Sunrise Chronicles

This will be my first official Dreamwidth update; every other entry was just copied over from my other account.

It has been ages since I updated. Once I fall behind, looking at the quantity of info to report just makes me want to put it all off even longer. I'll do what I can to summarize the past month's worth of activities.

I started off the month of October with a four-day weekend, thanks to some use-or-lose leave. We had friends visit both Saturday and Sunday, which was great, and we got to play some fun board games together.

In general, if it ever seems that I have free time, I have been spending it working on my yarn dyeing or knitting. In particular, I am continuing to work on sweaters for wednesday_10_00's dolls. The first one looks rather nice so far. The second one will have the same design, but the cables twist in the opposite direction.

October 7
We went to YaoiCon, which was at a hotel near San Jose. Sadly, I wasn't interested in any of their big name guests this year, but I thought I would find stuff to buy in the dealer's room. As it turned out, the dealer's room was about half the size that I remember from years ago when it used to be held right near me. The artist room was okay, but still small. We tried out their boardgaming room, and they actually had a decent collection of games, considering it wasn't a gaming convention.

My main reason for attending was to try to sell things at the swap meet. Signing up in advance on the website, it promised a 6-foot table for the fee. When we registered in the morning (after searching everywhere for registration, which was on the second floor with no signs indicating its location), we asked where the swap meet would be held, and we were told it was marked on the map. Sure enough, there was a room labeled "swap meet" on the map. We moseyed over there to check it out. It seemed small, and there were no tables, but we figured we were just early. As the swap meet time approached and no one else was showing up, we set off in search of answers. We headed to the con staff room, which ended up being right next to where the swap meet had been moved (again without any signs or announcements to update the incorrect map). We were assigned HALF a table, and I had to squeeze my items into roughly a 2' square space. Needless to say, it was exceedingly cramped. I felt sorry for the customers, too, because they were packed in like sardines.

I did make back enough money to pay the table fee, but it was disappointing how poorly coordinated everything was.

October 15
We took a bus to Half Moon Bay for its famous Pumpkin Festival. The trip, which under ordinary circumstances would take about half an hour, ended up being 2 hours due to heavy traffic plus an accident that reduced our speed to a crawl. At least I had brought along my knitting project to work on along the way.

We started off by picking up some pumpkin spice macaroni and cheese, then browsed the vendor stalls. I caught sight of one selling earrings that didn't require piercings or clips; they simply dangle. I bought a pair and wore them all day; they didn't hurt at all (the way clip-on earrings do), and they never were in any danger of falling off. If I had the opportunity to dress up more often, I probably would have bought more.

We stopped in several local shops as well as vendor stalls. At one yarn shop I picked up some more dyeing supplies. At a store selling wooden furniture and other household goods, I bought four sushi platters. I like sushi enough, I figure I will get at least some use out of them.

We caught the bus again for the ride back, thinking that it wouldn't take as long without the accident. Just our luck, there was another accident. @_@ It took about the same amount of time to get home as the trip out had.

October 18
At work, we held our annual canine Halloween party and dressed all the beagles up in costumes. Brooke got to be Wonder Woman. One of the other beagles was dressed as Superman; just imagine a team of superhero beagles who join forces...

October 21
We went to visit mangaroo. wednesday_10_00 and I started out in Oakland to shop at some fabric stores, and rather than riding BART a measly single stop at a time, we ended up walking several miles, visiting shop after shop, until we all gathered at an Indian restaurant for supper. I spent a hefty chunk of change on buttons (for future sweater projects). Hey, at least they don't take up much storage space, and they never go bad.

October 22
I spent the day harvesting honey from my hive. I had been hoping to make use of the Flow comb, but unfortunately the bees just didn't fill it enough, so I took a little from the interior instead. I got roughly four quarts of honey, and I was finally ready to use the souvenir hunny pot I brought back from Tokyo.

October 28-29
wednesday_10_00 and I went to Monterey Bay for an overnight excursion. We started at the aquarium, where we got to see the staff feeding the otters, among other things, then browsed a number of shops before retiring to our bed and breakfast for the night. We did make one excursion to eat out at a local bar, where we had some colorful drinks (...perhaps a little to much...) and watched out the window as people passed by dressed in Halloween costumes.

In the morning, we walked along the ocean for a while, then drove to nearby Pacific Grove to see the monarch butterflies gathered in the trees. That was pretty amazing. Then we went on to Carmel, where I picked up some artisan cheese at The Cheese Shop.

November 4
This weekend we've been taking it relatively easy. We invited our neighbor over for a wine and cheese night to show off our purchases. We added my fresh honey and some gourmet chocolates to the mix as well, and it was quite an enjoyable time.

I think that gets me all caught up! ....For now, at least.