January has been one of those long-short months. On the one hand I find it surprising it's nearly over but on the other hand things I did at the start of the month seem a lot more than just a few weeks past.

Now the month is nearly over, my work is moving offices down to 5th and Howard and it's time to start planning for Gallifrey in earnest. Good things all but I suspect you'll see another post very similar to this one at the end of February.

 For those of you who attend Fanime, any advice on which hotel is best or if that makes a difference? Right now I'm looking at the Fairmont just because it's familiar.

 Exciting things are afoot with SF/SF in the coming months, hopefully. 

Here's the #100 issue, which technically was also the last for 2009, since it should have been up on Dec 30th.

 In recent years I haven't gone out for New Year's, mostly out of laziness. This year I was figuring on Twilight Zone reruns when Mette called on Wednesday and asked if I wanted to do a pub crawl. I figured why not and signed up.

We started early the Gallery Lounge which was quiet but friendly (I had a Mango Martini), then Zeke's (Sambucca) where we had nachos and chatted about Japanese fire drills with a nice fellow named Derek. Next was the Hotel Utah, the bartender, Piper, was a hoot and shared a house creation called an 'Bonita Applebomb' (?) which was probably the beginning of my eventual hangover (but so worth it). Mette brought along some Christmas crackers (mine had a parachute guy) which were also a success. Eventually we moved on to a Fidi place called Annbelle's (shot of tequila, shot of bourbon) which was meh so we headed over to Les Joulins Jazz Bistro (um... Washington Appletini, I think) where we met a couple from Sacramento who came along with us on the next leg of the journey.

Now we were in the heart of things and it was about 9:30 so it was a little harder to find someplace not crowded or charging a cover. but eventually we found Minx (Stella), which was hilariously having a Unicorn theme with Legend playing on a large monitor and the staff in party hats with horns. It was going on eleven at this point so we figured we had time to find one last place to settle until midnight and off we went, somehow losing our Sacramento friends along the way, and found ourselves at Fly where there was a DJ and a small space to dance (yay!) and a good vibe. We met a terribly nice Simm/Pegg look-alike and his less friendly cousin, I drank whatever Mette handed me until the bartenders handed out champagne and we rang in the New Year.

Then we tried to get a cab, for something like an hour and eventually flagged down a limo (I think they aren't supposed to do that but I am so very glad this one did) and made it home at about 3AM where Mette who had wisely made us stop at a corner store cooked up some bacon and eggs for us, bless her heart.

Yes, I woke up with a hangover, but it was completely worth it and just the right way to start 2010.

I've gotten most of my memberships for next year; Loscon, Gallifrey, Nova Albion and Baycon.

The Westercon rate doesn't change until the end of May, so no rush there.

Now to figure out hotel rooms, party plans and art show stuff.

Today is my office Xmas party, which is nice since we're going to Cirque de Soleil and then having drinks at The Slanted Door afterwards.

Unfortunately that means no Fydy for me this week. Also, although I am considering heading over to the Cat Club afterwards for Clockwork's triumphant (one hopes) return to the city we'll have to see how I'm feeling by the time 10pm rolls around.

In case anyone missed britgeekgrrl s post over on her own LJ. Short version; Alex is doing doing worse faster than expected and help, financial and otherwise, is needed sooner than we thought.

The relevant post

EDIT: Alex is gone.

SF in SF was great fun, I enjoy it every time I go and really need to make it more of a regular thing in my calendar for 2010.

First a bunch of folks including kproche , bovil ,cherylmmorgan, kevin_standlee , Jacon Weisman and Jeff Vandermeer met up at Henry's Hunan for a bite to eat before the reading. maryrobinette , who was appearing at the conflicting (but also wonderful) Writer's With Drinks that same evening also dropped by.

The reading was a full house and started with the entire audience singing Happy Birthday for Rina Weisman, then S.G. Browne read from 'Breathers' and Vandermeer from 'Finch' both books that are now on my list. After an intermission Terry Bisson did his thing interviewing and then opened the floor to audience questions. Bisson is very good and very funny and much fun was had by all.

Afterwards a few of us including lady_leandra headed over to The View at the top of the Marriott and chatted for another couple of hours until the bar closed and there was no choice but to go home.

November has been kind of a crappy month for most of my friends, but I myself am doing fine and looking forward to Loscon. Hotel and travel is arranged and for a wonder I might have new art to hang.

World Fantasy was one of those conventions that re-energized me and filled me with plans and ideas, even though it came at the end of a long week. Amazingly I didn't get sick afterwards, like many folks have, and taking last weekend off to just bum around the house and get laundry and the like done was nice.

There are several things going on this weekend, including SFinSF and Writer's With Drinks that I might attend, depending on finances (that's the next item on my 'set my house in order' list), and the Last Unicorn Rave-which I seriously considered but probably won't make after all

I've also started a Google Calendar for the SF/SF events listings and adding the updates via twitter @sfsfcalendar

Fydysyfy is also back on track-this week with Stompy Boots Against Cancer.

For those of you wondering and who are not on Twitter or FB, FydySyfy will be happening as scheduled at the Hyatt Regency at 5:30PM tonight. Hope to see some of you there, don't forget your umbrellas!

After about ten days of mostly travelling about I am heading home. You would think I'd be glad, and I am a bit, but World Fantasy was such a good con that even in my travel worn condition I could easily have wished it to be at least one day longer.

The highlight of the con was working the Consuite, which I had been worried would take up too much of my time but ended up being a blast. I'll be doing a write up for SF/SF for both WFC and Steamcon, probably as one single piece since the contrasts and comparisons are pretty interesting.

The question for me now: which is larger, the pile of books or the pile of laundry?

 Missed my train, spent the better part of a day in Portland (books! donuts!) and made it back in time to get the last leg of the trip rerouted because of the Great Bay Bridge Disaster of Ought-Nine. 

Meeting up with my brother, who is in town for just the night. Also maybe dinner with friends. Then going home, laundering and repacking and off to San Jose for World Fantasy. 

Then I swear I am doing sweet FA until Thanksgiving.

Last night trinsf  nudged me into going to w00tstock, which I am very glad about since it was an amazingly cool show. 

Highlights; Wil Wheaton read a story with musical backup from Paul and Storm, Adam Savage did a slideshow presentation called '100 Wishes' and Kid Beyond, who I had never heard of before did some just incredible live looping beatboxing thing that made me really, really wish we were had been in a danceclub instead of a theater. And although she 

We started, and then ended the evening at Home and I went home finished packing and now me and my overfilled suitcase are just counting down the minutes until I board the train to Seattle. 

Good lord, it's mid-October. This time next week I will be on a train to Seattle.

In the meantime, though tomorrow it's time for another Fydysyfy. The last few have been pretty small what with one thing and another, but with the exception of days I am out of town I plan to fly the flag there until at least year's end.

On that subject, the pre-Halloween costume friendly Fydy will actually take place on Wendesday since the Hyatt is having a Halloween thing of some sort. Details to follow at some point.

I have a room reserved for both World Fantasy and Steamcon and am looking to share.


Steamcon I have Thursday, Oct 22, checking out Monday.
World Fantasy I have Thursday Oct 29, checking out Sunday. I probably won't take Friday off after all, so might cancel Thursday unless I find a roommate who wants to take that day over. 

I wanted to post it to my flist first, anyone interested or know someone who might be?

 Oh whoops, I told myself I'd update my LJ today since it's been far too long. But now it's 5pm and time to head down to Fydy, so that's not going to happen.

I've given up getting online at home except on my phone, since that seems to wake the viruses and I need the machine stable enough to use Photoshop, so I guess I'm off the hook until Monday then :)

My weekend has suddenly gotten busy.

Friday is Fydysyfy, of course-which will probably be a mellow one. Then Saturday I'm going dancing for the first time in ages at Villainy.

Sunday has two good events; the Tachyon 14th Anniversary party at Borderlands and the Steampunk Picnic at the Rosicrucian Museum in San Jose. I wish I could do both, but San Jose is just a little far and I will probably be just a little hungover, so I'll be at Borderlands.

There are also a bunch of movies I really want to see before they leave theaters, but it looks like maybe I should leave those for the weekdays, geez.

Issue 92 of SF/SF with Trepidation coverage is done but 'delayed at the printers', so to speak. Hopefully it will be up this weekend.

In mere minutes I will be leaving for for FyDySyFy, which is good because I am starving. Skipped lunch for no good reason and the Eclipse's sweet potato fries are calling my name. Then after FyDy it's off the the Bridge for Midnight Mass.

If the weather holds maybe I'll finally make down to the Sloat Garden Center, or to SFinSF, or something. Not sure yet, but aside from that I'm gonna go out on a limb and say there will be Doctor Who and bacon on eggs at some point, at least.

The next few months are packed. Here is my ideal convention schedule;

September 26 - From the Land Beyond
September 27 - Handcard Regatta
October 2-4 - Silicon
October 23-25 - Steamcon
October 29-Nov 1 - World Fantasy
November 27-29 - Loscon

The sure things are Silicon, World Fantasy and Loscon.

FTLB and the Handcart Regatta I would ideally do as one thing, heading up to Sacramento on Saturday then back to Santa Rosa that night, spending the night and heading back to San Francisco on Sunday. It seems to be kinda doable by train but I'll probably only go it if I can find someone to drive.

Steamcon is a "probably", dependent only on budget.

Am not at the Hugos right now, wah.

But, bitterness aside, am definitely appreciating the live twittering (yay Reno and Raleigh) and the Conreporter coverage, complete with 'red carpet' photos of the lovely outfits.