i'm goin' to toontown

hello my dearests

i have fallen prey to a foul disease of thus far uncertain identity

which has left me flat on my back with a fever over 101 fahrenheit for most of yesterday evening and today

and apparently also stolen my ability to capitalize or punctuate correctly?

someone tell lynne truss, this is terrible

anyway if you do not see me online when you are expecting to it is because said fever has decided HAHAHAHAHA NOPE

wish me luck in getting over this fast, i am still hoping to make balticon this coming weekend

:(

Tonight is the first night of Pesach. Zman cherutenu; the time of our liberation.

This year Alex and I will be hosting a Seder at our own house for the first time ever. Wish us luck. :) Right now I'm in the homestretch on cookery -- everything is either finished or in progress except for the main dish, with about three hours left to go. (The menu, in case anyone is curious: celery-leek soup, chicken with onion sauce, baked sweet potatoes, potato kugel, steamed broccoli, and fruit pies for dessert. WHEE.)

I will be offline between now and Wednesday night, and again next week between Sunday evening and Tuesday night.

Chag sameach to all those celebrating the holiday with us. Everybody else, have yourselves an excellent mid-week.

Be well, everybody. You know I love you.

So here's a few things I've been meaning to post about, and I am doing that very rare thing of posting from work on my lunch break because I don't know if/when I'll manage to get online tonight. First, recent stuff:

Purimgifts! I participated in this fic exchange again this year. I received a thoroughly adorable trio of BtVS ficlets from Green: Family Means No One Gets Left Behind, Baker's Surprise (including a recipe for chocolate hamantaschen!), and To Life. My own contribution, for the_ragnarok, was a three-part Bible/Temeraire crossover (idek) called Three Things And Four.

Consonance! My second ever West Coast filk con (after Conflikt a few years back), confirming my impression that West Coast filkers are generally excellent people. I really hope I get the chance to go back another year.
ladymondegreen has a full report of the rehearsals and the concert here and here, plus a little bit of costuming we did Saturday night for the open circle she hosted. *cheerful* (One of my favorite bits involving the costumes: kanef, on first seeing us, asking me "So ... is this some new really, really strict religious observance?")
The concert was downright exhilarating, the costuming was insane fun, the open filking afterward was wonderful as it always is, there was opportunity to meet some wonderful new people and to talk to old friends and acquaintances I very seldom see, and basically what I'm saying is it was the best kind of filk con. Even if the jet lag flattened me for days afterwards.

Family visiting! My brother and my dad are here from Israel, and have been staying at our house since Monday night. I have missed them both terribly; it's been great having them here.

Which leads me into upcoming things:

Nephew's bar mitzvah! This evening we (we being me, Alex, my brother and my dad) are driving up to Rochester, where we will spend the weekend celebrating the bar mitzvah of my sister's oldest kid. (How is he thirteen already. HOW.) Don't expect to see me around the internets tonight; I may or may not be on Saturday night, depending on family goings-on and internet availability. We return Sunday night, whereupon I will be plunging directly into frantic preparation for:

Passover! And hosting a seder at my own table for the first time in my life. aaaa panic panic aaaaaaaaaa We've cleaned the whole house except the kitchen already; we won't be turning over the kitchen until the night of Saturday the 23rd, leaving a very narrow margin for all the food prep we have to do in advance. Since cooking is permissible on holidays, I can leave some of it for later -- but anything requiring an electrical appliance such as a blender? Yeah, that's got to happen before sunset on Monday the 25th. Which includes the charoset.

FUN TIMES, MY FRIENDS. See you all when I see you!

Hey all! I am writing this at JFK airport, where in approximately 25 minutes I will be boarding a plane to San Jose for Consonance. I've never been to this particular con before, and am attending this year in order to sing backup for a certain awesome Interfilk Guest.

(Sadly, sdelmonte is not coming with me. Y'all be nice to him if he needs cheering up this weekend, okay?)

My email access will probably be reasonably reliable (depending on hotel wifi), but don't expect to see me online between now and Monday afternoon/evening.

Those of you who will be there: see you soon! Everybody else: have a great weekend, try not to burn down the internet while I'm gone, and see you when I see you.

"Iiiit's that time again!"

"Time to throw candy?"

"Time to wax the cabbage?"

"Nooo. It's time for another New York / New Jersey area housefilk!"


Alas, I can't make this one on account of my niece's bat mitzvah, but: housefilk! Details and RSVP here. Feel free to boost the signal!

*flops over exhausted*

hoooooooome.

Many, many thanks to Spencer and to hms42 for sharing car space with me and getting me here.

Greetings from Ohio, everybody! OVFF has been awesometastic and I'm looking forward to the Dead Dog filk tonight!

... yeah, I was supposed to be on my way back to NY by now. Unfortunately, while sdelmonte's flight got off fine this morning, mine was cancelled in anticipation of the imminent STORMAGEDDON: THE STORMENING, which name is only slightly sillier than the one they're actually using.

Thanks to the kindness of friends, I have crash space for the night and I have a ride back to NY tomorrow. Sorry to people who were expecting me to show up online tonight; I don't know if I will be able to. :(

All my fellow east coasters out there: stay safe, and I hope all your hatches are safely battened. <3

(P.S.: I am also kinda pants-bankrupt. Please let me know here if there's been any posts of importance since ... Wednesday? I hope to catch up, but no telling if and when that'll happen.)

"Iiiit's that time again!"

"Time to iron our socks?"

"Time to sing about the pain of disco?"

"Nooo. It's time for another New York Area housefilk!"


Details and RSVP here. Feel free to boost the signal!

[In re: the pain of disco ... don't ask.]

Alex and I have arrived safely back home.

brb collapsing from sleepy now.

So as some of you already know, sdelmonte and I are leaving this coming Wednesday night on a trip to Israel to visit my brother and his family there. Our trip will overlap both the holiday of Shavuot and my mother's first yahrtzeit. We will be returning sometime on Sunday, June 3. I don't know what our internet situation will be like while we are away; odds are good I will be able to at least access my email periodically, but don't expect to see too much of me during that time.

Be good while I'm gone, peoples. You know I love you.