I just came across the news that Tim Burton is directing Sweeney Todd. Johnny Depp is staring as Todd, Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett, Alan Rickman as Judge Turpin, and Anthony Stewart Head as some yet unnamed character (in IMDB).

Depp, Rickman and Head in a Tim Burton flick *shiver* that is so cool!

And as for Carter, it is a Tim Burton flick, of course she is in it.

Filming schedule to begin in Feb of 2007 so it will be awhile before we get to see it. *pout*

This year was good. I managed to find events to take up Dec 24th and 25th without Christmas being involved.

I spent the early part of the 24th with my friend Jennifer and got cleaning done on my apartment. I hate having have anyone deal with all my crap but I haven’t been motivated enough to do anything to it before anyone shows up. We spent enough time together that I started getting itchy and picking things up. Bless J in that she is just as happy to talk with me doing dishes and putting things away as she is with me sitting there. The fact that there is only one place to sit in my place currently I am sure had nothing to do with it.

The later half of the day was spent at the home of Jadecat9 and kilah_hurtz. They hosted a unfinished projects day and had food afterwards. I managed to do as much as I could on a dress I want to modify (I didn’t buy enough supplies). Some of my food was fondly appreciated. And so many people showed up. We had a ripping good time. Poor Jadecat9. She is use to a certain percentage of her invite list not showing up. That percentage was lower this year and she got to learn how full her house can get.

The 25th was spent with old friends (not on LJ). We had ham and other stuff. And sat around and chatted. I think I wore their nerves out some because their place is an even worse mess than mine. So I kept picking things up and asking where it belonged. And wouldn’t take anything vague for an answer. We got a lot of things put away but I stopped when it seemed like their answers were getting more testy. I think they learned they should complain about the big things around me. The big things can’t be changed but the little things are places to start and end up creating a similar solution. It seems like I am becoming more of a pain and more compassionate as time goes on. Still the same average but more extremes added in. All in all, it was an enjoyable day.

Having the “official” Christmas holidays nulled out made it possible to enjoy the entire season. I went to Dicken’s on the 23rd for a few hours and it was nice to see people. I have a holiday party Jan 5th for work. There might be Xmas gift exchange with friends on Thursday. Renwench has a seating of her delightful 12th night dinner the third weekend in Jan. I like this way of dealing with the holidays. I even still like hearing Christmas carols and that is amazing.

I found a meme on Yndy‘s LJ that I figured many people I know would appreciate. It is a Rennie question meme but I figure it also works for Dicken’s and even SCA.

Feel free to grab and fill out and post to your own LJ. The original instructions included tagging others to fill out of course and we (the royal We of The Gina) have booted that option out. Boot!

1. What is your favorite faire and why?
2. Most common color in your wardrobe?
3. How many faire-related weapons do you own?
4. How old is your character?
5. How many characters do you have?
6. Nationality of your present persona:
7. What kind of shoes do you wear?
8. Socks or hose?
9. Have you ever gotten so drunk at a faire that you don’t remember parts of it?
10. What were you drinking at the time?
11. Have you ever been on cast?
12. Would you like to be on cast?
13.How many times has your Character been married at Faire?
14. Have you ever been a vendor at a faire?
15. Have you ever worked a booth at a faire?
16. How many groups are you in?
17. List your titles:
18. Are you in the SCA?
19. List your titles and awards:
20. Caffeinated beverage of choice:
21. Alcoholic beverage of choice:
22. Have you had sex while at faire or in the campground of faire?
23. How many times?
24. Do you sew your own clothes?
25. What does a Faire Scotsman wear under his kilt?
26. What is the most embarrassing thing that has happened to you at faire?
27. Do you have a favorite show?
28. What is your favorite faire food that you eat at a faire? (Not drink) Where do you get it?
29. Do you wear period underwear?
30. Do you camp or hotel when attend out of town faires?
31. Have you ever lost your shoe or shoes while walking around faire?
32. Have you ever been assaulted by the alcohol-impaired while attending?
33. Head gear: Hats, sashes, circlets or nothing at all?
34. Have you ever been picked to be in a show? Which one? What’d you do?
35. Who gave you your faire name?
36. Have you ever met a special someone at faire?
37. Does your spouse or significant other attend faire with you?
38. Can you fit into a porta-potty while in garb or do you have to remove some pieces before stepping in?
39. Do you speak with an accent or stay in character when mingling with the mundanes?
40. How often have you actually made a profit at faire? … and how much does that work out to per hour?:
41. What made you start doing faire in the first place?
42. rougewench‘s invented question: What is it you enjoy most about the festival experience?
43. yndy‘s invented question: What one show did you always want to get to, but haven’t yet?

Because of my excessive issues (nice way of saying whinings) about Heat, some people think I like Cold more. Yes and no.

My initial discomfort with cold is the same as with heat. I don’t like it. Both extremes really bother me. I don’t warm up easily. I don’t usually complain about it because there are things I can do about it to make it better whereas for cold, my options are very limited.

When I am cold I can put on more clothes, I can eat/drink something warm, I can do some sort of exercise to get my blood moving, I can take a hot shower, I have little heaters that once they warm me up I stay warmed up. I don’t ever turn on the heat in my place and I am lucky enough that it doesn’t really ever get below 60 degrees.

When I try to do anything to cool down, it usually is a very temporary measure and I heat up again soon after. If there was something I could do that would be the equivalent to running in place to warm up but for cooling down, that would be useful. But there is only so much sitting and doing nothing can accomplish in the cooling department. It is like there are only so much clothing you can take off to cool down. You get to just skin pretty quickly.

So over all I have as many problems with cold as I do hot, I just have many more options to solving them and therefore I rather be cold than hot.

I wrote something that has a vague resemblance to a Xmas letter. I figured I should post it here to mark the occasion. Besides, if I want to send it to more than one person, I have the text to copy and paste. I love being lazy.

Things are going pretty well out here on the Left Coast. There are the usually highs and lows. I am not working part time for my full time salary and get to play in more graphics programs than before. I am also picking up the bad habit of saying yes to working the science fiction cons. I don’t know what has gotten into me but I seem to be willing and *gasp* even eager to take on more responsibility. (As you can see in that I am actually including something of a Xmas letter with the Xmas gifts. The world as we know it must be near its end).

I hope everything is well with everybody and you have a great Season.

Since so many of my friends are geeks and geeks collect electronic gadgets and electronic stuff breaks down, I figure this could be a good public service announcement.

Diablo Valley College is hosting an E-Waste Recycling Event (pdf located here)

Where: Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill
When: Jan 5, 6, and 7
What: Televisions, Monitors, copy Machines, Computers, Printers, Toner cartridges, telephone equipment, Video game systems, VCR and DVDs, cell phones power cables, stereo equipment, etc

It is free and it keeps these things out of the landfills.

It’s Green!!! Bwaaa haaa haaaa

The hills are starting to turn green and it feeds my eyes so much. Some places are completely green and some are just beginning to turn green. And there is fog/clouds surrounding the high points. Delightful overcast, diffuse light. *Sigh* I so appreciate this sort of weather.

I have been missing seeing the bay on the ride over the Bay Bridge every morning on my way to work since I am not working in SF anymore. But I am very grateful for the view of the hills as I drive deeper into the East Bay on my way to work every day.

This time of year reminds me of Belgium. In the summer the trees were green, in the winter the trees had no leaves but the grass needing mowing. I do so love lush green and rich brown. I am so grateful for the coolness. Most places with the green and the brown are hot.

Sometimes I forget how small the world is and how interconnected people are. Then I get a reminder.

When I made my post about having a chew toy, a friend posted moments afterwards about not liking the term “chew toy”. My assumption was that he has had it crop up in his world a number of times, had thought about it before, disliked it and when he saw my post, he had something to say about it right away. I found out in a round about way, that others saw his post following mine and assumed that he was the chew toy.

I get a kick out of people making mistaken assumptions. For example, I always end up with a giggle when someone mistakes me for a guy because they weren’t paying attention. But I do have a need to clear up wrong ideas. It is part of my info-Goddess tendency.

I am not sure how long I laughed about the chew toy connection but it was at least a few minutes. History adds a particular seasoning to this mistaken assumption.

To clear things up: my chew toy is not on LJ. As far as I can tell, he is not connected to anyone on LJ. I haven’t been able to find a connection to him through anyone I know. And I am sorry if my use of Chew Toy offends some. I use that term for very specific reasons. F**k buddy and friends with benefits just doesn’t fit.

I have been leary of posting anything about this stuff. It comes close to TMI for me. I am more than happy to fill in interested parties but the public posting thing is a little more exposed than I am comfortable with all the time.

Good was had this weekend. I went to Dickens on Sat by myself and without any agenda other than seeing a friend on a show since I have missed his performance in years past.

I managed to actually get out of the house in a reasonable time which is a big deal lately when I am not attaching myself to others. I even brought a book in case I found down time when I was bored. I talked to a lot of people I know. In the past I have felt left out because I know so many people working Dickens and they talk to me in character and I am not a part of their world. This year, it didn’t hit me like that. I spent a lot of time hanging out at Mad Sals where the people I know the best work. I found out later of the score of people that were coming to Dickens on Sunday and I am sort of sad I didn’t switch days to go. But I am pleased with what I did and what I learned. I need to learn to do thing independently again and get my own value out of events.

After Dickens, I went to visit friend from my early days in California. Turns out he and his wife don’t do anything for Dec 25th and are up to just getting together to hang out. Woot! I have something non-chrismassy to do on that day.

Paid for all this on Sunday. That just is the way my life is right now.

This morning I found some little flowers on my car windshield. I think someone was walking along and had some flowers from along their walk and saw my car. They liked it and so put the flowers on the windshield. It was a nice feeling when I saw them. At work, I parked next to another Xb. I kept one flower and put the rest on their windshield because I like their license plate, XBOXROX.

There is a pink Breast cancer ribbon, a red AIDS ribbon, a yellow Support our troops ribbon, etc.

Now there is a ribbon for us in Fandom.

Ribbonthulhu: The Con Funk Awareness Ribbon Cthulhu fUNK-tagn

I can’t say I necessarily agree with what this ribbon signifies but I love the ribbon idea itself.

I grabbed a copy of her ribbon picture because it is just so cute. Go check out the original post.