(no subject)

I should catch up on stuff here, right?

Capricon was pretty good, and it seemed to go by so quickly. I got there late on Thursday since I had to do my Japanese class first. Then I spent Friday morning washing clothes at a coin-laundry I found nearby. I took a jaunt to Target too to buy some swim trunks (Why are they trunks? I can't think of any other wearables that are called trunks.) so I could enjoy the hot tub at some point in the weekend.

I played some games and visited the dealer's room. I went to a poly-meetup lunch at the in-hotel restaurant that wyldekyttin organized and talked to some interesting folks. In fact, I went to that meetup twice, and it wasn't until the second time that I realized a woman I'd been talking to was someone I'd met already at danaeris's place! I love fen space both because explaining faceblindness doesn't really phase anybody, and because green hair wasn't an uncommon enough thing to trigger recognition. I love sci-fi/fantasy fans.

I checked out a few parties with Danae on Friday evening, and ended up sticking around at one in particular as I chatted with a woman who did poi swinging and had a degree in architectural art and who works for a company that does architectural metal restoration work. Awesome!

And I feel a little bad that I didn't talk to her more on Saturday night, but I didn't end up going to the parties. I hadn't realized it at the time, but maybe it was because I was starting to come down with something. I got dressed up for the party floor, but went down to the filk circle first and ended up grabbing a chair and staying for hours, listening to folks sing and play. By the time I got up, I was feeling like bed was a good idea. On a side note, I noticed that everyone who brought a guitar had a folk guitar. There were a dozen or so, and not a single classical in the group. Interesting.

Sunday, I had the beginnings of a sore throat, and Danae was definitely ill. I played a game of Small World with her in the consuite (I lost badly and had a lot of fun!), and then moved to a table playing Pandemic after she left for home. I enjoyed the four games or so of Pandemic that I played so much that I bought a copy for myself.

Let's see; I was fitted for a waist-cincher or a corset. Kytten took my hand and walked me over to a booth owned by friends of hers and Vlad's and had them try a couple things on me. I was amazed at the difference in the way I carried myself while wearing one. My entire body was doing these weird things I wasn't used to when I walked or bent. I rather like the feeling and plan to buy a waist-cincher once the company's website is up and I can see fabric patterns. Or rather, I was going to, until I got financial news today. But I'll get to that later.

Oh, I was denied once again in my attempt to enjoy some hot tubbing. When Danae and I went down to the pool, the hot tub was a decidedly chilly tub. It had just been drained and refilled after, I was given to understand, someone broke a glass in it. Sadness.

I attended a panel on the Ig-nobel prizes. It was a little bit disappointing because they were talking primarily about this year's winners and I'd already heard all about them on NPR who played the speech that Neil Gaiman gave at the event. I was excited to get a copy of an advertising pamphlet for the Emergency Bra and watch a demonstration of the device. I'd thought of the thing as rather silly to be honest, so I was surprised to learn that the designer is from Ukraine and had events like Chernobyl in mind when she created it.

I also attended a panel about the differences in culture between sci-fi/fantasy groups in different parts of the world. My favorite comment of the whole thing was from a gentleman from the UK who noted that he didn't understand the American concept of a con suite. "We don't run soup kitchens at sci-fi cons in England" he noted. *giggles*

I also got to sit down and talk to rileybear67 for the first time in quite a while. It was a pleasure to see her again and catch up on the change that's been going on in my life for the past eight months or so. Wow; a hell of a lot has happened.

What else? I saw a bunch of people I haven't named directly here, but it was nice to see all of them!

(no subject)

I sat down to do my taxes today and, with the help of Google, realized why I never seem to get a refund. I think what was happening was that work was not taking enough tax money out of the bonus pay I got for things like being on call every once in a while. So even with no exemptions, I owed about $200 to the federal government.

On the state side, things were not nearly so rosy. I'd had words with payroll last year after I found that they had taken state tax money out for Illinois when I lived in Wisconsin. I had to file in both states, get a complete refund from Illinois, and then pay Wisconsin with the money I got back. I thought this had been fixed. Apparently I should have paid better attention to my pay stubs, because this year they didn't take out *any* money for state taxes. I owe Wisconsin the better part of two grand. That kind of sucks. But at least I have my tax return done so I can work on filling out my FAFSA. I just may not file the state return right away. I might as well hold on to the money until I have to let it go.

I'm also stressed out about moiracoon and her health. She and I still don't have medical insurance, and she's in the hospital with pneumonia. I had thought that continued coverage was going to be more expensive than I could afford until serinthia pointed out that work was supposed to cover some of it. I called the company administrating the plan and got the *real*, much more manageable, figures, and I'm going to send in the enrollment as soon as I get the info I need from Moira. The coverage is supposed to be retroactive to the point of severance, but I'm worried that bureaucratic red tape will tangle that up like it always does. And in the meantime, because we have a bunch of people in this country who seem to equate universal healthcare with Stalinesque authoritarianism, someone I love is in the hospital with no insurance.

I feel some level of responsibility for her situation. I think I probably shouldn't but I do. It's firstly because I missed a voice mail message from her that, when I got it at one in the morning the next day, scared and distressed me. Second, because it's due to me having been laid off and work having been slow to get me the right paperwork that she and I are without health insurance. I just have felt, in a lot of ways, in the relationship that she and I had, that I wasn't there for her in some of the ways that really mattered to her. I wish I could have done a better job of it now, in this way, than I have. I don't know that there's really anything I could have done to get the paperwork in sooner. I only just got them to send it to the right place last week before the con.