I always hope for new and interesting things to do when I'm working at the ROM and today I got my wish. Today, for most of the day, I've been emptying the blue envelopes and sorting their contents. Sure, it doesn't sound like much, but it is. I have to run through all the items within, checking the $ totals with the membership forms, sort out the problems when they arrise (I've had some trouble doing that) and get everything to where it has to go. In other words, I spend a lot of time with a furrowed brow and a not insignificant amount of time running around.

At lunch with Cheryl, today, there was a white Neon parking against the curb. We were talking and could hear this sort of computer generated voice, it was quite weird. Suddenly, Cheryl said, "Is that coming from the car?" We stopped beside the Neon and lo ! this is what we heard: "Attention, please, this car is backing up." At that, we both burst into peals of laughter, which probably caused the driver some embarrassment. Silly gadgets.

Rick's coming over tonight and I'm going to cook. I haven't actually cooked anything in a while. Maybe I'll just cop out and buy a ready-made meal. I'm pretty tired. I've got a lot going on and it's only going to get worse. Ya, I think I'll pick up some chicken legs from Dominion and some salad and maybe some ice cream. Nothing fancy, just tasty. Tomorrow I have to go to the bank in order to empty my line of credit. I need all the money I can get in order to get to Philly. This whole venture is going to cost around 600 bucks. I'm definitely not going to make that much back, but if I can sell a couple of originals, plus a few prints, then I can make back some of it, maybe half. It's too late to back out now, I've submitted my convention money.

I watched an older French film with Nick last night called, Mon Oncle. It was delightful and full of subtle sight gags. It's a Jacques Tati film and it was all that Nick said it would be. It's hard to explain, but it was nice.

It was a perfect day and it makes me sad that I had to spend most of it indoors. The sun was shining, the air was sharp and cold, the leaves were rustling down the streets... I love this kind of a day. Maybe this winter won't suck like last year. All the talk about El Nino giving us another hot winter seems to have stopped since this has been most of a month and a half of slightly cooler than usual temperatures. I hope it continues. Call me sentimental, but I do love a white Christmas.

I meant to do stuff today, but it seems I've gotten side-tracked with other things, namely working in Photoshop. I haven't even bothered to shower... heck, I'm still in my nightgown. It's already dark out, my day is half over. Yeesh. It's okay, actually, I'm committing my Christmas card ideas to file and arranging them for printing, tweaking the colours and giving them captions. It's not all a loss.

I've been chatting with the fellow who seems to be the power behind Cool Collecting and it looks like I'll be reviewing Philcon for the site, and possibly Pandemonium when it happens. I might offer up some sci-fi/fan art for the site, too, as he seems to be keen on that idea. Hey, good for me. Now, if only this stuff paid the bills, you know? Oh well, maybe in time. Anyway, Photoshop 7 is just dandy. It's a lot like 6, but has some new handy features and it seems a little better laid out. I'm having fun.

My downstairs neighbour, who lives in the basement, is the landlord's brother. I've never met him, but we put our rent cheque under his door everymonth. Anyway, I'm pretty sure it's him that smokes, and the smells waft up through the vents. He smokes cigarettes, which smell vile, and he partakes of good old marijuana. I never used to be bothered by that smell, it's sort of pleasant, but it's less pleasant when I'm not participating in it. Something I almost never do, anymore. He does it pretty commonly, though, and it's quickly lost it's charm. I can smell it right now, in fact. The fumes were part of the reason why Nick covered his vent with duct tape. I'm thinking about putting a note in his door that says something to the effect of, "Hi, could you crack a window when you smoke up? I don't enjoy it coming through my vents. Thanks from the second floor." It's not very rude, it's not angry, it's just a reminder that there are other people sharing this house and the smoke. I might just do that.

I feel kind of Christmassy today. I'm listening to Handel's Messiah right now. Tanya will be performing it with the choir she's in, and I would love to hear her sing it; however; it conflicts with plans that I already have. Hopefully, Rick and I will be able to go see it performed by the TSO and the Mendelsohn Choir later in December. Few things raise the hair on my neck as much as, "The trumpet shall sound..." I remember once seeing The Messiah performed (as we did every year) at St. George United in north Toronto and feeling very sleepy. I could hardly keep my eyes open, and not because I didn't enjoy it, but I knowing that I couldn't fight it, I whispered to my mother, "Wake me up at the trumpet part." I didn't need to be woken up, I opened my eyes just seconds before it happened. I must have slept through the Hallelujah chorus and everything. I missed most of the second half, I guess, but for the trumpet, I awoke. I think it's sort of symbolic.

WAHOO !!!! Natasha is alive... ALIIIIIVE ! My computer lives ! *cackles insanely*

I've not a lot to report, other than I've put my cheque in an envelope for Philcon in mid December, and have a link to an article about Astronomicon featuring ... me. There's some weird bolding going on around most of my quote, which missed the last paragraph of it, but whatever. I'm mentioned along with a couple of other nifty artists and that makes me feel pretty good. (Aparently this will be fixed soon enough...)

Oh, and I've taken a quizz. Here is the result:


What Was Your PastLife?

"Good morning, good morning ! It's great to stay up late... Good morning, good morning, to you !" Before it was the Viagra commercial, it was a number from Singing in the Rain. It's stuck in my head, and I lamented this fact to Bonnie, a coworker, and she reminded me that it originally came from the movie (not the Viagra commercial) and it's that super number where they dance on the couch. Riiiiight. That doesn't really help get it out of my head, and rather than just the Viagra guy dancing down the street, I now how Gene Kelly dancing on a couch, too. I don't want to associate Gene with Viagra. That's just plain wrong.

Thursday night was the big high-rollin' gala for the opening of Elite Elegance, the new couture exhibit at the ROM. This gorgeous affair was for the big spending members and their friends. Yours Truly volunteered and it was a completely enjoyable experience. I would say that 90% of the people in attendence were extremely polite, incredibly well mannered, and often very nice. The other 10% were nasty, rude, arrogant sons of baguettes - the sort of people who give all rich people a bad name. I had a great time, enjoying the social aspect, the free drinks (yes, on the house, kids), the incredible food (even if the ROM folk had to eat it in Druxy's), the fashion show, music, exhibit, and, of course, dressing up. I could give more details, but it would take too long. Let's just say that I would be happy to work another such event, any time.

On Friday, I smuggled Sandra into the Elite Elegance members' preview despite her not being a member and she enjoyed it thoroughly. Tanya and Chris picked us up from the ROM and we all drove to Sandra's house where Carrie eventually turned up. We discussed the dresses and the possible style variations, etc., and Tanya was nearly in tears at the thought that she could personalise the outfit. "You mean I get to choose?" she gasped with joy. Yes, Tanya, there really is a Santa Claus.

Saturday was the wine tasting at Carrie's parents' house in Lindsay, to which I brought Rick. There were no fireworks between Tanya and Ryan, or Colleen, and the food was delicious. Oh, and the wine was tasty, too. Rick and I went the wrong way and headed a third of the way back to Toronto, finally realising our mistake at the town of Oakwood. One day, I'll make it to Carrie's without getting lost. One day. Rick and I were the last to leave, chatting with Carrie and her family a bit at the end. Al and Carrie both seemed to be happy with what I've got done on their invitation, Al running off to show his parents in the middle of me asking Carrie for suggestions. I'm pretty pleased with it, myself.

Sunday, Rick and I hung out at Mom's enjoying home cooking and the music of Peterborough's new Youth Orchestra. The orchestra was put together by Michael, the PSO's musical director and conductor, only in September and amazingly, they were very good. They played the work of some rather interesting composers, including Bartok, Grieg, and Borodin. This was not your average junior high spring concert. No, this was good stuff. I also managed to get a number of Christmas cards done, which will hopefully be marketed at the Soup and maybe a couple of other places in Toronto.

I have to go to the bank today to get a money order in US funds for Philcon. I have to mail it out this week in order to get the advanced price. I don't actually want to attend the whole show, but it's the only way I can get my art in. If I don't sell well at the show, I'm afraid I'm going to end up in even worse financial shape. On a related note, I've been commissioned to do a fantasy work for Christmas. I said I could, and it's for a friend, but honestly, when am I supposed to get it done? I need the money, though. Granted, I'm probably more expensive than she thinks, and she might not be able to afford me, in which case, I won't worry about it. I'll know by tonight.

Add to that, the fact that I'm probably going to get extra work back out at the front entrance of the museum doing what I used to do, and that's not a whole lot of time. Yes, that's right, it looks very much like Richard's going to get me some hours doing site sales over the holidays. I plan to take a holiday following New Years in order to get a break. There's another convention mid-January, here in Toronto, which I plan to attend, so it will give me time to recover. I'll be selling (and competing with) my dioramas again. Anyway, I have a month to get just about everything done. I'm planning to have the invitations done by this weekend. I have to have prints made this week, three pieces framed next week, and through out this time, I'm going to be working on the commission. Plus, I'll be in Philly for six days and working my ass off. Holy crap.

I've got a big fat ROM sticker on my forehead right now. Clearly, my fellow membership colleagues are completely comfortable with me, as not one of them has commented on it. I will remove it from my face before I go volunteer at the Material Ball tonight.

I'm helping to usher people to where they need to be. It's a big do for the swanky members - the ones who donate lots of money - in honour of the opening for Elite Elegance, a couture exhibit celebrating the high fashion of the 1950s. I'm only volunteering for two reasons: 1) for the fashion show and, 2) in order to dress in evening wear. I'm such a gussy-slut. I'll do plenty in order to get gussied up. The food and dancing are fair reasons, as well.

It's too bad that I woke up at 5:30am with a migraine, but happily, though I came to work two hours late, I feel a good deal better now. I blame the chocolate that I've been eating, the Rockets candy at work, the weather, and probably the lemon gin and tonic I had last night, which was light on the gin, heavy on the lemon. Anyway, I'm alright now, though there's a sort of weightiness over my eyes that I probably won't shake until tomorrow morning.

On Monday night, I went to Ryan's to play some Mordheim with him. I made a bad decision, opting to go as the attacker in a break-through match, forgetting that though my Sisters of Sigmar are stronger than his Skaven, I was one character short. Of all the characters, it was the heaviest hitter, the Matriarch, so in the end I had to surrender. Colleen came home toward the end of our game and flounced about, griping about someone at the opera company, but eventually, having enjoyed a chocolate that I gave her, she settled down and relaxed. She is soooo highly strung, my God. I do get some great enjoyment out of the fact that they've got this fancy, expensive apartment in a trendy part of town, with air conditioning, etc., and yet, they are being harrassed by their crazy downstairs neighbour. I can smile and nod knowingly, having experienced that myself when I lived on Manning ("I tell you ! No boys ! No boys ! I call my son, he come ! No boys ! Oh, oh, oh.") Not only that, but they've been getting a free ride on their hydro for the last few months and just got hit with a $500 bill. Heh. So, I guess it's not all that it's cracked up to be.

Rick and I had a lovely time on Tuesday night. We had a date ! You stop having dates after a while, you just start going out to the restaurants you like, and stuff, but I got a little gussied up and transformed the event into a date. We ate at our favourite Indian restaurant, Red Rose, by Honest Ed's, and then walked along Bloor to Spadina (I stopped in at Midoco and bought... Letraset ! Of all things...). We went back to his place, etc., etc.. When I came back home following work the next day, Willi didn't even appear to have noticed me. My cat is fickle.

Tomorrow Tanya (and maybe her boyfriend Chris) is coming into the city in order to get fitted at Sandra's. Inevitably, the fitting will turn into a social call, but that's half the fun. Tanya's spending the night and then we're all heading into Lindsay (near the Petes) on Saturday to attend the wine-tasting and dinner at Carrie's parents' place. That should be super fun. Rick and I will be going, Ryan and Colleen, and Tanya (hopefully with Chris), Richie, Bill, Sherrie and various significant others and family. Rick and I will spend the night at my mother's house, and she's invited us to come along to the Peterborough Children's Orchestra primiere concert. The tickets are cheap, so what the hey?

Such a long time since my last update, partially due to my ongoing lack of computer, and partially because even though I ended up staying at Mom's until this past Thursday, I had the flu.

Thursday night, I went to the Royal with Juliane, which was great fun - like old times. I wish I'd felt better for it, but there's nothing to be done. At least I was able to go at all. Juliane is looking extremely healthy, and quite happy. We talked about old times and new times and generally had a good evening together. She's working on finishing her undergraduate degree at Mac, and she plans to take a year off between that and her teaching certification in order to ride full time again.

Happily, the dressage kurs that were ridden, mostly did not suck, and two were even performed so well that I could chance to call them very good. The Gambler's Choice competition was very odd. The riders get to choose their course as every fence is weighted with a value and there are neither ground lines nor directional flags. The point is to rack up as many points in just over a minute's time as possible. It was keen.

It really showed off the mature riders compared to the younger ones, and the horses' agility really came into question. I noted that the riders were mostly using their smaller, athletic horses over their more typical mounts. The jumps were not as difficult as a normal stadium course, but the competitors had to make some really fancy roll-backs to get over the fences they'd decided on.

Friday was... HARRY POTTER and the Chamber of Secrets ! Rick met up with me at Al and Carrie's where we had delivery Chinese food. It was tasty (oh, that greasy chicken) and we watched last year's Potterific flick just to get us pumped. I think I enjoyed this one as much as the first, and possibly even moreso, though it will probably take another viewing to know for sure. I might also re-read the book as I couldn't remember what bits had been cut out.

Saturday, Rick and I went back to the Royal, but this time without tickets for the horseshow. After the adventure of finding a parking space we went in and found food. Rick was very tolerant of my desire to pet every creature's nose, pull on their lips, scratch their necks, and blow in their nostrils... He thinks I'm weird, but the animals love me for it. More beernuts were eaten than absolutely necessary, and altogether, it was very much fun. I griped about the little hunty girls 'working' (I use that term VERY loosely) their ponies in the warm-up ring and looked longingly at the horse-for-sale ads pegged up everywhere. I indulged myself in a new dressage whip - it was very cheap ! Finally, after several hours of manure and animal sounds we decided it was time to go. When we came out, everything was dusted with snow.

The snow continued all night and long into the following day, and last night, the official word was an accumulation of between 18 and 22cm throughout Toronto. I took a short walk yesterday afternoon, to get some air and enjoy the beauty of the snow. There are few things in life that I enjoy as much as a tromp through clean white snow. I had to peel off my coat and pants, hat and mitts, to let them dry over the banister. I had a cup of hot chocolate and some soup and set to work on A&C's invitations. I think I'm going to do the final piece on heavy watercolour paper, but for now, I'm roughing out colours and designs on tracing and computer paper. I experienced honest boredom last night for the first time in years. I'd worked on the invites, and did some costume work for the movie, finished reading Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and then absolutely was at a loss. Nick saved the day by producing the movie, Donnie Darko, which was so bloody cool ! Cool and it unexpectedly made me cry at the end. It was a shame that it didn't do well in theatres, but it's definitely worth the rent.

Tonight, I'm hammering (hopefully) Ryan in a game of Mordheim. We'll see how that goes.

Yesterday was the perfect day to play with horses, at least it was as far as I'm concerned. I called my friend Jenn in the Petes and joined her and her sweet new boyfriend, Jeremy, out at her barn where they were busy cleaning it. I played with her horses and got all muddy and dirty (horses just love chewing my leather jacket) with her in-your-face mother-son team of Lucy and Neo. Both horses were doing creative things with burrs in their manes and tails. Most charming. We talked a long time, not getting much cleaning done while I was there.

Some time later, Jenn's father came into the barn to see if we'd go help him feed the calves. Jenn's family opperates a big dairy farm and they've got a lot of calves to look after. The three of us trooped over and were handed buckets of fresh milk to give the babies and then water to the older ones who were being weaned (milk in the morning, water at night). If you ever thought calves were demure, think again, they bunted the buckets, slurped loudly, slopped the milk... it was super fun. If you stuck out your fingers, they'd try to nurse from them, which felt pretty neat. All in all, when I returned home, I stank of horse and cow manure, had milk slobber all over my pants, horse slobber all over my jacket, my hair had been chewed, my hands were sticky, and the cuffs of my jeans were mucky brown. It was great !

I'm not feeling so hot today. Sitting at work, early in the day, I kept feeling my face heat up, and Bonnie noticed that I was flushed. A potential mild fever seemed the culprit when I discovered that the ROM had not started over compensating with warm air (it's usually freezing in here), rather, it was me, feeling very warm. Now I'm sitting here freezing, with my jacket on, and hacking my lungs out. All this does not bode well for me, especially since I just shook off my unrelentingly irksome cold. Oh well, I'm off to the Petes once more tonight, just for the night, so as to provide moral support for my Mom who's a bit nervous about going into the sleep clinic tomorrow.

Tonight, after work, I'm running off to the Royal to pick up tickets for Thursday's horse show. Juliane and I will be going and I'm quite excited. I haven't seen her in a few years and attending the Royal with her is one of life's more delicious experiences. I'm not sure of what we like more, the horses or making fun of the horsey snobs. I hope there are still some decent seats left. I would seriously hate to have a pillar in my face. After the Royal on Thursday, I'm going to go back to Hamilton with Juli and spend the night in order to have a bit of a visit and to help her hang some art at a conferrence/exhibition thing at MacMaster. It should be fun, so I'm really hoping that today's poopiness doesn't amount to anything serious.

I'm having a super weekend at Mom's ! Huzzah ! I spent most of today helping her in the garden, which was something I had promised to do with her. It's very warm this weekend, compared to the chilly weather of the past two weeks, so this was perfect. As it's supposed to rain tomorrow, it's good that we got out today. We took down the birdhouses, and cleaned and put away the garden furniture, and tidied things, spending aroud three hours just enjoying the out-of-doors. Melody (one of the cats), was in and out all day, while Chester (the one that was adopted out of the cold several years ago) generally avoided setting foot over the threshold . He's turned into a lazy wimp. Willi watched us through the den windows, hissing intermittantly at Melody through the glass. It was a lot of fun and made the hot chocolate taste extra delicious when we sat down to enjoy it after we were done. For this, I ended up missing D&D, which had been rescheduled from last week. Ryan had told me he'd try to run it on Sunday, in order for me to attend, but I guess that plan never really materialised, so in this case, my mother won out. And it was well worth it.

Last night, Mom and I saw the Lipizzaners at the Memorial Centre or whatever it's called - the hockey arena here in the Petes - and it was GREAT ! We saw them a number of years ago, I must have been in my early teens, and now, knowing so much more about dressage than I did then (and my mother, too), this performance was so much better. Additionally, the arena was a much smaller venue than at Exhibition Place creating a much more intimate setting that provided everyone attending with excellent views and a proximity to the horses that are normally reserved only for the wealthy sitting in their boxes. Yes, sure the riders aren't the -real- Spanish school riders, but they're trained dressage riders and their leaders certainly know what they're doing. What was super nifty was that six out of the eight riders were women. Keen ! Through the whole event, the one thought that kept coming back into my head was, "Man, would I ever love to ride on this tour..." Boy, would I. It was a wonderful event and I am most pleased to have gotten to see it. Thanks, Mom !

So, in the real world, we're surrounded by Republicans, but in the world of Television, Bartlett has just been re-elected as President. Oh God, do I ever wish that The West Wing was real life and that Bartlett really was President... Hell, even Martin Sheen - from what I understand, he's a very involved, left-wing activist actor. You know, there have been few TV shows that I've ever wanted to be -IN- (ST:TNG, The Aventures of Black Beauty, You Can't Do that On Television, and The Muppet Show, are all that come to mind), but I'd LOVE to be a part of Th'Wing.

The old volunteers are at it again, though so far they haven't mentioned the Second World War or the Bismark. No, today it's politics. I think they're all Liberals, but it's hard to tell from the way their opinions change from moment to moment. One of them was gushing about the wonderful transit system they have in San Diego, which was sort of interesting to me since I do enjoy riding transit just about everywhere I go. I don't know why, but it's sort of fun. Anyway, since San Diego doesn't get weather, having it all out-of-doors probably wouldn't fly so well here.

Here's something keen: I've been asked to submit some art (of the variety shown at Astronomicon) and some thoughts on conventions, etc., for The Collector, which I believe is a magazine. Now that is totally keen. KEEN ! My first time hanging art at a con' and I sparked interest. Go me ! Maybe it's going to be worthwhile afterall. Gosh, I hope so. Thankfully, I do have some of it kicking around on some CDs since Natasha is still quite thoroughly disfunctional.

Huh, I seem to be missing the first five months of my weblog archive. Oh well.

On Sunday, Rick and I went to Burlington to join the rest of his family in celebrating his grandparents' (on his father's side) 50th wedding anniversary. Wowzers, were there ever a lot of people there that I'd never met before. Aunts and uncles and cousins and then some; all too many of them saying things like, "I've heard so much about you, Maya..." If there's one thing I have to say about Rick's family, they are an amazing cross-section of society engaging in all sorts of varied and interesting lives. I especially enjoyed his Uncle Michael and his Finnish wife (Karda? something like that) who live in Orleans.

Brunch was had at The Waterworks in Burlington and it was quite splendid. If you wanted an omlette, they made one right there in the open and brought it. If you wanted waffles, they were making them right behind the omlette guy. It was a grand buffet with poached salmon and various seafood, eggs benedict and many varieties of bread, salads, and marvelous desserts. I particularly enjoyed the creme caramel. Following the brunch, we all headed to an Aunt's house, I forget which aunt it was. There was a small, overly excited dog, and lots of champagne. It was very nice and all sorts of people cried during Dick's (Rick's grandfather) speech. It was very nice. We ended up staying until after 4pm when I decided it would be good to hit the road. It was a really nice day.

I'm back to three days a week at the ROM, which sucks, but since Tony and Aman are now working one day each, it was bound to happen. Unfortunately, it means that I'm back to the old job search. I hate looking for work, and I'm a job snob, which makes it even more difficult. I won't wait tables, I won't tend bar, and I am not a secretary. Yup, I'm a job snob, alright. Mom and I didn't spend all that money on my education in order for me to work crappy jobs. New Media hasn't come out with new job opportunities, though, so I'm kind of screwed. I've actually considered speaking to Richard about going back down to site sales on weekends... but I'm not at that point just yet. If only Revelations were paying me for all my storyboarding, but it's not.

Willi's been incredibly snuggly this week and I'm not sure why. She's never been big on the lap-sitting or even the companionable sitting-beside-you kind of thing, but for over a week now, she's been exactly that. She's settled into a routine (for now) that mostly lets me sleep through the night and mostly, she's there beside/on me, or under the covers. I certainly don't mind; it's cozy. I spend more time with her now that I have no computer, too, which may have something to do with it, though with her, who knows.

Well, that's about all I've got to say today. The Republicans have taken over, which leads me to believe that the democrats are just so disheartened they didn't see the point in voting. It's disheartening and just a little scarey.

The world is full of people who have never, since childhood, met an open doorway with an open mind.
-- E.B. White

I was in Rochester on Friday. How nifty is that? Okay, not very, I'll grant you, as people have been driving to Rochester since the invention of the automobile and even long before that in horse and buggy. I don't care. It was nifty. Strangely, it was pretty nifty to be in Buffalo, too.

Megan and I left Toronto around 11am, which was about an hour later than we'd intended. The roads were good, the day was beautiful, there was music on the radio and plenty to talk about. I had downloaded fully detailed directions from Mapquest to take me from Toronto to the Albright Knox and from there to the Four Points Sheraton in Rochester. Clearly, Mapquest is what you need in order to navigate the roads of Buffalo. We didn't get lost at all, not even once ! We listened to The Edge 102.1 all the way to Buffalo where the signal died, and found Q 107 was still coming in nice and strong.

We changed some currency just before the border (phew, good thing we remembered), and then crossed over at the Queenston-Lewiston bridge. I will NEVER take the Peace bridge again if I can avoid it. There were no line-ups to get through and the customs people were 100% nicer - in BOTH directions. There was a Modigliani show at the Albright Knox, which wasn't bad, but since it was called, "Modigliani and the artists of Montparnasse", there really ought to have been a greater emphasis on his contemporary artists. They did have a very good selection of Modigliani works, but there were perhaps two works, at most, of the other artists (Picasso, Brancussi, De Chirico, etc.). Another point that would have strengthened the exhibit would have been hanging the African and Oceanic art that inspired these artists. It would have been incredible to see the sort of mask that influenced one facial type of Modigliani or Picasso, or the fertility sculptures that were the influence behind some Modi's caryatid designs. Anyway, we didn't really have a lot of time to check out the rest of the museum, but I do plan to go back. On the recommendation of Leonard, the security guard, we went and had a quite decent lunch at the Towne Restaurant, a Greek-American diner near downtown Buffalo. We discovered that there ARE nice parts of Buffalo and LOTS of interesting stores. Remind me to go antiquing there when I have money, some day.

When we left the museum, the ground and trees were dusted with snow, and this fragile coating continued all the way to Rochester. Hello November ! It was gorgeous ! We passed a sign on the road for a town called, Churchville, and we decided that it was a secret residential compound of, as of yet, undiscovered Muslims. We did a lot of laughing through out the entire trip, which was nice. Once we were at the hotel, we found the art room and the auction director and I set about getting my stuff up. I picked a panel between two crappy artists (one doing that shite tv character montage art that makes me queasy) in order to stand out. We had a lot of fun hanging my work and then strolling through the rest of the art show discussing the generally cheesy art. Ruth Thompson was hanging work there, though, and that was cool. She's a pretty keen old-school fantasy artist who's done work for Dragon and Dungeon magazines and for Magic: the Gathering cards. Man, she was a kick-ass lady. I liked her a lot.

So, after catching some coffee and free food in the Con Suite, we hit the road again. There was significant heavy weather mid-way between Rochester and Buffalo, which was sort of startling since the snow had stopped everywhere else. We literally rounded a bend in the highway and hit 5-8cm thicknesses of half-frozen snow and slush. Suddenly there were cars all over the place but not on the road and emergency vehicles everywhere. The white sedan that had passed us at a ridiculous speed was being hoisted up onto a flatbed as we drove past. It was insane. I was most thankful to have a recently tuned car that happened to have a full range of 4-wheel drive. Other than that, nothing else eventful happened. Just more laughing and talking and singing to the songs on the radio. We did have one humourous moment at a Sunoco station when I suddenly realised that I had no idea how much a gallon of gas was. "Megan, do you know how much a gallon is?" Her response, "No idea. Is gas cheaper or more expensive in here than it is in Toronto?" My answer: "How should I know? I don't know what a gallon is in litres !"

More to come when next I'm at a computer.

Having a fried hard drive sucks donkey balls.

...

Well, it does.