I promise I will finish the Ren faire report if people will stop being sick at work so I could actually have a little free time again. (What part of "part time" do they not understand?) In the meantime, here's what else has been going on:



Last weekend in May, Ary and I drove out to Charlotte, NC for the ConCarolina where eldritchhobbit was one of the panelists. That is a loooooong drive, and I don't think we will be attempting it again any time soon. sittingduck1313 came in by train, and due to bad traffic in Chattanooga we got there about ten minutes before he did, and his train was late. Didn't do much the first night, just checked in, registered, and had a late supper. The hotel was in front of a man-made lake with a lovely little boardwalk, and we found a very good Mexican restaurant. Also saw a heron on one of the bridges who was obviously too used to people walking around to let a couple of dorky picture takers (ie me and Ary) distract him from catching some supper.

Next day we went to several pretty nifty panels. Ary wore his Doctor Horrible costume, which was well received, even by people who didn't know who he was supposed to be. (Yes, there are some people in the geek world who have not heard of Doctor Horrible) I wore the black Baroness dress I got from MRL which I plan to make my new Susan costume. Did not bring the rest of the costume, though, am saving that for Dragon*Con. Ary did a good job of taking in the waist, though it is still a little too wide at the shoulders. But since I'll be wearing the cloak over it, I doubt that will matter much. Without the wig, I wasn't anyone in particular, but if anyone asked we said I was Doctor Horrible's new lab assistant.

First panel was the pirate panel, with an author of Pirate fiction, and a couple of her friends who are part of a pirate "crew" in the area. (All that means is they have fun dressing up as pirates and going to various festivals) Talked mostly about fictional pirates, and a little bit about what resources are best for research. I am proud to say that the one book they said you absolutely have to have is Under the Black Flag by David Cordingly, which was the second pirate book I ever bought. (The first was Raiders and Rebels: A History of the Golden Age of Piracy by Frank Sherry, slightly more romantic, but still a good resource)

Second panel was on ghost hunting, with a local ghost hunter who actually has a day job so he can do the ghost hunting gratis. He will not take money, even if it's offered, and his back story explains that. He had actually never told this story to a group, but when someone asked in our panel he decided it was time: The house he grew up in was possessed by an evil presence, and as a result he spent much of his childhood finding various forms of escape from that. When he was about to leave for college he felt first relief that he was finally leaving, then guilt that his family would still have to deal with the presence. So he did some praying and decided, "whatever is here, when I leave, it's coming with me" ...and it did. It was with him for five years, and he had to deal with it, and he said no more on the subject, except that this was his motivator for wanting to help families with hauntings, esp if they had children.

Next went to a couple panels with Eldritchhobbit speaking, the first being Sci-Fi vs. Fantasy, discussing why fantasy is kicking Sci-Fi's butt in book sales. From the various authors on the panel there were several theories: SF is too much like the real world, so fantasy is more escapist, and that's what people want right now; With the space program pretty much stuck and not advancing the thought that the SF that is written may never come to pass anyway stagnates the interest and causes more dystopian SF to be written; etc. I suspect there is a grain of truth in all the theories.

Next two EH panels were one on the Hobbit, where fans basically speculated on the upcoming movie. And also Star Trek, talking about the recent movie, which seems to have been received fairly well on the whole. It actually sounds like it might even be good, and if someone twisted my arm hard enough I might go see it. ;~)

Had some lunch in there somewhere. Went to a panel on whether or not D&D was dead yet. (Not yet, it may be getting better, depending on whom you ask) When to the Geek Comedy Tour, which was essentially geeky stand up comedy. We sat in the first row, and one of the comics loved Ary's costume so much he gave him a copy of their CD collection. (Which we have yet to listen to) Wandered some more, had supper, then the main event, the Whedon Mania! It was not quite the Doctor Horrible Singalong that we had at Dragon*Con, but it was still pretty cool. A bunch of fans, with Ary essentially holding court as Doctor Horrible, watching the DVD and singing along. We left before they started the musical Buffy episode and caught the last half of the costume contest, then it was off to bed.

Next day didn't have a lot planned. Sittingduck went to an anime marathon while Ary and I went to a history of paranormal research panel. It was kinda interesting, but the guy we had seen the previous day was MIA, so we were a tiny bit disappointed. After that we checked out the dealer room and got a few interesting things. Then were at a loss for something to do while we waited for Sittingduck. A couple guys at a gaming table offered to teach us a new game they had developed called "I Drank What?" where you essentially try to figure out whose drink is poisoned before you have to drink. It was pretty neat, and once we'd played a couple games they said, "Like it? It's for sale at our table in the dealer room!" So we got it.

Gathered ourselves up and piled into the car to head up to VA. Made it there in pretty good time, even got to visit with the family before bed.

Lessee, Monday was mainly spent visiting: Valerie and Judy both came over and we sat around chitchatting till lunchtime. After lunch went over to Mom's to visit with folks there. Played several of our new games; Dad seemed to like I Drank What, but became more and more perplexed by Fluxx and Munchkin. Mental note, stick with simple games. Also watched a nifty old movie with Alec Guinness that Sittingduck has been trying to get us to watch for a while now.

Tuesday was our going out day, and we went to Petersburg to do the trio of Civil War tours: the Seige Museum, the Center Hill Mansion, and of course, Old Blandford Church. The latter, I should mention for anyone who is interested, is one of only six churches in the country (perhaps even the world) that has a complete set of windows made by Louis Comfort Tiffany. They are very beautiful, and well worth a look if you happen to be nearby. After doing all the tours we skipped over to Richmond and had dinner and drinks at the Capitol Alehouse (which has a huge beer menu!), then slowly made our way back home.

Wednesday we met my friend Carolyn for lunch, did a little shopping for dinner, then came home and cooked supper for everyone. Okay, Ary cooked supper for everyone and I stayed out of the way. Thursday we met my former hairdresser, Grace for coffee. I was bemoaning to her my hair's perpetual state of frizziness and she suggested I try using a humectant. I am trying that, and it might actually be working. Course, it's kinda hard to tell with the weather being so hot I immediately tie my hair up anyway.

Friday we left right after lunch and headed in the direction of home, stopping in Bristol overnight at the Knight's Inn right before the border. (That place is getting more and more fleabaggy, we may have to look elsewhere for a place to lay our heads in Bristol) Next day stopped and visited with the family in Cookeville, which was when I checked and found out that I needed to make adjustments to Aunt Willie's slipper. (So much for it being a surprise, but at least it'll fit) Then back home and the first thing we do is laundry. ;~p

So back to work last week, and of course we all know how well that went. Saturday was good, though. The Smial had its next meeting to discuss the Lord of the Rings, and we worked on the first five chapter of Two Towers, right up to when they go to Edoras. Unfortunately Ary and I had to leave just as they were about to meet Treebeard because we had tickets to Johnny Phoenix's one night only show in Franklin. Since he was not invited back to Tenn Ren this year (something which he seems to be slightly bitter about, whatever he may say) he decided to do a show for his TN fans as a benefit for Make a Wish, and at the same time film it for use as an audition tape. The nice part being that the fans get to buy a copy. It was a pretty cool little show, but I kinda see why the TNRF folks picked him to *ahem* lay off. Take away the tights and his show is really stand-up comedy with a few stupidly dangerous stunts thrown in; not terribly Renaissancy. That and also the fact that even the "family-friendly" portion of his show was kinda pushing the envelope. However he still managed to keep from going too far, and since I am an utter prude that is saying something. After the show there was a mixer at a local restaurant/bar, which we went to, but we don't mix too well, being a little oily I guess. So we had drinks and dessert, talked with Johnny a little, and then headed home. Got in at 1 AM, but I still went to church the next morning like a good little girl.


Okay, now you're all caught up. Going to descend upon oropher_777 this weekend, and I hear she wants Ary to man the grill for Sunday dinner. This could be dangerous...