total exhaustion

so i didn't sleep much at norwescon thanks to the continuous slamming of the stairwell door next to my room. i am still recovering. i took yesterday off to lie around reading, and ended up falling asleep in mid-afternoon with the book still in my hand, and barely made it to group on time. then, of course, i couldn't get to sleep when it was actually bedtime, and was awoken by something or other at dawn, so i still haven't caught up on sleep. this afternoon i'm planning to do some napping, but first i have to pick my car up from its 20K mile service. i can't believe i've already had my car for a year and a half. i still think of it as my "new car". i still find myself patting its dashboard and telling it what a beautiful shiny new car it is.

i get very attached to certain material objects, generally if they have some sort of particular significance to me. the first thing i had like that was my original biker jacket, which i spent way too much money on in 1988 or so when i couldn't really afford it. i loved that jacket so much. when i was feeling particularly wretched, i'd put it on and hug myself in it and repeat over and over "at least i have a nice thing." it helped a little. but i got too fat for it and gave it to curtis, and when he left he took it with him. now i have another biker jacket, but it's just not the same.

every morning, when i go down to my car to go to work, i pat it on the roof and say "hello, beautiful." i never thought i'd have a new car. i never thought i'd be able to afford one, and even when i got to the point where i could theoretically afford one, i never thought i'd talk myself into it. but then my old Mazda started to get flaky, and i got sick of doing long commutes with no radio or air conditioning, and i was having knee problems from too much clutch use in traffic. so i bought a brand new 2001 Honda Civic EX in "Inca Pearl" (better described as "metallic baby shit"), with automatic transmission and A/C and a CD player and cruise control and basically every goodie i can imagine ever wanting in a car. and oh, how i love that car. i'm quite certain it's the best car ever.

don't you dare pick on me for getting so attached to material possessions, either, not until you've walked a mile in my shoes. the shoes held together by duct tape that i wore for a couple of years in the 80s because i couldn't afford new ones.

my life doesn't revolve around things by any means, but god damn do i appreciate the things i have. people who say material things have no value have never had to go without them. me, i know what they're worth.

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in other news, when i arrived home, i found iceberg trapped in the front hall closet, wailing up a storm. i know he wasn't in there when i left on thursday, and Leticia would've let him out if she'd heard him in there on friday, so he must have got in there sometime over the weekend and not been able to get out. i can smell pee in there, but i just don't have the energy to unload the entire closet to look for it yet. and, being iceberg, he couldn't have left it at that: he'd tried to climb up the circuit breakers and managed to shut a couple off. naturally, one of them was the one that controls the kitchen, so the entire contents of my fridge are spoiled.

ah, that's my little evil mastermind.

he's fine, of course. he was very thirsty and hungry when i let him out, and he's been extra-affectionate ever since, but he shows no ill effects otherwise. poor little guy. i mean, not that i haven't told him not to go in that damn closet, but what do you expect? he's a cat. they do shit like that.

things i saw at norwescon

• klingon karaoke
  
• a klingon, at klingon karaoke, singing "unforgettable"
  
• a black velvet morticia-addams-esque dress in my size, which i bought
  
• lots of beautiful boys in leather, almost all of whom were much too young
  
• a panel on how to commit the perfect murder, featuring an actual coroner
  
• jeff vogel's baby, who has the same birthday as me
  
• michele's super-8 movies
  
• an art piece i saw pictured in the artist's livejournal a couple of weeks ago, consisting of a doll in a wooden framework with its head in a vise (unfortunately, i've forgotten whose livejournal so i can't link to it)
  

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i finally have my new stove. it is shiny and clean.

you would not believe the crap you find behind, under, and stuck to the sides of a stove that hasn't been moved for 20+ years. ewwwwwwwww.

and about those Klingons...

i love the Klingon contingent that shows up for west coast cons. they're entertaining as hell. but i must say, if i was going to expend that much time, money, and effort on a costume, i'd go to the trouble of getting contacts. glasses just don't quite work on a Klingon, somehow.