B-day Party/House Filk and New Years Adventures, etc.
Well, here it is, late on New Year's Day, our company has packed up and headed home and I find myself with a little time to burn, so here is an update on recent events in my social life in the Milwaukee SF and filk scenes.
On December 15th,
ithiriel and I were scheduled to host a combination birthday party and house filk. Ithieriel's b-day is on the 16th and mine is on the 23rd so we combied both into one event. We had arranged for
janmagic, her husband Nick , and our mutual friend
chaoticgoodchic to go out to eat with us at Old Town Serbian Gourmet House here in Milwaukee, a wonderful restaurant that has been one of my favorites for years (their home made apple strudel is to DIE for!!!). It was a truely wonderful birthday celebration with truely wonderful friends. During the day, we got 5 or 6 inches of snow and it was still snowing when our dinner company arrived. Only true friends would brave a 2 hour drive in the teeth of such a snowstorm. I expected that they would cancel, so I was amazed and more than a little touched and impressed when they showed up on our doorsteep at 4:00 PM as promised. We spent a little time filking but mostly just hung out, enjoying each other's company and conversation. One or two other friends showed up for the filk, but overall the attendance was sparse enough that it could be considered to have been snowed out. Oh well. Hopefully next time we host, the weather will be better and we will have more people and more music.
On Sunday the 16th, it was our turn to host what has become known as the "Monday on Sunday" dinner party. It used to be held on Monday nights but for a number of logistical reasons was switched to Sundays, hence the name. Four households in the Milwaukee Filk Community take turns hosting dinner parties on a monthly basis. I joined the rotation about 10 years ago and have been enjoying participating in it ever since.
ithiriel made a two large pots of her chili (one mild, one spicy) dinner rolls and a veggie tray. The "death by chocolate" birthday cake that
janmagic provided for the housefilk served as dessert for the Sunday dinner party and was greatly enjoyed by all!
On Tuesday, the 18th, it was our turn to cook for the local anime group we are part of. Cooking for the Sunday diner party requires us to cook for about nine or ten people, but the anime group numbers anywhere from 10 to 15, so it is a bit more of a challenge. I made my barbequed meat loaf and
ithiriel made a spicy Vietnamese salad that was delicious. I brought 4 meat loaves along (one totally without pork for our Kosher Jewish friends) and all four dissapeared completely.! Thank God our turn to do the cooking only comes around every three months!!!
On Sunday, December 30th,
tigertoy arrived for his annual year end visit. He enjoys visiting me here in Milwaukee to attend the big New Year's Eve party held at Lytheria, a huge fannish mansion/impromptu boarding house on Milwaukee's East Side. There used to be fannish New Year's celebration's in
tigertoy's area, but they apparently are no longer held. So now, each year he makes the trip up to Milwaukee and spends time with me and other friends here instead. Lee has been renting rooms at Lytheria to people in the Milwaukee area SF community for years. In addition to making his home available as a general fannish meeting place where people meet every Friday night for gaming, Lee also hosts two huge annual parties at his place, one on Halloween and one on New Year's Eve. Except for the Midnight Champaign toast, the New Year's Party is non-alcoholic and involves gaming, watching movies/videos socializing, a huge spread of food, and filking. On Sunday evening,
tigertoy,
ithiriel and I attended a pot luck dinner and brief filk at our friend Barb's house. I made Greek Pastitsio casserole that was well recieved.
On Monday the 31st,
tigertoy and I spent the day at the Milwaukee Public Museum and enjoyed ourselves immensely. After that we went out to eat at Thai Palace, a very nice Thai restaurant about 3 blocks from the Museum.
ithiriel met us there and we had a wonderful dinner there together.
ithiriel wore the matching twopiece jacket and camisole set I got her as a Christmas present from Macey's and it fit well and looked great on her. Apparently she approves of my taste in clothing. When we got to Lytheria I spent the early part of the evening playing pool in the gaming room before heading up to the third floor for the filking. Except for my friend Deirdre, who has been wiped out with a strep throat for the last week or so, most of the Milwaukee filk contingent was there, including
beigealert.
beigealert has really improved musically from the time he first joined our group and is becoming quite a decent finger style guitarist. We had quite a nice little filk going for a while until we broke just before midnight to head downstairs for the group champaign toast. After that, we spent some time watching video then returned to the third floor for a little more filking until things finally wound to a close around 2:00 AM.
Unfortunately, the trip home proved to be more "interesting" (chinese usage) than we would have wished. I drove one of my friends home who needed a ride and Ithieriel and
tigertoy drove home in his car. After dropping off my friend Jim, I got a cell phone call from
ithiriel saying they had been in an accident and could I meet them at the accident site. After calling AAA, I finally managed to get to the accident site
just as the tow truck was getting ready to leave. Fortunately
tigertoy's car wasn't seriously damaged but it refused to start. His car was towed to a garage near my house and after we all got home and decompressed a little, we tried giving
tigertoy's car a jump. Fortunately it started and was OK to drive. The door that was hit was only slightly dented with a little cosmetic damage at the lower corner. Fortunately, it was still able to open and close normally. The woman who hit
tigertoy received three citations. We all got to bed around 5:00 AM. Around noon today, we all went out to Athens, a nearby Greek restaurant and had a light lunch before saying goodbye to
tigertoy and getting him on his way home. Hopefully he can deal with any further legal/insurance hassles over the phone.
The rest of my day was spent relaxing, watching TV on the couch with
ithiriel and our two cats, and occasionally sleeping. Hopefully, now that the holidays are over, we will be able to get back to working on the house. Except for our monthly house filks, the next major item
on my social calender will be Capricon. Can I collapse now???
On December 15th,
ithiriel and I were scheduled to host a combination birthday party and house filk. Ithieriel's b-day is on the 16th and mine is on the 23rd so we combied both into one event. We had arranged for
janmagic, her husband Nick , and our mutual friend
chaoticgoodchic to go out to eat with us at Old Town Serbian Gourmet House here in Milwaukee, a wonderful restaurant that has been one of my favorites for years (their home made apple strudel is to DIE for!!!). It was a truely wonderful birthday celebration with truely wonderful friends. During the day, we got 5 or 6 inches of snow and it was still snowing when our dinner company arrived. Only true friends would brave a 2 hour drive in the teeth of such a snowstorm. I expected that they would cancel, so I was amazed and more than a little touched and impressed when they showed up on our doorsteep at 4:00 PM as promised. We spent a little time filking but mostly just hung out, enjoying each other's company and conversation. One or two other friends showed up for the filk, but overall the attendance was sparse enough that it could be considered to have been snowed out. Oh well. Hopefully next time we host, the weather will be better and we will have more people and more music.
On Sunday the 16th, it was our turn to host what has become known as the "Monday on Sunday" dinner party. It used to be held on Monday nights but for a number of logistical reasons was switched to Sundays, hence the name. Four households in the Milwaukee Filk Community take turns hosting dinner parties on a monthly basis. I joined the rotation about 10 years ago and have been enjoying participating in it ever since.
ithiriel made a two large pots of her chili (one mild, one spicy) dinner rolls and a veggie tray. The "death by chocolate" birthday cake that
janmagic provided for the housefilk served as dessert for the Sunday dinner party and was greatly enjoyed by all!
On Tuesday, the 18th, it was our turn to cook for the local anime group we are part of. Cooking for the Sunday diner party requires us to cook for about nine or ten people, but the anime group numbers anywhere from 10 to 15, so it is a bit more of a challenge. I made my barbequed meat loaf and
ithiriel made a spicy Vietnamese salad that was delicious. I brought 4 meat loaves along (one totally without pork for our Kosher Jewish friends) and all four dissapeared completely.! Thank God our turn to do the cooking only comes around every three months!!!
On Sunday, December 30th,
tigertoy arrived for his annual year end visit. He enjoys visiting me here in Milwaukee to attend the big New Year's Eve party held at Lytheria, a huge fannish mansion/impromptu boarding house on Milwaukee's East Side. There used to be fannish New Year's celebration's in
tigertoy's area, but they apparently are no longer held. So now, each year he makes the trip up to Milwaukee and spends time with me and other friends here instead. Lee has been renting rooms at Lytheria to people in the Milwaukee area SF community for years. In addition to making his home available as a general fannish meeting place where people meet every Friday night for gaming, Lee also hosts two huge annual parties at his place, one on Halloween and one on New Year's Eve. Except for the Midnight Champaign toast, the New Year's Party is non-alcoholic and involves gaming, watching movies/videos socializing, a huge spread of food, and filking. On Sunday evening,
tigertoy,
ithiriel and I attended a pot luck dinner and brief filk at our friend Barb's house. I made Greek Pastitsio casserole that was well recieved.
On Monday the 31st,
tigertoy and I spent the day at the Milwaukee Public Museum and enjoyed ourselves immensely. After that we went out to eat at Thai Palace, a very nice Thai restaurant about 3 blocks from the Museum.
ithiriel met us there and we had a wonderful dinner there together.
ithiriel wore the matching twopiece jacket and camisole set I got her as a Christmas present from Macey's and it fit well and looked great on her. Apparently she approves of my taste in clothing. When we got to Lytheria I spent the early part of the evening playing pool in the gaming room before heading up to the third floor for the filking. Except for my friend Deirdre, who has been wiped out with a strep throat for the last week or so, most of the Milwaukee filk contingent was there, including
beigealert.
beigealert has really improved musically from the time he first joined our group and is becoming quite a decent finger style guitarist. We had quite a nice little filk going for a while until we broke just before midnight to head downstairs for the group champaign toast. After that, we spent some time watching video then returned to the third floor for a little more filking until things finally wound to a close around 2:00 AM.
Unfortunately, the trip home proved to be more "interesting" (chinese usage) than we would have wished. I drove one of my friends home who needed a ride and Ithieriel and
tigertoy drove home in his car. After dropping off my friend Jim, I got a cell phone call from
ithiriel saying they had been in an accident and could I meet them at the accident site. After calling AAA, I finally managed to get to the accident site
just as the tow truck was getting ready to leave. Fortunately
tigertoy's car wasn't seriously damaged but it refused to start. His car was towed to a garage near my house and after we all got home and decompressed a little, we tried giving
tigertoy's car a jump. Fortunately it started and was OK to drive. The door that was hit was only slightly dented with a little cosmetic damage at the lower corner. Fortunately, it was still able to open and close normally. The woman who hit
tigertoy received three citations. We all got to bed around 5:00 AM. Around noon today, we all went out to Athens, a nearby Greek restaurant and had a light lunch before saying goodbye to
tigertoy and getting him on his way home. Hopefully he can deal with any further legal/insurance hassles over the phone.
The rest of my day was spent relaxing, watching TV on the couch with
ithiriel and our two cats, and occasionally sleeping. Hopefully, now that the holidays are over, we will be able to get back to working on the house. Except for our monthly house filks, the next major item
on my social calender will be Capricon. Can I collapse now???