Catspaw

In more ways than one.

It's been a funny summer - borderline depressed, full of bleh and can't-be-botheredness -- most uncharacteristic and not at all enjoyable :-( Side effect has been fannish activity being at an all-time low until the jd-ficathon sparked my interest - I very much enjoyed betaing all the fics that came my way and it's kinda got me revisiting the WIP file again :-)

I'm also back from my trip to Seattle. Seattle, how I love thee! I had a ball, staying with feather, seeing starglyph, perclexed and myldchilee again :-) I'm just sad that my timing sucked to the extent that princessofgeeks couldn't make it over to meet with us. Another year, though!

( So, a resume of the trip, with some pics )

Hmmm. Posted using Semagic - and my tag list seems to disappeared :-( Wonder where it's gone?

Only automobiles, actually ;-)

On Friday we headed down to Stalybridge to party with historyterry on the occasion of his graduation. Me, feather_autant, nicci_mac, selenay936, sazzle_02 and blue_adagio all in Tel's house for the weekend - it's a wonder the poor lad wasn't barking by the time we all dispersed LOL. Still, we all had a great time, the weather was still pretty good, and the catering was tasty :-D

( just a few photos this time )

Whew! Busy or what? This tourist lark is sooo tiring ;-)

Having a grand time with feather_autant, and doing all the stuff that I never find time to do while I'm just living here *g*. The Man has had a couple of days off too, and he's been chauffeuring us all over the Central Belt (bless him *g*). And of course, there are lots and lots of photos *g*

( lots and lots of photos )

So. We had another grand day out today, but I'm knackered so that one'll have to wait until tomorrow.

Well, I made it :-) Dozed a little on the plane, but still basically looking at 24 hours upright and (comparatively) compos mentis.

T5 was a bit of an adventure, but not much of one as it turned out: they must have gotten their act together, because my bag turned up in Seattle at the same time as me YAY!

Fun in SeaTac though ;-)

Fun #1: The Immigration Man.

'And where are you staying while you're in the US?'

'[trailer park address]'

And I watched the thought running across his internal screens, 'trailer trash'.

'And what do you do for a living?'

'I'm a research librarian, working in the NLS. Sort of the Scottish equivalent of the Library of Congress.'

'Oh really?' (Quick revision of first impressions)

Fun #2: the Demented Baggage Handler

I had my bag *in my hand*. I was rejoicing, because the bag was *in my hand*. NOT in Barcelona, nor even stuck in the SeaTac system, but *in my hand*.

Until I got mugged by the DBH. Picture the scene.

DBH: 'I'll just put this on the carousel.'
Me: 'No, you're okay, I'll just carry it up to the baggage claim. It'll be quicker.'
DBH (with the steely light of battle in his eyes): 'Srsly, I'll put it on the carousel. It'll be there in just a moment.'
Me: 'Honestly, it's no trouble.'
DBH (through gritted teeth): I'll *put* it on the *carousel*.'

[unseemly tussle over the bag]

[result: Cats 0, DBH 1.]

The damn bag ended up on the carousel and I didn't see it again for three quarters of an hour. After I'd had it *in my hand* :-(((

trying to get packed. We're off to Tenerife for a week tomorrow:-) And I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to it. We kind of missed out on a beach holiday last year, although really, having been Stateside for three weeks, I have a cheek complaining *g*.

So, a whole week in prospect of sun, sand, and (hopefully) that other thing that starts with an 's'. Yes, that's the one, surf :-D But first - I have to run off to Tesco to fill the freezer. Just in case the offspring die from malnutrition while we're away.

*gratuitous pre-'wot-I-did-on-my-holidays' post*

We just had the *best* lunch with perclexed and starting_gate. It was magic to meet both of you - I'm only sorry that it didn't go on for longer. Because, you know, few things say 'fangrrl' quite like sitting in a chowder house talking slash :-) The chowder was good, the conversation was *great*, and I hope we get to do it again some day! And of course, sooner rather than later *g*

For those interested - What We Did On Our Holidays - with pictures *g*( Read more... )

All round, it was a pretty good trip: The Man's firm didn't stint on anything, the food was good and the drink was plentiful. The hotel was luxurious, the architecture in Dubai, sensational. Beautiful, beautiful high rise buildings. I'm glad I went, but I doubt if I'd go back: the whole place was unreal, a fantasy - think Arab culture filtered through Disney - and I prefer a little more grit in my destinations. Although I daresay if it was all expenses paid again, I wouldn't turn my nose up at it *g*

Just for a short while. I'm up to my ears in stuff right now - tech stuff, RL stuff, writing stuff, work stuff - stuff out the wazoo :-( Too much to do, nowhere near enough hours in the day to do them. All this and getting ready for the next trip too - Hungary on Sunday! Woohoo :-)

::nobly refrains from any kind of jokes about rhapsodising. I may very well wax lyrical about Budapest in a later post, but I WILL NOT rhapsodise::

On a completely unrelated note: did that meme about how many of me there are in the States: damn few, actually, given the common-ness (in the numerous sense, rather than the coarse) of my married name. Even fewer with my maiden name which is fairly unusual even up here. But I'm delighted to report that 100% of the people who bear my (very unambiguously feminine) first name, and all of its equally unambiguously feminine variations, are female :-) Kinda restores your faith in humanity, doesn't it?

*g*

By gum, it's been a funny old week.

( The week in focus )

So that was it. Never rains round here but it pours.

The icon lies - there are a whole lot of words, but under the cut *g*

( Read more... )

ETA: forgot to mention - on the way home in the evening, Feather found a badly tarmaced cobbled street to drive along :-) The only one I've seen in Seattle. Man, all the rattling round over the uneven surface made me homesick (for all of about 20 seconds *g*)