This past weekend was Ad Astra. It was a good time, but completely exhausting. Neither Nicole nor I recall a convention so thoroughly tiring as this one. When Sunday rolled around, we were barely able to communicate. That said, I did do some bouncing when I discovered that my Viking Women ink painting had sold. I was even more excited to learn that Nicole had bought it. She said, when we were driving home after closing up the booth, "I can safely say that I bought the only thing that I really wanted." Thanks, Nicole !

To stroke my ego a little, I think I was the most hit on at this convention than I've ever been at any other. It starts with the clothing, but once they discover I'm approachable, wow. I was into invite only rooms, and enjoying the perks that came with, such as the rowdy blender party in the not-the-con-suite and the green room where I got to enjoy a very smooth, delicious cuban cigar. Anyway, enough stroking. It was a great convention at which to meet people since it wasn't huge and overpowering like so many are. I got to mingle with everyone. It helps to be friends with Nicole, too, since she knows just about every person to have ever attended any Toronto-based convention.

My friend, Kelly, came up from Kitchener-Waterloo to visit on Saturday, and she spent the night at my place. It was her first convention and I think she enjoyed herself quite a bit. She bought a boudoir corset and lacy velvet coaty-thing from Nicole and since I was given my pinstripe corset that day, we wore our lovelies all about the con. The three of us (Nicole, included) were interviewed for some television something or other, I can't remember what it was, but we got to talk about fandom and how it has influenced us, etc. When asked "What is the master of all fandom?" I first answered, "Fanfiction," but then changed my answer: "No, the Internet !" Afterall, it is the Internet that has allowed the fen to find each other.

Kelly and I went out to Mississauga for a Realms get-together, but no one showed up, so we had a drink and some dinner and went back to my home. While at first disappointed that no one showed up, we quickly decided to enjoy some one-on-one girl time and that was nice. We did a lot of laughing, sharing our dumb-people stories, mine from the ROM and hers from working at a travel insurance company.

What else is new... I dunno. The Academy Awards were on last night. I watched about two thirds of it. The dresses were generally low-key, mostly black, and very elegant. A number of awards went the way I thought they should, and the competition was quite stiff. U2 played their nominated song and Bono sucked. He's destroyed his voice. There were many sentiments expressed for peace and the safe return of the troops, and Michael Moore, who won for Bowling for Columbine, brought up all the documentary film-makers who'd been nominated and made a very strong anti-war statement. He was answered with cheers and jeers from the audience. That was a good moment.