stillsostrange

This morning, in an attempt to do some research for Changeling Hearts and in my effort to generally Try Cool Stuff, I took a glassblowing class. This was immensely fun. It was a three-hour class with two other students, and we each made a (lopsided, in my case) paperweight, witch globe/hanging ornament thingy, and a drinking glass*.

2100 degrees Fahrenheit is pretty damn revelatory, I must say. But I didn't flinch over-much, and I didn't pass out--which is a real possibility--and I only had a mild case of heat sickness by the time we were done. Which I promptly exacerbated by going to a seedy parking lot carnival this afternoon--one of those where every ride seems on the brink of flying off its moorings and killing dozens. I've replaced previous evening plans with lying in bed finishing Hemlock Grove and waiting for the queasiness to pass.


* Student involvement in the drinking glass-making process was minimal, probably because a) we would have fucked it up, and b) we were short on time.

It's a Friday night and I'm at home with LiveJournal, prepping a last minute ren faire costume to wear tomorrow. Assuming I can attach the wings to my corset the way I think I can, it will be one of the best last minute costumes I've ever thrown together. Which considering the tragedy that was my griffin wings, might not be saying much...

And to be contrary, I have to say that my February was fan-fucking-tastic, and I can only hope March follows its example. Of course, I'm going to visit matociquala this month and see Emmylou Harris, and then bring the Bear back to Austin with me, where we will sign books, break hearts, drink cocktails, and dance till they kick us out of clubs. So I suspect March will do just fine.

I suppose I could go back to that survey while my nail polish dries.

60. Do you believe in god and if so what is he/she/it like?

I'm agnostic, but I don't believe in gods that fit easily into human comprehension.

61. Do you believe in Hell?

Hell is other people. And the absence of god. By which I mostly mean the absence of wonder.

62. What one thing have you done that most people haven't?

I doubt I've done anything that most people haven't. Besides write the books I've written.

63. What is the kindest thing you have ever done?

I have no idea.

64. Are you a patient person?

Not when my nail polish is drying.

65. What holiday should exist but doesn't?

If you celebrate it, it will exist.

66. What holiday shouldn't exist but does?

I'm not going to take away anyone's fun.

67. What's the best joke you ever heard?

Jesus Christ walks into a bar. He hands the bartender three nails...

68. Where is the most fun place you have EVER been?

I'm not a fan of best and most and ever. I had a hell of a good time in Stockholm with matociquala, though, and also at Hueco Tanks Park with the Partners in Climb. And Hawaii with the spouse.

69. Is your hair natural or dyed?

Both.

Readercon was delightful, but I'm not out of the woods yet. I missed my flight home today, and have to spend the night in Boston. Thank Cod for my spare underwear policy. Now I'm holed up in an expensively pleasant corner room at the airport Hilton, trying to decide if I'm brave enough to get on the T in search of non hotel food.

Expedia plays "Hotel California" as hold music. I want to shake the hand of the sick fuck who made that happen.

So, if you missed the update to yesterday's entry, my fears were confirmed. I had an abscess in my gum, which has been drained*. I have a root canal on Tuesday. This caused me to miss my father's birthday yesterday, as well as Exquisite Corpse, and will cause me to miss a chance to wear the worm suit for work on Wednesday. This makes me rather crabtastic.

On the upside, my head is no longer a pulsing mass of putrescence and pain this morning, so I can go to work today. This is a positive because a) I'm dressing up for Comic Book Day, and b) I'm seeing Avengers tonight, and I would feel guilty if I did so after skipping work. On the slightly less upside, by 9 in the morning on the 5th of May, it was already too damn hot for my costume. For fuck's sake, Texas. Throw me a bone here.


* Before this procedure:

Me: "There is no optimal outcome that involves a mouth full of pus."

Dentist: "You said it, not me."

It looks like I've grown a few new readers again. Say hello, if you'd like, and feel free to ask questions. One of you is my 400th LJ reader, which might be worth a door prize. Step right up if you'd like one.

I am currently waiting for my parents to come over with a chainsaw so we can remove the dead and dying shrubberies from out front. Every day is better with deadly power tools.

Midnight Madness is now behind me. The race lasted from around 7 PM Saturday to 5:30 AM Sunday, followed by pancakes. Four out of seven teams finished. and everyone seemed to have a good if hectic time. I was awake for twenty-four hours without the aid of coffee, for which I would like some sort of medal. I got home at 7 AM on Sunday, slept for five hours, dragged myself up, and went back to sleep at 10. I feel much better now.

This means that now I have to start working on my Halloween costume immediately. A pair of attractive mechanical wings in a week? I can do that, right?

My first idea was a wire and PVC skeleton. We'll see how this survives contact with reality. I was originally hoping that running wire down the inside of my corset would be sufficiently stable, but now I'm not sure. I may go on a quest for for a bondage harness for better attachment. The next step is figuring out how to make metal or metallic feathers that don't weigh more than my harness or my spine can support.

ETA: I just bought 10 square feet of copper foil. I pray the shipping gods are quick and merciful.

ZOMG, ponies?

This is all jmeadows' fault.

The theme for this year's Halloween parade is a circus. It would be easy to make a fortune-teller or lion-tamer costume, but I find myself tempted to make the wings from Mechanique (even though I'm not a hollow-boned sort of creature). Heck, if I found a good mask I could be a griffin. I even have enough time left for this to be nearly a reasonable plan.

Last night, friends and I participated in Austin's Midnight Madness scavenger hunt. It's an all-night, city-wide, team-based hunt, and it is totally awesome. It began at 6:30 PM, and we got home at 6:00 AM. I am extremely groggy.

Reader, we won.

The teams met at 6:30 at Zilker Park, where we were led to picnic tables with Jenga (and Jenga derivatives) sets. Game control explained that we had a murder mystery to solve, and then made us play Jenga. My team ended up with a shitty off-brand Jenga*, and finished last. We finished, though, got our clue, and raced to the next clue. The next clue involved stereograms, which no one on my team can see. It was like the sailboat in Mallrats. After that, and one more extremely frustrating clue, we were a little dejected, but determined. But then clues started getting more fun (I just noticed that I first typed "more better"; yes, I'm tired.)--semaphore code, crossword puzzles, carnival games, a flashlight hunt through a cemetery. All the while we were finding location clues, we were also getting Clue-style weapon and alibi cards for the NPCs. At this point we were tearing through clues, and starting to catch up with other teams. A couple of teams, being made of lesser stuff, dropped out.

By 5:00 AM we had deciphered the last anagram clue and solved the murder mystery, so we sped back to the scene of the crime to make our accusation. At this point, we had called for a fair number of clues (which give you time penalties), and it was late, so we weren't hopeful about our chances, but still happy to have finished. It turned out that we were the second team to arrive, but the first had more time penalties than us and hadn't solved the mystery. Then we found out that every team had greater time penalties. That's when we started jumping tiredly for joy.

The upshot is, as winners, we get to plan next year's hunt. This is freaking awesome.

Now it's two in the afternoon and I'm groggy and sore, and I need to finish last night's coffee and make inroads into Kingdoms.

ETA: A side effect of all this is that I just woke up from a dream about finding a dead body while Das Ich was trying to set up for their show.



* I am not even joking--Jumbling Towers sucks goats. After two tries with that we grabbed the real Jenga from a team who had finished, and stacked it in no time.

I'm sorry, but this is the only cure for the "Eye of the Tiger" hell truepenny and jmeadows have inflicted on me.