Last week Puck came to Poly Cocktails with me and pretty much stayed in a corner with friends while I did my hostessing duties. I had a long conversation with my friend Jennifer about the nature of being genderqueer and using gender-neutral pronouns and then a few minutes later she slipped up and used female pronouns when I introduced her to Puck. How deflating. At least she apologized and expressed a desire to learn correct pronouns.
Wednesday was Nearing's annual charitable giving day, so hundreds of us went out to do volunteer work. My job in all this is to get media coverage, and I did get a TV spot for our local efforts in New Jersey, so I was happy with that. It's the first time I've organized a broadcast interview since I left Houston, although I used to do it quite frequently in my old life.
Thursday night I drove Yoshi back up to Wayne to drop him off for some work, and drove a loaner vehicle to meet with Agnieszka, our first get-together since our Ireland trip together. We went to one of our favorite Polish restaurants (well, my favorite anyway) Royal Warsaw and I got caught up with her tumultuous life. Since my relationship life has been pretty stable for the past two years, she did most of the talking, thankfully. I'm happy to have little drama to report. After dinner I drove down to Staten Island to stay with Puck before our weekend adventure at Steampunk World's Fair.
Friday I had the day off and we had lunch at Macaroni Grill, picked up Yoshi, bought hair dye and got Puck a half-buzz cut so they could do their Delirium costume. We met Alex at the Fair and checked into our hotel room. Ryan came by too, since he lives only a short distance away, and we met up with our friend Aaron (who is the most recent in a small group of people who have stayed the night in my apartment).
The first night was the Goblin Market, where Puck once again traded for memories, names and other intangibles. Alex and I got playing cards with quotes on them from a male burlesque dancer playing a mime. The performers included a magician/escape artist, a burlesque dancer and Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band (another reference to Neil Gaiman's Sandman, like Delirium).
We also saw a performance by a Japanese steampunk band called Strange Artifact, their first trip outside their home country. Later outside the Goblin Market I got a picture of Puck with them.
We also talked to this very intricate makeup design of a nurse who looked like she stepped out of a zombie apocalypse or something:
Friday Alex bought a couple pieces of clothes that he fashioned into a costume he dubbed "Nikola Tesla's pervy assistant" (with the aid of some hair wax and my black eyeshadow to make singe marks from too many electrical shocks). He and Puck's Delirium made quite the pair:
We met Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris, two of our favorite podcasters at the authors' tables and got free copies of their upcoming book, The Janus Affair.
ENSMB had a new record release party outside under a tent, and there was also a costume contest - check out this wonderful outfit from a steampunk cyborg:
Saturday night we had dinner at the Longhorn Steakhouse and then saw my favorite group of the weekend, This Way to the Egress, who once again opened for Voltaire like at Wicked Faire, and this time we finally got to see him perform (we'd tried and failed at the last two Wicked Faires for various reasons). After that I went to bed while Puck and Alex went back down for dancing and merriment into the wee hours.
Sunday we packed up the room and then went to our favorite diner in Somerset for breakfast. Alex and I spent most of the day together looking at vendors and hearing an encore performance by Egress and ENSMB while Puck spent the afternoon listening to author panels. We eventually said our goodbyes, with an eye toward getting together again for my birthday weekend July 14-15. Puck and I drove back to New York and I went to yoga while they chilled at home. In the evening we watched Thor on Blu Ray, which we had picked up at the Best Buy in Wayne on Friday.
Monday was an off day, then Tuesday was Open Love NY with an old friend, Robin Renee (who I used to work with back in 2009 when I was freelancing). Wednesday was the Poly Women's Group, where I met a couple new members and had a nice chat. Thursday I went shopping at Loehmann's and then got a pizza and watched The Secret World of Arriety, a movie I had wanted to see in theaters, but it disappeared too quickly so I got it on Blu Ray when it came out Tuesday. What a beautiful movie, in every way. Loved it. Maybe I should do a Miyazaki marathon soon - I have several of his movies, although for some reason not my favorite one, Howl's Moving Castle. Must correct that soon.
Yay, all caught up. Time to go play poker now. Wish me luck!
