E.T.'s L.J. U.R.L.

Just got the word that our friend Hal Haag has passed away. He was my first friend on the Arisia concom, and he was also a rabid game vector. If I ever introduced you to FLUXX, it was because I got it from Hal. (Literally - he gave me a deck, which I still have.)

We were still writing at regular intervals, but hadn't seen each other in quite a while because he had gotten too ill to travel. But his spirits were still good, as of when I last heard from him, not too long ago.

Wish we could have fit in one more game, somehow...

A friend of ours*, who used to come to Arisia every year but hasn't been able to for a while, would like to come this year but didn't make a hotel reservation in time. He needs to stay in the main hotel for medical reasons. Does anyone know someone who might be looking for a roommate? It would be wonderful if he could be there... Thanks!

* Hal, some of you probably know him...

For those who'd like to know... ( Read more... )

For those of you who know Lois Mangan... ( Read more... )

With all the prep for Arisia I've fallen about a week behind on posts, which are at skip = 500+. There's no way I'm going to catch up. If I missed something you think I should see, or would find of interest, please let me know. Thanks!

As a partial apology, though, I'll share one of the things that was taking up my time. ( Read more... )

Must go to bed... have a good Monday Tuesday, everyone!

Tonight sdavido and I went to the supermarket, and while wandering around, I noticed a woman carrying a bag covered with what looked like Nancy buttons. Hmmmm. While I was trying to read them from a distance to see if that's what they were, the woman turned slightly, and I saw that she was wearing an Arisia '06 T-shirt. Aha! OK, now we knew she was a fan... I spent the next several minutes trying obliquely to figure out if I'd seen her before. I didn't think we knew her, but I felt that I had to say something to her; I can't walk by someone wearing an Arisia shirt and not acknowledge it. I did try a casual comment along the lines of "nice shirt" at one point, but she didn't hear me. (I don't project very well; SD- usually speaks for me when I need someone's attention, but he's lost most of his voice to a cold for the moment.) I was deliberating whether/how to start a conversation for the rest of our shopping trip, to SD-'s annoyance and/or amusement. Finally, when we were checking out, I decided I had to say something or else I'd be upset with myself for the rest of the night. So I walked up and started reading her buttons. (Always a good conversation starter!) She turned out to be equally pleased at running into fen at the supermarket, and we wound up standing in the parking lot talking until I felt I had to get SD- home and out of the cold. Of course she has an LJ account, too... so we have now made the acquaintance of lovelyblackrose. Who, it turns out, lives just a few blocks away. Amazing how the world keep shrinking...

Not the most exciting start to the year... I spent all of last night catching up on Arisia mail (from being away). I'm also fighting a cold. Woke up this morning with an awful headache, which neither going back to bed nor taking medicine has helped much. I have a tremendous amount of work I need to do today (much, but not all, Arisia-related), and haven't been able to focus enough yet to do anything useful. Did manage to catch up on LJ, at least. And am currently holding Scheherazade on my lap, both because she's cute, and to give sdavido a break. He likewise has spent the year thus far trying to catch up on work, but she's decided that since we're home we should be paying attention to her. He hasn't yet mastered the art of typing while holding a cat, and really needs to focus without distractions, so I'm running (well, sitting) interference. I can do that, at least... but I really do hope I can accomplish something more than that this afternoon.

Hello out there in LJ land! Well, we're back from Arisia. Everything went smoothly (with minor snags - see below), and a good time was had by all. ( Read more... )
Tomorrow, back to reality! There is a lot of snow out there... the heaps by the sidewalks are shoulder-high, and the streets are narrowed as a consequence, and fairly messy. I hope I don't have any trouble getting to work in the morning!

It feels like it's been a long week already! I was in the store 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. today b/c my mother is out with the flu (very unusual for her) and she had scheduled a couple of early clients. Thankfully sdavido came in and helped juggle people in the afternoon - it got very busy for a while. Tonight we had dinner with some friends from Minneapolis who were in town for the weekend; I thought we hadn't seen each other in 5 years, turned out to be more like 10. (Where does the time go?) Tomorrow I'll probably be alone in the store again b/c my mom still sounds very weak. Tomorrow night I have an Arisia meeting. I'm generally behind again b/c other things have come up that I had to deal with. And this weekend is the convention... I know the week is going to fly by. I just hope I'm not too tired to enjoy it when I get there!

Quick review of what I'm up to these days... ( Read more... )