A little more about Amira
Amira’s (extremely brief at the moment) obituary is posted at Legacy.com; choose “Victoria Lynn Bedford”.
As I understand it secondhand, by November of last year she was suffering from the return of a tumor, and this time she had decided not to receive chemo or radiation.
This is everything I know at the moment.
Another loss
Amira passed away yesterday. I don’t have many reliable details, but I know that she was quite ill, and this was not exactly unexpected. Still, losing her and my friend Millie within a few weeks of each other amplifies the lousiness.
The southwestern Virginia fans here should remember her as a fixture and frequent guest of the SWVA convention scene. She always had energy and an opinion, and pitched in often when she felt her talents would be useful.
I’m really glad there’s footage of her bellydancing on the Technicon 24 DVD. It’s not an awful way to be remembered.
Kinda echoey in here, hmmm?
We had a guest over last night… are having more guests this weekend… and are planning on seeing shrewlet, rhaps, and meiran in the next month. So this last week, we cleaned up the apartment.
Between possibly the most serious cleaning we’ve done since we moved here, and the ongoing stuff reduction program (I need to find shipping boxen for cjmr‘s and rattrap‘s models ASAP), the place looks practically new. The lighting’s better now. I can get into my bed without sidling past bookcases. All of the rooms in the place are suddenly fully usable. Heck, after tonight’s effort I might be able to admit people into my computer office without embarrassment. My ‘house’ is clean.
What an odd experience.
Tonight they start filming a movie here on base. I didn’t quite get around to sending them a glossy, and I’m not sure I’ve got the 70’s look they’re after, so I don’t get to be one of the extras. The film’s got Cameron Diaz in it… somehow I don’t think she’ll be swinging by. All I’m getting out of this is the mandatory opportunity to park my clearly 21st-century car another block-and-a-half from work. Ah, well. Exercise.
Speak “Friend” and Enter
This morning I found a hotel cardkey from a 2007 con in my stuff. I’d feel guilty, except I know they churn these keys out by the millions, and since the whole thing is computer-controlled, they’ve already invalidated the darn thing. So now it’s a memento.
What got me thinking, though, is the memory of when hotels actually handed out metal keys, usually on large plastic keychains with the room number embossed on them. Yes, those were simpler times.
Oh, when I say “enter hotel rooms,” I mean one that you or a roommate have paid for. Room parties, rooms that you’re only responsible for as an event organizer, etc. don’t count.
(Yes, I know. “Auhorized” is a Space Rogues in-joke.)
Rock Rockin’ Tha Spot
More WoW.
Mirandala just dinged 65, which means she can cast the Shattrath Portal spell as soon as I find the trainer. 5 levels to go before I hit the current cap; the last 5 levels took me… hmmm… 11 months.
Boy, I’m addicted, aren’t I?
(Okay, I did level Circy from around 5 to 55 in that period, and messed with a couple other alts. Still, that’s not setting any records.)
Interesting WoW rock video to the tune “Rock Rockin’ Tha Spot“. Despite the quality of the work, I feel I must warn potential viewers about the swear words and the Blood Elf nudity.
Sci-fi Arms Dealership
The apartment purge continues. This weekend: my plastic model kits.
As with books and con T-shirts, I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of them all, but I am still putting up some very nice kits I had looked forward to building one day (assuming an unlimited budget of time and money and display space). Some of these were gifts, and that made it even harder to put them on this list, but the time has come.
I’ll put these up here for a week or so, then they’ll go up on Craigslist or eBay or something. If you are interested, let me know and we’ll work out the details of payment and shipping etc. I’d say that most of the injection-molded kits are suitable for kids and adults with moderate experience, while the vinyl kits require slightly more advanced skills. Some of the snap-fit kits sound easier, but actually end up requiring skilled adjustments to actually look good… you never know.
Clouds thinning by morning
Feeling much much better this morning. I have been trying to find an explanation for feeling so lousy last night… less caffeine, lingering crud from the weekend, full moon, etc etc… but I think that there’s no special explanation: I just felt bad. This is not satisfying to the logical part of my mind, but all the other possibilities just don’t ring true.
I think it helps that I did again wake before the alarm, though I had a bout of chills about 1/2 hour into my morning. I’m hoping that garbage goes away as the weather gets a little warmer.
My WoW backpack has 16 “item slots”, each of which holds anything from a rabbit’s foot to a 6-foot mage’s staff to an armored chestplate. These slots fill up insanely quickly – collecting additional bags ASAP is practically mandatory – so I’m disinclined to believe the “upcoming patch notes” that claim we’ll be seeing a “scaling” pack which starts at 10 slots and gets to 24 slots at level 70. 10 slots isn’t even enough for a newbie character.
(I love how, in loot-based fantasy gaming, the same pair of armored trousers somehow fit both a 3.5-foot tall gnome male, and an 8.5-foot tall tailed alien female. Imagine how easy clothes shopping would be if all clothing fit the moment you put it on!)
Since I’m WoW-gabbing this morning, here’s a great post on the official forums by a player who’s compiled a short history of Azeroth, giving players some background for a lot of those quests where something more seems to be going on. WoW lore’s pretty darn rich and full, even for a series of 4 video games. It may be no Silmarillion, but that’s a plus for some folks.
Pef
Pretty ‘meh’ day today. Today started with the “alarm in the middle of dreaming sleep” which can and did leave me shaky and slightly sick. Starr made me a nice breakfast, and I threw most of the morning ills off by the time I got to work, but it set the tone for the day. Very little today has gone properly, and I’ve been unable to finish almost anything I’ve started.
At least the weekend’s coming up. That’s gotta be a good thing!
