Tonight is a ritual drinkup following some nasty layoffs at Modem Media. I can't go into details, but suffice it to say that most of the vividians who weren't laid off - and there weren't many left - handed in their notice almost immediately. I think MM is left with 3 vivid staffers, and the merger was only 13 months ago. I hope MM likes 'em, as they cost about $10 million apiece. Of course Mr. Prickles is going to go to the party!

          Must dash. Jennifer got me hooked on some damfool solitaire game...

          Gaming Musings
          So, Alex and I were returning from the mall, heady with our success in obtaining some goodies, and I notice that the thrift-store near our house was open - it's hours have proven a little erratic. Thinking I espied a good sewing table through the window, I told Alex to pull over and we headed inside to take a look around. The table turned out to be unsuitable but, ohmigosh, did we hit the mother lode of Steincorp Station costuming!
          For about forty dollars, we found the core elements for two major characters (Centauri ambassador, Narn priest) and half a dozen other pieces that will work for civilians/Terrans/whateverans. All of 'em need a little work, but only of the 'add some braid and sew on a couple of buttons' variety. I can't wait to see who has to wear the gold lamé pantsuit thingy we found. It's gorgeous , albeit in a very unique way... The clothes are in great shape, and have saved me a lot of sewing. Needless to say, this store has gone on our 'good place to check out' list. We explained to the staff what we were buying all these things for, and they thought it was nifty keen - rather than backing off slowly like some mundanes might.
          We also hit Radio Shack and, out of curiosity, checked out the price of 2-way radios. Given that we intend to run Steincorp Station all over the locale - wherever it might be - we thought radios would be a very useful thing, as both a GM tool and an aid to disseminating plots. Fortunately, there are cheaper options than the $99/per Motorola thingummies. Radio Shack do a decent model for $39 apiece, although I'll have to ask a few questions of someone who knows these things to make sure that the units have the juice to cope with, say, being inside a big steel building with a lotta wireless apps running in-house. We do not want the hotel security to hear "Has the ambassador been killed yet?"... You can imagine how well that would go over...
          Blatant plug! Chuckling Cthulhu Notify List - some people have been asking how to know what's going on with that particular bit of madness. Join that list, that's how.

          Does this sound like a good idea for a tabletop game? What if Richard III had not been killed at the Battle of Bosworth field? High court intrigue, trying to determine the next king, and a bit of war on the side... Admittedly, it would only appeal to a tiny number of people - I can think of, um, two offhand, but it's an interesting notion to kick around. Maybe it would make a better story... Either way, I've got to do some more research.

***

          Had a bit of a nasty scare today. I was running for the BART train - it was catch that one or wait fifteen minutes for the always-overcrowded one that follows - and I tripped on the escalator. Damages add up to a skinned shin and elbow and a bit of bruised dignity, but it could have been worse. Given that I'm still without health insurance, a broken nose would not have been a good thing. Bah.

          Alex's boss lost his mind the other day. He arbitrarily decided that Alex was spending 'too much' time online - I think Alex was caught checking his AOL mail while at work - so Alex has been told that the next time he's caught on the 'net, he'll be fired. This is despite the fact that, gosh, PRG offers a web-based application to clients so Alex sometimes has to go online to help out the clients... Can we say 'lose-lose' situation? Meanwhile, the boss is trying to sell personal stuff on Ebay and, apparently, it's okay for him to check out how he's doing on company time. 
          Actually, Alex saw things pretty astutely. Apparently the boss had just had a big fight with his wife and Alex was caught by the 'shit rolls downhill' theory. If it hadn't been internet usage, it would have been something else. Frankly, there some seriously wrong things going on at that company - beyond the boss having the management skills of a cornered rat - and, once Alex is gone, I think I'll be blowing a little whistle on 'em... But I digress...
          Alex has cranked up the job search, again, and has an interview for an office manager position with a small online-graphics place in SoMA later this week. He likes the look of 'em, and has had a couple of good phone conversations with the company president, so his fingers are crossed.
          Meanwhile, I'm still feeling vaguely guilty for having a reaction that could be described as 'unsupportive' when, during a moment of pique last Friday, Alex declared that he was going to put in his notice, new job offer or not. I think he was looking for me to make wifely supportive noises, but I actually snapped his head off and told him that if he thought he was going to quit one job without another nailed down, he had another thing coming, buster. The notion of going back to the financial situation we had four years ago makes me break out in hives, you see - more so given that we've got a few more expenses than we did back then...
          I tried to make up for it by posting his resume on a few new job-banks - I even wrote a couple of cover letters and applied for a couple of jobs on the sly (no bites) - but I don't think that really made up for it. I'm sorry that I hurt his feelings, but I don't think he understood the sheer blind panic that overcame me at the idea of his being out of work. Hm, mental note: buy more life/disability insurance... Alex put up with me during my post-college flakiness (temp job hell, the falling out with Microprose) but, darnit, I always stuck to the Rule of Wing Walking - don't let go of one thing until you have a firm grasp of the next. Alright, except for the times I got laid off, I held to that rule...
          Still, as I said, fingers are crossed.

          Gaming Musings
          It's a minor thing to be proud of, but I now have an example I can point to when telling people you can make a decent costume item with nothing more than a glue gun, some trimmings and a trip to the thrift store. The coat in that example will be for the Centaurii ambassador in Steincorp Station. Providing he isn't totally skinny or slope-shouldered, it should hang alright on him. Tonight I'll be finishing my first Minbari element. It's good to have the room to sew - without jamming up traffic through the living room - but that unpadded chair at my interim-table has got to go... Ouch!
          See, I'm hoping to lure players into the game with pictures of the costuming as I put it together, hence the link. I'm also going to be linking to it from my venerable Costuming For The Cheap And Desperate essay, to prove the 'you don't have to be a seamstress to make costumes' point.
          I did some e-mail broadsides to get names onto the CC mailing list. That's the only way I've got for tracking people who are seriously interested in the troupe. Alas, there are far too many gamers out there who make enthusiastic noises, but tend to fade into the background when I expect them to follow through - particularly when there are hefty dues involved. Part of me is agonizing about planning to charge upwards of $30/person at the CC events but, given that, at minimum, costuming will be about $20 per player, it's only a small part of me that is feeling the pangs of conscience. I know, I know, so what else is new?

***

          So, Alex has his interview at the graphic-design place, today. He was up half the night, assembling his portfolio, but I think it was worth the effort on his part, as it looks nifty keen. Alex isn't a professional artist, but I think the collection he put together proves that he's a dedicated - and resourceful! - amateur. Don't believe me? Fine, you try diagramming an entire spaceship's deck plans on Power Point... Alex also printed out some screenshots of the niftier web-pages he has built, which I think will score him a few points with his interviewers... Fingers are still crossed!

          I have discovered that PMS really messes with my head - more so that I had really accounted for in the past. I was dimly aware that I would get cranky and moody during the 7 - 10 days leading up to my period but, following a particularly bad attack from the accidie monster in November, I've been keeping a closer track of things - jotting down days when I have irrational (although thankfully brief) fits of despair, sudden notions that running away from home would be a really good idea, and the like. Sure enough, they're all landing in the second half of the month. Oh, peachy. Now I've got to decide whether I think the matter is severe enough to warrant going to a doctor and begging for drugs. I rather doubt it is. I've spoken to women with PMDD and, oy, it's just awful. But my current situation is affecting my quality of life two weeks out of every four, so... So I guess it's worth talking to a doctor about. No doubt getting a little more exercise wouldn't kill me, either. I remember I was in a much better mood - generally - when I was actively trying to lose weight...
          Only in the United States do so many of us have to worry about being too fat. Gosh, we're lucky.

          Today's amusing random quote - from a friend of mine, but I think he might have been quoting Arnold Rimmer - "Captain Sad of the Sad Patrol and his Anoraked Outriders of Inadequacy". Maybe you had to have seen it in context...

          Gaming (and Sewing) Musings
          Mostly tinkering with small ideas for Steincorp Station and debating the autumn event for Chuckling Cthulhu. Initially, we had planned to run Thirteen Days In October in the fall of this year, and Fear Stalks Whitechapel in the early spring of 2002. Now, however, Alex has told me that some much-ballyhooed Jack The Ripper film is coming out right after Christmas and he's afraid that we'll be perceived as trying to ride on its coat-tails. Thirty seconds after saying that, we realized that there's a strong possibility of that perception with Thirteen Days In October - at the very least, we had better change the name for that event. We had both forgotten about that Kevin Costner thing that is being released this month. D'oh!
          Anyways, so we're puzzling out which one we want to do first. We've got some great ideas for both of them - although Fear Stalks... is showing signs of growing into a full-weekend event - or a single-but-very-long-one-day event. I don't know if we're ready to tackle something that complex (and expensive!) yet... Ah well, I think that we can ask the playership which game they would prefer to see, and perhaps go from there. I expect the mailing list (14 members, woo-hoo!) to jump after the upcoming conventions. Alex and I are making fliers, biz cards and even tee-shirts to scatter hither and yon to get the word out.
          Meanwhile, I'm in the middle of making the 'Minbari Sack Outfit', as it has been dubbed. I've taken a basic nativity-pageant pattern for a robe and coat, and I'm jazzing it up a little, for a religious-caste Minbar we're planning to include in the event. Alas, garments that are essentially long strips of fabric, joined at the shoulders and sides are not very flattering to a person's figure. Once I know precisely who will be wearing it, I'll probably sneak a couple of darts in here and there to give it a better fit. After that's done - probably this weekend, only because cutting and placing the trim will take more time than the rest of the garment put together - I'm out of excuses for avoiding the Narn doublet project. Fortunately, I can dodge doing the Earth Alliance uniform until after I go to LA to get some good fabric, but I suppose I really should get cracking on a mockup. Alas, the EA uniform is the only thing on my list more difficult than the Narn garb...

          Can anyone recommend a good place to rent two-way radios? I'm considering purchasing a pair for CC but, if I did that, I would want to buy a couple of those oh-so-cute Motorola Talkabouts (or a knockoff thereof) and, ouch, they're expensive. Unfortunately, I'm a vain little whatsit and those little Talkabouts are just adorable... But for rental, hell, I guess I'll take whatever I can get for a good price. I hit a few heavy-duty rental places and, as far as I can tell, all the items the offer are of the 'broadcast clear to the moon' wattage and probably requiring some kind of special dispensation from the FCC to use... At least we wouldn't have to worry about the signal making it across the room, then - but do I want to risk a passing policeman hearing "Did that bomb in the basement go off yet?" One is so rarely given a chance to explain that kind of thing before people turn nasty...

***

          Alex thinks his interview went well, but he won't hear anything until next week, as other candidates are coming in over the next few days. It would have been more encouraging if his interviewer had jumped up, shook his hand and said "To heck with the hiring process! When can you start?", but that was just an idle fantasy. 
         Alex won't be resting on his laurels and waiting to hear back from 'em. We had a talk about his work situation and he convinced me that he should hand in his two week's notice today, regardless. The only other hard-workers in the office (at least, the way Alex describes 'em) are putting in their notice today, and Alex knows that means he's going to get hit with an avalanche of shit if he sticks around past their departure.
          But here's the kicker: Alex has discovered that the Office Tattletale (who shall remain nameless) has a particularly nasty hobby. She searches job banks looking for the resumes of co-workers, to find out if they're looking for other jobs. If she finds them, she tells the boss that so-and-so is planning to leave. Alex got ratted out on Friday. Now, I know that etiquette calls for an employee to let a boss know that they're looking for a new situation but, in this job market, that can take a long time and make for a rather tense office atmosphere in the meantime. Technically, I was looking for five months for a new job before I landed at Intelligent Capital... However, etiquette also asks that a manager not chew out people publicly, lay down hypocritical policies or expect employees to learn their job telepathically, so I think Alex and his co-workers can be forgiven for keeping their job-search to themselves.
          Not that they have the choice, now. Maybe I'm out of touch, but isn't ratting out your co-workers in such a manner totally unethical? Failing that, it's at least bloody rude and intrusive. Said Tattletale might be in for a bad few minutes in a couple of weeks - I believe the three people she ratted out last week are going to have a few words with her before departing... And if they don't, I will. Grr, mutter...

          Stupidly enough, I've been dealing with an ongoing fit of irrational paranoia. Fortunately, it's quite mild but the steps I've taken to deal with it - such as asking the person who I think is trying to cut me out of their life without saying so directly if they indeed have a problem with me - hasn't helped. That person has told me that, no, they've not got an issue with me and all is well. I really try to take people at their word - you gotta, otherwise matters will collapse, right? - and I'm trying to do so in this case... And that's where the 'irrational' part kicks in, because I'm not reassured. I'm still thinking They don't like me, after all, and they're deliberately putting distance between us... But I've pushed the matter as far as I dare. I don't want to make anyone feel uncomfortable - so there's not much I can do right now other than hope this nasty feeling will evaporate over time. With luck, it's just bad hormones... Still, I wish I could shake it.
          No, I'm not naming the person. Why risk cries of righteously wounded feelings?

          Gaming Musings
          Casting The Runes was on Saturday night and, despite the siren call of my sewing room, I managed to make it down to Foster City for the game. It was alright. Such a small group can limit the dynamic sometimes, but it's a challenge. Fortunately, since my character is Harpy, I have an ongoing reason to circulate through the group and stay active - but a small group can make intriguing a little difficult. It's rather difficult to hide things in a close knit court - which is all part of the game, I suppose. :)
          The group will be moving into the present day with the next game - no more historical episodes - and I think things will pick up, then. 
          If we had a few more neonates, that would help. At the moment, ancilla and 'junior elders' such as myself have a dandy time - we've got elders to scheme against and we can rub noses with each other, but no-one that we fully fear. I think the introduction of more neonates would deeply alarm the 'senior elders' and their reactions should, in turn, alarm the junior elders and ancilla who are left to realize that there is still a gulf of difference between themselves and their sires.
          I heard that a couple of the Primogen were quite bored on Saturday. I suppose that's partially attributable to the fact that a bunch of characters went 'off-site' for an hour and tied up the GMs for that time. There was only so much small talk those elders could make, it seems... It occurs to me that things can be particularly tricky for the elder-players, because where do you go when you start so close to the top? Sure, supposedly you're supposed to be worrying about scheming juniors but, when you're nearly 700 years old, the worry isn't that severe...
          I'll go back to CtR, but I'll have to crank up my intriguing, to keep my interest from flagging. Obviously it's time to give the elders a reason to worry, and since my character could never take any of them down directly... Heh heh heh.

          Steincorp Station: the sewing continues. I finished the 'Minbari Sack' outfit - the overcoat and trim took about six times as long as the sack-like foundation garment, of course. It looks pretty good, but I couldn't take a picture of it, because my digital camera is out of juice (and my new battery charger takes twelve hours to charge, oy). I cut the pieces for the first Narn outfit - I found some very soft/thin vinyl at the fabric store and, if need be, I'm sure I could sew the seams without messing up my machine. But, for the meantime, I'm sticking to hot-glue and a big dollop of hope. I'm making an unlined version of a pattern that's meant to be lined, y'see, so I'm kinda making up the seam-allowances as I go along... What the hell, I bought about three times as much vinyl than I needed ("Oh, that yardage was for a 45 inch bolt...")
          And you probably don't want to know how I intend to reinforce the garment to give it the look of stiff leather. It's bad enough that I resorted to gluestick-witchcraft to set the shoulder pads in the Minbari coat... I just hope the hobby shop carries the right weight of styrene sheeting...

***

          And being broke has led me into an embarrassing predicament. I've got to try and wheedle my paycheck out of Rick a day early, or else Alex and I won't have enough cash to get on the train tomorrow. I'm so embarrassed... It was the storage-unit bill that got to us. We let it slide for two months, and the damn late fees were almost as much as the regular monthly charges. Which is part of the point, I guess. Still, horking up close to $300 to clear the board on that fucked us up enough to put Alex and I on the TV dinner diet this week.
          Matters are not improved by the fact that we've got to put about $500 down on bills, immediately. Guess what we had to let slide to make the storage bill? I'm hoping things will get easier after this. Alex and I keep the heat down to sixty when we're not in the house (we'll be getting a little heater for the freezing cold bedroom so we can keep it turned down at night, too) and Baldur's Gate Two tying up the computer is a dandy way to cut down those toll calls to AOL...
          But good old fashioned greed will fuck me up every time. This weekend marks the beginning of 'Geek Week': DunDraCon on President's Day Weekend and then Gallifrey One the weekend after. Alex and I will only be staying at the hotel for DDC on Saturday night (and I'm being rather grudging about that, but the honest truth is we'll probably hoist a few drinks in the bar and $70 is far cheaper than a DUI charge). This is the first year we've not had a tax-refund to blow at the convention, and it's making a difference, darnit. Fortunately, we already own practically every bit of gamer-gear we could ever want, so I know we're safe from the predations of the Dealer's Room. Honestly, if it wasn't for the fact that we need to spread the word about Chuckling Cthulhu, I would skip the event entirely and spend the weekend getting ready for the other half of Geek Week - Gallifrey One.
          Unfortunately, no matter how I slice it, G1 will be a big money-sucker. The hotel alone will cost a chunk of cash (bloody SoCal prices) and I'm sure the in-house food is very affordable - not! I hope Kevin's plane has room for a snack-stuffed cooler... And let's not even think about how much I could drop in the dealers' room of a sci-fi convention. But I'm not going to back out of this one. This is the first time Gallifrey One hasn't clashed with DDC in many years (and it will be clashing again for the next three years) so the opportunity is too good to pass up. I suspect this visit will determine whether or not I go to DunDraCon next year. I rarely get a chance to wallow in my sci-fi geekiness any more (more so since I parted way with the Trekkies) but I see gamers all the dam' time...
          Meanwhile, Alex and I hoping that the Brecheen's won't mind doing a little dog-sitting for us, although the dog will be disappointed. Sandy loves going to the kennel, believe it or not. It's like a doggy-spa for him. He gets to go run around a big grassy field twice a day, meet the horses in the paddock next door, smell interesting things and generally spoiled rotten - he's always a total brat when he comes back... Sandy also gets a thorough grooming and all his shots while he's staying there (thus saving us a lot of aggravation) but it does tend to rack up the charges a bit. Often, the cost of kenneling Sandy for a three-day weekend works out to about the same for putting Alex and I up at the convention for the duration - and I don't get people giving me baths and manicures at the Marriot!

          Gaming Musings
          Guess who's been a sewing fool? There have been some additions to the Steincorp Station Closet. The Narn doublet was so easy to whip out that I started another one last night, only to get bitten on the ass by the Ironies (sarcastic cousins to The Fates). I wasn't paying close attention to matters and managed to sew entirely the wrong bits of the pattern together ("Oh shit, that's the front of the garment?"). But it's salvageable - a little trimming can hide a multitude of sins...

          In other matters, I'm trying to pay back some good karma that I've owed for a while... In Casting The Runes, Dominic has to put up a $400 deposit for the game locale and, after the last game, he got pranged by his admittedly-anal landlords for a spill on the carpet. Ouch...
          Many moons ago, I desperately needed cash to make a deposit on a game-location for Diablo's Children. A generous fellow (hi, Joe!) loaned the game $200 - the entire deposit - plus an extra donation to make the usual fee. Wow! It really saved the game's ass. So, now it's time for me to return the favor, now that I'm in the position of gamer-with-a-little-cash. I'm going to loan the game some money towards the deposit, with the codicil that I'll kiss off a proportionate amount if the group gets hit for cleaning fees again. So, if Dominic got hit for $100 in cleaning (ow!), I'll write off a quarter of the amount I've loaned the group. I'm going to want whatever remains back, when I leave the game, but I don't think that'll be for a while yet.
          Joe helped me out and now I've got the chance - and the ability - to return the favor. That said, I must admit that I don't have to write any checks until late March... Karma is all well and good, but I'm essentially broke until March 1st...

***

          I read P.J. O'Rourke's "Guide to Modern Manners", the other day. It's mostly a collection of his old National Lampoon columns, so it's not the best example of his writing - although it's infinitely less wearying than his recent turn at trying to be the next Art Buchwald. One thing that had me giggling on the train, though, was a drinks recipe: Sucker Punch, aka Singapore Ass In A Sling - grain alcohol and Gatorade, mixed 50-50. The ironic thing being, of course, that this was meant as a joke, but we've all drunk something like this... My own experiences have been with Pink Death (8 liters juice, 2 liters each rum, vodka, bourbon and grain alcohol - throw in a block of pink rainbow sherbet to melt and garnish with fresh fruit marinated at least 24 hours in grain alcohol) and, after my liver had recovered a few years later, Rich's Pungent Party Punch (I don't even remember what went into that but, man, it tasted good).

          DunDraCon is this weekend, so don't expect an entry until Monday. I'm going to work President's Day in return for taking the following Friday off to get ready for Gallifrey One. I'm far more excited for that than I am about this weekend. Ah well, I'll have fun, regardless.

          Gaming Musings
          I stayed up too late last night making cute little bizcards for Chuckling Cthulhu and making fun little tee shirts for Alex and me. Sure, they look a little cheezy, but there's only so much one can do with home-made iron-on transfers. As part of an utterly self-serving promotion (are there any other kinds?) I'm offering to give one away to one lucky soul, f they join the mailing list before the end of the month. Honestly, I doubt anyone is going to join the mailing list just to win a silly shirt, but a hook is a hook.

          Thinking of P.J. O'Rourke, Modern Manners suggested a party game that I thought would be great for a Sabbat Pack: Strip Russian Roulette. It's played just like regular Russian roulette, but if you don't shoot yourself in the head, you've got to remove an item of clothing. Better yet, I can imagine a Sabbat pack playing this game in the middle of a McDonalds, pointing the gun at other patrons rather than themselves, no doubt...

***

          Gaming Musings
          Oh dear, I'm getting old. Alex and I hit DunDraCon Friday and Saturday and I was wiped out all day Sunday. Worse yet, I don't think the few drinks I had on Saturday night had much to do with it. I think it had more to do with just staying up too dam' late...
          As usual, I didn't play in any games, but had a great time catching up with pals and plugging Chuckling Cthulhu to all and sundry. Alas, my reduced presence at the convention meant I barely saw some people - such as Chris H. and Mike G. (both Mike G's) - but I collected e-mail addresses and I'm trying hard not to lose them.
          Alex and I hit the Skotos party on Friday night and had a great time. After talking to a few Powers-That-Are at Skotos, Alex is giving some serious thought to submitting a few ideas for Lovecraft Country, although he's well aware of the snarls and pitfalls of such a thing. So far he's managed to come up with some good ideas, but most of them were unfeasible. We also came up with a great idea for a Village/The Prisoner stage, but we've been warned that getting the licensing is just impossible...
          Far more importantly, Alex and I managed to catch up with Kirk and Lisa, whom we haven't seen for over a year, and that was luvly. We went out to a rather overblown place for dinner (given the prices, I was happy I had eaten earlier and just stuck to a salad) but the alarming menu prices were more than made up for by good conversation and catching up. We ended up - drunk and in a slightly illegal state of mind - back at the Skotos room, showing Alex Castle Marrach and generally arseing about. Kirk discovered that the chat-client does not require consent to drool on another PC (long story) but I think Lisa's already moved to have that little situation fixed... Alex and I finally crawled into bed at about 2AM, for which I'm infinitely glad. Had I stayed up any longer, I would have started drinking again (I quit around 11:30) and that would have rapidly gotten ugly...
          Another small victory was laying my hands on a copy of Cthulhu Live: Delta Green and a couple of good props for Steincorp Station. Alex found a cool sci-fi gun (from V: the Series, I think) for $2 at the flea market, and I picked up a pretty (and cheap!) chain-mail headdress that will look luvly on a female character - preferably Centaurii. Incidentally, if you're looking for small chain-mail items, or well-cut loose links for your own mail projects, take a look at Ironband. I don't know how his prices compare, but the quality of his links are worth it, I think...
          I had a good time at the con, but only being there for a day - we arrived Saturday lunchtime and left before noon on Sunday - was definately unsatisfactory. I think, next year, I might actually register for the convention and - gasp! - play in some games. The DDC program had enough variety in it to appeal to me, so I think I'll go out on a limb next year and do something more than shmooze and drink.

          Yesterday - once I got up from a three-hour nap - I started working on character backgrounds for Steincorp Station, although I'll admit I'm starting with the easy ones. So far, I've got the Narn, Minbar and Centauri Representatives all detailed out, plus their assistants, although there are certainly still some rough edges. Whatever. I figure the game is best served by my writing like a madman for a few weeks and then I can edit the whole thing with a weedwhacker.

***

          Ah, today's little mystery is solved - how PayPal makes it's money. As an experiment, I asked Casey to pay his dues for Steincorp Station via PayPal, just to see how it would work. Sure enough, I've got the dosh, but it does not go into my checking account. Instead, it's held in a 'virtual account' (for want of a better term) owned by PayPal. If I want the money to be transferred to my bank account, it can be, or I can draw off it to pay other people. I must admit, it must be very handy for those who use e-bay to buy and sell items. In the meantime, it gives PayPal what must be gobs of capital to play shell-and-pea games with. A new variant on old banking procedures - and I feel dumb for not seeing it earlier. Now, this is all well and good until PayPal goes under with who-knows how much in assets with it... So I'm left wondering if I should let paid-dues languish online, so I don't spend them on things like rent and food before game-time - or if I should withdraw 'em and bury 'em in a mayo jar in the backyard...

          Gallifrey One is up in the air right now - literally! Kevin is watching the skies and we won't know until Friday morning if we're flying down to LA with his buddy (who has the plane we're using) or if we'll be flying CattleCar Commercial - ugh! Ah well, I guess we'll find out on Friday! Hm, I had better get all the packing done on Thursday night, lest we be called to action early in the AM - doubtful, but one should be prepared...

          Gaming Musings
          Posted the initial characters for Steincorp Station and immediately broke one of my own rules. One person hasn't paid their dues yet, but I still marked their character as 'reserved'. Still, I'm pretty sure Jennifer is good for it... ;)
          I've had some rumbling bad feelings about the projected costs for our games. Honestly, if we get the minimum number of players, $30/person won't cover our expenses - but it'll cover enough of them that Alex and I can probably eat the rest. However, I'm sure that the cost has driven some potential players away who I wouldn't mind seeing in the game. I've already told one potential player that we could make alternative arrangements - pay by installments or somesuch - but he declared that he couldn't even afford $10/month. So much for that. Actually, I think that particular player was just trying to find a graceful way to say 'no' to playing in the event, but he could have just said that, rather than make another excuse. Still, perhaps I could make it a little clearer on the site that we're flexible about payment arrangements...
          If we end up with the maximum of thirty players - which would be a hoot - we might be able arrange a little refund on game-day. Maybe. I swear, a third of an event's expenses crop up in the 72 hours approaching the day itself...

***

Friday.
          Well, we made it here in one piece. I love Kevin, I really do - given that I'm willing to trust the chap with my life and all - but I wish he would wait until after we're on the ground to announce that he's never landed a twin-engined craft in the dark, before.
          Despite that, it was a smooth flight, and fast! We took off a little late because the left engine was giving Kevin and his instructor (Reza?) some grief and they wanted to thoroughly check that out before we took of. I didn't complain - go figure. Anyways... all told, we made it from Concord to Van Nuys in less than two hours. The sight of Van Nuys as we came in was...interesting - somewhere between awesome and disgusting. After ten years in the Bay Area, I had let myself become complacent in thinking I knew urban sprawl. That notion was disabused in a hurry. Knowing that this was merely the northeastern tip of the LA sprawl didn't help, either. Lights everywhere and so many cars on the road that the streetlights seemed to twinkle.
          It's a silly thing, but I have so much weird emotional baggage about the entire LA basin that coming even here - an area I never approached while living in LA in '84-'85. - has evoked some weird emotions. Fortunately, even grudge-carrying I have gotten over the worst of it. I think repetitive viewings of LA Story - one of my favorite movies, ironically enough - has helped somewhat, too. Still, despite that much delayed recovery, I still feel a little...strange. Is there such a thing as resentful nostalgia?
          Dropping Disraeli Platypus (of course he's with me) on the tarmac at the airport didn't help, either. Reminders of losing fabric friends at the airport I need like I need another hole in my head.
          Part of me would like to take the chance to nip down further south and see the areas I used to know - see what kind of weird nostalgia the smog and skyscrapers would evoke. But the majority of me is glad for the mountain range that lies between here and there. I've been holding on to my irrational dislike of greater-LA for so long, I think I would be grotesquely disappointed to lay eyes upon it again and realize that it's only a place.
          Besides, I'll have a chance to fuck with my head in March, if the sewing-circle trip to the LA fabric district comes off...

          Anyways, the convention. We arrived too late to register, and have thus missed the Masquerade - drat. The hotel is large, but the convention doesn't seem to be taking up too much space, athough it is occupying most of the conference rooms. Most guests were packed into a ballroom, watching an advance screening of the live-action series of The Tick. The few seconds I saw were amusing...
          Alex is feeling poorly - fighting off a head cold, the poor sod - and Kevin was a bit pooped (from flying down here, go figure) so we're turning in early tonight. I wouldn't mind trying to squeeze into the events planned for the evening - Dr. Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, for a start. But a good night's sleep tonight will probably be essential, as I expect tomorrow will be action packed - and I think I'm fighting off Alex's cold, too.
          I'm a little trepidatious about mingling with my fellow geeks. So many of them are a bit, well, embarrassing in their enthusiasm. But it's not right for me to condemn that - after all, I'm here too. But some of them do take it to extremes. I'm also nervous about a recurrence of the "Oh, you're English? Let me treat you to a 20 minute monologue of my favorite Monty Python skits as a tribute to your culture." syndrome. Lord knows, it's happened to me too many times already - usually at SF / RPG conventions. I believe that, if I got a true jury of my peers (ie, expatriate Brits) I wouldn't be convicted for homicide.

          Closing note. Once again, Kevin Jones has proven out his reputation as nicest guy in the universe. I was madly cranky this morning because another bill had come due - our own fault for forgetting - that we had to pay today. $250 and there went any spending money (and then some) for the con. I was so fretted about cash that I seriously considered canceling the trip - but Alex talked me out of it. A good thing he did, because Kevin had long since decided that he was picking up our hotel room for the convention - ain't that sweet of him? Alex and I made our usual protest - sincere, but only once, as neither side likes to make fuss. Kevin insisted and that was the end of it.
          I must admit, I was quietly hoping he would offer a little help, but I detest the notion of depending on someone's generosity. It's one short step from that to taking advantage of someone - and Kevin is not a person I want to do that to. But I can't help feeling relieved - and grateful! What can you do in return for a frend like that? A bunch of flowers and a card doesn't seem sufficient. I just try to do what I can to put good karma in the system, myself, and hope that suffices...

Saturday
          The day began quietly enough - breakfast and a walk around the dealer's room. Kevin surprised neither of us by buying a box load of video tapes he wanted, whereas I went hog-wild buying B5 patches for Steincorp Station. A little too wild, in fact, but now we've got extras...
          I was glad Alex and Kevin talked me into checking out Mojo's two hour presentation - saw some great fx footage, including stills/loops from the upcoming restored version of ST:TMP. The shop, Foundation Imaging, was very intelligent in their approach, making sure their new comped effects didn't look too modern for a film made in 1979.
          The homemade 3D stills of B5, Trek and some comix they offered for viewing were amazing! A shot of Voyager in drydock almost made me dizzy. There is talk of maybe even a book of such images and, based upon audience response, it would sell a million copies Of course, it's a biased audience
          Caught a few minutes of the GoH's talking. Sarah Sutton has been knocked out by a nasty head-cold, the poor thing... Bonnie - apparently as usual - is very 'on' and in 'public mode'. Mark Strickson is a very engaging and glib speaker - although I agree with Kevin, it would be far more interesting to be able to sit down and talk with these chaps rather than just watching Q&A. That's why they have the celebrity brunch, of course. A shame we didn't register for it, methinks...
          Dropped some money at the charity auction - Kevin more so, of course. But we got some great deals. Heh, I wanted to ask Mark Strickson how much for his socks - to go with my Michael O'Hare socks - but I didn't have the nerve. Maybe tomorrow - if I can find his handler and ask through him/her maybe... Meanwhile, Alex and I picked up two nice posters - one of TomDoc and Melkur, from Keeper of Traken, which is one of my favorite stories and publicity poster from the TVM of Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann. I also ended up with an old 45 of the show's theme tune, mostly because I felt bad that no-one else was bidding on it and, what the hell, it's for charity. Kevin's mood seems to be infectious.
          Getting ready for the cabaret. Interested to see what Strickson will be doing "I've not got a pianist, so I don't know what I'll be doing. Whatever it is, it will probably involve crisps, pickled eggs and something else..." general consensus to be hitting the bar when Bonnie takes to the stage.
          Speaking of which, the line for the cabaret is already around the block, so to speak, so we have to run.

Later

          Oh my god, I'm tired. I'm particularly tired of well-meant but-awfully-produced fan numbers. Some of them were quite amusing - Will Shakespeare arguing with his producer and Mark Strickson's promised presentation with pickled eggs and crisps (the something else was a bottle of scrumpy, long story) - but other things I could have totally done without. Especially the off-key singing of 'Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud'. Defeinately a case of well intentioned-effort being outstripped by ugly reality. I can't carry a tune in a bucket, I know, but I don't go on stage and prove it. Even the collected DW-writers mangling of "Go West" was better...

Sunday morning.
          Well, this is a change - waking up on Sunday morning at a convention without a hangover, or even many regrets over the night before. My only regret, in fact, is that since the cabaret was scheduled so late, by the time it was over - and don't try telling me that a few of those acts didn't suck some life-force out of me - I was too pooped to cruise the convention parties. This will be a con where I really haven't met anyone new - boo, hiss. but, as said last night, a lot of people at this convention we don't want to meet.... Oh, that's just plain catty of me. I should mention that, actually, the fans are a lot more low-key than I expected - probably by virtue of being older than I anticipated. I keep forgetting that DW first went on the air nearly forty years ago...
          But I did run into Joey Carruthers last night - yay! I lost touch with hiim after the BayDwarf list melted down and I was hoping he was still making his pilgrimage to G1.
          Alex is chuckling "I am KING of the OFOGs!" - geeze, you find a lousy 1st edition copy of D&D in its box and he goes nuts...

Monday Morning/Aftermath

          Sunday afternoon was pleasant. I went to an interesting panel by two people who are working on the ongoing restoration of Dr. Who. With the decision to go with DVD releases, apparently their work is now in high-gear - and these guys are just volunteers! They screened some scenes that are being returned to Remembrance of the Daleks - which looks like a Sylvester McCoy story I might actually sit through as it looks like he keeps his mugging to a minimum. I also saw some cleanup work they did on Caves of Androzani - the surface of Androzani Minor no longer bounces like a trampoline in its opening scene, yay! It all looked very good and I watched an interesting debate erupt over the 'just because it can be restored, doesn't mean it should be' debate. For some viewers, part of the charm of Dr. Who includes things like seeing a crew member's hand frantically holding a bit of scenery together in Pyramids of Mars. I can see their point, honestly. But I'm all for fixing bad matte lines! Hm...
          I'm a bit vexed by our exit from the convention... We had planned to leave at six, but had to go earlier - just because Reza was worried about the plane icing up and falling like a brick from the sky, jeeze... So I didn't get to see the GoHs speak again, as I had planned. Oh well. From looking at the UK conventions, Mark Strickson doesn't mind public appearances, so maybe he'll be on the left coast again in a couple of years...
           I really enjoyed the convention, actually. The energy was more subdued, certainly, but it was also undeniable. Now that I'm - slowly - getting back into the work groove, I must admit that it was good fun to wallow in fandom for a bit. It's also a pleasant change to read/watch stories where the issues are reasonably black-and-white, the good guys are largely good and right can be counted on to win out in the end - although I understand it gets a bit murkier in the post-1991 novels. Anyways, it was a very nice weekend - relaxing, enjoyable and a needed kick-in-the-ass to get back to some of my fannish roots.
          Although Kevin was a bit let-down by the size and energy level of this convention - and, according to their web page, the 740 attendees that showed up last weekend was the biggest Gallifrey yet - he's willing to come down again next year. I might venture a guess that the fact that Frazier Hines (Jamie, companion to the second Doctor) is on the guest list - and that Bonnie Langford is not - might be a factor in that decision. I think Alex and I are cool on the idea of going along, instead of going to DunDraCon. We've been talking and we think we could run a scavenger-hunt version of I Left My Hearts in San Francisco for the con - if they would have us. Heh.
         Meanwhile, Alex and I have been handing our recently purchased copy of I, Who back and forth. It's a guide to the novels published since 1991 - none of which I have read. It's proving very useful and I see a lot of Amazon purchases when we're back on top of our finances again. Of course, half the titles I'm interested in are out of print - grr, mutter. Kevin, meanwhile, is itching to do another view-fest and I'm all for that! Although I don't know what my friends would think of Captain Scarlet...

       For those who are curious about such things, here are some pictures. Alas, not many came out (the flaws of a digital camera in a low-light environment) but there they are, nonetheless....

***

          Otherwise, a quiet morning with a busy day ahead. The curtains I made for the office - to hide the kitchen and supply areas - have gone down well. However, I think if Rick and Chris knew anything about sewing, they probably wouldn't be nearly so impressed. The top-loop for the curtain rod looks like it's been sewn by monkeys, albeit only if viewed from behind.

          Paranoia time: One of my friends with whom I routinely discuss naughty behavior via IM has just alerted me that Carnivore is running on his work-servers. Uh-oh... With luck, he's over-reacting or misinformed. Still, it's worrying...

          Gaming Musings
          Hm, Patricia and the Mantle boys are rattling the bars of their cage. I've got a vignette in my head, but I would much rather have a story to put it in - or build a story around it, rather than let it stand alone. I learned some bad habits with those vignettes, and I'm trying to unlearn them while writing Dead Time and Starting Over, which is why they might seem a bit redundant to regular readers. I'm trying, as much as possible, to write them as self-contained stories working only with the assumption that the reader knows of White Wolf's World of Darkness, but that's all. It's been an uphill climb at times, and it's stopped many an idea in its tracks - I'm always coming up with little vignettes with no connection to the rest of a character's continuity...
          Still, it's a hell of a vignette... Maybe I can build on it. It involves the Mantle boys, a big dollop of vitae and Trish's ill-concealed resentment at not featuring in the wondertwins' life as much as she would like...
          Meanwhile, I've tied all my Malkavians up in knots. Diana, my new character for Aragon shares the same Sire as Kim (a bit player I was fond of who is, incidentally ex-lover to Janice and her brother/childe Jack). This sire's name is Mary Wentworth. Kim had an on-and-off thing with Patricia for nearly two years. Patricia's Sire is Michael Wentworth. Oh dear, oh dear. I'm already tying them together in my head without meaning to. Two broodmate kindred who are both control freaks, but have very different approaches towards their charges - and they hate each other as only siblings can... Heh...

          I thought this up yesterday during a dull moment at the office...

          Johanna's List of Songs for Vampire Players & Characters
          (Which she would usually ban from her own players' lists, but what the hell...)
          I think I'll add notes for which of my own characters I tend to associate with these tunes, if any.

          Vampires - Pet Shop Boys. Rachel DuNoir
          Bloodletting - Concrete Blonde. Patricia DeMontfort
          Blood Makes Noise - Suzanne Vega. Patricia DeMontfort
          Sister Moon - Sting (I know, not Moon Over Bourbon Street). Diana
          Thin Man - Suzanne Vega. Rachel DuNoir
          Transylvanian Concubine - Rasputina. Anja Skolnikov
          Meet Me In The Dark - I forget. Jackson Browne? Rebecca Logsdon
          Blame It On Cain - Elvis Costello. Sarah Donner
          Tainted Love - but only the cover by Coil. Janice Masterson
          Masquerade - Berlin. All 'of 'em.
          The Masked Ball theme from Eyes Wide Shut. Rachel DuNoir
          Insanity - Oingo Bongo. Patricia DeMontfort
          Wait - Wang Chung. Paul Viersan (also Lullaby by the same band)
          Reptile - Nine Inch Nails. Anja Skolnikov
          Dangerous - Depeche Mode. Rachel DuNoir
          Stripped - Depeche Mode. Michael Wentworth (thanks a heap, Nick)
          Who Do You Want To Be - Oingo Boingo. Kim Petersen
          Master and Servant - Depeche Mode. Kim Petersen and Patricia DeMontfort

          If you're particularly fascinated by this list, I've got all of these on MP3 if you've got a place where I can upload 'em to for ya....

January '01        Index        March '01