Weather: Yesterday it was 81F & sunny. Today, it's 47F and raining. Just to add the loveliness, the sudden change in pressure gave me a massive headache (woke up at 2 am to take meds).
dream: I was a vampire (how that happened I don't remember) and as I was out stalking my prey, I found a gang of youths that looked perfect. Except that they were zombies & they were hunting me, not knowing that I was a vampire. The only living creature was someone who made Quasimodo look like a GQ posterboy. So we went looking for meals (blood for me, brains? for the zombies & flesh for the ghouls). We ended up at a high school & things went fine as we munched down on football jocks & cheerleaders (after school, it was night, duh). Then we found some elementary school kids on one of the rooms (age 8ish); they were watching some film or other as a kind of sleepover thing - school related. I couldn't let the zombies & ghouls eat kids, so I fought them off & barricaded the door. I took steps to prevent them from getting in (painting warding symbols on the doors, windows, walls, ceiling & floor). Somehow there were kittens involved but that may simply have been imagery symbolizing the innocence of youth. By that time I had thoroughly infuriated the lead zombie (& the one that I almost ate) and he was determined to munch on those kids. About that time my headache woke me up & I took some heavy painkillers.
After that, I dreamed that I was at some boarding school; one that was very odd. It turned out that it was for 'talented' kids (magic?). There was an incident involving a ghost or spirit of some sort and we ended up accidentally burning down part of the school. Me & the two kids with me (we may have been siblings) were being sent to another school; one that was also set up to handle people with our talents.
Stuff: To add to my fun, as I was disembarking the bus (& wishing the driver a good & safe day), I slipped. I slid/slipped down the bus steps until I was seated on the last one, with my feet out the door. My backside is bruised but everything else seems to have escaped injury.
This evening I'm not going home, I'm meeting Chris, Rosemary & others for David's birthday supper. Since I don't have a car, I'm taking the bus to that part of town & waiting for someone to get me from there.
book: Finished the book I brought with me yesterday and started The Service of the Sword (Worlds of Honor #4). I also brought along another book, A Fine Passion (one of the Bastion Club series) because I have a long bus ride this afternoon.
clothes: tall, black boots, brown velour broomstick skirt, navy turtleneck, navy cord vest embroidered with flowers, paui shell pendant & ring, flower band, fem-power band, and blue bead & silver heart dangly earrings. My hair is up in a ponytail & braided because it got so very tangled yesterday in the ponytail, I decided not to go through that today.
Labels: David R, dream, headache, Honor Harrington, Service of the Sword, weather
cold: Thanks to the fact that I'm sick again, I've had to cancel my platelet donation on Friday. That really bums me out. Yesterday I started coughing, too, a wet, hacking one.
dream: One of the things I dreamed about, I was in bed but I could see a road. The road was very wet, with standing water. I saw two police cars headed towards me & a small car away from me. For some reason, the departing car, with 3 young men in it, was going over the line, in a zig-zag. I remember thinking that they must be doing it to avoid the standing water, and just as they passed the 1st police car they hydroplaned right into the 2nd police car, almost a 't'. It went out of control and hit the 1st one, pretty much destroying it. The small car came to a stop on the side of the road, maybe after rolling. The policemen were not happy with the three young men. I came forward, a little reluctantly I admit, and told them what I saw.
One of the other dreams, involved Rosemary explaining to David R about a recent Living Greyhawk game that we'd played. It was part of a larger storyline and the recent adventure involved saving the lives of the leaders of X (I don't remember what). We didn't like the leader but we did like his 2nd in command (& successor). Unfortunately, we couldn't save one without the other. Chris was adding that there was a whole...mythology (he meant backstory) to it. Rosemary was trying to explain without going into so many details that it would bore David. She ended by saying the game was so exciting & tense that she was wound up like Mike (M, in MD).
books: I've tried reading Bridge to Yesterday before. Yesterday I finished it. I don't remember why I stopped reading it the last time. It's a pretty good book. Then I bought & read The Trouble with Witches. It's the 3rd Abby & Ophelia mystery. I'm continuing to read Shelters of Stone but for the commute (& lunch) read I brought Paid Companion to re-read.
clothes: Green/black Harrington steading polo, black slacks, black belt (with silver buckle, I'm finally small enough to wear it again), black knee-highs, black sequin/bead flats, malachite & silver bracelet & ring (which is a little large on me now), black stone ring, quartz point 'feather' pendant on long silver chain, & feather & quartz chip earrings. Hair's in a ponytail for lack of anything better.
Labels: blood donation, Bridge to Yesterday, cold, dream, Paid Companion, Shelters of Stone, The Trouble with Witches
cold I'm still suffering but I've not needed to take any meds since Wednesday (yay Alavert). I'm just tired and my ears hurt from the pressure (& not popping).
Neat website: It's a click to donate site called Poverty Fighters. It provides funds for microloans, mostly in 3rd world countries, but not entirely. By helping people help themselves, it provides long term poverty relief. They also have a bunch of the success stories. Most of the organizations have a 99% loan repayment rate. Isn't that spiff. Starting Monday, if you read this & decide to visit, click on the UNC-CH button. It's part of a contest between colleges; winner gets a speaker or a benefit concert.
books: read Lynsay Sands latest, Bite Me If You Can & Tongue in Chic by Christina Dodd. Now I'm reading further in The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon.
almost a nightmare: I had one dream that started to go nightmarish, luckily I woke myself up before that happened. The other dream I mostly remember. It was very horror-movie-esque. As some very posh or elite school, the science teacher said that sharks won't eat rubber tires, or maybe the tires kill the sharks; either way he assigned his students to find out why or to find a solution. One of his prize students somehow developed a shark that could 'swim' through land (it was very ghostly). It detected weight & was smart enough to tell when you got up on something (it got heavier). It could also smell blood that dropped on the ground. What really attracted it was love (hey, it's a dream). The girl who developed it was the first known victim (there may have been another, earlier victim), so no one knew how to stop it. The rest of the dream was one of her classmates trying to stop it, without anyone else dying. Unfortunately, there was an explosion on the school lab which destroyed more information (& killed 2 more classmates). In the end, the shark was stopped when he ate another classmate, who had a bag full of jewels on her.
clothes: black slacks, black suede shoes, black turtleneck, dark teal ~silky blouse, paui shell pendant on long silver rope chain, black stone ring, silver dome ring, 3-layer texture metal & elephant earrings (keep trying to lose the right one), & loose hair (for the first time in weeks).
Labels: Alavert, Bite Me If You Can, cold, dream, Poverty Fighters, The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon, Tongue in Chic, website
Sun December 3clothes: black jeans, socks (it's cold!), loafers, & 2002 MepaCon tee (front: MepaCon 'bird' & back: “ooh, looks dangerous, you go first!”). I've washed my hair, so it's loose. For jewelry, I went with my rainbow moonstone trimoon pendant, moonstone ring, ~rope band, Celtic knot ring, & fem-power ring (vaguely Willendorf). The sole of left loafer is trying to come off. I may braid my hair later, using my Celtic knot ponytail holder.
I dreamed about gaming, English history & my friends last night. Did you know that yaua yarn is Keoland home region access only. There was something about King Henry & King John (Lackland) of England & how many kids they each had.
Rosemary had a dream about gaming, too. But her dream was funnier than mine. But it's all in-joke so not funny to others.
Books: in the morning, while waiting for others to finish preparing for the day, I've been reading Watchers in the Night by Jenna Black (autographed). It's a vampire romance & very different. The protagonists were very much in love & were going to be married 3 years ago. He disappeared, because he'd been turned into a vampire. I haven't gotten very far but so far I like it.
Tatting: I started the first angel from Mark Myers book of angels. I think I screwed it up. But then, I was gaming at the same time, so my distraction is understandable.
Still no internet connection here, so it will probably be tomorrow before I'm able to upload these notes.
Con: The author ran our mod & it was fun.
Labels: Confalon, dream, Jenna Black, Watchers in the Night
Time Change! And now it's dawn when I wake up at 7am. It makes it much easier to wake up.
Dream: the alarm woke me from a really cool dream yesterday morning. I won't recount it here because face it, most people don't find other people's dreams all that interesting. But it was very vivid & mostly realistic. It wasn't nearly as surreal as many of my dreams.
MepaCon We are at the
Holiday Inn in Scranton, PA. The first games were Friday, and we almost died at the evening game. There were only 4 of us at the table & the high level arcane (who forced it to APL 8) was not a very effective spellcaster. The gm was nice to us or it would have been a TPK in the first fight. I think he pitied us; 1st game of con, our 1st Keoish mod & three of us drove 8+ hours (plus bathroom & food breaks).
The afternoon game ran late so we ordered to go from the Hotel restaurant; Manhattan Drive Restaurant & Jazz Club. It was okay food.
Yesterday morning we ate the breakfast buffet there. The food was okay but not '$6.95 + drink' worthy. Our waitress was nice but this one woman, maybe the manager was rude enough that Rosemary complained to management. The woman had a serious attitude. We will not eat there again.
We played the 3rd part of the storyline from the game Friday night (which was the 2nd, the 1st is an intro mod, so we didn't play that one). Edana leveled. Now I have to decide whether to take her on the track to the Halfling Outrider prestige class (13th level for her first opportunity to take that, due to Feat requirements) or Order of the Bow Initiate. I have to check to see the requirements for that one.
The afternoon slot was great fun. One of the local players has a gnome who frequently tells jokes. The player is constantly telling one-liners & puns. We chuckled frequently. Most people were playing the BI (Battle Interactive) but Chris, Rosemary & I wanted to play Baby's Breath & it was only offered during the BI's second slot.
That evening, we had the same players although Chris & Rosemary changed PC's. We also added a couple players. Keoland mods are tough! They have heavy duty fights. We survived by the skin of our teeth sometimes.
Mepacon has great t-shirts. I'm going to buy some today. I already spent a lot of money with
C.J. Henderson, their GOH (guest of honor). I bought some presents & he threw in a Cthulu calendar & a keychain (Texas Chainsaw Massacre).
Pennsylvania Weather: Friday was frigging cold! A real 'yeah, we're up north & in the mountains in October' kind of cold. Yesterday, it rained all day but it was much warmer (about 60F high). At supper, over about an hour, as the sun set, the temperature literally dropped about 4 degrees. Brrr. It was much colder coming out of the restaurant, Friendly's, than it had going inside.
Clothes: Saturday: grey 'Liberation of Geoff' t-shirt with full color image on front & back. The front image is the Brenin & his family (wife & son), Gaunt the fey, the silenced Giantess, the Geoff regent, the fey who helped Duchess Calisse (Brenin's wife), her fey stag guide, a monolith, King Bhrodie of the giants, The Storm Giant, a couple anonymous Gyri, two figures I couldn't id, Gorna & the giant's floating city. The back one is a tree showing all 4 seasons & 'The Brenin is the Land' in a banner above & 'The Land is the Brenin' in a banner underneath. Plus I wore black jeans & tennis shoes. When necessary I added the black sweatshirt. I wore the harp pendant (since I played Nadia my bard the last 2 slots), longer ~knot earrings, the ~deco female pendant Richard bought for me in Germany, & the same rings (knot, flower band & silver rope band). I put my hair in a ponytail for convenience.
Today:blue jeans, navy 'Song of 3 Summonings' tee with full color on front & white on back (Calisse, Pwyll the seneschal/bard, & Snowmantle her 2nd fey guide for the front & the summoning song on the back with her fey helper). Plus I'll wear my white tennis shoes. I've French braided my hair for a change. I'm wearing my lapis earring so they really show with my hair pulled back. I've got on the same rings but today's pendant is the star & moon entertwined with Celtic knotwork.
Tatting: I've completed another snowflake, despite running out of thread on 1 shuttle & having to reload. I started the 2nd motif for the tat-along but I was running on a can of Full Throttle & made a mistake. I'll have to either open the ring or cut it out. I was too tired to do either at the time. So I started it again in size 80 thread. Made a mistake on the 2nd clover & just started over. I made a good start on that one.
Labels: C.J. Henderson, dream, Living Greyhawk, MepaCon, tatting, time change, weather
State Fair: or Oy, I'm Tired!
Friday night was the 'make certain my clothes are ready for next week, pack clothes for weekend, grab tatting thread, books, etc' night. I got everything done & under control (minus one or two things) and I was in bed by 10:30, planning to wrap up the last couple items the next morning. My alarm was set for 6:00 am (blech).
All well & good, except I slept for crapola. At one point, I dreamed that I was on Hillsborough St (the road in Raleigh that fronts the NC State University campus) & suddently realized that I had only half an hour to get to Steve & Anitra's. side note, that location is less than 10 minutes from the Fair Grounds. So I frantically wake up to get started, look at the clock & realize that it's only 3:45 am; roll back over & try to sleep. I finally woke up for good at 5:50 am. Even so, I was about 5 minutes late leaving. Even with all of that, I managed to get there on time (by cutting out one side-errand).
It was a brisk morning (frost on the grass, I think). However, I was wearing thigh-high boots, leggings, underskirt (okay, 1/2 an underskirt), overskirt, sweatshirt, fleece-lined wool cape, & fleece-lined knit cap. When I got to Steve & Anitra's I changed to the bodice (2-3 layers of cotton with fake underblouse), fichu & shawl instead of the sweatshirt. I remained warm.
We got started early on the day; Steve loaned me Grave Surprise, by Charlaine Harris. It's the sequel to Grave Sight. It's about a young woman who survived a lightning strike and ever since she can find dead people; not ghosts, corpses. In addition, she can tell what their COD's are.
Steve read aloud in the car from a Debbie Macomber book. It's funny & beats morning radio. As soon as we arrived Anitra started trying to catch up on her stock. She'd sold out of one or two of her earrings, the wreaths & the candy canes, I believe. Plus, she wanted to do another version of her chandelier earrings. We tatted & demonstrated and had fun. There were no truly bizarre question.
Judy, another tatter from Clayton, had been by to see her on Friday & told her that my jewelry had won third. Yippee! Anitra's unicorn did not get anything. *snarl*
I relieved Carry so she could go eat lunch. The woman next to her, Carolyn the pen & ink artist, was also alone in her booth so I said that I'd booth sit for her, too. No bribe necessary, I do it for friendship. Although I might buy one of her cards for my step-mom (in addition to the gourd/bead thing).
Other than seeing people in the break room, I did not get a chance to see anyone in the Village. :pout: We were just too busy. If I wasn't demonstrating, I was putting butterflies & other items on earring wires.
We got back in good time Saturday night & I was headed for sleep by 11:30 pm. Slept very well. I had to get up & go once in the night but overall slept until 7:30. What a relief, especially after Friday.
Another rousingly chilly start to the day. It turns out that the lovely white linen blouse that Anitra found last week is too small for both of us. [mild expletive deleted]. So I wore my undyed linen blouse with the country blue & cream tapestry vest, plus the same skirt & underskirt from Saturday.
Sunday was just as busy but I found a couple minutes to talk to Schottzi (name misspelled, I'm sorry), the hat maker, before things got started. While I was booth sitting for Carry & Carolyn, I got a chance to talk to Senora. She didn't realize that I work so close to the brick area, "The Gift," that she designed. I walk by it every day, to & from work. It makes me smile, even if it's not as striking from ground level.
There were a couple of absolutely wonderful & amusing people who came by. One was another tatter to whom I gave my snood pattern to last year. She hasn't started it yet, but that's okay, she still has the pattern. Another was a woman who understood immediately when I said that I couldn't break her $20 bill unless I froze it & had a hammer. Then there was the quite precocious young man who scolded his mother, or tried, for touching one of the snowflakes & then for taking one of Anitra's brochures. Anitra & I had a hard time keeping a straight face on that one.
At one point, lunch I believe, when I was booth sitting for Carry, I tried drop spinning again. I was, ahem, less than successful.
I got a chance to talk to Beth in the break room & finally met her husband. Oh, they are such fun people.
I made it home after the fair by 11:30 pm. Chris drove in right after me, coming home from his parents' (it's his birthday yesterday). However, I was still wound up & ended up finishing Grave Surprise before I went to sleep, at about 12:30 am.
I'm just a little tired today. I took a long lunch but not to nap. I went to a transportation forum. I found out that you can take regional bus from Chapel Hill to Boone. And, if I understand the prices right, for about $22.
Today's outfit: black tassel loafers, knee-highs, black jeans, black polo acid-washed & overdyed green then embroidered in green 'Harrington Steading', green amber jewelry set (earrings, necklace & ring), silver band & my hair up in a ponytail/bun held by two leather-wrapped hairsticks.
I won't see my assistant again until after Fall Break. She has class all day tomorror, she never comes in on Tuesdays. Then I'm at the Fair on Wednesday & she'll be gone for the Break after that.
Tatting update: One more ring on the purple necklace and the other end of the fastener has been threaded on. So I have one or two more rings to do & it's done. I've saved two of the beads; I may do matching earrings. Plus I've tatted a butterfly to try & clear a shuttle.
Books: I'm still reading We Few on my eReader. And I've already talked about Grave Surprise.
Labels: bus, Carry, dream, Grave Sight, Grave Surprise, State Fair, Steve and Anitra, tatting, We Few
Gaming last night, advanced dungeons & dragons, v.3.5, run by my SO, Chris. I play a half-elf druid of Obad-hai; Rosemary plays her half-sister, a human paladin/bard of Brigid; David, the latecomer to the game, plays the dwarf monk; John plays the human fighter/archer/sorcerer or wizard; & Christopher plays the human rogue/wizard/cop. We cleansed the final temple & by converting the portals to fire instead of darkness killed most of the army attacking the city. Okay, backstory: all of our PC's upset someone, so we got sent out to the back end of civilization to patrol. We found an enemy, which was a surprise. We also found a war. About the same time we found a huge underground city, parts of it inhabited by very nasty individuals & groups. We took care of a couple of them & we found an ally or two.
Our new task: explore & find allies. We ended up on the other side of the mountains & found an elven community/civilization. They were suffering because someone/thing was killing all of their spellcasters. Our two multi-class wizards were immediately the highest arcane spellcasters in the city. Besides us there was 1 20th level cleric, a 2nd level one, a 1st level one & a couple paladins. That's it. We found (got found by) the construct assassin & tracked it back to the 2nd level, ooops, I mean 11th level cleric. Tracked him after he fled the city & found an old temple to Obad-hai with a portal under it.
And we found the army of evil cloaked in darkness that was approaching. Turns out that there were at least 3 more of those temples, each with a portal under it. The bad guys had transferred the portal opening to darkness & then linked it to the sky above the army, giving the undead, etc shelter from the sun/light. So, we, brave volunteers that we are (well, we do have a paladin with us, & a monk), said that we would go & cleanse the portals. When the paladin transferred the portals to channeling fire instead, that killed 3/4 of the army. Only golems & constructs are left.
Next we get to try & kill what's left of the command structure. Wheee.
Is that clearer now?
Last night I had a very vivid dream & since no one probably reads this, it's safe to relate here. It starts out I'm socializing with the fair folks at the end of a season/run in Greensboro. I'm talking to 2 of the performers, both women from England. One of them is complaining about how bad G'boro is to drive around & I concur, telling them that I grew up here. Then I tell them my mom's story about asking for directions when she first moved to G'boro.
Meanwhile, a couple of boys (performers or children of performers) are playing in the maze. They have the clue book but since they are non-native English speakers, they get confused & lost. The maze & clues are very Amero/Anglo-centric. While looking for them, one of the other people found something that he had been looking for, an antique carved statue/wood of Napoleon. BTW, we are not in Greensboro anymore. Inside the statue, this British gentleman found a map of the world, early 19th century (say 1810) hidden & untouched, in near pristine condition. It had only a bit of browning here & there to attest to its age. The Frenchman who had been looking for the same statue & map showed up, with soldiers.
Suddenly, I'm back on the island in the early 1800's. The British captain, who has just delivered the statue sees me & from my short cap of hair knows that there is something....uncommon about me. I sit on the arm of a chair, swinging one leg as I explain to him that I'm from the future. The French governor or whatever shows up & they start fighting. Then the pirates attack. Since I'm not in the paperwork anywhere, the pirates don't know that I'm on the island. So the 2 leaders hide me. I'm hidden with both/either the French treasure & the British treasure. Both are hidden in secret hollow cabinets in the portions of the walls, right across from each other actually. Since I moved from one to the other, I see them both. The French one has carvings, there's one whole shelf/drawer of jade chunks & carvings, another of different gems. I comment to myself, "It's a good thing I'm honest, because that's really tempting."
Meanwhile the pirates are gathering up all inhabitants of the island. At this point, I'm almost hiding under an overhang in the wall, the gallery goes up 3 floors with balconies/walkways overhead. One pirate, African ethnic, might be able to see me, I can see him. I try not to stare at him. The women, all of them in sight are of African heritage, many of them panicky because they are about to be sold as slaves. They fear, rightly, what the pirates are going to do to them. Ethnicity has no weight, it simply is. What matters is that the pirates are pirates & the island's inhabitants aren't.
Luckily about that point, I woke up.
Ren Festival: bought lots of stuff, 2 ear clips one with white fiber optic beads & one with hematite; black leather strip & silver bead hair wrap (I'm wearing it today); 3 feather & bead/stone & ribbon hair clips - one for Hailey, 1 for Amanda & 1 for Nora; hair barrette from the Bronze Rose; schwing pendant in silver; Ren Festival shirt & mug; leather reticule; Chris bought me & Rosemary a rose & the leather/bead hair thing- hers is blue; belly dancing music cd; wood flapping dragon for Leela - it's a mobile kind of thing, pull its feet & the wings flap; stay awake tea; & of course food & drink. They served the mead warm because it was such a cold day. I had one sip of Rosemary's, bought none for myself.
I had an apple turnover & hot chai to begin the day. Totally not seeing Russ as I walked by. I also ate chili in a bread bowl. Didn't care for that chili recipe, it was edible but not something I want to eat twice. Come to think of it, that may be all that I ate at the fair other than some cinnamon coated roast nuts.
We went & saw the Middle Eastern dancers, the mud show, part of the young fire eater, Dextre Trippe, part of the Tortuga Twins, & the Middle Eastern dancers with swords. I ran into Chris H. & another friend whose name I cannot recall, but I have her email & I emailed her yesterday. I missed Don though. That's a bummer.
I talked to the couple who have the leather mug booth. Due to personal reasons, they will be missing most of the fair season next year. I'm quite bummed about that. But I did get a chance to socialize with them this year.
Ah well, time for work again.
Labels: Brigid, Chris's game, construct assassin, dream, Kelis, portal, Ren Festival, Thorvald, Vertum
My posts aren't publishing, but then I'll just continue writing them for my own enjoyment.
FYI: watching
Birdcage right before bed does odd things to your dreams. That plus reading about a book with elements of Sleeping Beauty. The state fairgrounds were involved, plus fairie-style magic (sleep spell, I think) & drag queens & gay men.
Labels: Birdcage, dream
