I realized with a start that today was the last day of 2009, Dec 31, and not just Day T-4 to the next milestone. Crunch time is... interesting. Not since university finals have I been so disassociated from the calendar.
But we did manage to grab some Christmas cheer; I attended the Dickens Faire with my airship crew:
More pix here, thanks to someone who's a much more dedicated photographer than I am. The uniforms are Laughing Moon #110 (Ladies 1890's Sporting Costumes With Leggings) with some military surplus belts and hats. I made them all (go me!) and it's definitely the most comfortable Victorian costume I've ever worn. A talented friend is working on custom belt buckles and cap pins, so if we're able to attend any other Steampunk events we'll look even better.* Miss Havisham even gave us a £5 bank draft and a dead mouse, we looked so good.**
And we went up to Cow-Town to see friends and fambly, and completely missed the horribly cold weather, and had a great time until we had to try to get back to the U.S. after the Crotch Bomber had struck. That was moderately hellish but it could have been a lot worse so I can't really complain too much. At least passengers are still allowed to wear pants, and we got home on the same day we'd planned to.
And now we have to go over to our friends' place for a party. You heard it right, we are not staying at home and being anti-social this year for New Year's! Amazing!
*And there will be four of us too!
** Charles Dickens? Great Expectations? Read a book!
So if you are eagerly anticipating the game I'm working on (and you should, it's gonna be good*), you should go here, scroll down and look at the "We Want to Know" section at the bottom right, and vote. I'd prefer you vote for Star Trek Online, of course, but do what you want. I won't mind. At all.
* Seriously, very good game. Pretty too. That trailer? That's all in game footage, and I don't think it even shows the ground combat.
I'm changing my name to Chrysler, I'm going down to Washington D.C.
7 comments Posted by Amy at 11:02 a.m.(We didn't really change our names to Chrysler. That's just a song.)
But over U.S. Thanksgiving we went to the East Coast to see my folks and introduce R:tAG to the Smithsonian, or at least parts of the Smithsonian and other museums*, which count among my favourite places in the world. We stayed in a rental condo** in Alexandria and took the Metro into D.C. which was very convenient.
It turns out R:tAG is pretty proficient at finding his way around Washington, thanks to Fallout 3. Here he is looking for mirelurks in the Metro:
The weather was rainy but we were mostly inside anyway.
This was lava. Some geologist scooped some up with a hammer and let it harden. Note the scorched handle. Geologists are crazy.
This is the Hall of Ocean Life. There's a right whale hanging from the ceiling towards the back; I thought I also remembered a blue whale when I was a sprog but maybe it's having a rest. The Natural History museum attendance seems to be benefiting from that movie; anything that gets people into the museum, I suppose (I took this picture just at closing time; the place was actually packed all day)
No pictures from the National Gallery because they were twitchy about that. But we saw a really interesting exhibit about Spanish parade armour, as well as a lot of famous paintings and sculptures, of course. It really is better to see them in the flesh, so to speak.
And then we went back to my parents' place for a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat, and a bit of a rest from walking.
So it was a good trip, though about an hour after we got back to work I was thinking "Man, I need a vacation." Back to the long days and long work weeks. Le sigh.
* The Natural History Museum, the Air and Space Museum, the National Gallery and very briefly the Freer Gallery just to see the Peacock Room.
** One of those old row houses with the floor space of a two bedroom apartment. But it was quite historic and comfortable and the kitchen was nice.
With my imagination I can see it, With my pencil crayons I can draw it
3 comments Posted by Amy at 6:08 p.m.I like working with artists. I like going to lunch with artists. They draw all the time, and sometimes what they draw is extra awesome.*
I have a bigger post about going to the East Coast for (American) Thanksgiving, which was very fun, but I do not have the time right now to write it. Soon!
* Yes,I got a lot of hair cut off. I think I look like Severus Snape now but people have kindly told me that I don't. Much.
