No Anime Mid-Atlantic For Me
I had to cancel the hotel room for AMA 2018. We really can’t afford it with the financial pressures of a single paycheck. Kara wasn’t going anyway, but I’ll miss Angel and the other Hampton Roads con-goers I’d normally see there. Not to mention I’ve got some great outfits I want to show off in.
Damn, I hope our finances get sorted out soon.
Nothing Working Anymore
So: fun week. We had the funeral for Mom a couple of days ago: a lot of people showed up, including a lot of the O’Briens I didn’t expect to see. It was lovely talking to Uncle Walter again, and my cousin Julie. Whitney of course was there with her kids, but we even had several Yeager folks including Jerry and Cathy. So, that was as nice as it could possibly have been. We buried her ashes along with the ashes of her cat Sassy.
Then on Monday I had to go to the hospital with violent stomach pain. Turns out something had swollen my intestines until they closed up completely. A round of antibiotics meant I only spent a couple nights there, and I’m doing much better; but even with insurance, our financial situation is such that I am pretty worried about paying off these bills. And I had such a nice credit rating this time last year.
End of a Story
Mom fell one last time, and we had to bring her to a care facility. As she’d always predicted, she didn’t last long there. Deprived of access to a stream of junk food and sodas, she started losing weight rapidly, and in less than a month, she was gone. She passed away the morning of April 14th.
By the end of things, we had an extremely toxic relationship. She abused my love for her to get almost everything she wanted, and continued to insult my friends, loved ones, and lifestyle choices. I hang on to the idea that it was bitterness and despair, not hatred, that drove her to this. She worked hard to bring me up as best as she could, and provided me with a basic moral sense that still serves me well.
I’m glad she is no longer suffering. I’m sorry that everything ended the way it did. I will miss the mother who did love me and tried her best, even if her best wasn’t always what she or I needed. Her funeral was well attended even by people she’d rejected in later years, because they remembered the good person inside.
In the meantime, Maya and I must finish clearing out her apartment and packing our own, to move into her apartment complex as part of a lease-forgiveness deal.
Regeneration? Fourth.
Back from ReGeneration Who 4. Exhausting. It’s that simple.
My job as Merchandise head wasn’t bad, but there were a lot of logistics to deal with preparation-wise and with tear-down. Maya, on the other hand, worked her butt off. The con was a major attendance success, and that means that as Registration head, she worked her catgirl tail off.
On the other hand, I got a picture I never expected to get: me dressed a Waitress Clara from the Season 9 Doctor Who finale, posing next to Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi! He loved the outfit… what a sweet gentleman. I got to pose with some other Claras as well… oh, and by executive Con Chair Order, I bought Princess Peach for pictures in Sunday.
Great con, proud to be part of it… but I think we are dropping out of staff duties for a while and going to a few cons as simple attendees. Maya and I need to recharge.
Nerf This
I’m playing Overwatch now – at least when I can spare the time to reboot my iMac over to Windows and install the inevitable updates. I’m not especially good at it, but I can play as a loligoth catgirl in a big pink stompy mech, so I’m having fun. At least against AI opponents; actual humans are all too good for me to touch.
Blizzard, please make this available for Mac someday soon? Pretty Please?
A Real Peach
I brought my Princess Peach costume to Mysticon this year. Sadly, Maya didn’t wear her Mario as it needs quite a bit of work. But wow did Peach go over well! People were asking for pictures all day, and I even made the local TV news for about 7 seconds. I wore it for NekoCon and Halloween last year and for the con we attended with my niece Kennedy, but these are some of the best pictures of it yet. I was dubbed “Princess Peachfuzz” by one attendee, which was hilarious.
There is nothing like a stranger telling you how beautiful you look in your dress to put the “pride” in queer pride.
I decided to dress up Sunday as well, even if it meant I’d have to find somewhere at the con to slip back into mundane disguise on the way out. So I’m wearing my Sailor Moon quasi-costume dress while loading the car, and a 65-year-old or so couple get on the elevator with me.
He looks at me and asks, “Is it okay to say something about your outfit?” and I give him a huge sincere smile and say, “As long as it’s a compliment!” He laughs and asks where I got it (Hot Topic Halloween) and for what event (the nearby con) and we chat for a moment. As I’m walking off to the car, I hear his wife say behind me, “He’s got better legs than I do!”
I’m kinda proud of myself. That could have been awkward or even upsetting, but everyone left that elevator happy. That’s one of my missions in life.
