 My 2015 |
Thursday, December 31, 2015 1:06 pm
|
Well. 2015 is almost over! I feel like a review...
2015 Highlights
I went back to eating meat. I became a vegetarian around 16 years ago, mainly due to the spiritual beliefs I shared with my mother. When I stopped believing those particular things, I stayed a vegetarian because I assumed it would be too difficult to change at that point. Over the last half of 2014 I began to feel like that wasn't a good enough reason anymore. Mom had never pressured us into being vegetarian when she chose that for herself, so there wasn't any baggage about doing it for her memory or anything.
I was afraid it would make me horribly sick, and was trying to think of the best thing to start with. I took the very sensible advice of Brooke, who basically said, if you're going to risk being horribly sick anyway, you might as well do it for something you find delicious! So the first meat I had on purpose after all those years was the beef & pork meatloaf that Torrey had made for her Agent Carter party in January. (It had smelled like utter heaven the first time she made it, so when she made it a second time, I went for it.) I took an anti-diarrhea pill in hopes that it would help, and whether it did or whether I just didn't need it, I have rejoined the Omnivore Club and never looked back.
(And oh my god my life is SO MUCH MORE CONVENIENT. It wasn't *difficult* to be a vegetarian in most places, but it was sure a pain in the ass sometimes. My sympathies to all those who have food restrictions that they have no choice about.)
Conflikt happened, and we backed up the Toastmaster Cecilia Eng in her concert. It was delightful and fun and a little surreal, given that Cecilia was one of the very first filkers I ever heard, in the very first filk circle I ever attended. I'm pretty sure I kept it together, though. (Didn't I?)
Consonance happened, and it was a delightful blur. I ducked out for an afternoon to go to a local pin trading meetup, because Disney. Also Scott Snyder very kindly asked me to sing backup in his CD release concert, which was the best. Maya and I did our doo-wop finest. It was a great time.
Emerald City Comic Con happened, which was an even more delightful blur because it included my Seanan! Dinners and pedicures and comics were had.
In March, a dear friend of ours regained his freedom. I don't have much else to say about that in public, except that ten years is a long time.
Norwescon happened. We had a concert (I think?) and also backed Molly Lewis in her concert. She's always fun to play with.
DISNEY WORLD! Seanan took me (and her Mom & sis) to Disney World again and it was GLORIOUS. Also ridiculously hot & humid (wtf it was MAY) but DISNEY. I took lots of photos!
We got to eat at Cinderella's Royal Table once and Be Our Guest twice, both of which were delicious and spectacular, and our old favorite the Coral Reef at least twice, one time of which we got to sit right up next to the aquarium wall. And T-Rex, where we sat IN A VOLCANO and were roared at by dinosaurs.
Saw the Festival of Fantasy parade. Saw the safari and an awesome bird show where I GOT TO HAVE A RAVEN LAND ON ME. Saw that show three times. :)
Saw "La Nouba", the Cirque de Soleil show, again, and this time got the package that included a backstage tour!!! Which included photos with a Cirque cast member and a question & answer time with a stage director. Amazing and wonderful.
Floated down a lazy river. Watched Seanan catch frogs (and accidentally feed one to the grackles, oops.) Learned that corvids will follow me wherever I go.
Many characters were met, many animatronics were admired, many frogs were captured.
The whole trip was a delight, even the parts that weren't. There is absolutely nothing like me & Seanan at a Disney park. Nothing in the world.
We threw a Eurovision party. Which I was not really in charge of, but Eurovision is a heck of a good time. We get together and watch a download of the finals. Fishy's thinking of devising some way for the party attendees to vote (among ourselves) next year.
July was FULL of gigs and rehearsals. Vixy & Tony were guests at Westercon! Chord! Thing! It was like three cons welded together in an unholy defiance of the laws of god and man and filk. And also weirdly humid, which everyone in San Diego swore was unusual. Seanan was also a guest there; maybe the humidity followed us from Florida.
The following weekend was a joint gig at SoulFood Books with the PDX Broadsides, and OH MAN WAS THAT FUN. They are awesome. Stay tuned for more future gigs with them, hopefully in Portland.
The two weekends after that, we opened for the Sunday shows of Seattle's Outdoor Trek. This year they were doing "Amok Time", and it was glorious. They also announced that it was their last year (at least for now) of doing Outdoor Trek. :( They said they might do other outdoor show type things... who knows? Live long & prosper, guys.
The weekend after *that* (technically August 1 but July had rehearsals) we joined Betsy Tinney and all the hundreds of bands she is in for "Music Under the Trees", sort of a one-day music festival + dinner at Pinecoon. I hope a good time was had by all, 'cause a good time was certainly had by us. :)
Later that month I got a CPAP machine, which, holy cow, that thing has CHANGED MY LIFE. I'm not saying I spring out of bed fully awake now, but the difference between waking up normally and ZOMBIE FOX UNNNGH is phenomenal. I'm grateful to Fishy and Tony for noticing I was stopping breathing a lot in the night and for bugging me until I went to the doctor about it. I love my little tentacle beast.
August also held Sasquan, which was super exciting both for being a Worldcon we could actually drive to and for being a Worldcon where FISHY MADE THE HUGO BASES. Much has been said and written about the whole Hugo thing, which I don't feel like re-hashing any of, except to say that the whole thing was an extremely satisfying experience and I was burstingly proud of my Fishy and I may have gloated every time someone came up and complimented him on the Hugo base. Will took us in hand at the parties before & after and basically made problems disappear before they happened, for which I was eternally grateful. Also I wore a RAINBOW EVENING GOWN.
Also I got to spend a LOT more time talking to friends than is often the case at cons, which was delightful. Construction paper D&D! It's a thing. I think I went to like one half of one panel but I didn't care in the least because I had good times with awesome people.
And the masquerade was awesome. Torrey won an award because of course she did.
The smoke from nearby wildfires made the place a Marscape half the time, which was at least appropriate for a science fiction convention. None of our party had any serious health problems from it; I hope nobody else did, either.
Then there was a weekend of recording backing vocals for the Bohnhoffs, aka "go get in the box". We had a lovely time making beautiful music together, despite my falling down the stairs in the studio and spraining a toe. Whatever, at least I didn't spill my tea.
Late September brought us the Serenniversary at Wayward Coffeehouse, which was also Wayward's own anniversary. I've always thought of Wayward as the musical home of Vixy & Tony; our first non-con gig was there, at a Serenniversary, and it kind of opened a door for us to do other kinds of shows. I was glad for the chance to thank Broenwynn for the opportunity.
October contained GeekGirlCon! At which I didn't actually do a whole lot except enjoy the ambiance. And the dealer room. I got to see Anita Sarkeesian and Zoe Quinn speak, which I'm glad I had the chance to do.
Torrey helped run the DIY Science Zone there as usual, and I mostly hung about and made sure she got meals.
And then and then Seanan and I made our annual HALLOWEEN AT DISNEYLAND trip and I THINK THIS WAS THE BEST HALLOWEEN EVER OH MY GOD. Here is the photo album...
So they did this event called "Mystical Spirits of the Blue Bayou", which was a dinner event at the Blue Bayou restaurant with a prix fixe menu and hosted by Dr. Facilier "with some of his friends from the other side." We'd already bought our Halloween Party tickets for another night when I heard about it, and I didn't want to ditch our friends & go to the dinner alone... then Seanan had the brilliant idea of going to the Halloween Party on TWO nights so we could do the dinner! Hurray for cash-soluble problems! The food was great and the show was a delight-- Dr. Facilier sang & did some speechifying, accompanied by the "Southern Belles" who were basically undead princesses (he didn't call them that, but: sandy blonde in a blue dress with a black choker; blonde in a pink dress; African American girl in a green dress... all with zombie undead makeup. You get the idea.) The Cadaver Dans did a set, some pirates did a set (featuring a Cursed Treasure Chest which opened to reveal bags of Halloween candy for each guest) and Dr. Facilier did photos with every table. And then there were special guests "from the other side" which were Constance the bride from the Haunted Mansion and THE TIGHTROPE WALKER FROM THE HAUNTED MANSION PORTRAIT. I absolutely flipped my lid. I think she saw me fangirling because she came closer to our table than the bride had done. YES I FANGIRL A CHARACTER FROM A FAKE PORTRAIT I REGRET NOTHING. Except I regret not getting better photos because I was bouncing so much that mine were blurry. She didn't speak, but she was absolutely flawless, from her costume to her hair to her face to her movements (she even walked like a dancer/tightrope walker.) The whole evening was absolutely delightful, and that was the Friday of a long weekend trip, and that was before we even got to all the trick-or-treating!
That weekend we also got to hang out with a lot of our good Disneyland friends, do many rides, acquire much candy, and do new things. I always try to do at least one new thing at Disneyland when we go. Besides the special event, we ate with Mark & Baize at a restaurant we hadn't before: the Carthay Circle, which was schmancy and Brat Pack-y and sold me a light-up poison apple ice cube for Seanan because we saw it in someone's cocktail but none of us wanted the cocktail.
Our second Halloween party night I got another delight: I dressed as a sort of abstract raven, and REALLY wanted to do the Maleficent photo op in it. They were switching out villains every 20 minutes or so, and officially when you get up to the line you have to take whoever's there in the three slots, but unofficially if you let someone behind you go on ahead of you, the cast members don't care as long as everyone's happy. This led to a small group of us going "who's waiting for the girls? Do you want the girls? Who wants the boys? Go ahead of us if you want the boys!" and one guy who literally went all the way back down the line to find anyone who wanted the "boys" (Hades, Captain Hook, and Jafar) as opposed to the "girls" (Evil Queen, Cruella, and Maleficent). It was this wonderful organized chaos, and everyone got what they wanted.
Especially me! I decided as I got up there to go full improv-theatre mode-- I did not speak AT ALL once it was my turn, I just cawed and made crow sounds. The Evil Queen was first, and she seemed to have forgotten that she had a pet raven in her movie. Oops. Cruella was next, who of course makes faces at any animal she can't turn into a fur coat (I've had great fun bringing Mousie to meet her.) And then: MALEFICENT. Who IMMEDIATELY called me "Diablo" and started chatting away asking me if I had been out spying for her, and if I'd found out any news, and if I'd seen that little princess, and if it was time for the princess to have another nap, and telling me to report back when I had any news. Oh, it was FANTASTICALLY FUN. Then for the last few pics she put out her arm SO I COULD PRETEND TO PERCH ON IT. Best. Photo op. EVER. <3 <3 <3
The following weekend, we had our Agora Halloween party, to which I wore my old Companion Cube costume because it's easy & comfortable. Tried a bit of a new makeup scheme with it, which came out pretty well. Plus Portal earrings from Optimysticals. :)
November brings us to Orycon. Where we had a concert and also backed up Cade's concert and joined in one number on Betsy's concert, because that's how we (musically) roll. It was quite a nice relaxing con, actually. It was also a little bit of a blur! But it was absolutely wonderful to get to see Tanya Huff, who we hadn't seen in ages, and to watch the PDX Broadsides do their thang. For our part, I'm told our concert was one of our best. I never save anything for the trip back, which I think is why the con is a blur now. :)
Thanksgiving I spent at HOME, relaxing, for the first time ever, and it was GLORIOUS. I ate things and played games and watched MST3K. The down side to this is that the reason was partly that my stepmom was feeling too exhausted from her radiation schedule (breast cancer, second round, whee, also fuck cancer) and my dad exhausted from transporting & lifting her for many extra doctor appointments, so they didn't really feel up to a family gathering. Which I understood completely even as I wished the reason for it could've been something which was not that.
And here we are in December! We had another Solstice Party with our favorite theme of "we are the light" (aka wear all your glowy/blinky/light-up stuff and we'll turn the house lights off). I really love doing that. It makes everyone fun to look at in a "wait who are you again" kind of way. I decorated one of my top hats with rice lights-- the hat with a crow on it, so I tried to outline the crow in the lights too, though it didn't really show-- and concealed the battery packs in the crown of the hat, which made it kind of not quite fit and prone to falling off but I managed. I kind of went to bed early by accident, though-- I went upstairs to have a few minutes of quiet time, as I usually need to do at a party, and fell DEAD ASLEEP for the next few hours. Oops. It turns out that I find the sounds of my house being full of happy people to be extremely soothing. :)
I have left things out, some on purpose and some accidentally-- visits with friends, dinners with family, recording sessions, pin meetups. Daily trials and triumphs. Things that go to make up a life, as they say. I had forgotten until I sat down with my calendar to write this, just how busy the year was! No wonder I'm tired. :)
Tonight I'm going to stay home with two of my loves, snuggling on the couch, drinking whatever booze is left from the party, maybe watching some MST3K/Rifftrax. They say that how you spend New Year's Eve is an indicator of how the year will be. I intend to spend mine safe and warm and comfortable and loved and happy and enjoying exactly the things I want to enjoy. And being grateful that life is good.
Have a wonderful New Year, everyone. May 2016 be kind to you and yours.
|
|
But wait! There's more! Before we stick a fork in 2014 and call it done, there's something special coming up after Orycon that we want you all to be a part of. We don't have all the i's crossed and the t's dotted yet, but you're going to want to save the evening of 