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On Getting Old

Saturday, September 29th, 2012 11:00 pm
fullygoldy: text = On the internet, no one can see your wrinkles (Wrinkles)


Alrighty then.  Tonight was the 26th annual Decker Oktoberfest party.  We had a good group with several new people in addition to the regulars that have been attending since we made the move to WI, but it was a small group for what our brains tell us to expect.

We said start time was around 3, which isn't terribly early for this event, but pretty much noone showed until closer to 4, which was completely fine.  And we had a GREAT time - lots of laughter and terrific food and just about everything this party has ever been meant to be.  But, only 20-ish people total (we're more used to 35-50), and by 10:15 everyone had gone and we'd cleaned up!  Just. That is so WEIRD.  In my head, this party goes til 4 am, 12 is the earliest the big exodus begins.  We sit around the remains of the bonfire, swigging whatever's left in the bier garten, those who partake smoke something (cigars or ...) and finally when we can't hold ourselves upright, we stagger inside, crash, then get up in the morning to finish off the bier garten with our eggs.  It's been that way for years.  If the weather is good, people pitch tents in the yard.  If it's amazing, we pitch our own tent and give our bed to someone else.  We've actually got 3 people staying over, but they all turned in before 10.

This is the 2nd year everyone departed before 10. I am not ready for this to be the end.  I drank a *whole* Red Bull this morning! I have *at least* 2 more hours of energy left!  I am feeling deep chagrin.  We are no longer party animals.  These are not our glory days. You guys! there is SO MUCH BEER (and wine, and cider, and mead, and etc) left.  Next time, we've decided to move it to the first weekend of October - too much competition with other stuff in September. 

But we're also considering making it biannual (not semi).  It may be the way to go to keep the spirit alive.  We started this tradition in S. Carolina, where German fare and traditions were rare and exotic.  The gathering was a beloved event, which had acquired it's own cohort of enablers.  Attempting to continue the tradition in WI, home of many Germanic traditions, good beer, and abundant wursts of every variety, was maybe charming in the beginning, but now I fear it's become blase'.

Don't get me wrong, I love WI. I love how accessible beer, brats, cheese and companionship are all year 'round.  But I miss being the one to get all my friends together in one place to enjoy it all.  My Oktoberfest isn't any more special than any other event that regularly happens in the fall in WI.  I imagine it's similar to what would have happened if I'd tried to stage an Indy 500 party in SC.  Not the thing for a non-native to attempt.

Oh well.  There's ginger-applesauce-spice cake and german chocolate brownies left for breakfast.  And OMG so much beer.  I've only got one load of laundry and one dishwasher of dishes to do tomorrow, so I'll be eating leftovers and watching football and reading fic all day.  Life can't actually get much better than that, right?

Just. I don't want to be OLD yet.  What happened to the 12-hr party?

fullygoldy: Stag Patronus in blue sillouhette (Blue Plate Patronus)

It's time for our annual Oktoberfest, and I've already invited all my local RL friends on FB, but since I have very little overlap on FB with my fannish friends, here's the announcement:

Bring a 6-pack of your favorite micro/home/import brew OR a bottle of German wine OR something NA to share (soda, cider, etc). If you're musically inclined, bring your instrument(s) for a jam before dinner. We'll provide the German-inspired delicacies for the feast. Kid/family-friendly, crash space available (especially if the weather is fine).

If you're planning to attend, I need an RSVP with a head count - partners/spouses/friends/family are welcome.  When you RSVP, let me know if you need directions.  As long as the weather is decent, most of the gathering happens in our backyard with a bonfire and space for tents.  If you stay over, there'll be leftovers and eggy things for breakfast (including beer if you're up for it, LOL).

We've historically been vegetarian-friendly, but these days we've learned to warn for gluten and lactose too.  If you've got an especially restrictive or obscure dietary concern, send me a PM and we can discuss.

This is our favorite event of the year - it's pretty much the last chance for outdoor enjoyment (aka our equivalent of a Labor Day cookout), and we love having all our circles of friends overlapping in a low-key gathering, so I hope some of y'all can make it. 

Fan Girl Meet Up!

Monday, August 20th, 2012 09:58 pm
fullygoldy: white text on red (Never to old to Squee)
Okay, I'm back from my whirlwind tour of the Dakotas, so it's time to finalize plans for the meet up.

I will host all fan girls (or boys) who want to attend at my home in Fitchburg on Sunday, Aug. 26 for a brunch-like gathering.  I'm happy to provide all the consumables unless someone else wants to pass a dish or beverage.  Please leave dietary restrictions in the comments with your RSVP.  Starting time - no earlier than 11 am, and we'll just play it by ear after that.

We've figured out how to connect our laptops to our HD TV finally, so we will be able to screen anything from vids, to TV shows (Netflix, etc) or DVDs.  I've seen lots of vid recs since Vividcon, so I expect we'll try at least some of those, and I'm totally looking forward to Dira's pimping of Generation Kill.

Please signal boost to our local folks who may not be reading here - the more, the merrier!

I'll send address/directions/phone info in PMs to all who RSVP.

Wiscon Planning

Saturday, May 7th, 2011 09:00 am
fullygoldy: Bette Davis in Hard Hat (Bette Hard Hat)

I have volunteered to help the photo booth people cart their rented equipment all over town, both Friday and Tuesday.  I didn't get asked to be on the panel I signed up for, but I'm still definitely interested in attending.

Not sure what Beer & Marmalade are planning, since I am a bad club member and haven't been to a meeting in at least a year.

However, this morning I learned that the "fancy dress" party has become the Genderfloomp Dance Party:
In honor of the Tiptree Award's 20th anniversary, we seek to explore and expand our concepts of gender via dance party. Gender play/blurring/queering/drag, both in dress and manner, is highly encouraged but hardly required. DJ Buckminster Fuller will keep the party going all night...

Now this looks like all kinds of fun, and appeals to my delight in dressing up/costuming, but I've got no idea where to start.  I have indulged in genderfuckery costuming several times:

Hawkeye Pierce (bathrobe, cowboy hat, martini glass)
Mobster (grey suit, fedora, penciled on 'stache)
Sailor (actual navy blues, courtesy of DH) - this was arguably the most well-received; musta been the uniform effect...
Construction Worker (does this even count? lol)
Pirate (multiple versions, incl. Jack Sparrow)
Cowboy (too many times to count, and I'm not really what you'd call a country music fan)

But these are all costumes, yannow?  And in the spirit of the party, I'd like to explore the more blurry aspects I think.  (sigh, I wish I were taller, it would help so much).  OTOH, I already blur the lines in my daily life.  I deliberately adopted masculine body language to move more comfortably through my professional life.  It serves me well, but when I leave the job behind, I tend to want to reclaim my feminine side.  Most of my dressing up these days is decidedly slinky, silky, sexy and sparkly.  What is a well-balanced gal like me to do?

Huh

Saturday, September 26th, 2009 07:33 am
fullygoldy: CKR Smile More (Smile)

It turns out that I created this journal to post my fannish stuff, and then promptly quit posting fannish stuff.  I haven't made a DW post since July 29!  Sheesh.

So, TV:  Hell's Kitchen, No Reservations (Anthony Bourdain), Glee (I've always loved musicals, and envy people who can sing and dance), most of season 5 of Weeds (Oh, Nancy!), and I need to catch up with Big Bang Theory,

DVDs:  The last season of Due South (mmm, CKR and Oh, Fraser, you goofball), Suspicion (Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine, and OMG so glad we've been liberated since then), lots of Band of Brothers (DH is rewatching).

Music, Movies: No Report

Books: Nada, except I re"read" Heat by Bill Buford (audio book) and am all inspired by italian cooking again.

Fanfic:  Pretty much rereading all my faves in Due South, SGA, and all of Astolat's Supernatural, plus her new Idol RPF.  Seriously, WTF?  I don't DO RPF/S, except for when Astolat writes it.  And I thought her Cook/Archuleta was sexy and charming last year, but her "Kradam" (Kris Allen/Adam Lambert) is totally smoking.  I must report I have reserved a luxury box in hell. Want to join me? Also enjoying the DW comm:  singularity (Star Trek reboot).

In other fannish news: Last weekend at our annual Oktoberfest, some of the WisCon book club members (you know who you are,  LOL) introduced my co-worker to the concepts of slash in general and Wincest in particular. I was pretty shocked by this turn of events, but he (HE!) is a pretty open minded guy, and he has mostly women in his life (he's a fraternal twin, he's married and has 3 girls). So he rolled with it, and there was much hilarity.  It gets better though.  He shared with the group that his nephew is Eric Szmanda.  That's right, his nephew plays Greg Sanders on CSI!  So awhile later, I hear one of my friends say to co-worker, "gee, I bet there's even been slash written about your nephew..." at which point, 4 faces turn to look at me for confirmation.  And what can I say, but "Oh my god, yes. Yes there is slash written about your nephew." Then I jumped up and ran to the other side of the bonfire, where I confessed to emorog this horrifying truth, "Not only is there slash written about his nephew, but *I've* written some of it!" Of course, I had to follow up with "I've written about the character he plays! Not him personally! ewww!" LOL.

As much as I love all of my friends, I was very glad to have you all finally drift away so that conversation could come to an end.  Except of course, I had to check in with co-worker on Monday morning to see how traumatized he was.  And yay, he wasn't.  He said he had an excellent time and enjoyed hanging out with all y'all.  By then I had learned that my WiPoly friends had also introduced him to the concept of polyamory (reported by DH) and he had rolled with that one too.  There was just a touch of confusion later on, when he turned to emorog and mentioned "your ex-wife." 
emorog:  um, no, she's my current wife.
me:  his *only* wife.
co-worker: But, but, there's that other gentleman, 'W?' (and we didn't realize at the time that W and N had already explained the parentage of the 3 boys).
emorog does not say:  Yes, he took the boys home with N for some quality time, and I stayed here to catch some quality time with my girlfriend. 
co-worker (turns to me): what am I missing? Don't leave me in the dark.
me with deer in the headlights look to emorog: Ummm....
emorog:  Yes, he's our friend from Eau Claire.  He hangs out with us a lot. Any questions?
co-worker: No. I'm good.

And lo, he was good.  He had finally connected the dots from the two earlier conversations, realized the 6 of them were a family unit and didn't need any further details. But I'm really glad no one else from work showed up.  I don't think I would have survived it.