End-of-summer roundup
Oct. 6th, 2012 13:52So! Things What Have Happened in the two and a half months where I kind of skipped out on posting here:
- Many things in succession happened right after that post about getting drunk with Nigerian sailors on my last night in Abidjan! Which is probably what set off the whole Not Posting thing... a wretched plane flight, a morning in Paris on Bastille Day, an attack of Mystery Anaphylaxis followed by an all-nighter in the emergency room, moving out of my apartment into the People's Republic of Fandom, discovering an EXPLOSION OF MOLD all over my stuff in the old apartment... that's a lot to post about. But everything worked out in the end, and I am now all settled in at the People's Republic of Fandom And Dangerous Quantities of Tea. Except that I haven't put up my curtains yet. Possibly out of some childish resistance to Curtains As Emblem Of Boring Grownup Domesticity. At some point I will just have to suck it up and accept that if any characters in the history of fiction can be written into cracky curtain!fic while remaining themselves, I am not an exception.
- At some point in August I gave new roommate![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kinetikatrue a ride up to New York, which gave me a lovely excuse to go see Audra McDonald, Norm Lewis, AND Nikki Renée Daniels in Porgy & Bess. Production was perfectly serviceable on the whole, but holy crap Audra as Bess. Amazing. Was nice to see Norm Lewis in a role other than Javert, because Norm Lewis is a giant teddy bear who just can't turn the niceness off enough for Javert, which made him a pretty great Porgy. While I was up there, also went to the Way Station AKA the TARDIS Bar and got a chance to talk to the owner about the logistics of starting up A Nerd Bar. He mentioned wanting to branch out and franchise the Way Station in other major cities. WELP. That's something to look into if/when I ever decide to quit my increasingly soul-crushing desk job and run away to start a nerd bar.
- In other theater news,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mmebahorel and ladybranwen took me to see Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson which was FANTASTIC. Simultaneously made of 100% crack and leather pants from beginning to end, and also a great examination of the political currents of early 19th century America and how they continue to implicate us all up through the present day. Full of very modern-sounding political quips without actually making it about present-day politics, except insofar as present-day politics is still duking out modified versions of the same questions. Spends most of its time making you laugh at Jackson and what a bloodthirsty genocidal fruit-loop he was, which is correct... and then near the end it pulls back for a moment of "and this is what he gave us," showing the Levittowns and McMansions sprawling across the stolen land of the American Midwest. Which is also correct: sorry, White America, you might get to boggle at what a maniac Andrew Jackson was, but you don't get to repudiate him because he's still woven into the fabric of our nation. Holy crap, can we please have more cracky glammed-up historical musicals like this.
- Went to Dragon*Con! Which, honestly, was only a little bit about the fun con geekiness (though that was indeed fun!) and mostly about getting to see Smith Nerd Posse peeps and last year's con friends. Victory on all fronts!
- Immediately after D*C, work shipped me out to the Comoros Islands for pretty much all of September, which was great and the islands are beautiful and it was the first time in ages I didn't hate my job, but it was also exhausting and a bit lonely so I am glad to be back. If you are ever considering a tropical island vacation in someplace non-touristy, and have the means and the patience to get to somewhere in the vicinity of Madagascar, I recommend the SHIT out of the Comoros--gorgeous landscapes of jagged black lava rock falling into an unnaturally turquoise ocean, you can hike up an active volcano and peer inside, really cool Arabic/East African cultural mix, lovely architecture, underdeveloped but very peaceful and laid-back, eye-popping flora and fauna.
- And now I am back and it is FALL, which is just unutterably lovely.
- Many things in succession happened right after that post about getting drunk with Nigerian sailors on my last night in Abidjan! Which is probably what set off the whole Not Posting thing... a wretched plane flight, a morning in Paris on Bastille Day, an attack of Mystery Anaphylaxis followed by an all-nighter in the emergency room, moving out of my apartment into the People's Republic of Fandom, discovering an EXPLOSION OF MOLD all over my stuff in the old apartment... that's a lot to post about. But everything worked out in the end, and I am now all settled in at the People's Republic of Fandom And Dangerous Quantities of Tea. Except that I haven't put up my curtains yet. Possibly out of some childish resistance to Curtains As Emblem Of Boring Grownup Domesticity. At some point I will just have to suck it up and accept that if any characters in the history of fiction can be written into cracky curtain!fic while remaining themselves, I am not an exception.
- At some point in August I gave new roommate
kinetikatrue a ride up to New York, which gave me a lovely excuse to go see Audra McDonald, Norm Lewis, AND Nikki Renée Daniels in Porgy & Bess. Production was perfectly serviceable on the whole, but holy crap Audra as Bess. Amazing. Was nice to see Norm Lewis in a role other than Javert, because Norm Lewis is a giant teddy bear who just can't turn the niceness off enough for Javert, which made him a pretty great Porgy. While I was up there, also went to the Way Station AKA the TARDIS Bar and got a chance to talk to the owner about the logistics of starting up A Nerd Bar. He mentioned wanting to branch out and franchise the Way Station in other major cities. WELP. That's something to look into if/when I ever decide to quit my increasingly soul-crushing desk job and run away to start a nerd bar.- In other theater news,
mmebahorel and ladybranwen took me to see Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson which was FANTASTIC. Simultaneously made of 100% crack and leather pants from beginning to end, and also a great examination of the political currents of early 19th century America and how they continue to implicate us all up through the present day. Full of very modern-sounding political quips without actually making it about present-day politics, except insofar as present-day politics is still duking out modified versions of the same questions. Spends most of its time making you laugh at Jackson and what a bloodthirsty genocidal fruit-loop he was, which is correct... and then near the end it pulls back for a moment of "and this is what he gave us," showing the Levittowns and McMansions sprawling across the stolen land of the American Midwest. Which is also correct: sorry, White America, you might get to boggle at what a maniac Andrew Jackson was, but you don't get to repudiate him because he's still woven into the fabric of our nation. Holy crap, can we please have more cracky glammed-up historical musicals like this.- Went to Dragon*Con! Which, honestly, was only a little bit about the fun con geekiness (though that was indeed fun!) and mostly about getting to see Smith Nerd Posse peeps and last year's con friends. Victory on all fronts!
- Immediately after D*C, work shipped me out to the Comoros Islands for pretty much all of September, which was great and the islands are beautiful and it was the first time in ages I didn't hate my job, but it was also exhausting and a bit lonely so I am glad to be back. If you are ever considering a tropical island vacation in someplace non-touristy, and have the means and the patience to get to somewhere in the vicinity of Madagascar, I recommend the SHIT out of the Comoros--gorgeous landscapes of jagged black lava rock falling into an unnaturally turquoise ocean, you can hike up an active volcano and peer inside, really cool Arabic/East African cultural mix, lovely architecture, underdeveloped but very peaceful and laid-back, eye-popping flora and fauna.
- And now I am back and it is FALL, which is just unutterably lovely.