thedeadlyhook | Rest and Relaxation

Rest and Relaxation

A Belated Very Happy Birthday to

germaine_pet!!

Back from a quick weekend getaway to see Toys's parents - his mum had her birthday on Friday, so we all trundled down to the South Bay on Caltrain to have dinner at a fish restaurant that provided nearly endless fun in its name, the Cantankerous Fish. Which I felt sounded too close to 'cankerous,' not really an association I want to make with something I'm about to eat, and why wasn't it alliterative, like Sullen Seafood? Toys had a number of his own suggestions, the ones I remember most clearly being something like Frowning Flounder, or Surly Sturgeon, and... well, that's the level of our discourse sometimes. I can report the calamari as very good, but the Tilapia fillet a bit bland. But a good time was had by all.

The rest of the weekend was mostly resting - laying about in the sun and talking about books, getting a minor sunburn from splashing in their pool. Toys's mum is teaching me how to knit. It finally occurred to me to ask her, since it's something I'd been thinking recently about doing, at least trying a class... but now I don't have to, because she's got me started on a basic stitch. The practice piece I'm working on is only 12 stitches across, so it's either a belt in the future or an incredibly skinny scarf, but plenty big enough to get the idea. So far, I only seem to have really goofed up once - not a dropped stitch, because it didn't unravel; I've done that once or twice - but some weirdness where the links aren't exactly right, leaving a sort of bald patch. Still... I'm learning.

writercon is getting really close now - I have all sort of things to do, like writing my fellow panelists (I'm even a moderator on one of the panels, yikes!), which I haven't gotten to yet, and other work-related things I need to get out of the way before I can really relax about the con.... but whatever, it'll happen. It must be summer, the way I'm suddenly beginning to feel like it'll all work out. Somehow.

For the Fouth, we just went over to MechMan and ActionGirl's place, for TV and BBQ. ActionGirl made a cake decorated with strawberries and blueberries to look like a flag. A circular flag, which we ate. And was awesome. I'm still stuffed. Movie track included Hell Comes to Frogtown and Ninja 3: The Domination, and if you can figure out why those fit a 4th of July theme, I'll give you cookie. (Hint: They don't.) : )

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Hello, fish girl, I hope you have a nice time at Writercon and I'm sorry I won't get to meet you! I think I've done my dash on Writercons, purely from being so far away. Also I found the last Writercon perhaps not my thing -- I don't do groups very well and I wasn't well physically -- something wrong with my teeth -- I was in pain in my mouth all the time and couldn't eat. I'd also had this fantasy that if I went to Writercon and heard the best minds speak and asked Jane E the right question, then my severe angst over the BUffy series would be cured. Of course that was far from the case -- in fact the opposite was true. Also the LJ friend I went over and stayed with in the US promptly dumped me when I got home. And I missed my kids very badly. So, a bit of a weird time. I'm sure other people handle it better.

Well, K., as you are aware, I'm going with my bosom friend

starlet2367 and we're only going to socialize with our homies. While everyone else is discussing, etc., we will be wallowing around in the swimming pool and drinking iced tea.

And naps. We're going to take naps.

I'm sure you'll be the queen of all you survey.

:raises eyebrows: As if there was any doubt?

I'm sorry to hear you had such a difficult time! And I know exactly what you mean about wanting the Buffy angst to be soothed - I heard Joss himself talk shortly after the series ended at San Diego Comic-Con, and my reaction to his comments was the same as yours at Jane's; not what I needed to hear, so it almost made things worse. That may actually be part of why I felt easier committing to this Writercon instead of the earlier one - then, the wound was too raw. Talking about it online was about all that I could do.

But even though I'm not new to conventions in general, this one's making me a bit nervous. I "know" a few people online, that doesn't always give you much of a clue how you'll react to each other in person, so that part... yeah, a bit tension-making. Weirdly enough, the panels are actually the least thing I'm stressed about.

Yes, the wound has healed somewhat now.

I know what you mean about the panels seeming easier -- it's structured and you know what your role is and I imagine you'd have plenty of things to say.

You just come hang with us, honey!

Oh, I'll be there. A whirlwind of social committments, that's what I'm hoping for.

Kel wants to go to the Farmer's Market and Whole Foods and such. She's really familiar with Atlanta. I am nominally familiar, as in I spent a lot of time there until 1992...

But what fun is the Famer's Market if you can't cook anything from all those yummy fruits and veges? Will they even let me on the plane with bags of artisanal tomatoes? Although I surely could subsist for a few days on nothing but peaches, hmm...

Whole Foods has the lure of beers of the world. And cheese! Let's not forget cheese.

:looks shiftily: We are bringing, uh, an electric kettle and a cooler. We plan on, the very least, having iced tea/hot tea and cheese and nibbles in our suite. And wine.

I'm re-watching the "Martha" clip and snickering.

The download wouldn't work for me. : (

Ah, the provisions in the suite! That's the way to travel. Our family vacations never even left the driveway without a cooler, a coffeepot, the toaster, a loaf of bread, and jugs of frozen milk and orange juice. Good times.

Go to Setje's "Boreanazist" site---click on "camera" on the left, and the thumbnail is on the second "camera" page. www.boreanazist.net
You gotta see this video!

Argh! That one won't work either. I can't even get to the page. "Can't find server," blah. I love my browser, but sometimes it's teh suck.

I'll try it again from Firefox or IE.

:Twirls: I'm going to WriterCon and doing NOTHING! Bwahahahahaha! Oh, the joy of divadom!

But you still will be available to receive admirers, won't you? : )

Well, duh.

It's also because this is my only vacation time and I want to chill.
Poor Kelley---she said something about bringing little pressies to some friends and I shrieked, "We are the present! Own your divaness!"

Just checking - I wouldn't want to crash into your restful vacation time with my inane droolings. Cocktails at the pool it is!

I'm only going to see the homies! I'm just sayin' that I'm not going to any panels/discussions/break-out groups. I'm prepared to have tea, cocktails, beer---in short, anything that doesn't require me to act like I'm taking anything seriously. Also, small we're inviting people back to the room for drinks.

Droolings? :perks up: Puh-leeze. As long as no one asks me about child support, I'm cool. Kool and the gang.

You know that looks rather like Martha Stewart stabbing DB with the kitchen knife... surely not.

I promise never to ask you about child support.

That IS Martha Stewart stabbing DB with a kitchen implement! He was on her show and told her he hated sardines and she loved every moment of it!

And somehow I had not heard about this???

Tell me he cooked something. Cookies. Manly cookies.

He helped her cook sardines...much against his will as he hates them. I attach Setje's link to Megaupload----it will be on my laptop if you don't get it!

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2S7YJ5CZ

Thank you! *big smiles and hugs*

WriterCon is SO CLOSE. I'm looking forward to meeting you there. :)

I hope you had a super day!

Looking forward to meeting you too! I'm so trying not to be nervous about the whole con thing. I can't even imagine what it'll be like, having everyone all together like that. The mind boggles.

I'm so excited that you're going to WriterCon (for this con, I'm going to have to live vicariously).

Knitting is fun and addictive. You can do it while watching TV! And it's so incredibly soothing, although it can also be quite fussy. I strongly recommend

knitting as a reading resource; you can learn a lot from the posts of expert knitters, and from the expert answers to some questions. I think there's also a novice knitter's community, but I'm not sure what it's called.

Ooh, thanks for the link. I think that's part of what got me interested in finally starting to learn - I'd been digging up pattern books and yarn resources for the mum, and everything just looked so neat... here's to hoping I can graduate smoothly from the multicolored yarn ball I'm using right now (so much easier to tell which thread I'm hooking through with the color difference!) to plain colors without getting too confused. If I can just get the muscle memory going so it's automatic...

And wait a second - you're going to Writercon, right? (I wasn't sure with the "live vicariously")

I'm not going to WriterCon, unfortunately. I was thinking about it, but my mother was planning to have a family reunion on that weekend; then the family reunion plans fell through, but I'd already made other vacation plans and couldn't be away in July.

Oh! And www.knittinghelp.com has very good video tutorials too. Sometimes it helps so much to see someone else doing it.

Cantankerous Fish? What city? The S.O. loves seafood. I hate it, and my demented mother who lives with us also won't eat it, so I refuse to cook it or let the S.O. cook it inside the house. But I will take him to fish restaurants. Someone else stinks up their kitchen and washes the fish-smelling dishes, then fish is all right, I say. And about knitting. You will love it. But my advice is to make something with a purpose right away. Nothing kills the knitting love faster than knitting test swatch after test swatch, even if you put the swatches to use. If you need ideas, www.stitchesfromtheheart.com has some pretty easy baby blanket patterns that you can give to the organization so they can give it to preemie babies. And remember Arachne's lesson, modified for knitting ---- if the knitted end product is so without flaws that it is imperfect, the knitter will offend the gods. This always works for me. You'd be amazed at how many stitch screw-ups you can overlook if you just keep this in mind. ;)

The restaurant's in Mountain View, I think. Wait - yes, I just checked. a href="http://www.thecantankerousfish.com/">Here's their site.

I tried the knitting link and it just took me to an ad site, but this (http://www.stitchesfromtheheart.org) is the one, right? I'll send the info to mum, too - she loves having projects to do, and the cause is wonderful.

I will strive to be imperfect in my knitting. : ) Not that I think that'llbe tough! Right now I'm just glad that it hangs together at all.

Yes, that's the site. I can never remember com, org, net. It'll only get worse as they add more. Thanks for the restaurant link.

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Rest and Relaxation

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Hah, I couldn't answer as I don't know NZ law

Martha Stewart Meets Angel!!

Re: Martha Stewart Meets Angel!!

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