Impossible things before breakfast
Oh, and this is the hall costume that went over so well. After what I thought would be my grand exit from TCon costuming last year, I could hardly disappoint my audience this year! The choice seemed appropriate with the Tim Burton movie’s release this season. I got picture requests all day, and some folks actually expressed disappointment that I changed back into street clothes after Keith’s concert!
One thing I learned: college seating is not designed for petticoats. Well, another: some ladies take vengeful glee in seeing a guy rub his sore feet after spending the day in heels. It was fun to wear through the day, though. Only problem is that I just don’t know how I’ll follow this next year.
The Forty-First Mikhail
The Tenth Doctor was the Crown Prince of emo.
This was a man who has saved the lives of friends, family, cities, civilizations, planets, and once the existence of the universe. He owns a machine that lets him travel to almost anywhere in time and space, seeing sights and having adventures no one else can match. On top of that, he enjoyed a fulfilling if unconsummated romantic relationship with a woman 880 years his junior, as well as brief flings with the likes of Madame de Pompadour and Queen Elizabeth I.
But, we’re expected to believe that his life sucks, and that somehow he didn’t get properly rewarded for his efforts.
My point here, is not a lengthy rant about how David Tennant’s Doctor was written. He had moments of charm and brilliance, and I’d watch him before Colin Baker most any day. No, his last episode led me to look at my own regeneration. We all do it, you know; though for most of us, the process is far less dramatic. Still, I don’t look, act, or think much like I did when I was sixteen.
Oh, there’s continuity there: I have plenty of memories from that time, and some of my quirks and mannerisms from back then remain in my personality. I certainly look more like I did at the time than Christopher Eccleston looks like Jon Pertwee. But like the Doctor or the Master, I’m simultaneously the same person and not.
Honestly, I’m pleased with the majority of the changes in myself, though I sometimes with I still had my teenage body. (Perhaps a little less scrawny, though.) I prefer being more experienced with life, and perhaps having a touch more wisdom. Being older is the price I have to pay, and since the only other offered option is being six feet under, I’ll take it gladly. Someone should have pointed out to the Tenth Doctor that getting to live a life of daring adventure, plus not having to die when all the rest of us do, doesn’t suck as much as he insisted it did.
Your pain does not concern the Daleks
Well, now. I was awoken by a representative from the US Census confirming this house’s address and habitation. Unfortunately, on one of the top stairs, my feet went out from under me, and I fell halfway down on my butt. Nothing seems seriously damaged, but I am always twitchy about messing up that prosthetic. The warnings from my doctors were dire. So, I’ll be a little later than I’d planned starting the afternoon’s chores.
Speaking of doctors, before I talk about the Trek movie last night, here’s an unrelated costume picture geckoman linked (click for the wearer’s LJ entry):
Now that’s thinking outside the costuming box! Awesome outfits, and dang creative. I have a soft spot for folks who don’t attempt to recreate characters perfectly, but go for something unexpected. Besides, they’re cute!
Brief updates
- 07:49 @starstryder That’s right! you need Katamari Damacy instead: tinyurl.com/iPrince #
- 07:51 Wow. Absolutely exhausted yesterday, nearly wrecked on the way home. Think I’m feeling better this morning. #
- 13:33 @queenofpith If a Richmond Dave & Busters installs the VWE MechWarrior simulation pods, I am so there! #
- 14:56 Job perk: had lengthy hallway discussion with boss this morning about Dollhouse, Dr. Who, and BSG. Local PBS may be showing 4th Doctor eps! #
- 17:30 Just watched Blizzard’s Uldar preview video. Holy smoke! For the first time ever, I’m really sorry that I’ve never done endgame raiding. #
- 18:42 OMG, this History Channel program on the secrets of the art on the dollar bill is complete bunk. #
- 19:42 Microsoft will ban you for XBox Live for being out as gay. Not that my money matters, but they won’t get a gaming dime from me now. #
- 20:55 This History Channel program on Atlantis is also bunk, but at least I expected that going in. #
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Moar Interviewing
Had a chance to sit down and think about my answers to gryphynkit, and so here they are:
(Rules thing first: to be interviewed, reply to my post asking me to interview you. I then reply to your post with five questions. You should post your answers and this meme on your LJ, because thinking up these questions is hard, daggonit.)
1. What is your favorite episode of anything?
I choose to parse that as “Pick something you really like, and talk about your favorite episode of it.” My favorite episode of Classic Trek would have to be “The Doomsday Machine”; I loved episodes where we got to see other Starfleet vessels, making it seem less like Earth had only the one ship. There’s some (very one-sided) space battle stuff, excellent lines from Kirk and Scotty in places, and that cool pounding ‘space-predator’ soundtrack. Absolutely grade-A stuff. The digital revision isn’t bad at all, either.
2. Given the chance to meet *anyone*, real, unreal, living or not, who would your top 5 be?
1. If there’s a Creator(s) of the Universe, with a form that I can perceive and understand, then I have quite a list of questions.
2. If there are friendly, advanced alien civilizations somewhere out there, than I’d like to meet a member: I have a list of questions.
3. I would like to meet a book publisher who thinks my science-fiction novel is awesome, and wants to give me a six-figure advance on the sales. (The fact that the novel doesn’t yet exist in any coherent form is immaterial.)
4. I would very much like to have met Douglas Adams. We could talk about music and Mac stuff all day.
5. I want to meet the people on my Friends List that I never have in person. I generally friend people because I find them interesting, and most of the time, people turn out to be more so face-to-face.
3. What is the Question?
Who are you, and how do you plan to evolve into who you want to be?
4. What person/char/entity would you most like to be like?
Fictionally, I think I’d like to be somewhere between Buckaroo Banzai and the Doctor I mention below. Realistically, I’m pretty happy with who I am at base level, though there are a few qualities – mainly, ambition and drive – that I’d like to have more of.
5. Who is your favorite Doctor?
Oh, I’ve had my brief flings with Nine and Seven, but there’s really no contest: the Fourth Doctor will always be tops in my book. Never afraid to take a stand, never at a loss, fiercely loyal to his companions, unafraid to take the most disastrous situations lightly. Some might say that he’s less complex and ambiguous than his later incarnations, but that in itself is pretty interesting when one takes in his background and position.
Christmas / Time
Since my ‘Net connection is still wonky, I may be reduced to watching this year’s Doctor Who Christmas Special on SciFi. The horror.
On the other hand, I received a nice Who fandom Xmas present in the from of this Livejournal artwork post by _tonylee_. The image linked at the bottom cheered me greatly; the likenesses are a bit off, but it’s still my desktop wallpaper for a while. (One of them. The other wallpaper is the Apollo 8 “Earthrise” shot right now.)
As Starr works tonight and tomorrow, we finished the majority of our own gift-giving last night. Among other things, I received two hardcovers: an H.P. Lovecraft collection, and a Hitchhiker’s omnibus of all five novels and the short story. In each case, these will supersede paperbacks already on my shelf, thus retaining the integrity of the Stuff Reduction Plan. Starr, on the other hand, got a gift card for plenty of crochet yarn, and a brand-new toolbelt to aid in her remodeling projects (she’s already done a den and a bathroom). She wore the toolbelt around all evening to ‘break it in’, so I think it was appreciated.
I am messing with my co-workers today, playing Mannheim Steamroller and Trans-Siberian Orchestra with album breaks provided by cuts from the “Sailor Moon SuperS Christmas For You” album.
Racing around
Okay. I have owed my sister a phone call for several days, and perhaps if I post it here, I will be looking at it tonight and go, “oh yeah, I really need to do that”.
We actually managed to get out of the house for a bit on Friday night – we’ve not been good at that for the last couple of weeks. It’s so easy, when one of us doesn’t get home until 7:30 or 8, to say “screw it” and vegetate for the rest of the evening, but we made ourselves go out with friends, and had a sorely-needed good time.
After a Saturday full of more moving and cleaning, Starr and I got our WoW characters each halfway to level 67, at which point they will have passed my poor gnome mage I’ve been leveling since long before The Burning Crusade. There was debate over whether we’d stick around Outland once we hit 68, and quest a bit in Shadowmoon or Netherstorm; but the urge to take off to the Great White North is strong. We’ll see.
Along those lines, I need to contact my gaming group – our session three weeks ago was cancelled due to host illness, and I never even heard whether or not we scheduled a session last week. I was prepping to start a Shadowrun for the group, and I assume there is still interest. I’ve also got a box full of giveaway gaming material from the Stuff Reduction Plan, and I’m hoping that they’ll want some of it.
Tensions are still cooling slowly on the cat front. Early this morning, Midori and Precious repeatedly chased each other up and down the house stairs, which I think may actually have been play instead of attempted murder. The welcome absence of hissing and yowling is the peg I’m hanging those hopes on.
The 45th anniversary of the Doctor Who TV show passed this weekend. I had to check out a YouTube video of the days when the Doctor was a cranky old man with a hyperintelligent granddaughter, and certain walls of the TARDIS control room were simple photographic blowups. Dig the 1962-era special effects:
Classic stuff.
Surrounded by boxes
On Friday, one of my co-workers walked into the room looking for another of my co-workers. Seeing him at his desk, she said, “Hey Dave, it’s Joan. I have a question for you…”
I thought to myself, “Errr, Dave probably knows it’s you, seeing as you’re standing right here.” Of course, the next thought that flashed through my head: “Harriet Jones – Prime Minister.” “Yes, I know who you are.”
Bummed to have once again missed Rising Star. I had a nice streak of attendance, reaching past the first RS in 1992 to 1982’s RoVaCon 7. It sounds like the convention’s doing incredibly well these days, but I just can’t swing the travel (seven hours one way). Yes, I feel guilty about that. Hope everyone who went had a good time.
I myself am packing up for another move. This has a lot to do with the Stuff Reduction Plan – at least this time, there is noticeably less stuff to pack, and I’m Freecycling / eBaying / giving away even more stuff in the next week or two. Weirdness. Didn’t change living quarters for decades, and now I’m in my fourth move in 5 years.
Brief updates
- 21:53 @meiran Eccleston rules, as far as I’m concerned. However, Tennant does get 2-3 awesome episodes per season. #
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