Some other random thoughts on my GenCon experience:
At one point, Joel and Esteban competed in an event called The Dorkathalon.
While I’m somewhat embarrassed that my husband competed in The Dorkathalon, I’m pleased to note that he didn’t do very well in it. One would think that success at a Dorkathalon would denote the success that you have being a Dork. I don’t know how well Joel did, but to my chagrin, he actually purchased a t-shirt, which he then WORE which read The Dorkathalon 2001.
I’m not kidding. I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried.
I spoke of the various costumes at GenCon, but didn’t give too much detail, so here it is: many (but not as many as you’d expect) Star Trek Klingons and what have you, a girl who had painted her entire body blue, many Goth Geeks and a girl who had made a mini-skirt outfit out of black electrical tape. And she wasn’t wearing underwear. I hope for her sake, that she was sporting a Brazilian because removal of said outfit could get a tad painful otherwise.
Just one of many freaks at GenCon… I’m not sure what he’s supposed to be. Also, I don’t know what’s worse…the outfit itself or the fact that he’s sporting the worst farmer tan I’ve seen in a long time.
I don’t think that I fully explained the smell of GenCon, either. The smell. Oh god. The smell. It was not normal smell’. There was a tinge of something else. Geek pheromones, I think. I guess at one point, some people were walking around with little swag-like packs of a new ‘game’ called Hygiene. The packs contained a toothbrush, toothpaste and a bar of soap.
See? I could never come up with something so funny if I tried.
After GenCon, Mitchsuru , Esteban and I went to dinner at an Italian Restaurant. We felt a little underdressed, in our t-shirts and shorts. We sat down in their Bellini dining room and our waiter swished up to us and promptly said ‘I’ll be right with you gentlemen.’ Yep. That’s right. For the first time in my life, I’d been mistaken for a man. Normally, with a rack like mine, it’s pretty apparent that I’m a woman, but given my sweaty short hair and the fact that my makeup had long ago melted off my face, I could see his confusion. It was at that moment that I decided that I must grow my hair long again. I never want someone to look at me and say ‘She’s a MAN, baby!’
The other oddity about our waiter. When he returned to our table after insulting my femininity, he was apparently upset about the fact that Esteban had not yet removed his napkin, so Swishy the Waiter unfurled the napkin and daintly placed it on Esteban’s lap. I’m very proud of the fact that Esteban did not react the way most men in Northeastern Wisconsin might have acted in the same circumstance. I could see other men recoiling in terror and protectively guarding their crotches from a waiter such as ours. In fact, I could have seen an Esteban of yore reacting that way as well. He’s come a long way, baby. I’m very proud of him.
Weetabix: subverting redneck culture one man at a time.
The quest for a nice shiny shower continues. Ward and June called me yesterday at work. For those of you who are playing along at home: I’m currently instigating a replacement of our shower surround. Long ago when my house was born, there was inexplicably a window in the shower. Then, in it’s teenage years, the house gained an addition of a dining room off the kitchen, which blocked the window in the bathroom. Or maybe it was when they added two bedrooms off the dining room that the window became blocked, I’m not certain. Whatever case, the original owner in their questionable wisdom, decided to turn that blocked window into a shelf for the shower. Now you may be wondering how one goes about doing that? Well, let me tell what one should NOT do: one should NOT simply add boards across the window as water from the shower will sit on that shelf and rot everything way, as is the nature of wood. In fact, one should not get anywhere near a shower with wood which has not specifically been treated for shower usage. And when one realizes that much to late, one should not hang a little teeny second shower curtain over the shower shelf in hopes of postponing the water damage. It’s just not a good idea. So, when we purchased the house five years ago, we knew this was a problem as there was water rot happening already, but I’ve finally grown so sick of it that I’m putting forth the winds of change.
Last week, I dropped $170 on a shower surround and various glues to hold the surround to the wall. Then Esteban declared that he wanted new fixtures for the tub, to replace our perfectly working but outdated fixtures. Fine, I had no problem with that. Until I found out how much that cost. Last night, I dropped another $174 last night to replace the shower head and the thing that turns on the shower. It’s ridiculous. Every home improvement project budget should be simply doubled, because it always costs twice what you expect that it will cost.
Grrr.
Thankfully, Esteban Sr. likes to play Bob Vilas, so we’re getting the labor for free (well, it’s costing us a bunch of Diet Pepsi, actually, and I should probably make him some cookies or something).
Anyway, that’s my day. Currently I have no shower and Dad is calling me every hour with a plumbing report. I am Jack’s unwashed foot.
