Where Dustbunnies Go To Die

Friday night was better than recent nights, but still not up to average: 148, 159, 180. Lots of splits in the first two games.

I got home later than usual because for the first time in recent memory, both teams had all five bowlers present. One of our opponents, a guy named William, is a big SF fan and we spent much of the evening talking about Samuel R. Delany. I'm not sure why, as the only book of his I've read is Dhalgren. (I do own a copy of Stars In My Pocket Like Grains Of Sand, but haven't read it yet. My library is almost as full of unread books as my DVD collection is full of unwatched series.)

Saturday, I had a Constellation Awards meeting up in northern Scarborough. The meeting was for noon, so I set the alarm for 10:30 and got out the door by 11. I figured that would be enough time. Ha! It took me longer to get there than it takes me to get to work - I arrived at 12:45. Fortunately the meeting hadn't really gotten underway yet.

After the meeting, gurudata and I looked over the map of Montreal I have and talked a little about potential Gaylaxicon 2010 hotels. Since he's an ex-Montrealer, I thought it would be a good opportunity to get some insight. There are about four or five now that I have to look up online and see if they have the kind of function space we'll need. (I still like the Delta Centre-Ville, though that may be because it's the only hotel I've ever stayed in in Montreal besides the Days Inn where Con*Cept is held.)

I got home around 6 and rushed through dinner because I was supposed to be going to travellingone's place to show her how to use Polaris' programming software and to start entering panel ideas with her. I didn't get there until about 8. She immediately offered me wine (I don't often drink wine, but this was a very nice dry red - I think she said it was Spanish?). Her roommate was there as well, and Return Of The Sith was on the TV. It's the one Star Wars movie I actually never saw, so while we waited for dx4 to return our message about our still needing our userids and passwords, we watched it for a bit and snarked about the dialogue and Anakin's overall whininess. (I can see why people were so excited about the first appearance of Vader in the suit, though - that was quite powerful, though Hayden Christiansen doesn't have the same presence, even in the suit, that David Prowse had.)

We finished up around 2 (after entering 142 panels into the database), and I left to come home. I had just missed the last subway north, but she lives within walking distance of me (even though it was about -15 out), so I got home around 2:30, finished reading the paper, and then went to bed.

travellingone emailed the exported panel lists to our web team, so the initial panel list should be up within a few days. Anyone who's looking at it, remember that it's not a full list - we're still open to suggestions.

Today I got up around 1 with the intention of going out to get my Metropass and VIVA pass, then coming home and doing some cleaning and some laundry. The lines at the Metropass machine (only one of them was working) were slow, though - a woman came up to me and said, "You know, you can buy it at Dominion." I said, "I know, but I'm getting on the subway immediately." I think she just wanted me to leave to make the line shorter. Once I had my Metropass, I went up to Finch and got my VIVA pass, then came back home.

It was nearly 4 when I got back (!), and I remembered that I had promised a couple of our Polaris author guests that I would sign and send back their contracts this weekend. So I sat down at my desk and started downloading and printing them, then scanned them back in and emailed them back. Even though there were only a handful of contracts to deal with, it took me three hours because my computer was being insanely slow. I need to reboot it - it's probably because something was causing a memory leak. (Eric told me off tonight because it's been at least two weeks since the last time I rebooted it. *blush*)

Eric was going to be home earlier than usual tonight, around 8, so I rushed through dinner and washing up, then called cuteteenboy as I'd promised him I would call this weekend. However, we didn't really have time to talk, but I suggested that we have dinner together after next weekend's Gaylaxicon concom meeting. I also tried calling my father, but he didn't pick up.

Regarding my father... I think I may be in trouble. For some reason, despite having a newspaper six days a week, and having a daily bridge calendar on my desk at work, I can never remember the date. I honestly thought on Friday that it was the 20th rather than the 27th (which led to my going to the wrong lane when I got to the bowling alley). His birthday was on the 21st, which means that I forgot to call. Oops. (I even made three LJ posts last Saturday...)

This may also explain why I'm surprised whenever I get handed a paycheque at work. I can never remember whether I was paid the previous week or not. (Part of that may also be because my boss never remembers to give it to me on time, and I usually don't get it until the following Tuesday...)

So after calling my father, I called Eric, and we chatted for a while. During the conversation, we both bought our Anime North memberships as well as tickets for the Moonlight Ball and the Saturday brunch. He's really excited about some of the voice actors they have coming. Me, I recognize some of the titles, but that's about it. Tomorrow I'll have to make some phone calls and get us a hotel room (I know we won't be able to get a room at the Doubletree - it's far too late for that even though the con isn't until late May).

He had to go to bed early - the reason he was early tonight is because he's been asked to go in two hours early tomorrow - so I've spent the last couple of hours going through the old Inbox and wrestling it back down from 190-some-odd emails to about 130. Dealt with some Anticipation emails and some job alerts that were in there, and responded to this year's first CUFF nominee to let her know that I got her nomination.

And now I think I might go to bed a little earlier than usual because I'm not feeling all that great. I think I'm coming down with a cold - my mucous membranes are all dry and my back and arms are aching, though the latter might be because I've mostly been sitting at one computer or the other almost the whole time I've been home today. I have a pillow behind my back (because I'm sitting on the couch, using the laptop), but it's not helping.

I seem to have made it through eight days with something to post about every day. Who'd've thunk it?

Today we had our Polaris holiday gathering. It was small, because of the bad weather (while I was waiting for a bus, there were times when I couldn't see the stoplights one block to the west - not just the housing of the stoplights, the lights themselves), but the 20 or so who showed up had a lot of fun.

The gathering was an afternoon of bowling - this might be the first time I've ever bowled four games in a single day, not to mention seven in a weekend. My legs are going to be killing me tomorrow. I did manage not to embarrass myself too badly - after all, I'm expected to be good at this game. (No pressure.) Though I think bnddbl07 managed to beat me in one game, and Declan almost beat me in another. (My excuse is that the lanes hadn't been oiled, and I'm sticking to that. :P )

Because we went to the same bowling alley where I have my Friday night league, and my league has a Sunday session as well, there were several people there whom I know. They all thought I was there to bowl off for some future date. (And apparently I wasn't the only one having trouble with the lanes today - one guy, whose average is something like 195, bowled a 136 in his first game.) Only a couple of people came over and said hi (on their way to the washrooms, presumably), saving me from more "Lance knows everyone" cracks.

Afterwards, a smaller group of us went to Swiss Chalet across the street for dinner. (That's a chicken-and-ribs place, for my non-Canadian friends.)

I got home to find a voicemail from my father - it's been decided that he, my mother and I are going to get together for lunch next Saturday to exchange Christmas gifts. Which reminds me, I still have to wrap theirs... I'll probably do that on Friday night. ;)

And the third thing that made me happy today was finding that I'd gotten an email from Eric - I'm meeting his family tomorrow night. *gulp* Wish me luck. :)

I suspect that I'll be told to work from home tomorrow, given the weather we had this weekend. I certainly hope that my remote access will be set up - I don't want to spend another 5 hours in transit like I did on Friday. But just in case, I should probably get to bed early tonight...