I dressed funny today. Like that’s new.
Happy Halloween / Samhain to everyone!
I wore my Enterprise jumpsuit for candy distirbution tonight. Nobody recognized it. Given that people even mis-recognized it at a DragonCon where Connor Trinneer was guesting, I have to wonder if it should be packed away and only brought out for hardcore fannish events.
On the other hand, I got involved in a very cool audio production of a part of the Headless Horseman legend. You totally need to check out the journal entry I’ve linked to, and listen to the file.
Here, have a holiday-themed WoW screenshot.
 |
Gnome on Broomstick Mirandala riding the “Magic Broom” available during the 2007 Hallow’s End celebration |
The Halloween workplace
Haven’t seen anyone dressed up for the holiday here at NASA. I guess it’s not too surprising, we are conducting serious business here frumph frumph frumph. But I have my bunny ears nearby in case of emergency.
The places I’ve worked have had varying policies about employee Halloween costumes. I think I wore a costume at B&D Comic Shop, but it was so long ago, I can’t clearly remember. The “Thrifty Nickel” encouraged dressing up, though many years, no one bothered but me; I usually wore a Starfleet uniform or my Jedi outfit. One of the last years I was there, one of our more conservative salespeople unaccountably chose “Tinkerbell” to make her sales calls in, which led to a panicky alteration of the costume when she discovered how much leg even the tame Disney version would show.
I can’t recall any costuming at Decipher, which was a bit of a surprise – you’d think a bunch of game geeks would garb up. My last Halloween at BCT was a smash, though. I dressed up in drag, and was convincing enough from behind that one of my bosses mistook me for another co-worker.
Anyone here dressing up for work?
Countless Screaming Argonauts
Thursday night, the Norva hosted They Might Be Giants for an evening. I’d wanted to go, but hadn’t gotten around to getting tickets and would probably have eventually blown it off; however, I got a phone call from Dwight offering me a spare ticket. I wasn’t going to turn down a free pass! We swung by on Tuesday and picked up a ticket for Starr, and looked forward to the evening.
When I arrived the night of the concert, I got a shiny green wristband to go with the “yes I’m over 21” wristbad. I learned that this band would get me upstairs into the VIP balcony seating, and VIP restrooms and bar/lounge. Swank! raininva and torn757 showed up for the concert, and I got to wave to them from the balcony before heading down to chat. (I said it a couple of times at the show, but I’ll repeat again that Rain’s really looking great. And I got to meet her boyfriend, which was cool.)
Starr finally got out of work, and arrived during the opening performance – a band from Ireland named Oppenheimer. She didn’t have a VIP pass, though! So I told her I’d stay downstairs and enjoy the show with her. The question turned out moot; Starr walked up to a bouncer, smiled sweetly, and made an impressive Fast Talk roll. Soon we were all upstairs for the rest of the evening.
The show itself was awesome. The band sounded incredible, and put on a goofy, geeky hilarious show. They played everything I’d hoped to hear, including “Mesopotamians”, “The Sun Is a Mass of Incandescent Gas”, “Particle Man”, and of course “Birdhouse” and “Istanbul”. (Did you know that one of the primary components of the Sun’s nuclear fusion is Advil?)
A bouncy, entertaining, endorphin-rush night. Hard to ask for better.
My packrat-fu is strong
Starr’s parents gave her a bare-bones used iPaq PocketPC to use at work – there are all sorts of electronic drug references and such for nurses. Luckily, I happened to have an iPaq stylus lying around. Luckily, I happened to have an iPaq power cable lying around.
I smiled at her, and said “To answer a question you asked several weeks ago: This is why I have all the boxes of old cables.” She laughed.
I’m still not on jdunson‘s level, though. I’m pretty sure he carries around the necessary cable to connect a SATA DVD-RW to an ENIAC.
Getting up before the sun is bad enough for me. Soon, I will be driving to work before sunup. I really hate that… but I shall live.
I did fix a space heater before attaining full consciousness this morning. Some doof left two loose washers in it that were getting caught in the internal fan; I found a hex driver that would loosen the grille enough for me to shake them out. Saving $40 before breakfast makes me feel good.
Wizardly Secrets
Speaking about her books at Carnegie Hall in New York, J.K. Rowling filled fan fiction writers everywhere with glee when she outed Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore.
Hapana.com and news.yahoo.com both report: Rowling said she “always thought Dumbledore was gay” and that he originally fell in love with the wizard Grindelwald.
Dumbledore’s orientation isn’t a factor in the plots of the books, so it doesn’t change much for me, though I’m pleased at the additional glimpse of his character. Anyone else have thoughts?
Animals for the Ethical Treatment of Us
Question for those more familiar with the subject:
In “serious” works where the sentients are anthropomorphic animals, do they keep pets?
Would Zannah have a kitty? Or a dachshund? (She did have a Targ plushy in that recent picture.)
Just wondering.
Plot a course, Mr. Mayweather
Here is a link to a picture of the flight deck of an Airbus A830, the largest passenger aircraft in the world:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Airbus_A380_cockpit.jpg
Notice that the flight control sticks have been moved to moved to the side, to make room for the primary control – the laptop keyboard.
Note also, without comment, the two Windows-based displays in the front panel.
This is looking less like a plane cockpit, and more like the bridge of the NX-01.
“I summon: Mecha-Lawyer Zeta!”
Ever notice how superheroes are reactive, not proactive? Batman doesn’t hunt the Joker down for his unpunished history of crime, but for whatever he did yesterday?
In a related vein, here’s a Power Rangers question for you. Knowledge of the show is not required; here’s a synopsis of a standard episode.
Space witch Rita Repulsa sends a 10-foot rubber monster to the town of Angel Grove as part of her ongoing plan to capture the city. (I can’t remember the reason.) The Rangers must overcome a plot point usually related to teamwork, friendship, or trust to defeat the critter.
Before it can expire, Rita throws one of an endless supply of magic staves from the moon to the monster’s position; the staff explodes and revitalizes the monster, increasing it to 100-foot size. Property damage ensues as it rampages. The Rangers summon their five-piece giant robot, and melee the giant; more property damage, from both sides, occurs until monster is vanquished.
Question:
Even my avatars drink more than I do
Got everything I really wanted from BrewFest this year. Circy the warlock got traditional BrewFest regalia, and a Wolpertinger pet. (Related to the snipe and the pink elephant, my Wolpertinger can only be seen by other players if they are drunk.)
Screenshot of my new stuff, and a pickup line
Gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen
Another round of the hair saga today.
Back when I started paying for my own haircuts, I decided to grow my hair long. It was pretty straight and stringy back then. (First pic) After the car accident, I cut it a little bit shorter, but it didn’t get far from my collar line, and it filled out a lot. (Second pic).
raininva liked short hair on me, so I kept it pretty trim while we were together. (Third pic) This year, though, I figured I’d enjoy growing it back out to its two-decades-ago length. (Fourth pic, though I have put the beard back on since then)
Reviews have been mixed. Some of my BCT co-workers were unimpressed, but the new hair went over great at Invisifest. It’s cool at NASA, though with all the military there I think I’ve got the longest hair on base.
This weekend, an acquaintance told me that it looked terrible on me – it bummed me out a bit. But just today, one of my coworkers told me she loved it, and it was a big improvement over April’s length.
I’m going to keep it long for now, but there certainly seems to be very little middle ground here!
 |
 |
 |
 |
| 1988 | 1997 | 2003 | 2007 |
Thank you for indulging my little narcisissm moment.
