Last year I... 2012 general roundup
This year was a bit of a mixed bag, but isn't it always?
RL stuff first, I think. I had no major traumas this year, which is always a good thing.
I started off with great hopes of leaving my current workplace behind at last because my disciplinary thing had expired, but 3 failed interviews later, I realised that was not to be THIS year though I am going to be on the nurse bank for my hospital of choice soon, so I'll see how that works out.
I lost the first of the close relatives of my dad's generation when my aunt died, but she'd been unwell for a while and was in her 80s so it though it was sudden, it wasn't entirely unexpected.
I managed to keep the Batmobile on the road.
I got a PPI payout which meant I was at last able to replace my busted boiler which has contributed to the me not having had an asthma flare up before Christmas for the first time in about 5 years. I love my nice warm house!
Rest of my waffle is behind the cut. the TLDR version is that it was a busy fannish year, and I had fun.
I went to the cinema more this year than I have done previously, thanks to a RL friend who used to work with me. We went to see Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises and both versions of Frankenstein together, I'm sure there might have been other films but those are the ones I regarded as unmissable. The Hobbit is planned for next week!
I don't remember doing much music wise apart from Whitby in November, mostly due to lack of money, but I'm sure I went to at least 1 Obsessive Compulsive gig - I love that band. I also attended Macabre, my local goth night, regularly for the first half of the year. After July time and money conspired against me doing that.
2012 was a very Fannish year, though I had to give up going to Whitby in Spring as there had been a Starfury event with Matt Smith planned for the March and I couldn't afford both. When the 11th Hour was rescheduled for June it gave me a little more time to save up for Asylum 8 in May. In relation to Asylum 8 was the start of our Liverpool mini-cons, that me and my partners in obsession call Fanswap - I can't remember whether we had 3 or 4 spread throughout the year.
Basically, though I've got the first 2 Seasons of SPN on dvd, I've never watched them. Seeing as I was going to Asylum, which is the premier Supernatural con in the UK, I thought it was time I got myself edumacated from a SPN pov. In return we decided to initiate the only one of our number who wasn't a fan into the joys of Highlander. It worked well; I fell for Dean and his freckles and our non-Highlander friend is now a Methos fan. I don't think I'll ever be obsessed by SPN like the other 3 are, but I certainly enjoy it.
Related to the gang of four, fanswaps and SPN, I became our de facto Bobby (we already have a Dean, Sam and Castiel). I'm the oldest and I'm very protective of the other three for a start but what the others seem to find more Bobby-ish is my tendency to either know the answers to their obscure questions on all sorts of things or say "I'll just go and look that up for you" and scramble around in amongst my books to find the reference I need.
May brought Asylum 8 which was memorable for 3 reasons; 1) it was my first SPN con and my first con with the gang of 4 (aka Feam Free Will), 2) it was my 'birthday' weekend and my friends got a birthday card signed by the guests for me, 3) I got absolutely shit faced drunk on the Friday (it seemed like a good idea at the time), consequently losing a huge chunk of Saturday to my first hangover since January 2000. I still had fun though, and made the Saturday night party.
June brought 11th Hour and the first time I've met a current Doctor. Matt Smith was wonderful. I also loved the Mark and Morgan Shepherd 'double act' - they make a great pair of guests to have in a talk. I also had the pleasure to meet Madame Vastra and Jenny - at the time I didn't know they were going to show up in the Christmas special. Madame Vastra was a right party animal too. :) I met up with beccaelizabeth, who I've known since my Highlander days and I was lucky enough to be joined by Szm on the Sunday, she even stayed for the party (which had an Earth's History theme). The pic of the two of us isn't that complementary as we'd been dancing and were all shiny by this point.
This is beccaelizabeth on eyepatch and fez night
This is me in my Pirate gear for eye patch and fez night
and doing my Canton Delaware thing on 'Companions and Monsters' night
July was my fannish holiday in Wales with strangevisitor7 and idontlikegravy from LJ. I think we saw the sun once in 5 days, and in Cardiff when we went to see the Torchwood sites, the rain was coming down in biblical proportions. Great holiday; not long enough though.
In July I also went to MCM expo (it was far too hot and crowded) where I met Sir Leon and Sir Percival and a one day event fairly local to me called "Who in Hoylake" that gave me the opportunity to meet Sophie Aldred again after many years and *finally* get my 'Ace' book signed. Andrew Cartmell and several other people who'd been involved in Greatest Show in the Galaxy were there so I got a few signatures on my book, not just Sophie. I also got my "Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma" book signed by Mark Strickson and some action figures signed by Louise Jameson (Leela) and the Colin Baker (Sixth Doctor).
August I had to miss Blue Gillespie and Obsessive Compulsive on the same bill together for the first time since I saw ObCom originally, I think in 2009. I had a good reason for this as they were playing a charity festival in Yorkshire, organised by one of midnight's oldest friends, at the same time I had Discworld con. As there is only a Discworld con every 2 years and I don't know if Terry's health will hold for him to be at the next one in 2014, I HAD to be there. I was lucky enough that idontlikegravy got a ticket through the waiting list and was able to go with me. Discworld con is kind of surreal, even in terms of con going. Scottish country dancing (workshop entitled "Dancing with Feegles") on a Sunday morning in a bog poofy skirt and a corset, Sing-a-long Doctor Horrible and Buffy, a BDSM workshop (run by Graham from Affordable Leather) and knot tying were just *some* of the things on offer besides the more normal guest talks and stuff. I was so busy I barely saw mad_jaks and drunken_hedghog (who had been my roomie at the prvious one), which was a pity. Having said that, I love Discworld con.
September I finally got my Watcher's tattoo - with a difference. Instead of the ringed circle with dots, I have the symbol surrounded by a celtic knotwork ring, kind of as I imagine Gaius might have had it was a Watcher in the Dark Ages. There was Wales Comic con, where I met Tony Head, who was lovely
And last but not least, September also had Vampire Ball 3, for which Heather was lucky enough to be able to join us. At the Saturday night party, I was one of 4 people who randomly turned up in steampunk goggle mode. My hat was the best hat though, it was the only one with a sonic screwdriver.
Vampire Ball was my chance to finally get my stake signed by James Marsters, and with Juliette Landau there as well, it was perfect. I even plucked up the courage to ask James a non-Buffy question - about which character from the Dresden Files he'd like to be, seeing as he reads the audiobooks - he said Bob IIRC.
October was Can't Stop the Serenity in Liverpool - a showing of Serenity followed by a Doctor Horrible sing-a-long and a quiz. I had the company of idontlikegravy and midnight for this one and great fun was had by all. :)
November was Whitby Goth Weekend, and Heather managed to make it over to Whitby on Saturday to join me and midnight. We did bands in the Spa on Friday mainly because Mesh were playing and I'd not seen them since about 2006 and midnight had never seen them and we both like Mesh. For the first time since I've been attending WGW (October 2000), I went up the Abbey Steps at night. I didn't imagine doing it with a blow up guitar though...
December was brought to a close with a fanswap/birthday bash. We gobsmacked midnight by giving her a 'hallmark' birthday with cake (homemade) and candles (not homemade) and I made eggnog from scratch. The eggnog was lovely and I will have to do it again sometime. My nephew had the potential of being stuck in Manchester after a gig on the Sunday night of our long weekend (he lives in Yorkshire, near Leeds) so I went to pick him up. He then got subjected to Highlander, which he seemed to enjoy. Another convert!
The rest of December has been taken up with work, rendering me far too busy to participate in consci_fan_mo, which put me on a bit of downer as I love the fest.
This year there's no Discworld and so far my only "must do" weekend convention is Serenity Forever in September. I'll be doing others as time and money allow.
That was my non-work related 2012. Busy. Fun. Packed with good times and good people.
Crossposted from http://a-lanart.dreamwidth.org/245893.html. Comment here, comment there; it's all fine.
RL stuff first, I think. I had no major traumas this year, which is always a good thing.
I started off with great hopes of leaving my current workplace behind at last because my disciplinary thing had expired, but 3 failed interviews later, I realised that was not to be THIS year though I am going to be on the nurse bank for my hospital of choice soon, so I'll see how that works out.
I lost the first of the close relatives of my dad's generation when my aunt died, but she'd been unwell for a while and was in her 80s so it though it was sudden, it wasn't entirely unexpected.
I managed to keep the Batmobile on the road.
I got a PPI payout which meant I was at last able to replace my busted boiler which has contributed to the me not having had an asthma flare up before Christmas for the first time in about 5 years. I love my nice warm house!
Rest of my waffle is behind the cut. the TLDR version is that it was a busy fannish year, and I had fun.
I went to the cinema more this year than I have done previously, thanks to a RL friend who used to work with me. We went to see Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises and both versions of Frankenstein together, I'm sure there might have been other films but those are the ones I regarded as unmissable. The Hobbit is planned for next week!
I don't remember doing much music wise apart from Whitby in November, mostly due to lack of money, but I'm sure I went to at least 1 Obsessive Compulsive gig - I love that band. I also attended Macabre, my local goth night, regularly for the first half of the year. After July time and money conspired against me doing that.
2012 was a very Fannish year, though I had to give up going to Whitby in Spring as there had been a Starfury event with Matt Smith planned for the March and I couldn't afford both. When the 11th Hour was rescheduled for June it gave me a little more time to save up for Asylum 8 in May. In relation to Asylum 8 was the start of our Liverpool mini-cons, that me and my partners in obsession call Fanswap - I can't remember whether we had 3 or 4 spread throughout the year.
Basically, though I've got the first 2 Seasons of SPN on dvd, I've never watched them. Seeing as I was going to Asylum, which is the premier Supernatural con in the UK, I thought it was time I got myself edumacated from a SPN pov. In return we decided to initiate the only one of our number who wasn't a fan into the joys of Highlander. It worked well; I fell for Dean and his freckles and our non-Highlander friend is now a Methos fan. I don't think I'll ever be obsessed by SPN like the other 3 are, but I certainly enjoy it.
Related to the gang of four, fanswaps and SPN, I became our de facto Bobby (we already have a Dean, Sam and Castiel). I'm the oldest and I'm very protective of the other three for a start but what the others seem to find more Bobby-ish is my tendency to either know the answers to their obscure questions on all sorts of things or say "I'll just go and look that up for you" and scramble around in amongst my books to find the reference I need.
May brought Asylum 8 which was memorable for 3 reasons; 1) it was my first SPN con and my first con with the gang of 4 (aka Feam Free Will), 2) it was my 'birthday' weekend and my friends got a birthday card signed by the guests for me, 3) I got absolutely shit faced drunk on the Friday (it seemed like a good idea at the time), consequently losing a huge chunk of Saturday to my first hangover since January 2000. I still had fun though, and made the Saturday night party.
June brought 11th Hour and the first time I've met a current Doctor. Matt Smith was wonderful. I also loved the Mark and Morgan Shepherd 'double act' - they make a great pair of guests to have in a talk. I also had the pleasure to meet Madame Vastra and Jenny - at the time I didn't know they were going to show up in the Christmas special. Madame Vastra was a right party animal too. :) I met up with beccaelizabeth, who I've known since my Highlander days and I was lucky enough to be joined by Szm on the Sunday, she even stayed for the party (which had an Earth's History theme). The pic of the two of us isn't that complementary as we'd been dancing and were all shiny by this point.
This is beccaelizabeth on eyepatch and fez night
This is me in my Pirate gear for eye patch and fez night
and doing my Canton Delaware thing on 'Companions and Monsters' night
July was my fannish holiday in Wales with strangevisitor7 and idontlikegravy from LJ. I think we saw the sun once in 5 days, and in Cardiff when we went to see the Torchwood sites, the rain was coming down in biblical proportions. Great holiday; not long enough though.
In July I also went to MCM expo (it was far too hot and crowded) where I met Sir Leon and Sir Percival and a one day event fairly local to me called "Who in Hoylake" that gave me the opportunity to meet Sophie Aldred again after many years and *finally* get my 'Ace' book signed. Andrew Cartmell and several other people who'd been involved in Greatest Show in the Galaxy were there so I got a few signatures on my book, not just Sophie. I also got my "Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma" book signed by Mark Strickson and some action figures signed by Louise Jameson (Leela) and the Colin Baker (Sixth Doctor).
August I had to miss Blue Gillespie and Obsessive Compulsive on the same bill together for the first time since I saw ObCom originally, I think in 2009. I had a good reason for this as they were playing a charity festival in Yorkshire, organised by one of midnight's oldest friends, at the same time I had Discworld con. As there is only a Discworld con every 2 years and I don't know if Terry's health will hold for him to be at the next one in 2014, I HAD to be there. I was lucky enough that idontlikegravy got a ticket through the waiting list and was able to go with me. Discworld con is kind of surreal, even in terms of con going. Scottish country dancing (workshop entitled "Dancing with Feegles") on a Sunday morning in a bog poofy skirt and a corset, Sing-a-long Doctor Horrible and Buffy, a BDSM workshop (run by Graham from Affordable Leather) and knot tying were just *some* of the things on offer besides the more normal guest talks and stuff. I was so busy I barely saw mad_jaks and drunken_hedghog (who had been my roomie at the prvious one), which was a pity. Having said that, I love Discworld con.
September I finally got my Watcher's tattoo - with a difference. Instead of the ringed circle with dots, I have the symbol surrounded by a celtic knotwork ring, kind of as I imagine Gaius might have had it was a Watcher in the Dark Ages. There was Wales Comic con, where I met Tony Head, who was lovely
And last but not least, September also had Vampire Ball 3, for which Heather was lucky enough to be able to join us. At the Saturday night party, I was one of 4 people who randomly turned up in steampunk goggle mode. My hat was the best hat though, it was the only one with a sonic screwdriver.
Vampire Ball was my chance to finally get my stake signed by James Marsters, and with Juliette Landau there as well, it was perfect. I even plucked up the courage to ask James a non-Buffy question - about which character from the Dresden Files he'd like to be, seeing as he reads the audiobooks - he said Bob IIRC.
October was Can't Stop the Serenity in Liverpool - a showing of Serenity followed by a Doctor Horrible sing-a-long and a quiz. I had the company of idontlikegravy and midnight for this one and great fun was had by all. :)
November was Whitby Goth Weekend, and Heather managed to make it over to Whitby on Saturday to join me and midnight. We did bands in the Spa on Friday mainly because Mesh were playing and I'd not seen them since about 2006 and midnight had never seen them and we both like Mesh. For the first time since I've been attending WGW (October 2000), I went up the Abbey Steps at night. I didn't imagine doing it with a blow up guitar though...
December was brought to a close with a fanswap/birthday bash. We gobsmacked midnight by giving her a 'hallmark' birthday with cake (homemade) and candles (not homemade) and I made eggnog from scratch. The eggnog was lovely and I will have to do it again sometime. My nephew had the potential of being stuck in Manchester after a gig on the Sunday night of our long weekend (he lives in Yorkshire, near Leeds) so I went to pick him up. He then got subjected to Highlander, which he seemed to enjoy. Another convert!
The rest of December has been taken up with work, rendering me far too busy to participate in consci_fan_mo, which put me on a bit of downer as I love the fest.
This year there's no Discworld and so far my only "must do" weekend convention is Serenity Forever in September. I'll be doing others as time and money allow.
That was my non-work related 2012. Busy. Fun. Packed with good times and good people.
Crossposted from http://a-lanart.dreamwidth.org/245893.html. Comment here, comment there; it's all fine.