pameladean

Lydy is out of town, and Eric had a cold on New Year's Eve. I had warning signs of a migraine, but Tylenol got rid of the pain, leaving only some of the less unpleasant bits of neurological wonkiness. I was spacy and a little squirrelly (David asked how he was supposed to tell the difference between this and the regular me on those grounds), but I felt able to go out. So David and I went just the two of us to the CD release party for "Shout it Out Loud." I really enjoyed the concert, particularly

lollardfish's opening act, but the entire performance was lovely. I have the musical knowledge of an oak stump, but I thought they sounded better than last year -- and I enjoyed last year very much too.

David ended up in a conversation about photography with two people I should have known but didn't, and I clumped up with

carbonel,

barondave, and Johanna, who may or may not be on LJ, and had a nice conversation. I asked

carbonel what part of speech "out" was in the album title, and whether it should really be capitalized, but we couldn't quite figure it out. We wished that

cakmpls was there, but not just for that reason.

It was hard to leave that party, but we wanted to go to the Minn-Stf party too. So we drove over the icy streets to

kalikanzara's beautiful house in Nordeast. It was a little lowering to walk into the gorgeous red living room with all the woodwork and see only the backs of a lot of people playing games, but I did get to talk to people who weren't playing, like

carbonel and

cowfan, and John and Jeanne, who are not, I think, on LJ, and Jonathan, as well as to the gamers when they took a break. The migraine made me pretty stupid, anyway. I am very sorry that all the music has leaked out of MinnStf meetings, but that's still where I want to be for New Year's. Richard had brought a sheet of lyrics for "Auld Lang Syne," with the original printed lyrics by Burns, a phonetic rendering, and a gloss in modern English. I got the giggles when we sang, because some people were using the phonetic rendering and some were doing their own pronunciations of the Scots verses, but it was a fine rousing chorus anyway. Seth had brought two bottles of a champagne called Reboot, from Woot Cellars, and I had a glass of that, because it had the most amusing label.

I also talked a little to Matt and Kelly, and had a lot of fun watching their Rebecca, the youngest fan present, who was having her first New Year's ever, resolutely stay awake so she wouldn't miss anything. We went home after she did, but not by much.

I got up earlier than David, because my body was wondering why I hadn't taken my medication. Then I dragged around for a while and suddenly became galvanized and made rosemary shortbread to take to

lsanderson's Hair of the Dog party. I was still quite stupid and largely devoid of conversation or liveliness. Larry greeted me by saying, "Pamela, I have lots of things you can eat," so I felt, in any case, that I was bound to eat them. I ended up sitting at the table and talking to whoever happened to come by or sit down. Eric was well enough to come to the party, and he and I talked to Susan and Gavi, whom we were very glad to see; and to

carbonel, and a little to

dsgood and

dreamshark, and also

guppiecat. He was the only person from out of town I actually talked to, I think, which was a pity -- failing to talk to the others, I mean; I was very glad to be talking to him. I did get to see the small

buttonfish walking around and around and around the house, which was very gratifying. I had been introduced to

wema_way the previous night and enjoyed talking, but didn't manage to renew the acquaintance.

I sat in on an entertaining Minnesota Macho conversation wherein the reactions to snow of people who live in climates with less of it were laughed at, though not unkindly; but I was falling asleep by then.

The food was varied and amazing, as always. The most spectacular bits were, I think, the vast platters of roasted duck, provided by Larry, and the radish mice with bonus radish mushrooms, provided by

guppiecat. The tails of the mice were the radish roots, and the flat green remnants of the radish stems were their noses, while the ears were circles peeled from the sliced-off bottom halves of the radishes, thus making the white patches on the red mushrooms. The mice were far too cute to eat, but later on

carbonel sliced up a mouse and gave me the ears and the tail. The food I could eat included pickled herring, smoked fish, fava bean dip, cashew cheese spread, bread, goat cheese, a sheep's milk cheese with truffles, GOAT BUTTER, A HUGE LUMP OF GOAT BUTTER, many vegetables not carved into cute shapes, and pickled carrot and daikon shreds.

I kept hoping to get less stupid, but I didn't. Around eight or so we packed up the empty pan that had contained the rosemary shortbread, thanked Larry effusively, and went home, taking Eric with us. He and I then watched five episodes of "Battlestar: Galactica." This is his first time through and my second. We hadn't meant to stay up so late, but we kept running into two-part episodes. We finally had to end on a cliff-hanger and watch the semi-resolution the next morning. That finished season 4.0 and left us ready for 4.5. We had to have a discussion of various elements, too, before actually getting to bed.

I am no longer any stupider than usual, but I am certainly behind on a lot of things.

I'm still rearranging bits of what will be Chapter 7, and writing a new bit that has to be Just So. I'm sure I'll be complaining about that for some time to come.

I don't think in decades, but I do wish all my friends well in the near and far future.

Pamela