It's International Blog Against Racism Week and so many others have written amazing posts so far (a roundup can be found here) that they've inspired me to try to throw my hat into the ring.

( So I attempt to start at the very beginning. I hear it's a good place to start. )

You know, if there's a better way to deal with 9/11 than going into the city and watching a taping of The Daily Show, I don't know what it is.

Much thanks to lucifrix for the excellent company and for securing the tickets.

Also? Today I learned that there are such things as popcorn bars, and competetive cup stacking.

The more you know.

*reads weather report for tomorrow*

*pouts*

*tries to shove Ernesto out to sea*

Go! Go! Not on my Open day, damn it! You can rain on Sunday! Shoo!

It's getting cooler here in the land of Siam. I approve, though this speaks poorly for the odds of my tomatoes reaching their tomato destiny. Which isn't surprising considering how late I planted them.

Still, cool! I love fall, and cool weather, and wearing snuggly clothes and cooking stick to your ribs kinds of meals. Granted this assumes having energy enough to cook, but with my crockpot I'm slowly creeping back to that.

(Speaking of energy to do stuff, rinue did you get the thing I emailed you?)

This weekend, however, while it can be cool it cannot rain. Because I have tickets for the US Open on Saturday night for good seats that I did not have to pay for and I want to be able to sit there with a perfect view of hot female tennis players wriggling their asses as though they were doing it for my personal benefit and I am not going to be thwarted from that by something as silly as RAIN!

So there.

In other news I still want a dog, my co-op still doesn't allow them, and it is very dangerous to put the KnitPicks catalogue into my hands when I already have four knitting projects that I still need to do.

Just yesterday my Older Brother asked how the French Quarter was doing.

"Actually fine," I said. "See, it's a little known fact that the Quarter is higher than many places in New Orleans, so the flood didn't damage it too badly. At this point the only things we need to worry about are human-caused damage, like looting or fire."

Dear Fate: That wasn't a suggestion!

Gah! Watch me sit here and try to catch whatever snippet of news that I can about those fires, all the while trying to protect the Quarter through the power of my own mind if it's possible. And can I just say yet again how much I hate relying on out of towners to report the news to me? No, the mall by the Superdome is not the "riverfront mall". Riverwalk is the river front mall. You'd know that since A) the name and B) the huge wet thing right outside of it. Gah. GAH!

Anyway, still playing catch up on the news so no links to report. However, I'm feeling philosophical so allow me to take a moment to indulge in the wonderings of my own mind.

( Cut for your protection as I ponder whys and what ifs. )

Back home. I can now confirm the following:

Vinnie did wink at Ros.

Vinnie did hug Ros after the show.

swmbo rocks the house and got an autograph for Ros as well.

We did see Vinnie strip down to his alltogether (thanks bethynyc!)

Depending on your angle you did see more than just VK butt.

Depending on how close you were to the front, you got VK spit on you as well. As I have not yet taken a shower, I could successfully run a DNA test on the lad.

swmbo might, just might, think that Vinnie has lovely skin.

swmbo is, however, a cover hog and do not let ANYBODY tell you different.

Beyond that what can I tell ya? It was a fun night which reminded me a lot of Buffycon, in that there were a lot of people there I wanted to meet and no time whatsoever to get a chance to even say hi to half of them. This was also not helped by my blondness which meant that when people were nice enough to introduce themselves by their real names I had absolutely no idea who I was talking to. Next time I say we all wear name tags, complete with little pictures to the left hand side which allow us to push for more information.

The play itself was pretty much what you'd expect for an off-off-off-off-Broadway workshoppy play with a budget of, I believe, whatever was in the director's pockets at the time of the curtain going up. If you've read the reviews of it in the New York Times and the like you pretty much get the idea. Vinnie was good, "Manchester" accent notwithstanding. He gets a monologue in the second half which was well written and well executed by him.

The rest was a bit of a muddle. There were entire scenes that didn't need to be there, plus two actresses who left me and kita0610 with conflicting opinions as to which of them was actually pretty good for that level of theater, and which one was clearly the best the show could get their hands on. The important thing to remember in this argument is that my opinion is right, and Kita's is wrong.

Still and all with a tighter editor on the script and somebody gently pulling everyone aside and pointing out that no, really, it didn't have to be taking place in England, I've seen worse at that level of theater. It's no Shakespeare, but OTOH who expected it to be?

After the play there was Ros's meeting of VK, then various people splintering off to go home. Some of us traveled pretty much all over the entire Village in order to find a place to grab a drink. Then it was a late night with Ros making it clear that if I didn't to back home with her, Swmbo, and Kita, there would be dire consequences. Not the least of which was I wouldn't get the stuff that I'd left at Mer's apartment so I wouldn't have to haul it around the theater.

So late giggly night for us, comparatively far too early morning (10am counts as early if you go to bed at 3 and go to sleep at... actually I'm not sure any of us really slept), brunch at Katz's deli because Kita needed the food of her people, and then us stumbling back to our respective beds for nappage. The latter of which I'm about to do right now.

Slept okay, if lightly. I'm starting to think that tygerseye is right to suggest this might be a Spring fever kind of problem. I remember last year the longer daylight and increased fresh air in my apt. kind of did a number on my sleep patterns until I got settled into it again.

Headache lingered with me for the day. I unfortunately had to use my brain for bills and such, but once that was done I took the rest of the day off. Let it be known that flaming_muse writes the best comfort to my hurt evah. Also that she needs to continue that story. Yup, yup.

I have... herm. Maybe 6 emails out right now that I'm all a-twitchy about because I've gotten no replies yet. Some are personal, some are professional. Schrodinger's email, as I've taken to calling it. On the one hand no news is good news, on the other no news makes me start wondering if the people I wrote to ever got the letters in the first place. This is a bad place for somebody who second-guesses that kind of thing with little to no provocation. I'm the kind of person who, when sitting in the driver's seat and listening to my own personal mix CD in the stereo, wonders if she got into the correct car. You can consider this kind of thing the Persian flaw to my otherwise stunning intellect.

Talked to swmbo last night via email. I kept her company while she was in her most favorite airport EVAH, which is La Guardia. She claims that kita0610 and ros_fod have landed safely. On the other hand, this is swmbo. She may have fibbed. You know how untrustworthy she is.

Tonight is Electric Vindaloo. For thems who care, I'll be getting into the city at either 7 or 8, depending on what train I manage to catch. No clue yet what I'll be wearing, but I'll have a dark green backpack with me. So when you see the big boobed chick with curly blond hair, a green backpack, and an "Are you the person I'm looking for?" type expression that'll be me. Or an undercover cop trying to bust you for picking up prostitutes. Either/or.

It's September! A very joyous time of year, when leaves change, the weather becomes cold, things can be baked, and I can savagely mock everyone who has to go back to school because they do and I don't, neener neener neener.

Tennis last night was fun. Had most excellent seats, which means I was able to not only watch the games but I could also enjoy the amusement of watching people try to sneak their way up front only to be kicked out by an elderly usher weilding a towel. I'm not sure what the towel was for. Possibly if they don't produce tickets and/or leave in an appropriate amount of time he wets it down with a water gun, twists it, and slaps them on the ass. I didn't get to see him do this though so I can only assume.

The first game was between two women I've never heard of before but who gave great game. It was close the entire time, and had a lot of good back and forth. Also? There are worse ways to spend an evening than spending a few hours watching women in tiny skirts wiggling their butts back and forth.

I'm all about the deep and meaningful, with sports.

The second game I only stayed for two sets. Roddick vs. Jenkins, AKA the man ranked 2 in the world up against the 17 year old kid who is ranked, all things considered, not much higher than me in the world and I don't even play. (he's in the 1400s, to be specific)

I saw Roddick last year when he played Agassi and he struck me as an asshole then and I'm not really seeing a need to change that opinion now. First game he busts out with three 150 serves in a row, to which I'm like dude, how small is your penis? I get that this is competition, not charity, and that Roddick isn't going to waste time and energy when he can be saving himself for the finals, but even so there's ways to do that without doing the tennis version of using a shotgun on a mosquito.

That being said, Jenkins did well for a total newbie, and I hope we'll be seeing him again in the future. He managed to win four games which is impressive. Plus his first name is Scovil, so I'd love to go to matches with him and hold up a sign that says "Bring the Heat, Scovil!" just to see how many food geeks understood what the Hell I was talking about.

(Yes, I realize that's not how it's spelled in the food world. It may also not be how his name is spelled either. So it evens out. ;) )

Anyway, that's that. I'd talk about the convention except I've managed to not watch any of it so far, and given what I've read of the speeches after I think I'd better keep up that streak or else I'll be lobbing bricks through my TV.

La la la fall! Soon! Need an autumn icon of some kind! And also to make things with cinnamon in them! La la la!!

You know, the thing that clogs my shower drain the most is hair. Cat hair. Which I think just goes to disprove that silly myth that those guys keep themselves clean by using their tongues.

Now if only I could get them to replace the conditioner when they're through with it.

Weekend was good as weekends go. Went to buffybot's party and watched her attack the hell out of a triceratops. Also spent quality hang out time with stakebait and lucifrix. Plus I finally got closure on what the @#$% Wesley's background is in the AtS credit sequence. It's been driving me nuts, and now I know. The fact that this gives me a deep sense of satisfaction is perhaps your best indication that I just might be in desperate need of a life. You make the call. Or, possibly, you do the math. Either/or.

Much appreciated to all the replies to my so it pretty much sucks to be a bisexual person in America today post. It was nice knowing I'm not the only one out there with those feelings and problems. Plus a few of you suggested I should try an Episcopal church for some of my lacking spiritual needs, so I may see how that goes.

Today is work and playing catch-up, so if you sent me an email anytime this weekend and haven't heard back yet, hopefully I'll be able to get to you soon.

ETA: GIP, by sluggirl

I glance out the window after being awake for maybe an hour and discover that it snowed last night. Or possibly this morning. There's white stuff on the ground, is my point. Neat, if unexpected. And it does give me new reasons to try to get out the door a bit early when I'm on my way to work. Because we all know I love leaving early for work.

After eating it three times I've decided I still can't tell if I like baked oatmeal or not. I think what's throwing me is the texture. I feel like it should be wetter, like proper oatmeal, but since it's baked I assume the end result is supposed to be more like something you could eat with a fork. Plus it retains heat strangely. On the flip side it does taste good until the point at which it goes cold, so I have no idea what to make of it. I feel like I should keep making it because we all know that proper oatmeal is about the healthiest thing you can eat ever, and if it can be made in a recipe that's got 200 calories a serving and manages to not taste like wallpaper paste then more power to it, but on the other hand it still has strange heat retention.

I babble about all this in case anybody's got any ideas. It'd be really funny if all I needed to do was add a smidge more milk to the original recipe or something ;)

(And yes, I realize there's cooking groups that I could babble this too, but that'd require the effort of posting twice and I'm all lazy and stuff right now. Esp since I'm full of oatmeal. Which sounds like a euphamism for something but isn't.)

In other news Trust Me is finished, at least in terms of the "parts posted to LJ" stage. Now comes the stage where I go over it again and again with a fine tooth comb because I am that picky about word choices sometimes, and then I give it to wolfling to go over with a fine tooth comb because for all my pickyness I still miss plenty of errors, and then I'll actually post the whole thing to mailing lists, archives, and my web site. I mention that in case anybody wanted to know if there'd be a handy-dandy one stop shopping type link for it in the future. The answer to that is yes, yes there will. Probably by the end of the week at the latest. (Note how happily I assume free time in wolfling's schedule. Generous of me, no? ;) )

But since that's all fiddly clean-up stuff I find myself in the sort of post-coital place with regards to getting a story done, where I can sit and bask in afterglow and wonder if it was good for you. I've been tempted to do a post of some author notes, since some people were asking about the foreshadowy bits and others swear that they're not bored by me blathering on about the writing process. But OTOH I'm not sure if that wouldn't be too much of pointing out where the smoke and mirrors are so you tell me. I'm never shy about talking about myself so if there's interest let me know.

I also find myself enjoying a moment where I don't have an immediate writing deadline (as I had given myself one for this because I didn't want new episodes of Angel to start while I needed to keep my inspirations firmly in the land of AU), so now I'm all "la la la! freetime!" which, of course, I realize ignores all the other stories I need to be working on but shhh! Give me my moments!

And speaking of schedules I may take some fun classes in the upcoming weeks. Further bulletins on that as events warrent.

And I think that's about it. Now to dress for work, clean off my car, and try to find that new station that LIR moved to.