Regina Noctis

I made my infamous carbonara tonight. heard me mention that I was going to be cooking it on Monday for , and pouted. She hadn’t had it yet. So, we trudged off to the store, and I cooked. So far, no one has keeled over from carbonara overload.

This is the dish that put me in the hospital and led to surgery. And, of course, I’m dumb enough to still eat it occasionally anyway. I do issue warnings about the lethal nature of it before I cook it for other people, however.

So, Monday I get to try and kill Camille and myself with carbonara again. I’m going to be so overloaded on egg, butter, and Parmesan.

I’m looking forward to it.

is going to bake two more batches, one for and one for me. Woohoo!

And the rest of ya can keep your hands off my tookies.

Unless you ask real nice, anyway. :D

You are Severus Snape.
You are a superbly sarcastic, somewhat evil wizard.
You are a former Death Eater but have found
your true calling in making students’ life
hell.

Which Cool Evil Guy Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

And having seen her when I was at karaoke on Thursday night, I can say that Cecily has not yet found the antidote to the potion. Her hair is still quite pink. Professor Snape may very well be right about that tenth year.

:D

(Yeah, I know most of you don’t get it.)

Poor . I’m likely to turn this into a running gag for years.

But now, apparently, is not that time. And, as per usual when I intend to ramble about the con, I’ll likely never get around to it in any great detail.

Instead, right now, it’s something that happened at karaoke last night.

When and were here and went to karaoke, Wolfie sang a song for Sylvan. It was very sweet, and I know that both and I were alternately grinning like loons in Sylvan’s direction and getting a little teary-eyed because it was so sweet.

Last night, someone else at karaoke sang the same song. It reminded me of Sylvan and Wolfie, and I started missing them so much that I was fighting tears. Unsuccessfully by the end of the song.

I noticed that Dev was also crying by the end of the song. Because it made her think of them, too, as it turned out when we talked about it. We were a mess.

Oh hell, I’m getting all teary-eyed now, remembering it.

I miss my Sylvan and my Wolfie!

I’ve always gotten hit by after-con letdown. Some have breakdowns at con. I get sad when the con’s over instead. The last couple years, it’s been particularly bad when con has ended, because end of con also meant that several of the people I love were going away again. Last year, it was particularly bad, with Sylvan, Wolfie, and all living out of the state, and down south and not attending the con at all. I thought that it wouldn’t degenerate into openly crying post-con this year, with at least one of them back. And I got a little sad, but managed not to cry, until last night, and now.

They’re happy up there in Seattle, and that’s good. It’s wonderful to see them happy. It just doesn’t make me miss them any less.

While at BayCon, I ran into an old friend that I hadn’t seen in years. It was great, and a bit weird. Another Pete. Another Pete who is no longer working in his old career. Another Pete who is no longer working in his old career and is now a schoolteacher. Another Pete who is no longer working in his old career and is now a schoolteacher with dark hair and a great smile… you get the idea. Ahhhh, synchronicity.

I spent the afternoon and evening that I ran into Pete catching up with him and subtly hitting on him. He was cute before, but he’s become quite a hottie now. Yummy, really. I suspect would disagree, but Sylvan and I almost never agree on who’s a hottie and who isn’t. I can think of two times we agreed in the entire time I’ve known him.

Hard to tell, however, if Pete was ignoring that I was hitting on him, or I was being too subtle. It certainly wasn’t the just-short-of-a-sledgehammer style that I employed when hitting on Sylvan all these many years ago, and Sylvan didn’t recognize that I was hitting on him. So, subtle may have been too subtle in this case. Who knows.

I eventually headed out for a smoke with a couple friends and left Pete at the Screamworks dance. I told him I’d be back. But then, in addition to and , joined us, and I started telling stories. Mostly Bozo Squad stories. I lost all track of time, and the next thing I knew, Pete showed up and was telling me that he was heading home. Damn me and my stories.

I had a crush on Pete once upon a century, so I was having a marvelous time getting re-acquainted with him and hitting on him. It was rather sad, really, that I’d let my storytelling get in the way. But, rather than take the blame like I should (no one forced me to tell stories, after all) I choose to blame Merovingian. He asked, after all. Dave_Over and Sossity had already heard my stories many times. So, yeah, all Merovingian’s fault.

I informed Merovingian that he owed me, after Pete left, and went on with storytelling. Finally, the Bozo Squad stories made us decide that we had to find Sylvan and get him in on this, in the form of telling him that there was a psychic emergency, a demon in the swimming pool, and we had to hurry and save the world.

Pete showed up at the convention the next day, with his friend-with-benefits in tow. So I didn’t get to see Pete longer than to say hi to. I considered finding Merovingian and reminding him again that he owed me.

Hey, Pretty Hair. You owe me. ;p

I just got email from Pete this evening, however. We’ve got a dinner date on Wednesday night.

What’m I gonna wear? I’ve got the wardrobe from hell, and I’m a Libra. Too many possible things to choose from. I know I’ll never be able to decide on Wednesday evening. So I need to start figuring this out now. Maybe, if I’m lucky, I’ll have some idea by then.

Somehow, I’m not surprised. I have been told more than once that I’m a gay man trapped in a woman’s body.

sylvan

95%











karlito1984

80%











kshandra

72%











johno

65%











charlottesmtms

59%











jasonwarlock

58%











dave_over

54%











hellloooonurse

50%











riversprite

48%








How compatible with me are YOU?

…and here I am, getting ready to head off on a work assignment from one of the temp agencies.

I must be insane.

Blessed silence and vodka.

Glad, actually, that I didn’t remember the vodka earlier. There was only enough left for one screwdriver. Guess I shouldn’t complain. That bottle of vodka has lasted me well over a year. That’s what happens when you drink only once in a blue moon. Well, that, and a substantial lowering of the alcohol tolerance, which is a good thing. One drink didn’t used to make me tipsy enough to be amused by everything.

There’s a much better way to be amused while this is going on.

VODKA!

Celibacy when you have a sexually active roommate and thin walls is more obnoxious than just plain celibacy.

*debates applauding again, to see if there’s an annoyed reaction to give me at least some amusement*

Having a hard time keeping my eyes open, but need to go find food before I sleep, so I’ll be up for a little bit yet. If I can convince myself to move, since my arthritis has been sounding quite the symphony of complaints since I got up today to check out of the hotel.

But, in spite of that, it was a good Con this year. One of the better ones I’ve been to, matter of fact. The aching is proof of that. I didn’t spend most of my time just sitting… I was wandering around doing things, and that’s why I’m feeling like this now.

And Goddess help me, I’m heading night reg again next year.

Obviously, I need to start seeing a shrink. I said I’d work next year before this year’s convention even started.

Issues, that’s what it is. Issues. I have issues.

Or else I’m stupid.

Take your pick.

, quoting from elsewhere, tonight over our drinks:

“I love boys. They’re stupid.”

Damn straight. (Which is even more appropriate, since she and I agree that gay boys don’t count in that particular definition of boys.)

Now, off to the con again, since I have acquired a Keebler Elf and must take her to be Elfie at people this morning.

Maybe I’ll even get some sleep now, since I haven’t yet. I was just starting to think about it when I got the message that there was an Elf needing to speak at me.

Broke a nail while packing.

I know, I know. This is not a major disaster. Wah, and all that.

But the rough edge is annoying as hell while trying to pack the costuming and things for BayCon, since it keeps snagging on everything. And I have no idea where the one and only nail file in this apartment has wandered.

Not that it can make me less happy than I am right now. I got to have dinner with my , and talk with to set up dates for her to cook for me and me to cook for her. A week from Monday, I invade her kitchen and spaghetti carbonara her. The following Thursday, she invades my kitchen and cooks her chicken and rice thing that I used to make her cook for me once a week when we were roommates. WOOHOO!

Now, must find a way to tame the wild thumb nail and finish packing… I have a Sylvan and an at the hotel to see. What a beautiful, beautiful thing. I soooo love them both!

I’m a longtime sufferer from Spoonerisms. I can’t seem to not do it. I don’t have any problem writing or reading, but I certainly suffer from this kind of verbal dyslexia. I’ve tried various methods to get beyond it, and still managed, in the heat of the moment during a CyberPunk game, spout out that there was a Snolo on the rooptoff with a snifer riple.

I have managed to not transpose letters in anything I’ve said for something like six months now. This is a record for me. But I blew it tonight.

As I was walking past , she heading toward the kitchen and I leaving it, I announced that, “I cook the tookies out for you.”

We both went on with business as usual for about three minutes. And then she said, “Wait. Didn’t you just say you cook the tookies out?”

“Did I?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, you did.”

I didn’t even notice that Spoonerism this time. Usually, I at least recognize when I’ve done it. The one where I was raving about rooptoffs and snifer riples, the one everyone remembers, I knew before I said it that it was going to be hopelessly mangled. I stuttered over the first three or so words for several minutes before I finally gave up and just let it be mangled.

I used to be frustrated when this happened. And embarrassed. But about the time that I perpetrated the snifer riple up on that rooptoff, I decided that it was just time to accept it, laugh at it along with everyone else, and go on with life. Or should that be lo on with gife?

About the time I realized that I couldn’t speak a particular common phrase (six of one, half dozen of the other, if you wanted to know) I decided that it was funny enough to share with people who weren’t around when I managed to mangle another sentence. I’ve had lots of fun telling people that it’s all six of done, half wozen of the dother since I came to accept this is just another amusing part of my life.

So, my roommate is just going to have to accept that I cook her tookies. Which still sounds, hours later, vaguely obscene, but there you go.

1984, George Orwell
The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
Animal Farm, George Orwell
Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
The BFG, Roald Dahl
Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
Bleak House, Charles Dickens
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
Catch 22, Joseph Heller
The Catcher In The Rye, JD Salinger
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
Dune, Frank Herbert
Emma, Jane Austen
Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
The Godfather, Mario Puzo
Gone With The Wind, Margaret Mitchell
Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, JK Rowling
Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling
Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
His Dark Materials trilogy, Philip Pullman
The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, Douglas Adams
The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
Holes, Louis Sachar
I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
Katherine, Anya Seton
The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, CS Lewis
Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
The Lord Of The Rings, JRR Tolkien
Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
Magician, Raymond E Feist
The Magus, John Fowles
Matilda, Roald Dahl
Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
Middlemarch, George Eliot
Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie
Mort, Terry Pratchett
Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
On The Road, Jack Kerouac
One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
Perfume, Patrick Süskind
Persuasion, Jane Austen
The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
Pride And Prejudice, Jane Austen
The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
The Ragged Trousered Philantrhopists, Robert Tressell
Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier
The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Secret History, Donna Tartt
The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
The Stand, Stephen King
The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
Tess Of The D’urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee
A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
The Twits, Roald Dahl
Ulysses, James Joyce
Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
War And Peace, Leo Tolstoy
Watership Down, Richard Adams
The Wind In The Willows, Kenneth Grahame
Winnie-the-Pooh, AA Milne
The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë

Science Fiction Novels
Dune, Frank Herbert
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Robert A. Heinlein
The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller Jr
Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card
Hyperion, Dan Simmons
Gateway, Frederik Pohl
The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
Neuromancer, William Gibson
Startide Rising, David Brin
The Time Machine, H.G. Wells
The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
The Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin
Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury
Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
Downbelow Station, C.J. Cherryh
Ringworld, Larry Niven
2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke
The War of the Worlds, H.G. Wells
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
The Mote in God’s Eye, Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
Way Station, Clifford D. Simak
Star Maker, Olaf Stapledon
Dying Inside, Robert Silverberg
The City and the Stars, Arthur C. Clarke
Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
City, Clifford D. Simak
Cyteen, C.J. Cherryh
Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes
Double Star, Robert A. Heinlein
Earth Abides, George R. Stewart
The Door Into Summer, Robert A. Heinlein
Last and First Men, Olaf Stapledon
Ubik, Philip K. Dick
Norstrilia, Cordwainer Smith
The Witches of Karres, James H. Schmitz
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
Have Space Suit — Will Travel, Robert A. Heinlein
Time Enough for Love, Robert A. Heinlein
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
The Gods Themselves, Isaac Asimov
“Riverworld” series, Philip Jose Farmer

Fantasy Novels
The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
“Earthsea” series, Ursula K. Le Guin
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
“Gormenghast” series, Mervyn Peake
The Once and Future King, T.H. White
Little, Big, John Crowley
Nine Princes in Amber, Roger Zelazny
“The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant”, Stephen R. Donaldson
Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
“The Belgariad”, David Eddings
The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis
The Anubis Gates, Tim Powers
“The Dying Earth” series, Jack Vance
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum
Dracula, Bram Stoker
The Last Unicorn, Peter S. Beagle
The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Stand, Stephen King
Watership Down, Richard Adams
The Riddle-Master of Hed, Patricia A. McKillip
The Worm Ouroboros, E.R. Eddison
Glory Road, Robert A. Heinlein
Mythago Wood, Robert Holdstock
“Alvin Maker” series, Orson Scott Card
A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle
Witch World, Andre Norton
“The Fionavar Tapestry”, Guy Gavriel Kay
Deryni Rising, Katherine Kurtz
“Discworld” series, Terry Pratchett
“Elric” series, Michael Moorcock
Replay, Ken Grimwood
Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury
“Fafhrd & Gray Mouser” series, Fritz Leiber
The Incomplete Enchanter, Fletcher Pratt & L. Sprague de Camp

As has been the practice with others who are doing this, the ones I’ve read are bolded. And I’ve discovered that, as much as I usually know the plot inside and out, and often can quote passages, for any book I’ve read, that memory does have its limits. Some of the ones that I read around the second grade (like The Count of Monte Cristo and Childhood’s End) have begun to fade away. I need to do a little re-reading, I think.

I wonder if Mike would have gotten the slight reference if I’d written “I am the Ferret King! I can install anything!” on his badge.

I have a -drawn crown on the back of my badge. Queen of the Kinkajous. Yay!

And just to balance things out, the King Ferret has a Christophine-drawn crown on the back of his badge.

I even had my own roaming theme song at one point during the meeting today. provided it. It was appropriate, considering the long coat and my running joke about being Queen of the Dark Side of Registration. My theme song today was the Empire’s theme from the Star Wars movies.

Packet-stuffing didn’t happen. We didn’t have anything but envelopes and six hundred comic books. Nothing else, not even program books.

The Zoo Game was the usual Zoo Game. Most of the reg questions where the Sniffle was told to pick a random Weasel had to do with dayside reg, so we four Kinkajous managed to wiggle out of answering anything. Though I had a stock answer prepared, since it’s pretty much what has happened any time that there has been a problem on my shift. “I call Con Ops, put my second in charge, and go chain smoke.”

Moments I was rather fond of:

“We grab the Gofer by the scruff of the neck, rub its nose on the carpet, and say, ‘No! Bad Gofer!’”

The moment that made blush: “Tycho is taking a shower. Suddenly, the water cuts off, leaving Tycho completely covered in soap. While this might or might not be a good thing-” And Michael was cut off by the cat-calls and wolf-whistles, mostly from the female segment of staff, as Tycho tried to hide his face. I think it’s the first time I’ve ever seen Tycho blush.

From my ever-sweet roommate, during introductions: “I’m Devon. I’m feeding you freaks.” Followed by general drooling around the room when she mentioned the chocolate chip cookies currently stuffing our freezer.

Being informed that I had to change the fan name on said roommate’s badge to the joke name I’ve been using since she dyed her hair green. She’s now The Keebler Elf.

Being proud of myself for not writing “Ducky the Studmuffin” on the back of ’s badge.

Giving in to temptation and writing on ’s, ’s, ’s, Phil’s, and Tej’s badges.

The chance to have a long talk about whatever happened to pop into our heads with the Sniffle. I love the Sniffle. She’s the Goddess of Pink.

Making the King Ferret happy by telling him that, to provide a little continuity, since the Sniffle will be taking a break from reg, I will work again next year instead of my original plan.

Moments I wasn’t that fond of:

Getting woken up 3 1/2 hours after I finally managed to get to sleep.

Catching sight of a particular post that really hurt deeply. It has been apologized for and explained, which I saw when I got home. But I left here hurting, and was pissed off at anything with a penis by the time I got to the meeting.

Email-and-room drama.

Phil whining about being at the meeting, and asking me nonstop if he could go on a break and not come back. I gave him the option, in light of what happened, to not be at the meeting. I told him I’d handle it, if he wanted to skip the meeting altogether. He insisted that he come to it. Well, don’t make me miserable because you didn’t take the offer I made. I have been very accommodating about the meetings. Other than the one that Phil showed up at to fill out the staff form, I’d arranged it so that he didn’t have to be at any other meeting. If there was anything for any of my staff that needed taking care of, I did it so people didn’t have to show up at the meetings. Don’t sit there and gripe at me nonstop like you’re being hugely put upon by showing up at the mandatory meeting when you’ve been able to miss every other meeting there’s been and were given the option of not being at the mandatory meeting either, but made your own decision that you’d be there!

So, BayCon, in less than a week. And I will see my Sylvan and my Wolfie there. Yes!

I tried to get to sleep earlier than usual. Curled up in bed, read until I felt tired, turned out the light. Didn’t sleep until the usual time.

So, off to the meeting I hate more and more every year, on 3 1/2 hours of sleep. And could very well be at this meeting until midnight or later.

I’m a Kinkajou, dammit. A nocturnal animal. This is far too early in the morning. I don’t envy one bit, since the executive meeting has already started, and she’ll be there as late as it takes to get everything done. I don’t know how she does it. I think I’d want to kill someone by now. Or many someones.

I just spoke with Phil. For those who knew her, here is the information on the wake/memorial for Michelle.

Sunday, May 25
1PM to 6PM
The Quiet Bar at the RedDoubleLionTree

Phil is also talking about putting a bucket for donations to the American Heart Society on the reg desk during the Kinkajou shift for voluntary donations in Michelle’s name. Cindi, is that okay? I told him I’d check with you.