterical and funny and answering questions. About ten minutes in, he stops the next person walking up to the mic and says, "I'm sorry, hold on a minute, before we go on, I have to ask. Is that lady knitting?! What are you knitting, honey?"

I totally froze. "It's a shawl," I finally answered. "What? I couldn't hear you." I held it up and said again, "It's a shawl!" "That's great! See, I am paying attention!"

!!! Yes, yes he was. LOL I was completely and totally gobsmacked. And it was so cool, because I'd been disappointed to miss face time with him because he's so friendly and I knew I'd never, ever get up to ask him a question. And I didn't have to - he initiated it! It totally made my weekend. My week. Possibly my month. *g*

There were lots of fun things said and done and shared - John and Carole are planning to write a Torchwood novel, Tom Price is hysterical and sweet and a blast even when on pain killers (he looked the wrong way on the street and got hit by a bike, broke his arm in front of the convention center on Friday. !!!!!), Gareth has taken Viagra which effected filming, Carole wrote an essay for a book called "Chicks Who Dig Time Lords," Gareth isn't afraid to tease and flirt with John, Tom Price is dead sexy in glasses.

Also, at 4:30am Welsh time, John videoed in for the cabaret, did an adult Q&A, mooned us and signed off by singing to us a capella - brought tears to many eyes, I believe. And then Gareth performed karaoke to his own band's CD, which was sexy and brilliant. I adore his voice, so deep and swoony, and even enjoyed the screaming bits. He also played the piano, really well and a gorgeous haunting melody, to the song he wrote ten years ago, "Take It Like A Bitch." Which has been updated to be an ode to Captain Jack - "Take It Like A Bitch, Captain." It was utterly hysterical and he had a blast with it. He also gave permission for videos to be uploaded so I hope people do!

Pictures are up at my Flickr, here, although there aren't that many. I'll write down what I remember and share this week.

But yes - it was GREAT.

AHHHH!

Torchsong is this weekend. Torchsong is a John Barrowman con with other Torchwood stars. Do you know who is vital to the whole thing? John Barrowman. Take a guess as to who severely injured himself and won't be there.

I really am horribly disappointed. He was the whole reason I was doing this. Kai is out, too, and now it's just Gareth, Tom and Carole. Not worth $500. I feel horribly for them both (especially Kai, who's fiancee lost their baby this week - that's devastating), and John is doing all that he can to do what he can - he's doing a two way satellite for every panel he was doing, and is planning a cabaret by satellite as well. (eta: NO! He found some Welsh guy to sing instead? I've never heard of Peter Wingfield and I sure as hell would never pay $150 to hear him. Now I might cry.) I really respect and appreciate him. Still - that is not a hello, a smile, a hug, an interaction, a photo or an autograph, let alone a live performance. And of course, the con isn't giving even a partial refund. So I'm stuck going, because I have to get something for my money, but it's just such a disappointment.

I got my Sims3 game this morning from amazon and installed it immediately. I created my first Sims, so I guess I shall drown my sorrows in playing God. Kind of. The game shipped broken, so I can only do one family and hope for the best.

Today did not live up to its potential. *g*

Okay, so, I went out to dinner with Liss tonight at our favorite French place. I got home close to 9 (hella long day, so tired) and sat down at my computer to see if C had e-mailed. He had not. I admit, I was disappointed. But I figure, heaven knows I dropped him last December, anything goes.

By chance I was walking by phone about 20 minutes later, bringing laundry upstairs. My phone was ringing and sure enough...it was C. He said that he'd been serious yesterday, he really did want to see me again. So we're going to see Up next Tuesday. This week is just busy for me, with my mom's birthday Wednesday followed by Torchsong this weekend, so Tuesday was the earliest we synced. He's coming out to OP again, which is great.

The phone call was brief (mercifully) - I loathe the phone. And he's all, "Let's talk on the phone a few more times this week!" At least, I believe that's what he said, I don't hear very well and the service inside my house is sucky. I know I missed a few of his jokes and sentences. *g* I'll have to go outside next time. And if we progress towards a third date, I told KC I'm going to steer him towards the wonderful world of IMing. *g*

So, there I stand. Weird.

Okay, what a weekend. I am exhausted, worked both days this weekend, and tomorrow morning is going to be far too early. But it was mostly all good, and I actually had two dates.

On Friday night, I met up with G at Panera. I'm still not sure if it was meant to be dinner, snacks, coffee, whatever. *g* I grabbed a lemonade on the way in, and found him already sitting with a bagel. It was nice enough - about an hour, I wasn't tongue tied, conversations came fairly easily, he's nice and he's sane. All plusses. The conversations weren't very interesting, but they were there. He e-mailed me back the next day and asked if I wanted to do lunch sometime. He also said, and I'm going to quote here, "You were just so sweet and a lot of fun, which was a nice surprise." Hmm. So either he's met more crazies than he talked about on the date, or my e-mails were very misleading as to my personality! So it was low-key okay, worth a second date.

Then tonight after work was C. This is the guy who asked me out in December and then I ran. I am so glad I e-mailed him back. It was pretty awesome. I really liked him, a lot. We clicked. Conversations were fun, he's really interesting, I'm fascinated by his PhD work, he's nice and he's cute and he's funny. After dinner (he paid, awesome), we walked around OP a little, agreed we wanted to do this again, exchanged numbers, he hugged me and I headed home. I may still be smiling.

So, we'll see where we go from there. Meanwhile, I am watching NCIS and searching for the notebook I used at the con, where I wrote down all of my femslash09 sign up notes. Gotta remember to sign up by Wednesday!

So I blogged Friday morning/afternoon and then stopped. I tweeted all weekend long, but didn't spend much time on Winnie until Monday.

So when last we met, Biz was leading a panel and I was convincing Winnie that she did want to be online.

( Friday )

( Saturday )

( Sunday )

( Monday )

( Tuesday )

It was a really fun weekend. So quiet though!! Most panels had about 5-10 people, although a few had more. Biz and I registered for next year and were told that we had excellent lottery numbers...hope that bodes well. Not many door decorations, but the ones there were a lot of fun. I'll upload pics later this week. My favorite was the Doctor Who regeneration one, which was interactive. Hotel staff seemed friendly and welcoming and very interested in some things. One waitress talked about the many things she bought from this weekend and a few were excited about the plays.

I love this con and the camaraderie, but it has to expand. It has to let the young'ns like me join in and bring in anime and gaming to survive. Too many con-goers are in their 50s, 60s, 70s and in declining health. (I nearly walked into the wall in surprise when I saw a man about my age. Sadly, he was annoying.) Hopefully the economy will pick up next year and the hotel/con will have their acts together and the 30th year will be awesome.


What I worked on this weekend:


My first bobbles! A pain in the ass, but it really went quickly and I kind of love it.

We're here! We actually made it in last night, early. The train that has never gotten us there before 9:30 got in at 8 - so awesome. We were a bit concerned when we checked in and the woman said, "Technically, you were on the waiting list, so we have to see if we have a room for you." !!! We had a reservation, damn it. But they got us up here quickly, so it all worked out. We even got checked in with enough time to eat dinner - usually the restaurant is closed when we get in.

Checked in this morning - registration must have actually started on time at 10, for once, because there were *no lines* when we checked in at 10:45. Unheard of! We highlighted panels to visit and I remain depressed that the only Top Gear is against a panel I'm hosting. Grr and argh.

It's quiet so far. My bracelet lady isn't here, which makes me sad. The Doctor Who room isn't here, either, and a few others I love. Haven't really seen anything that grabs me yet - got two notebooks and am considering a Weevil Retrieval Team shirt. Some dealers aren't here yet, though, and I hope more room will open.

Biz is leading her first panel and I'm downloading e-mail, now that I finally got Winnie online. It's nice to be here, even though it is quiet. Hopefully it'll pick up as the day goes on!!

On the train ride, I watched the Glee pilot (flat out loved it; it's free on iTunes so grab it!! I can't wait for the season) and Dr Horrible, for the first time. I liked it, Neil Patrick Harris was awesome, but the ending was so abrupt.

Hmm. Just got an e-mail from J, the guy I tried to see Star Trek with. He has given me permission to go on vacation as long as I don't meet "any other cute guys." That would imply I thought he was cute, right? I'm sure he meant this all flirtatiously, but it fell quite flat for me, bah. But I am planning dates with Chaz and Gary, and that is good stuff.

After about 20 hours of work, my new computer is very nearly ready. I've moved over just about everything I wanted moved over (notable exceptions: Word, Excel). It's been stressful and always harder than anticipated (5 hours to reinstall my Sims games, only to be felled by Securom and have to find workarounds, I'm looking at you), but I love love love my new baby. (Possibly named Gwen.) Sims in particular is incredibly fast and smooth and beyond anything I ever expected.

Still getting used to the keyboard, though.

In terms of boys: I did not end up going out to see Star Trek this weekend. I blame J, who when confronted with my e-mailed suggestion of theater, asked where I lived instead of naming a time. He then picked a new theater, which is closer to me but that I don't like very much, and did so late Sunday afternoon. Well, sorry, buddy, you should have moved faster; I'm out of free nights before Michigan. On the plus side, G wants to meet up when we both get back from Michigan and Chaz, from December, would like to meet up.

I've lost a dpn and it's driving me nuts. I heard it fall; why can't I find it?

I think I shall touch up my nails and play some celebratory Sims.

So yesterday was pretty cool. I took my family to go see the Harry Potter exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry. It was SO COOL. No photos, which was annoying, but there was so much to see. (And, also, lots of knitted items, which was pretty cool.) There were interactive bits, too - you could sit on Hagrid's chair in his hut (I looked four years old), pitch a Quaffle through the goal hoops and unearth Mandrakes. Plus all of the workers in there knew HP well and would ask trivia questions and interact a lot. We all had a blast. (My father was more confused than anything, and Cal would have preferred seeing the next movie, but even they had fun. *g*) There was apparently an audio tour you could do, a lot of people had little devices, but we didn't get offered them in the accessible entrance. Mom and I probably didn't need it, though - we had our own pretty detailed commentary about every item. *g*

Then we slowly drove home in rainy rush hour traffic to get home for ames and chara and pizza, cake and sci-fi. Chara got there first, which surprised all of us, and then we headed out to meet ames' train. The station is only a block or two away, but she'd never used the train to get here before. We walked and we waited and we squinted, inspecting all of the passengers to see if they were ames. They were not. Confused, we trekked back home. We were just explaining that we hadn't found her when *ding dong*. Yeah, she followed us. Apparently she called out, but we totally missed it. LOL Sorry, ames.

And then we ate delicious pizza and margarita cake and knitted and talked for the entire night straight and neglected to watch any sci-fi, oops. But it was totally awesome and so much fun.

And, also, I got my first grade back - an A- in Indexing. That's with her not counting the last assignment because we all screwed it up so very badly. Can't wait to get that assignment back in June. Now just waiting to hear about my Doctor Who archive. ::bites nails::

I also tried to set up a date with J to see Star Trek, but haven't heard back yet. Meanwhile, my plan for today is to relax and set up my new computer and revel in the fact that I have no deadlines, yippee.

I had such a good week last week - I felt so confident and competent and was able to handle just about everything that came my way without anxiety or doubt. It was fantastic and relaxing and I loved feeling so normal. So clearly I had to crash at some point and crash I did, all day yesterday. It was hellish and it's just so damn frustrating. Why can't I feel okay without repercussion? Part of it was probably the end of grad school and my usual difficulty with transitions, part of it was also my birthday tomorrow. Oh, my crazy crazy mind, you are not always my friend.

I did upload my last assignment yesterday, though. I'm glad to be done, but part of me is like, "That's it?" Maybe I should have planned to go to graduation after all? The idea of parading across a stage with complete strangers is still not up my alley, but some kind of end marker would be nice.

So my mom started doing Zumba classes at her gym, and flat out loves it. Those who know her shouldn't be surprised; she's so outgoing and loves music and dancing. A new class started Thursday mornings, when I don't work, so she wanted me to come with her. Those of you who know me shouldn't be surprised that it didn't go so well. *g* I didn't flail or anything - I'm not coordinated enough to flail. That'd imply my arms and legs can move independently. I did manage to trip over my own feet, run into the wall several times and knock over my mom's water bottle of passion fruit tea, though. It was pretty awful - and hysterical. My poor mother. LOL They may say that the dance moves are easy to follow, but I really and truly dispute that. Apparently it's supposed to work your core, but I had no idea and my core certainly was not worked. My legs were, which is awesome, but I'm not so sure that I'll be rejoining her this week. *g*

As per my RAP goals, I have been keeping up with match.com. At my highest, I think I was e-mailing seven guys; it's now down to four. I think. I did accept the guy who asked me out, but I haven't heard back (fair enough; there was a long gap between him asking and my reply and I really wasn't keen on him anyway), and no one else has asked, but I'm thinking one or two might. We'll see. One is a total geek, and while I don't find him the least bit attractive, at least we speak the same language!

Today I've managed to read and entire book and swatch several different knitting projects, plus taking care of Cal and doing stuff for Mom. It's kind of nice to have free time again!