sistawendy: a cartoon of me in club clothes (dolly)
Do any of you remember Much Younger Woman? She's... a highly distinctive individual, boy howdy, and she also lives not too far away from the Blue Moon Tavern. The Blue Moon has its fabulous (and cheap) house music night, DJs in a Dive Bar. I finally succeeded in getting MYW to join me for that.

Much chat. Very groove. Wow. Choonz were drum & bass followed by old-school house. It was a hit with Much Younger Woman.

MYW has been keeping on, and thanked me for basically nagging her into being social; it wasn't the first time I'd tried to get us together there. She's dealing with some health issues in the larger sense, and taking an impressive number of medications. I told her way too much about my circumflatulation plans; I feel comfortable doing that with a member of the greater MOO kroo.

We enjoyed the (ahem) view of sweet young things on the dance floor, a couple of whom made a notable effort to look nice on a Tuesday night, but we were too busy catching up to do any dancing ourselves. It was a good time, and I hope to do it again before too long. Dare I hope that it can be a monthly or bimonthly thing?
sistawendy: a cartoon of me in club clothes (dolly)
To reepeat, this entry is not about Wave-Gotik Treffen. It's about two going away parties, both for friends who've fallen in love and are moving across the country to be with their respective sweeties, and the Mercury's 25th anniversary.

Shallow fashion details, one of which is relevant below: violet brocade corset from Dark Garden, violet accessories, black boot licker skirt from Gallery Serpentine, and the Fluevog Atria boots that I got for my fiftieth birthday. Yes, the knee-high boots with the rococo heels. I dropped a lot of money on rideshares yesterday because transit was not happening in those boots, and indeed couldn't happen to one of my destinations.

Party #1: The Purdy Persian roasted a whole piglet, dubbed "Pigcasso", and served it up with many other goodies on the roof of her apartment building. I'm glad I didn't listen to the Florida voice in my head and wore a coat, because it was windy up there. Honestly, I'm kind of glad I had an excuse to go, because a lot of the guests were tech bros or bro-adjacent. I wish the PP all happiness in New York State.

Party #2: R of J&R fame has found his lady love in Pittsburgh, PA. He located his party at a friend's house south of Seattle. Honestly, I had more fun here. Many Burners, and R trying his darndest to give away all his booze because movers don't want to deal with it. (I brought a bag and left with a couple of bottles, even though I'm not much for cocktails.) This one is going to sting, because R, for all his imperfections, has been there for me when I needed him. As I told Tacoma Girl, I'm 65% happy for him, 30% jealous, and 5% worried it won't work out. She expressed a qualitatively similar opinion.

The Mercury 25th Anniversary: Let me tell you how sweet Dancer is: she drove us there, and she brought a camping chair for me to sit in as the line to get into the Mercury stretched down the block. It was quite the sardine scene, on a level with membership drive nights. The difference was that old-timers who I hadn't seen in the Mercury in at least ten years showed up including the ever-dapper Graves and the Empress*. A of A&J fame dressed in silver sparklies because of course she did. Despite stopping by home to drop off the booze and take my boots off briefly, my feet were pretty trashed not long after arrival. I didn't get up much, but that's OK because we really needed a table bitch.

I gotta love it when Dancer asks me, "How flexible are you?" The answer turns out to be, flexible enough to put my boot on your shoulder from a sitting position. I made a spectacle of myself. That, Dreamwidth friends, is what the Mercury is for. It's also for getting flirted with for the second time by a certain lady M.

Oh, the Merc is also for rather strong drinks; Shiny G had something that I could smell from a couple of feet away, possibly poured even stronger than usual because the drink line stretched all the way to the far exit at one point.




*I'm the only one who calls her the Empress. Cyrus, Cyra. Get it?
sistawendy: me in the Mercury's alley with the wind catching my hair (smoldering windblown Merc alley)
Jeez, has it only been two days since my last post? It feels like longer, because I've been a social butterfly.

Social thing #1: I saw [personal profile] gement! In their back yard! In the sun! And, well, it felt a little like a "summarize Proust" competition because I hadn't seen them since before the pandemic. My dating, travel, and sex toy adventures were among the things I remembered to tell them. They've been... spending a lot of time at home. They've been laid off from one of the tech giants and they have severe anxiety. The pandemic really didn't help their mental health, and they had their issues even before. I'm not sure how they're making ends meet, and it felt rude to ask.

Social thing #2: The Tickler came over! We had Korean eetz both for dinner and for brunch! There were the kind of activities that I don't post about in unlocked entries! And then they drove my son and me to Ex's for...

Social thing #3: ...carpooling to drinks in Kirkland for Ex's fella's birthday. Believe it or not, I had a good time. Mr. Right Now's wife's girlfriend works for Children's Hospital with trans kids, so she had lots of interesting things to say. I told her about the four Cs: coffee, coding, camming, and cat ears.

Ex gave me her late mother's iPad. I'm now determined to read a book by a trans author on that iPad, and maybe do other things with it that Nibsmother wouldn't approve of.

You wish you were here: there have been four perfect, sunny days in a row here in Seattle, and the cherries are blooming. Aw, yeah.
sistawendy: me in the Mercury's alley with the wind catching my hair (smoldering windblown Merc alley)
I had a slightly dull week, followed by a brilliantly overscheduled weekend. (That's sarcasm in case it wasn't clear.) So I'll try to keep this short enough to finish before the Tickler arrives.

On Thursday while out grocery shopping I ran into [personal profile] plantae! I invited her over to the Devil Girl House, after of course warning her about the devil girls on the walls. She came over and... drank nothing because nearly everything I have to drink is either caffeinated or alcoholic. But it was lovely! There have been no more MOOer gatherings since the start of the pandemic; that was where I usually saw her. And then she had some capital-I Issues with her health. But then I moved into her neighborhood! She's one of these people I don't really get, but like a lot anyway.

Friday at 1400: XBB COVID shot.
Friday at 1715: My first hair appointment with [profile] razorbits for the first time in twelve weeks. (I was a jeenyus and scheduled my previous appointment during Folsom.)
Friday at 2100: The Mercury with[profile] ack_yeahright! She had all kinds of info about Treffen – she says to get lodging now, now, now, unfortunately. She also had Burning Man plans which I might even be tempted to join in on. And she had all sorts of juicy tidbits about her trashy ex and his girlfriend. To my surprise and delight, I didn't have too much to drink, introduced her to Lost Lake, and got home on the bus around 0100. I've invited her to the Devil Girl house next month, and we're going to hit Portland together in January. Awesomeness.

Four hours' sleep later, it was time to get sugared a week late – sick kid – then get the balance of my sleep and finish cleaning house.

Whew!

It should be a fabulous evening and brunch (?) with the Tickler. Watch this space.
sistawendy: me in my suffraget costume raising a finger in front of the Vogue (oh yeah)
Now that I have more wall space than I used to, after over ten years I finally got around to framing and hanging art pieces that I've never hung before. The are:
  1. A J.R. "Bob" Dobbs image, right next to the bouncy chairs so it stares vapidly at anyone sitting there. I bought it fair and square from the Church of the Subgenius.
  2. A watercolor of a bird by [personal profile] kathrynt. There are two people who, more than any others, got me through transition. One, as regular readers surely know, is [personal profile] cupcake_goth. Kathryn is the other, but I hardly ever get to see her anymore because she lives in an outer suburb. (Back in the day I lived in relatively nearby inner suburb and was car scum.) I miss her, and now I have a reminder of her in a prominent place.
sistawendy: The Downmoo logo: a pink triangle with an upside down cow and downward arrow (dead gay moo)
Dw i'n hoffi caws.
sistawendy: a cartoon of me saying "Praise Bob!" (prabob)
So, there's someone who I'm reluctant to identify, but who has a lot of mutual friends with me. She dug herself out of "the mud", as she put it, of small-town Washington state, then wrestled ADHD to the mat to get through college, then got a Ph.D.

And now? You know those scientists in the movies who save the earth from asteroids? She's the real thing. You've no idea how much I admire her; what's in this entry isn't the half of it.

Why am I posting about her now? Well, we've kept in touch, even though she's long since moved far away. She's involved in NASA's DART mission that just launched last night. She sent me the link to the live video, and we both watched it.

Mazel tov, Dr. Wyvern. You've earned it.
sistawendy: a cartoon of me in club clothes (dolly)
I had a nice long video call with the Tickler on Saturday. We are making plans and I am psyched for it.

Another call on Sunday night with Taller Woman. She wants to go for a socially distanced nature walk out in Redmond. I said yes. I mean, why not? And when we were talking of the Pride that didn't happen, I mentioned my longtime ambition of riding bitch as a Dyke on a Bike. Says she, "I have a motorcycle endorsement." All she needs is the bike. I shall look into this. Like Temptress in days of yore, she got excited when she found out I live near a dealership for expensive European motorcycles.

I saw J the Fashionista last night in person at her cousin's place. For the first time since she found out, she didn't cry about R cheating on her. Progress, I think. It's a relief.

Dentist today. There were lots of masks and a temperature check. The hygienist was one I'd never met, and she was weirdly chatty, which is a hell of a thing to be in the middle of a pandemic of respiratory disease.

Driving on I-405 in Bellevue is worse than driving on I-5 in Seattle these days. That kind of reflects the reality on the ground.
sistawendy: me in profile in a Renaissance dress at a party (contemplative red)
[CW: Suicide.]

First, some history: There used to be a largish restaurant & bar on Broadway in Seattle called the Broadway Grill. It was loud, it had a somewhat gay vibe and occasional drag events, and it had pretty good food & drinks. [personal profile] dagard, who lived in the neighborhood, spent many an evening there, some of them with me. I think he liked to think he was imparting wisdom. I could often smell bullshit, but for better or worse I kept my mouth shut about that.

The Broadway Grill closed years ago and remained empty for some time. Apparently the place or its equipment needed expensive repairs or maybe replacement. The building's owners, as I recall, were out-of-state investors and could afford to be patient. And during that time, in March of 2016, [personal profile] dagard committed suicide. That messed with my head, to put it mildly.

At the start of this year Olmstead opened in the old Broadway Grill space, a restaurant and bar with apparently the same floor plan. One of my extended Burner buddies gets a regular group together for drinks, and she decided to check out this new place. Lots of people showed up, including [personal profile] domestinatrix.

So, how does Olmstead compare to the old Broadway Grill? Read on.
  • Drinks: I think Olmstead wins at presentation, hands down. Orchids in the mojitos. Owl-shaped copper mugs. I only had a couple of beers, but others said the cocktails are right on. There are ingredients on the drink menu that I don't recognize, of course. The Grill had some excellent bartenders that Dag dealt with with personally and extensively, but I think Olmstead is at least their equal.
  • Food: The nibbles I had were pretty great. [profile] corprew was disappointed with the poutine. I'll call this a wash.
  • Decor: I think the Grill won. I remember liking it all those years ago, and Olmstead has a lot of blank, verdigris-painted walls.
  • Prices: Olmstead is a little spendy, which is to be expected after several years of Amazon's depredations and the staggering debt Olmstead's owners must have incurred to fix the place up. But I don't recall the Grill being all that good a deal, either. That wasn't why anyone went there.
  • Vibe: Too soon to tell. I was there about 1700-1900, and people are just finding out about the place, so it wasn't busy.
Did I exorcise the demons from that space? Maybe. I'll just have to go back, like on a date or something.
sistawendy: me in my nurse costume looking weirded out (weirded out)
I got back a few minutes ago from a long - six and a half hours! - chat with [personal profile] tylik over coffee and eventual eetz because I got hungry. Among the many things I learned from her spicy brains:
  1. I worked with her father almost thirty years ago!
  2. Unbeknownst to me at the time, he was a monster. I had reason to suspect he was a creep, but not the vile criminal that he was.
  3. Large swathes of her and her siblings' childhoods were horror shows. "Fucked up" doesn't begin to cover it.
  4. Despite that, and in some respects because of it, [personal profile] tylik has done and is doing all the things successfully.
Which makes me think, first of all, that I'm one lucky beeyotch: I told her the opera story. But second, what have I done with that luck? What am I doing with it now? Those are not comfortable questions for me.
sistawendy: me in C18-inspired makeup looking amused (amused eighteenthcent)
Lovely evening last night all dressed up as Imperatrix Mundi hanging with the MOO kroo. One of Funny Lady's friends was throwing a party that wasn't all that far away from the first one, but I was having such a good time with the MOOers that by the time I was ready to go, it was around midnight. That seemed like a bit late to show up elsewhere, and I was about out of juice anyway. Je ne regrette rien.
sistawendy: me at a house party cradling a taco like a baby (taco madonna)
I spent some time yesterday riding FM Bike to [personal profile] gfish's house, a four-mile round trip, where he machined a widget for me. There was sawing, drilling, milling, hammering, and grinding involved. No, that's not dirty, unless you count little bits of metal.

And what was the nature of this widget? Ah, that's why I had to take my bike and not a bus. FM Bike has a basket attached to the handlebars via clamps. It really wants to rotate around the handlebars, which is annoying even in the best of circumstances because when I go over a big bump, my basket may mash my fender into my front tire. And if you want to carry much weight, say a backpack full of water and Burner gear, forget it. I needed a widget that I could slide onto the bolts holding the basket on and underneath the nearly horizontal part of the front fork that attaches the handlebars to the rest of the bike.

The widget is a piece of stainless steel with slots carefully milled in it, with bend in the shape of a shallow V hammered into the middle. All it took was that and two locking nuts and I can now bike my way to happiness. And may I say again how much I love living just down the hill from a hardware store?

You may ask why I didn't get a pannier bag to start with. Here you go:
  1. Handlebar baskets are cheaper.
  2. You can get things into and out of a handlebar basket without dismounting.
  3. I put gnarly fenders on FM Bike before my basket. A pannier wouldn't have fit over the rear fender.
  4. Seeing as how FM bike is a hybrid mountain bike, I can't be sure slim fenders or indeed a pannier would have fit her* anyway.
I was once again jealous of [personal profile] gfish's mad machining skillz. I'm rather less jealous of what he's spent on equipment and (barely enough) space to put it all, awesome though his shop is. Much gratitude to him! If he ever needs anything from the trans mafia, he has only to ask.



*If dolls can be girls, so can my bike.
sistawendy: me in a green velvet dress in front of a brick wall, laughing and looking up as I think, "WTF?" (wtf laughing)
I had dinner with [profile] rigel_p, just the two of us, at a pretty good Indian place near Southcenter mall. She didn't make it up here at all over the winter holidays because she had pneumonia. (!) We talked SCIENCE and dating and Santa Fe and solar energy and my mom and her parents and a bunch of the people up here who she knows better than I do. Let's just say I'm glad no one else was sitting too close. She seems to be kicking ass and taking names in every aspect of life worth mentioning, to the point where I'm a little jealous of her - not for the first time. It was one of those dinners that I didn't want to end, even after I ran out of things to say.

And from the Dept. of People Observation, there was a table of four or five remarkably elegant-looking hijabi ladies there while we were there. I wonder if they noticed Rigel's now partly anime-colored hair - she's a boss lady now - and my Pride-and-stars-n-stripes leggings. There was hardly anyone there in a big restaurant on a Saturday night, and the food was right on. Puzzling.
sistawendy: a cartoon of me in club clothes (dolly)
Friday: Shook my booty at a PsyOps night at Substation. As much as I dug the trance music, the dance floor freak in phat pants and a mask, the opaque Holy Mountain beer (?!), and that one dude's hat that glowed in the black lights, I just couldn't handle being out much after midnight on a Friday. I'm getting old, people.

Oh: saw the Lady With an Unbelievable Name (LWUN, or L1). She was cute, stripey, and badass in her handling of handsy Canadians, but I don't plan to make further moves in her direction.

Yesterday: Only Lovers Left Alive with a small group of MOO-related friends. Observations:
  • The sound on Blu-Ray discs always drives me batty.
  • Tilda Swinton isn't really my type - yeah, I know, take my queer card - but she's surprisingly low-key sexy in this movie.
  • The movie is a slice of life, or, I guess, a slice of undeath. If you want action & pace, go elsewhere. Still, I liked the movie because I loved the characters.
sistawendy: me in C18-inspired makeup looking amused (amused eighteenthcent)
Pah-tayed with MOOers as the Angel of Death again. Watched [personal profile] gfish's weird Youtube selections because I couldn't. Look. Away. Ate many of [personal profile] gement's diabolical cheezy crackers with a Rajneeshi connection. Pretty ossum, despite my son's last minute refusal to come along. He needn't have worried about not having a costume, and I even promised not to call him my date.

My electrolysis appointment was an hour earlier than usual today. I had it right in my calendar but not in my head, so when my phone issued the half-hour reminder I said a mental 'Oh, shit' and tore down I-5, arriving twenty minutes late for my one-hour session. Ms. Zappy was still able to get all of my face and neck, even if she did have to skip my chest and nipples. Luckily, I could only find a couple of hairs on the latter.
sistawendy: me in a green velvet dress in front of a brick wall, laughing and looking up as I think, "WTF?" (wtf laughing)
I picked up Much Younger Woman last night after she got done shuttling around [personal profile] neuro42, who introduced us and who's just had surgery on his sinuses. I somehow hadn't heard just how bad his condition was; I'm a little loath to detail it here because internet, but let's just say they're the latest in a series of unlikely, unrelated, and serious medical problems that have dogged him since early childhood. I realize there may be people reading this who have reason not to think kindly of him, but damn, the universe has paid him back with interest.

So, no vegan eetz with Much Younger Woman, but we did make it to [personal profile] gfish & R's "Everything But Rocky" movie night to see Zardoz. Sean Connery in a banana hammock! Bewbz! Seventies sci-fi at its Wisconsin-level cheesiest! Bless its earnest little poorly-directed heart. Many yuks were had, some of them quite loud. We vote on which movie we're seeing next, and the list to choose from now stretches well into the dozens.

And yes, it was good to see MYW again. Will I see more of her? She said more than once that she was going to have more time in the future thanks to economic reasons, so maybe? She's a lot of fun.
sistawendy: Me at the start of my 50th birthday party at Mokedo. Photo & makeup credit: Codee Bradley. (50th birthday)
Friday night: dinner with [profile] rigel_p, who was in town for Norwescon, and her beau C. We swapped tales of Sydney and science. Happiness.

No accounts of Sybil this weekend. While I was waiting for [profile] rigel_p I got to hang out with [personal profile] minim_calibre - yay! - and talk about sex toys. Her protestations to the contrary, I think she's a guru. (She's definitely a guru about nails and scents.) The trouble is, chatting with her gave me the hornies late at night when I couldn't reasonably use Sybil without being a jerk neighbor. So ahem.

Last night: A party hosted by Funny Lady and her crew. I don't know if it devolved toward the end because I left at the reasonable hour of about 0045, but yeah, fantastic cocktails & space-themed costumes.

Today: a certain Burner couple's easter egg hunt. See above for why I showed up too late for the actual egg-finding. Fabulous food, and stories of bodily injury. You know, a Burner gathering.

No, hanging out with my friends doesn't make very interesting blog copy, but I think I needed it. I'm much happier for having done so.
sistawendy: me in profile in a Renaissance dress at a party (contemplative red)
Shiro's with Funny Lady Wednesday? Fabulous, natch. When we get together we talk, a lot, and then she's late for something like dinner or changing into a costume. I could have gone to the regular monthly poly thing just a couple of blocks away, but I needed the sleep. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.

Last night? I took the 522 (A new bus route for me!) out to Bothell to have drinks & nibbles with [personal profile] kathrynt. She, if you'll recall, was my voice coach during transition, only much more than that. With her tea, sympathy, and fabulous Stilton cheese, she was one of the two people who helped me the most in my hour of direst need. (The other was, of course, [personal profile] cupcake_goth.) So I keep in touch.

[personal profile] kathrynt's two children are still in the single digits, age-wise. She was pregnant with her younger one while coaching me. Now she's found out he's got some mighty serious ADD. I mean she makes him sound like the Wendling on steroids, with the exception that my son was disruptive in class past a certain age. She's got plenty of parental self-doubt, as did Ex and I, but I think she's doing a whole lot of things right, or as right as it's possible to know under current circumstances. She's probably doing a better job than I did when my son was that age. If anyone can raise her son to self-sufficiency, she's the one. The trouble is, I'm not entirely certain that precondition can be met.

I didn't get home until midnight despite the pretty reasonable bus service. She was kind enough to let me keep warm in her car while waiting for the bus at her end.

It felt weird interleaving tales of Folsom and my birthday with her non-stop parenting. She & I are in such different places in our lives, but I wish I got to see more of her.
sistawendy: me in C18-inspired makeup looking amused (amused eighteenthcent)
Dinner at Capitol Cider - gluten free - and ice cream, and Christmas shopping at Elliott Bay with [profile] rigel_p. I got to tell her all about Folsom and dating and birthday, oh my! In between coughs, which Everyday Music seemed to weirdly exacerbate.

Where things got a little strange was when we decided it was time to go home, around 2215. We could hear, but not see, a man being loudly mentally ill or otherwise unpleasant, on or more likely right next to a 49 on Broadway. The 49 didn't move and kept its flashers on. No fewer than four police cars zoomed up as [profile] rigel_p and I discussed transportation options. The yelling stopped somewhere in there.

She quietly expressed a strong desire to GTFO of there fast, even though the bus was at the other end of the block from us and across the street. Luckily, we were kitty corner from Capitol Hill station, and downtown is the best place to catch a bus or car share anyway. And she'd never noticed the Jet Kiss art installation, which I love.

Why so nervous? I don't know. She's got significantly less to fear from cops in general than I do, and I wasn't worried. It's worth noting, though, that her birth father was abusive.

We got to my usual bus stop across from work, and she didn't want me waiting alone in the cold and drizzle. She proposed that I drive her to her hotel up north - which, as I said, I would have been thrilled to do (Shaddup) had my son not had my car. So she hopped in an Uber (grr) after extracting a promise from me to text when I got home. I did.

Folks, I've taken the bus home at all kinds of ungodly hours. 2300 last night was fine as usual, human-wise, if a little chilly & damp.

In summation, [profile] rigel_p continues to be amazing. And full of surprises. And really pretty.
Burning birthday party questions:
  1. How much sushi per person?
  2. How do I count someone who doesn't respond to the invitation in any way? Showing up after failing to RSVP when asked is pretty tacky, but people do it.
sistawendy: me in a green velvet dress in front of a brick wall, laughing and looking up as I think, "WTF?" (wtf laughing)
I got word from [profile] rigel_p that she'd be in town this week. She has family & friends in the area, so she decided to go eclipse viewing with some of them. The esteemed wyvern* is something of a celebrity, especially to people who know her, which means everyone including me wants a piece of her whenever she's here. So I was honored that after a couple of tries she carved out ninety minutes to have ginger beer with me to talk about work, dating, m'boy (She shares one of his mental quirks to a lesser degree, so I consider her advice invaluable), and all kinds of geeky stuff. She says the "'80s rock star" look that I'm wearing right now** suits me.

After seeing her off, I was hungry and found myself surrounded by a preponderance of restaurants on Pike & Pine halfway up the Hill. So I stopped in Kizuki for old school non-instant ramen and a beer. There was a line to get a table, but the food & service are right on. A+ would slurp again. Three of the staff said "Thank you" in Japanese on the way out, and I noticed that only the Asian girl used the (correct in that situation, I believe) perfect tense.

I could have jumped on an 11 and gotten downtown faster, but there was someone cute walking toward me, so I headed for the train. On the way I passed Stumptown Coffee, which has closed at that location. The Elder Goths reading this will remember that as the location of Aurafice, where goffee (i.e. Goth coffee) happened on Wednesday nights early this century and spilled out onto the sidewalk. I found myself wondering, and not for the first time, what it would take to make something like that happen again. The Board is long gone; could the local Goth Facebook groups provide adequate publicity? I'd have to see that to believe it, and it would still need an organizer, I think. We elders*** have things like kids and demanding jobs and big creative projects these days, not to mention residences far from the Hill so we can afford them. No, if anything like that ever happens again, it'll be a younger generation that makes it happen, probably, as much as I'd like to think otherwise.



*Her long-ago MOO character, as mine was a depraved nun.
**SFDs: Purple Bombsheller leggings, black nearly-sleeveless top with my heavy metal belt, Fluevog Truth Alisons, relatively subdued mostly MAC makeup. Yes, I dressed kind of sexy for her. Shaddup.
***I'm a Janey-come-lately to the scene, relatively, but let's face it: I can remember Watergate.

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