I went to Court today and... won? Sure. My case was dismissed because the ticketing officer (yes, he actually came) couldn't prove beyond a reasonable doubt that I was in the wrong. Especially with me being in the possession of a notice of cancelation for previous tickets. The judge was a surly gnome but he liked it quick and for every case I saw, though is tongue was less than kind, he suspended every sentence or dismissed the cases outright. Was I stung by his rapier tongue. Nope. I just was polite and went on my way. John came with me, rather than Mark, which is good. John provided a most calming presence.

Before I went to Court, though, Mark came by with a present, I suppose, for being so awesome as to watch the Nocturnalia booth for 4.5 hours - 3.5 of those on my own. That's another story. Anyway, the thing about Saturday was that I had to miss Amber Benson's (Tara on Buffy) autograph session. It was the only one I really wanted to go to and Nicole was very appologetic, since it was Mark's inability to prioritise that left me there for so long. Happily Stew had been with me, but anyway... So, Mark came by with a present and it was a very nice present. Someone either he or Nicole knew who happened to be there, and happened to be an actress, was able to go get Amber to sign an autograph for me. He brought it over and I was thrilled.

While I'm on the subject of Saturday, I'll talk about the much happier things that happened. For instance, the AMAZING Ringwraith that just happened to be walking around. He was part of a costumer's booth and he strolled about in a reproduction costume including real articulated armour (yes, even the claw like fingers) and sword. I had to leave someone I was tying into a corset with someone else in order to get a picture of him. He got part of his robe tatters caught on one of the edges of his leg armour and with his armoured fingers, he couldn't get it off, so I bent down and unhooked it, at which I said, looking up at the people with the cameras, "OOOoooOOoo I'm touching it's leg !" and then pretended to swoon. It was pretty swoony as far as costumes go, and when I posed for a photo with it, Stew said it had totally checked out my cleavage (from it's seven foot vantage point). I have trouble believing this, but unless it's IN the photo, we won't know, but it's a funny idea. Actually, since the face was invisible, we can't ever know for sure. *cackles* So, that was very cool. Also, listening to Amber Benson's talk was excellent. She is delightful, and very down to earth. She even drove from Los Angeles to Toronto with her mom... she's a star and she had a roadtrip with her mother... how cool is that?!

Anyway, Saturday night, I bundled Willi back to Peterborough for a couple of days in order to ride with Christopher Todd out at Kerri's. Chris doesn't do clinics if he can avoid them because he can't stand people who think they can ride but can't (and they are often the ones most in need of his attention and least likely to listen). For Kerri, an old student of his, he will make an exception and does every year because he likes her so much and because, as he said to her, "I like teaching out here, Kerri, your students all know how to ride." Mom and her friend Heather came up to watch, too, Heather taking photographs with her fancy digital camera. Mine was the last ride of the weekend and I think that not only I, but he as well, thoroughly enjoyed it. I impress him because I don't ride for a year between his lessons and I don't lose it. Sure, I'm out of shape, but basically, I can get on and do what he wants me to do and succede at it. Plus, we're both so very irreverant. He's great. If I had the money and time, I would definitely go and stay up at his barn for a few weeks in order to ride. If only. I miss riding very much. It has always been so important to me, but I just can't see how to reorder my life to include it again.

Nick is bitchy about my cat, who he is apparently alergic to (he might have considered this before we moved in), and keeps his door closed, which makes the rest of the house hot. He said that at least the downstairs neighbour's airconditioning was coming up through my vent, but it's not true. My vent is dead when there's no heat coming through it. I haven't even smelled the basement tennant's cigarette smoke lately. Somehow, I doubt it's because he's not smoking. Anyway, this is something that will definitely need to be sorted out, because we share the front porch and if he continually closes his door, that means any cross breeze that might exist with it open can't. I'm not sure what can be fixed, frankly, other than vacuuming more to pick up stray hair or getting rid of the cat, which is really not going to happen. I don't know.

Anyway, my Elfwood page has been updated again, and that's probably it for the next while, as I get work done on my real webpages, but there's some fun old art up and some fun new art up too. Have a look.