Although I'm sure many folks are off work today, we will still be having Fydy over at the Hyatt Regency as scheduled, 5:30m till we get bored or run out of gossip and single entendres.

Thank goodness.

So, of course, here's your reminder that I will be at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero Eclipse Lounge from 5:30 onwards for Fydy. I cannot promise anything other than that I will be drinking a lot make up for the last two weeks of Italian sodas.

On Friday my boss asked me to get keys for some new people and sort out the random/possibly obsolete keys floating around.

In doing so I ended up with my own keychain in my hand for an unusual amount of time, and cleverly put it away in the drawer with the spare sets before leaving for the day.

Which mean when foxmoor headed up to Sac on Saturday I had no way to let myself back in if I left and thus spent the weekend not doing all the stuff I had planned out.

Ah well, I needed the rest still ;)

Which means I will be at the Hyatt Regency at 5:30pm staring sadly at the drink specials and chewing on vicodin.

Still, the sliders are pretty delish.

This Friday the 19th in addition to the usual Fydy meetup, it's time again for Hubba Hubba. The theme this month is Sideshow and I haven't been recently, so I'm sorely tempted-but it doesn't lend itself to the sort of moderation I should probably still be attempting given that I'm on amoxicillin for the next week or so.

Then on Saturday the 20th, the Light Room in Berkeley is having the opening for local artist and all around good guy Michael Dashow. That runs from 2pm to 6pm, which should give me time to get to Borderlands at 7pm to see the Brazen Hussies and still have time to hit the town after.

On both Saturday and Sunday the NorCal Pirate Festival in happing up in Vallejo, it looks fun but is way the heck out there. Is anyone driving up to that Sunday?

Fydy was smallish but pleasant,britgeekgrrl  and clockworkbuddha  only made cameo appearances but trinsf  and I were joined by some friends of britgeekgrrl 's who were Baycon regulars and pleasant company. Eventually ewhac  dropped by as well and there was some impressive obscure computer-geekery. I recommended the sangria for my vicarious enjoyment, but stuck to mineral water myself since my oral surgery was set for the next morning.

I was a little anxious about the anesthesia, since I've never been put under for anything before. However that turned out to be quite nice, it was twilight so I wasn't completely out and had a decent sense of time passing, but no pain or stress at all. It probably helped that everything went very smoothly and took about half an hour for all five teeth. Dr. Dumas is a little scary but a total pro.

I was supposed to have a little lie down afterwards in the recovery area, with it's comfy couches and blanket-but when the nurse poked her head she saw I was reading and said she could call my ride, foxmoor , if I liked. So I was in and out in just about an hour start to finish. The rest of the weekend, and Monday which I decided to take off, has been spent eating soft foods, popping pills and watching DVDs. I am pretty sick of pudding at this point and still kinda look like Marlon Brando in The Godfather, but am mostly feeling pretty okay.

FyDySyFy, Hyatt Regency, 5:30pm.

No booze for me tonight, since I'm having my wisdom teeth out tomorrow morning. So here's a rare chance to see me sober on a Friday night! Terribly exciting, I know.

The latest issue is up. Reports on Baycon, Maker Faire, Discworld Ball, the Star Trek movie and more!

Egads, this week has just flown by and here it is Friday again.

We're having meetings at work for most of the day, then doing some bonding over drinks and bowling, so I will be mostly offline during the day and a little late to FyDySyFy tonight, closer to 6:30 that 5:30.

Hyatt Regency Embarcadero, Eclipse Lounge in the lobby atrium. See some of you there.

Hyatt Regency, 5:30pm.

Come see who survived the weekend.

Overall, I personally had a very good time at Baycon but this was a weird year for a number of my friends, which prevents me from saying it was a good con.

clockworkbuddha, sinmix  and myself arrived late night Friday just in time to pick up my badge and (most exciting) my namecard for my first ever panel the next day. After that I got changed and checked out the party floor. Things were going reasonably strong and, hilariously, the entire hallway on the 3rd floor was wrapped in plastic, prompting many condom and dental dam jokes. The usual hours of running into friends and party hopping ensued.

Saturday morning I got some breakfast, and then it was time for the panel. I was nervous but it turned out to be a real hoot and it would be nice to do it again at Silicon. Afterwards I finally hung my art (no new pieces, because of printer problems) and checked out the Dealer's Room before it was time for the SF/SF staff meeting. By the time that was over I was startled to realize it was still only Saturday afternoon-it seemed like I'd been at the con for days.

After decorating the Lounge for the Saturday Night Disco-Steam barely-sekrit theme I took a nap, which helped. I changed into my evening wear which included a groovy sequined headband. I peer-pressured the other roomies into joining in (JP was already rockin' a open collared black shirt under a blue jacked) and they ended up looking fantastic. We hung in the Lounge for a bit, then got some dancing in. At some point I ended up in the Lounge for a while longer before heading up to bed. When I got there, The Magnificent Seven was on and we all watched the end of that before hitting the sack.

Sunday I was free as a bird, with no panels or other responsibilities. We missed the breakfast buffet so got lunch instead, I hit the clothes swap briefly, then a panel, and spent most of the day enjoying the process of wandering between meals and conversations that formed, split and reformed. Eventually it was time to get changed to the evening and out Weird West Travelling Medicine Wagon group costume. I had been a little frustrated with my own outfit for it, and some things I had not finished in time-but clockworkbuddha  did an awesome job with his part and we looked good as a group so it ended up being tons of fun.

The rest of the night varied from great to lousy depending on who you were and were you were standing, and I was periphally involved in parts of that. I felt like I had a very good night, but the knowledge that an unusually large number of my friends did not put a bit of a damper on things. In the end a handful of us stayed up until dawn and managed to be the first people in the restaurant at 6 a.m. when the buffet opened, which was one of those nice con-type experiences.

Monday was the usual last day of touching base with folks I didn't get to talk to except in passing, doing a last pass of the art show and dealer's room and laying plans for future mayhem with various people.

A full report to follow in SF/SF, as always.

New issue is out; Girl Genius Ball, Steampunk at Chabot, etc.

Hyatt Regency, 5:30pm

Since next week is Baycon this will be the last FyDy SyFy until the 29th!

Saturday I started the day off with a visit to the dentist. I supposedly had two appointments left, Saturday and one next week-so I assumed the braces were going on next week. Turns out that was not necessary, my braces went on and next week's appointment was canceled. Which is great except for my mouth feeling all torn up for the next few days and my enunciation being all messed up. It's making phone support at work even more stupid than usual.

After the dentist clockworkbuddha , sinmix and I headed over to SCRAP to get costume supplies, and we all scored some good stuff for cheap. I love that place so much.

Then it was time to head over to Cafe International to meet up with folks for the Star Trek movie. I enviously watched people eat the deeelicious french bread cubano sandwiches while sipping on my smoothie. I already missed real bread.

We headed from the coffee joint to the Kabuki to meet up with the rest of our group and I was amused to see elite  and a bunch of other browncoats leaving the theater.

As for the movie, I really enjoyed it a lot. It's not going to Change Science Fiction As We Know It or anything, but it does everything it needs to and has a damned good time doing it.

 FyDy SyFy has thirteen at the table(s) last night, with Journaless Joe Price, foxmoor , jadecat9  and johnnyeponymous  dropping by for the first time. We spread to two tables but there was a lot of seat hopping and the occasionally sidebar. Moderation May was had in moderation, we didn't stick to the proposed 2 drink maximum but mainly because we found out that there was a $18 sangria pitcher special and it turned out the be very tasty. foxmoor and I took the train back and ran into another roomate at the Civic Center station so we all got off at West Portal and walked home from there, which was very pleasant.

This morning I had a dentist appointment and the braces finally went on (I had thought that was next week's appt but apparently not) so now I'm learning to talk and eat again ;) They don't look nearly as bad as the ones I had as a teenager, but the zig zag of the wire certainly highlights just how crooked my damned teeth really are. Two years to go.

In a little bit I'm heading over the SCRAP to shop for costume bits and lounge decor, and then getting together with everyone for Trek!

FyDy SyFy, Hyatt Regency, 5:30pm. Nerds with drinks, possible Hugo discussion and inevitable Trek wankery.

Due to a recent labor strike by our collective livers, May is Moderation Month! So you may even get a word in edgewise! Stranger things have happened.

SF/SF #85.

I write about Hugo nominee 'Little Brother', lady_leandra  writes about Wondercon and the Browncoats, plus coverage of Peter Beagle's birthday party in the park. Which I missed. Cause I suck. ::sigh::

So it's time for FyDySyFy™ again, thank goodness. And it's May Day!

So join us at the Hyatt Regency around 5:30 p.m. for drinks, Hugo discussion (Swanwick's '“From Babel’s Fall’n Glory We Fled”, also Anathem, maybe some yelling about Saturn's Children, as the schedule allows,) drinking,  Baycon and Denvention plotting. Also drinking.

We're dressing up a little this time, for no real reason, so feel free to play along and wear something costumy/nice/whatever. Go crazy; shoes *and* a shirt, why not? (Or don't, we don't care as long as the server keeps the drinks filled, really)

Last week was

Friday's meetup was especially successful I think, due mostly to the fact that they had a $5 Skyy vodka drinks special. Although hai_irouchuujin</b>didn't make it this time we did have a first time visits by sinmix , iamradar , TL&T, _tia_marie_  and her friend whose name I've now forgotten, as well as return guest appearances by clockworkbuddha  and ewhac bringin' the Y for the evening. There was Baycon prep discussion as well as a little more Hugo nom reviewing, and approval of the new olive appetizer and the improved cheese platter.

Saturday I didn't do much of anything, but Sunday I headed over to Home Depot with sinmix  and clockworkbuddha  for BayCon costume plotting. We agreed that a trip to SCRAP was probably somewhere in our future as well.

Yesterday I took the day off work mostly because I could, but also to reset my somewhat dented sleep schedule. I did manage to get some crafty stuff done for Baycon though, as posted over on futuriana .

At the scenic downtown Hyatt Regency, at about 5:30p.m. there will be drinkin' and eatin' and geekin'.

There will not be any Guinness 250th Anniversary Stout, because that can only be found in the Sunset at this time (obvious, once I thought about it) so you will be spared drunken renditions of Danny Boy. Probably.