I was talking with warinbabylon on IRC last night about Christmas stories & fan fiction and I admitted that I’ve got an itching to write a 7th Doctor/Ace Christmas story. (I wrote a Doc7/Mel Christmas story a few years ago called Miracle on 23rd Street – it’s got the sort of Christmas schmaltz that I enjoy. But now I wanna write one with Ace in it.) She then suggested that I post a fiction challenge on LJ about it. Thinking, perhaps, that it will cause me to write said story. Well, I don’t know about that, but here’s the challenge:

Write a holiday-based fan fiction from one of your favorite fandoms (or least favorite fandoms if you’d rather). You pick the holiday, the length, the characters, etc. But it must be done by January 1st. Post it in your LJ when you’re done. Give it a try – you know you want to!

So, um, prizes? Well, perhaps your reward will be the joy of knowing that you’ve written a holiday fan fiction piece… 😉

PS: Pass the challenge along, if you want!

PPS: Amy, if you’re reading this, I wanna see a Holiday V fan fiction with Willy’s Magic Bathrobe making a return visit! 🙂

Ah, the joys of owning a fluffy cat… I’m sitting here at my desk (pondering what to write about on LJ tonight) when he jumps up, covered in little lint balls. Yup, my little furball has been playing in the basement (probably near the clothes dryer). He has NO idea, of course… He’s so nonchalant. 🙂

The good news, as my subject states, is that judiang is doing better today than she was last night. As I type this, she’s probably asleep in her apartment (and if she’s not, then she’d better get herself back to bed PRONTO!) I just got home about 20 minutes ago or so and Leo is very happy to see me. (He was waiting in my front window for me and when I drove up, he met me at the back door. For a cat, he has many dog-like tendencies!)

Last night, miz_em and hergrace offered elsaf and I the use of the hospitality suite which they rented for the McGann Fan gathering. Thinking that Judi needed to have a monopoly on the bathroom all evening, we took them up on the offer and slept there instead of in our room. It had a lovely king sized bed that Elsa, Lance and I could all fit on with room to spare. I got up this morning at 6:30, showered, and checked on Judi. She assured me she was feeling much better in the morning and I even got a few smiles and laughs out of her. Lance was happy to see her as well. (He was such a good dog on this trip!)

We got everything out of the two rooms and down to the lobby where I checked out, got a hug from Lynn (I swear I’m not contageous! At least, I’d bloody well NOT be), and hugged Judi goodbye. The shuttle to the airport was departing and I got on it in time. And then saw Elsa walk by, so I asked the driver if he’d stop for a second so that I could hug my friend good-bye. He obliged and I hugged Elsa before departing for the airport. Thankfully, everything was uneventful for the airport stay and airplane trip. And here I is, ready to start decorating for that thing we call Christmas!

I’ll have to sort through my photos that I took in order to get a page together for this convention, much like I did for the Gallifrey Convention in Feburary. Stay tuned to here or the PMEB mailing lists for the eventual link.

I had a blast at the con, met many wonderful friends, made some new friends, and enjoyed myself immensely. Thanks to all of you that I got to see while at the con – it was fun! Let’s do it again sometime. And for those of you who were unable to attend, maybe you’ll be able to join us then. 🙂

India Fisher and Paul McGann at their panel.

Photo of Paul.

Paul McGann signs Lance’s t-shirt.

Paul signs a photo for dark_pheonix while holding her surrogate.

We’d been having a blast so far this convention, but unfortunately, tragedy has struck! judiang has fallen ill! 🙁 After the autograph session, she took ill and has been sick now for several hours. elsaf and I are worried about her and have done what we can to help her out (Elsa doing the most – wonderful woman). I’m sure she’ll lick it, but bleh, I really feel sorry for her right now! Poor baby!

Before this unfortunate happenstance, things were going well today. We breakfasted at Steak & Shake with hergrace and her family, Estelle & her son, and Mona. While there, Steph and I discovered they had Egg Nog shakes! Hmmmm, perhaps Steak & Shake might make a good lunch as well. I had the bagel, egg, cheese & bacon sandwich and a hot cocoa. Pretty good eats.

We returned to the hotel to sit at our “usual” table near the main ballroom and folks chatted. I did another run of the Dealer’s room and this time bought myself an MP3 CD of Death Comes to Time. I have the original CD, but wanted to check out the bonus features of the enhanced CD set. $38 was a bit more than I had planned on paying, but hey, it was my only purchase this con (other than the $2 PMEB button for charity and the $6 t-shirt that Estelle was selling for the McGann Library patrons). Oh yeah, there was food and drink that I bought, but that doesn’t count.

After wiling away the morning, Steph, Mona, Elsa and I returned to Steak & Shake for lunch. And as we’d pondered doing earlier, Steph and I had egg nog shakes with our lunch. Yummy! I picked up another egg nog shake and a chocolate shake for Judi and miz_em and then we stopped at Krispy Kreme so that Elsa could buy 2 dozen donuts for the PMEBers and McGann Library patrons. Our final stop was the liquor store where Steph and I picked up two bottles of wine and a six-pack of Guiness for the evening party. While on the way back, Mona played some tunes from Avenue Q, the Tony-winning musical in which Steph’s brother is a puppeteer.

The panel that we were all waiting for was the McGann panel which started at 3:30pm. Jason Haigh-Ellery, India Fisher, and Gary Russell from Big Finish were there, as well as Paul McGann and a late arrival Yee Jee Tso (who was stuck doing autographs). It was an entertaining panel, with Paul getting the most questions and the most laughs. I did ask Yee Jee a question when I wondered whether he actually got to meet the Muppets when he was in the recent Christmas special. The sad answer, no.

After the panel we headed off to the autograph session. Judi and I got a decent place in the line (thanks to the reserved seats) and Elsa joined us shortly as Official Photographer. Lance was very good in the line and got many pets from folks to-ing and fro-ing. We were in line for half an hour before we got to McGann and co. I bought 2 photos – one for me and one for dark_pheonix (surprise!). I also bought a photo of India for her to sign. Alas, I had nothing for Rob Shearman to sign – though he was entertained by Lance. India signed my picture and soon Judi was in front of McGann.

“I have something that really takes the cake here,” she said. “Will you sign my dog?” Paul laughed and said “You are joking, aren’t you?” But Judi had picked up Lance and pulled his shirt down tight. And Paul, laughing the whole time, signed Lance’s t-shirt. So, after that moment of silly, I didn’t feel bad at all for asking Paul to hold onto a small stuffed Penguin while he signed the photo for dark_pheonix. So there ya go – your surrogate has met Mr. McGann!

It was after the session that Judi started feeling poorly (and quickly!) I brought left-over donuts and the bottle of wine I bought to the Room Party room, where several ladies were already gathered. We decided to give Chinese food a try and I thought egg drop soup might be something that Judi could eat. (Turns out, no – she’s not eaten anything yet, but she’s not been sick lately, so there’s improvement!) Elsa got egg drop soup and I got pork lo mein. The entire order for all of us at the room party was over $100. Emily called it in and I collected money. We got a nice tip for the lady who delivered it (in a huge box on a little cart), too.

The party broke up when it was nearly time for the TV Movie to be treated to MST3K-style treatment. I headed down to watch, but they were waiting on the judging for the masquerade yet. So they were doing a Doctor Who-themed Match Game. Some funny stuff there. The masquerade winners were eventually announced and the TV Movie was finally started. I watched (as I often do) until we got to the “These shoes!” bit, and then I headed back to the room, where I am typing all of this up. Judi’s not been sick for over an hour now, so there’s progress! Get well soon, Judi!

If there is at least one person in your life who you consider a close friend, and who you would not have met without being part of an online fandom, post this sentence in your journal.

Meanwhile… judiang has photos of Paul McGann up on her website. I’ll send you to her journal where you can click on the link to the page. (And yeah, I did a quicky code for the page. If I’d had a couple more minutes, I’d’ve switched the font to Verdana, at least.)

Today was a wonderful day. It’s late at night and I’m working on my second amaretto sour of the evening, so I don’t know how much I’ll actually talk about tonight. But first, a photo of Paul McGann!

McGann da Man!

judiang treated me to Room Service Breakfast today – a luxury neither of us has had before. Thank you Judi! I had French toast (which wasn’t as good, actually, as the stuff from the cafe that we went to the day before) and ham and a glass of milk. It was a fun experience – and no dishes to wash, either!

I attempted to get online downstairs without success (their DHCP server was kaput, so I received no IP address and couldn’t go anywhere online). After I gave up, we both went to get our badges for the convention. (Badges? We don’t need no steenkin… Nevermind!) It was awhile yet before the dealer’s room opened, so we returned to the room. Judi napped and I read. elsaf called when she was nearly at the hotel, so Judi and I went to meet her. It was nearly noon.

Other folks were arriving and we got to see many familiar faces and put other names to faces. I’d try to rattle them all off, but I know I’ll forget many people. Lance, as always, was a hit with folks. hergrace and family arrived soon after, and we all, with PMEBers campion7 and Mona, went to Chili’s for lunch. I had grilled shrimp Alfredo – yum!

Back at the con, there was more waiting around. Paul was rumored to arrive around 4pm, so I had some time to kill and went to see Peter Purves (Stephen Taylor from Doctor Who) in his panel. Then I went to the lobby to wait with other PMEBers and members from the McGann Library. Sure enough, “Himself” arrived and there was much (quiet) squeeing. The whole mass of females converged on the open bar after awhile, and Paul soon joined in. (That’s where my photo came from. Hopefully judiang will be able to post her superior photos tonight.)

We kept Paul busy until nearly 6pm when the Opening Ceremony was to begin. We meandered to the ball room and I found my seat. I’m one seat from Teri, another McGann fanatic. Judi and miz_em, alas, are on the other side (but also the second row). But I should still have fun with the panels.

Elsa, Judi and I went off to IHOP (International House of Pancakes) for supper with 3 other McGann fans, Julie, Chaz, and Trish. We had a nice dinner (I had BLT, fries, and fudge brownie sundae) and even nicer conversation. When we got back, it was time for the McGann Library/PMEB party up in a business class suite.

The party was lovely with lots of fun conversation and Lance working the room like a pro. I took many photos and hopefully will get a page made up after the convention to display them. Alas, Paul was down in the bar getting plastered, so he was unable to attend. But that didn’t stop us from having a good time! And now, Steph, Judi and I are down in the con area on our laptops and writing things up about the day. Tomorrow will hopefully be another great day of friends and good looking British men (or at least, one man). 🙂

Well, if all goes well, I’ll eventually get an IP address from the hotel and can post these photos.

Here are pictures from last night’s supper.

To prepare for the convention, judiang made this t-shirt using a design by elsaf. In case you can’t read it, it says “Walkies again, Lance?” and “PMEB at Chicago TARDIS 2004.”

Here’s Lance and I sitting down for a spell.

The Thanksgiving Feast!

And the Thanksgiving Turkey!

Trina’s plate o’ plenty! Note the surrogate dark_pheonix eyeing my dinner.

Lance gets a piece of the action!

Trina’s plate o’ empty!

Let them eat cake! And then waddle off to the hotel…

As you can see, it was a wonderful dinner. And we did manage to eat some cake before the evening was out. Then we took a cab to the hotel (Lance included) and got into our 8th floor room. Judi and I sat down in the lobby for awhile, Lance getting hugs from complete strangers, and Judi and I playing around online. Unfortunately, this morning I couldn’t get an IP address from their wireless server, but hopefully will connect later and be able to post this.

We’re now registered for the con. Judi’s #32 and I’m #41 – so we won’t get to sit beside each other. Alas! We’ve seen a few friends so far, and that’s wonderful. Indeed, friends are the main reason I came to this con in the first place.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who celebrate or wish you celebrated it! I got up in time to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (and see some of Chicago’s parade getting ready – just outside judiang‘s apartment!) While the Today Show and then Macy’s Parade were playing, I made the cheese ball and then the souffle (though I still needed to mold the balls and bake the souffle) and cleaned up as I went. Judi got up sometime after 10am and took Lance for walkies. Breakfast was Special K Vanilla Almond cereal (yum!). Judi made the cake and soon she and I started work on the stuffing.

As I mentioned yesterday, barbthebrazen gave Judi a recipe for wild mushroom stuffing and we did our best to follow it. And it tastes great, so we must have done something right. 🙂 We stuffed the smoked turkey (which was full of smoked turkey juice) with the stuffing, and wrapped it in foil and it’s now “reheating.” The souffle is in the oven as well – hopefully that will turn out well! My reputation is on the line! 😉

Unfortunately, Marion will be unable to attend our feast, so it’s just me, Judi, and Lance to eat all that food. I’d say “alas!” except it’s gonna be good eats and so I can’t complain there! (I am sorry, however, that Marion cannot attend – I’ll miss her at the con!)

Like elsaf, I’m going to take some time to write what I am thankful for.

I am blessed with a wonderful family (parents & little sissies) that is funny, loving, open-minded, loving, silly, kind, generous, and loving. 🙂

I have wonderful friends at work and online (virtual and real).

I have Leo, who is the greatest cat in the universe!

I have a job that I love that pays me enough so that I’m independently wealthy (or at least spend money as if that’s the case…)

I can travel all over the place and meet my friends, see my favorite actor perform, catch the sights, and make new friends.

I am healthy and happy and have been losing and/or maintaining my weight now for nearly a year.

This weekend, I’ll get to see many of my online friends and hopefully strenghthen some of those friendships.

I love that IRC, e-mail, Usenet, and LiveJournal have led me to many of these online friends.

Thanks to all of you for making my life wonderful! 🙂

Mmmmm, we’re gonna have a wonderful feast! Only another hour or so to go – woohoo!

I got up damned early this morning to fly off to Chicago to stay with judiang for Thanksgiving before going to ChicagoTARDIS later this weekend. I sent a text message when I boarded the plane, when we landed, and when I was at the baggage claim where I was to meet Judi. Nada… My flight was nearly half an hour early, so I waited half an hour and still no sign of Judi. So I called her cell phone – nada. Then I called her home phone – ah! There she was! Still in bed! Poor thing overslept!

No matter, I took the blue line to LaSalle and Judi met me there and walked me to the apartment. It was raining at the time, and me without a hood – whoops!

No matter, Judi loaned me a hat once we got to her place. After a short rest, we went off to have brunch. Hackney’s and Bar Louie were both still closed, so we went to a local cafe for breakfast. (They know Judi by name. She introduced me.) I had French toast and hashbrowns and a tall glass of milk. Yum!

We returned to Judi’s to plan our grocery shopping. Tomorrow we’re doing Thanksgiving dinner. One of our friends from Canada will be joining us (so her second Thanksgiving dinner of the year), so that’ll be lovely. Judi bought a smoked turkey and she’ll make dressing using a recipe from barbthebrazen. She’ll also make bean greens & bacon, broccoli & cheese sauce (frozen in a bag), and a chocolate cake. I’ll make sweet potato souffle and a cheeseball. We worked on two other lists – one for Target and one for the tasks she has set upon me.

Outside again where we experienced Snain – a cross between rain and snow. And damn, was it blustery. Politics my ass, they call Chicago the Windy City cuz it’s so damn windy! 😉 With Judi’s hat snug on my head and my lovely new coat and gloves, I was warm. But my pants and shoes got soaked.

No matter, while we shopped at Jewel, I managed to dry off somewhat. We bought a load of stuff and tomorrow’s going to be a great spread. (Lots of leftovers for Judi!) The way back, OTOH, was worse than the way there. Even more snain and wind and this time we were walking in the wind. Bleh! I was doubly soaked that time.

No matter, once we put away the groceries, we sat for a bit. Lance loved the attention (as always – wait til he gets a lot of the PMEBers at the convention!) Once we were rested and somewhat drier, we moved onto Target. This is a new store that has opened in the area. It’s two stories and Judi wondered how it compared to the Target Mahal (pronounced Tar-zhey ma-hal) that’s in Minneapolis. Actually, I’d say it was the Target Mahal South. 🙂 More walking in the blustery snain, more soaked trousers & shoes, and back to Judi’s flat. I dumped the packages in the apartment and we moved onto the Thai place for dinner.

Judi and I got pot stickers, pad see eiw and tofu pad thai. Yummy! It was warm, I was sort of drying, and we watched the snain as it died out some. After the lovely dinner, we ambled (stumbled?) back to the pad. This time, with my shoes on the heater and my gloves, hat, and pants (that’s jeans for you Brits, not undies) in the dryer, I sat and read some e-mail.

The jeans out of the dryer, my shoes practically dry, and the hat & gloves still damp, Judi and I walked the couple of blocks to the theater and watched The Incredibles. Wonderful movie! Definite DVD purchase and we want to see the sequel already. 🙂

When we got back to the flat, Judi had more things for me to do. First, reformat her oldest laptop. There was no way to do the 1s & 0s format and she has no magnets (I know, I was shocked too – actually, I just remembered that I gave her a magnet for Xmas last year and she doesn’t have it on her fridge! The BITCH! er, um, nevermind…) We just ended up doing a straight “format c:” style format.

Next we moved her dining room table over. Not as easy as it sounds because it’s completely made of glass and damned heavy. But we managed it.

Then it was time to put new bulbs in her huge moon light. Putting the bulbs in wasn’t the problem, but rehanging it on the wall was. I finally figured out a way to do it and then she didn’t have any masking tape. *sigh* I stood on the sofa and waited while she finally found some scotch tape and we got the light hung.

The next job was to get her closet door back in. It’s another odd job which I did figure out, but didn’t do it well. Judi just informed me that it’s back out of its socket again. Ah well!

There are still things on the list to do. Hook her stereo back up, hook up her new VCR (which we got at Target tonight), and do Judi’s t-shirt transfer. And to bake the cake and make the cheeseball. Thankfully we can sleep in somewhat tomorrow. (Though I must watch Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.)

Apparently it’s now snowing for REAL – it looks very pretty. If Judi wasn’t so tired, she says she’d head on out with Lance and walk in the park. I love her snow enthusiasm. 🙂 (I have it too, but not as strongly as she does.)

I received an e-mail from Scientific American Book Club and they seem to have sorted things out. Their reasoning for needing my e-mail and password was because they’re customer service and to get the techs involved would take more time. Not a good reason, but it’s a reason. They deleted my original online account and when I created a new one, things worked OK (as far as I can tell). They even went ahead and put in my order that was on the site – though one book is no longer available – alas! Still, they’re giving me free shipping on it despite the new order being less than $59 (the cost for free shipping on orders). So I’m pleased for now. If the other books arrive OK, I’ll be even pleased-er. 😉

Today is the 41st anniversary for Doctor Who – woot! I haven’t done anything special for the occasion (too busy doing other things) but I’m off to Chicago tomorrow for Thanksgiving with my big sissy, judiang, and then the Chicago TARDIS convention this weekend. With Paul McGann in attendance, there will be many PMEBers and other friends there. If you’re going to be at CT, look me up! Shirts that I will be wearing include my Metric Avenger shirt and my “Sylveste is the Real McCoy” shirt. I’m also bringing my McGann as Doctor sweatshirt – though I probably won’t need that in the hotel. Looking forward to the con!

Since it was the last day for school this week, several of us teachers went to BW3s (an act known as “B-dubbing”) where I had an amaretto sour (no surprise there) and some wings. A bit of conversation, and then home again to pack. (While out in Troy today, I also picked up the latest Harry Potter DVD. Made arrangements with the parentals units for Dinner and a Movie after I return Sunday. Woot!)

(gordon_r_d, I think I picked up “Woot!” from you. I’ve been using it all day… Seems to be working OK. 😉 )

Hopefully I’ll be able to keep up with the journal while I’m away – I need to keep up my pattern of “100% posts for the odd numbered months” just a little while longer. Then I’ll have done it for a year and won’t need to worry about continuing the trend next year if I don’t wanna. 😉