Post-Con

(yes, she is sleeping like that)

So, my state of being since con ended was summed up by my dog on the way home. It was a whirlwind adventure in managing chaos as per normal. I did have some fun though. I got to take one of the guests (who is a knitter) to Churchmouse Yarns and Tea on Bainbridge. It was the perfect little trip as she got to experience riding a ferry, eat at a Seattle area diner and indulge in much yarny goodness.

I also finally got to see Alex aka DJ Origami's set from start to finish this year! It was awesome as he was mixing his own video and audio at the same time.

Returning to the real world as usual feels weird. I went to work on Thursday and Friday this week and it took some re-orientation. I've been really tired, but it might have to do with the fact that I am still sick. I keep thinking I have this thing beat and it keep creeping back up. It's down to mostly this really awful cough though.

On the bright side, I have resumed knitting! I got a few rows of my fleurette cardigan done at work and while watching Glee. Oh... yeah... I forgot to mention, Joe and I have given into the darkside. Yep, we started watching Glee. So far, it's ok. It's not my new favorite or anything. I think we are just addicted to watching TV series. As things go Glee is really pretty slow, it moves in Dragon Ball time. We are about halfway through Season 1 on Netflix.

Japan disaster relief efforts

ANCEA (The Asia Northwest Cultural Education Association) has joined forces with other Seattle area Japanese Cultural, community and religious organizations to help get funds for Japanese disaster relief. The site http://seattlejapanrelief.org/ went live today. ANCEA is offering special Thank You items at Sakura-Con for it's members who donate at least $10.

I am happy that I have heard from all of my friends in Japan and know that they are safe. My thoughts and wishes are with all of those who haven't heard from their friends or loved ones or that have lost someone in the disaster. These events have been terrifying for us all.

Anime, knitting and more

So, I started watching some new (to me) anime series a bit ago, Soul Eater and Darker Than Black. Now that both are available on instant streaming through Netflix, it's been easier to watch them. I've been mostly watching Soul Eater and I have been really enjoying it. While some of the characters are a little flat, I do enjoy how unique the story is. I wonder how people come up with these ideas. I mean a school for weapons and weapon trainers that serve Death. I plan to finish Darker than Black once I am done with Soul Eater.

I started my toe up socks 2 at a time using magic loop class yesterday at Renaissance Yarns. So far, so good. I have finished doing my toe increases and now need to knit until I get to the heel turn. This is a nice reinforcement of the first class as we are using the same methods for toes and heels. So far, I am liking this a lot more than 1 at a time. It seems faster and if nothing else is more gratifying. When I bind off, I will have a pair of socks, not one more sock to cast on and knit.

Planning for Sakura-Con 2011 is going well. We just announced two new guests, Chris Bevins and Tiffany Grant. I am excited to about both of them. I think we will really have a good line up for this year.

Interesting Day

We had our monthly planning meeting for Sakura-Con this morning. It went pretty well. As it is still relatively early in the planning process, there wasn't a lot to discuss. There was however a humorous moment when I got an text message before the meeting and our secretary popped her head up and looked around and she said "who's tardis was that." As you all know I have become quite the Dr. Who geek, and so my current SMS sound is the tardis taking off/landing noise. Erin is an extreme Dr. Who geek, so I promptly had to go over and hook her up with the file. Thankfully since we both have droids this was an easy process. I am was able to hire some key staff today after the meeting, which was really nice and a big relief.

After the meeting we popped over to the Tap House for lunch. They had some new beers on one of which really surprised me. I usually drink Belgians and/or Belgian style beers and I never like dark beers. As we are regulars there the GM brought be out 2 samples of some of their new stuff. One was stone Cali-Belgique which is an IPA brewed with Belgian yeasts. It was Belgian in the front, IPA in the back, and pretty damn tasty. The other was Firestone Velvet Merkin Stout which is an oatmeal stout aged in bourbon barrels. It was super smooth and I really enjoyed it.

After we left the Tap House, we stepped outside and a group of either bikers or band guys walked by us. I noticed one of them had a cool Black Label Society patch on the back of his vest, then I noticed a second one did and then I noticed in the mix of these long haired dudes was one guy in slacks and a dress shirt totally dressed to the nines. Yeah, that was the manager, I was less than 2 feet away from Zakk Wylde. *squeal* No, I didn't stop them or make a scene or anything crazy. I just thought it was cool.

Meanwhile, I am over 8in on the back of my hoodie. 7 more inches to go and I can start the arm hole shaping. I think it is coming along pretty well. there have been some small mistakes, but I think they will be hard to notice when it is done. I am really looking forward to getting to wear something I made this winter.