not dead yet...

Although am close to it, and will probably be even moreso, between the working and the socializing. Man, you know you're busy when going off to Necon sounds like a nice, quiet break...

Lacking content, I give you meme:

( WRITE EXACTLY WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND, AND DON'T CHANGE IT: )

And story:

because people asked, earlier, about how I got my nickname. It was many many years ago, when I was a wee sprat (okay, in my late 20's) and on-line friends came to visit (including house_draven). It was December, and so I decided it was Essential that these country mice see that greatest of clusterfkcus in all NYC in December -- the FAO Shwartz toystore [seriously. there's a line just to get into the store. Once inside, it's joyful consumer madness]. Anyway, we are walking through and I see a display of what was then a very unfamiliar creature, as part of the 'international stuffed animals" display. And I pick one up and hold it next to my face, and say to my friends, "what do you think, separated at birth?" And house_draven takes one look at the pointy-nosed meerkat and almost falls over, she's laughing so hard. Because, alas, yes.

And it might not have gone any further than that, except at dinner that night one of our country mice friends wandered off to the bathroom and took an awful long time coming back, so we were getting worried (anyone who's ever been to Jeckyl and Hyde in Times Square will know why). So I stood up to see if I could see her over the crowd. And...yeah. You can just picture it, can't you? Suri, alertly scouting the terrain....

And the nickname stuck. There are people out there who I swear can't remember my name, because to them I'm "meer."

convention attendance update

Forgot to mention: thanks to vincam noodging me last month, I will be attending WFC in Calgary.

I may also be stopping over in Seattle either before/after, so any folk out thataway, chime in if you'll be in town....