This is a bacon maple sundae at Denny’s.  It tastes like breakfast.

This is an ordinary Altoids container.

But on the inside…

I admit, I fell over laughing. At work.

I’ve been feeling kinda lonely and disconnected lately, and I could use the reminder that there’s people out there who care. I hate asking, but I’m slowly getting it through my thick skull that y’all can’t read my mind and that I have to SAY SOMETHING. :)

That’s about it. Thanks.

The river’s running pretty high in Sacramento today. Here’s an album of photos I took on and around the Tower bridge today.

and other train buffs might appreciate this shot, despite the fact that distance blurs it somewhat.

It’s a bit hard to read, but I’ve finished paying off my membership cost for Reno, and now I just have to cover the hotel. Whee. I’ll figure it out.

Two things of interest to my fannish friends (and possibly others):

1. I paid off the last little bit I owed to the Reno Worldcon, so barring extraordinary circumstances, I’ll be hanging with friends there. I mean, it’s just over the hill. (Okay, for values of hill that involves a high point of 7,240 ft above sea level — given I’m starting from approximately 100 ft, it’s a bit of a climb.) But the point is, I’ve got my membership, I’m working out a place to stay, so I should be there. I’m kinda looking forward to it.
2. For those who didn’t see my triumphant post on Facebook, I have a fanzine now. It’s called Rhyme & Paradox, and you can find a PDF copy of Issue #½ on Bill Burns’ wonderful efanzines site.
   Issue #1 is slated for June and is tentatively titled katster went down to corflu and other stories. (Issue #2, with a mid-August drop [read: I want to hand out copies at Worldcon], has the subtitle Dreaming of Rockets, just to plan ahead.) Contributions welcome.

And I think that’s about it for right now. See y’all again soon.

While my brain is still trying to process last weekend — part of my head wants to believe it was all a dream, but I suspect that’s somewhat due to a slight lack of sleep — I figure I’ll do a bit of inventory and a few housekeeping notes.

First, the housekeeping note: I posted this to the Corflu LJ page, but I’ll repeat it here. We’re doing another round of the virtual consuite one-shot. I have one contribution in the bag and one contribution definitively promised, (and, of course, I’m writing one) and I’d like to get a couple more in. Last year’s had a good contribution and I’d like to see this year’s be just as awesome. My email is katster@retstak.org, if you’re inclined to submit something.

Now inventory:
What I brought to Corflu: 47 copies of Rhyme #½
What I have: 19 copies — 18 good, one slightly crunched. Four are earmarked: 1 for Geri, 1 for Peter, 1 for Nic, and 1 in exchange for a zine that was mailed to me last year. That means I have 15 left and if anybody might want one, I am more than happy to mail it. It might be a while before I can do so — finances are still tight — but I’ll get them slowly mailed out, and as a bonus, if Rhyme #1 comes out, I’d probably go ahead and send that too. Let me know. (BTW, my plans for original print runs is to hand-stamp each with my logo stamp that a pal of mine gave me for Christmas. The Corflu copies, being the original print run of Rhyme #½, have a stamp on the lower left of the first page of text.)

I have a small pile of things I got in return, which I will happily document if anybody’s interested in that sort of thing.

In the meanwhile, I’m going to go to school and try to get my thoughts to behave a little more coherently.

So yesterday, I mentioned I wasn’t going to be able to make it to Corflu. This caused a chain reaction in the universe which led to a rather good stroke of fortune which means I’ll be able to go after all. I am completely and absolutely stunned at this turn of events. (Or, as I’ve put it before, my gast has been well and truly flabbered.)

Since I have no idea who caused this stroke of good fortune (that’s what anonymous means, after all), I don’t know who to thank. So, I’ll say this. I have no idea who you are, or whether it’s one or more of you, or anything at all really except the fact you obviously think I need to go to Corflu, but thank you for making it possible for me to go. When I’m in a better financial situation, I’ll pass the favor forward.

I guess this also gives me an incentive (and a deadline!) to finally put together that first issue of Rhyme I’ve been meaning to do since 2009.

But yeah, I’ve been wandering around in a bit of a daze since I got this news yesterday.

Or anyway, no Corflu for me. Despite the fact it’s in San Jose, which is in driving distance, my finances just won’t allow it. I could probably get there, but I couldn’t afford to buy a con membership nor have somewhere to sleep, so I’m going to have to bow out. *sigh* I was so hoping that my finances would be a lot better than they are, but it is not to be.

Dammit. Mebbe next year.

(That said, it’s a testimony to the work I’ve been doing this last year that I’m annoyed by this turn of events as opposed to out and out falling apart over it.)

Just a note that we’re just about a fifth of the way through the month.  Whoops.

I don’t really want to talk about the election yet.

So this is a random thought and a link on the edge of the night.

Meg Whitman’s waiting for 75% of the vote to be counted before she concedes. Guess she thinks the CA governorship is won in an ebay auction — the person who bid the most wins when the clock expires. Me? I’m just amused. Californians don’t always take kindly to people who want to buy state offices or propositions. [Huh, as I type this, she changed her mind and is conceding now.]

Elsewhere, I think my friend Sean sums things up the best: A message to the Tea Party from the Loyal Opposition

I might have more to say tomorrow. We’ll see.