dorchadas: (FFXIV Warrior of Light)
Last night I finished off the final part of Stormblood that I wanted to complete--I cleared the last dungeon of Eureka, the Baldesion Arsenal, and got my proto-Ozma mount!


Final Fantasy XIV - Ozma mount

I wrote about it in my Stormblood review, but Eureka is deliberately a throwback to Final Fantasy XI. Most of the gameplay revolves around chaining monster kills together to get better drops and spawn more powerful Notorious Monsters, and the very end of the story is an 56-player open-world dungeon--unique in FFXIV--containing a bunch of bosses that require supreme coordination to defeat. Or at least, that's what I knew before I went in.

It's actually not that bad nowadays. In much the same way that WoW Classic players killed Ragnaros after a few days instead of taking months because now they actually know how to play and the math of every single ability and fight have long since been worked out, people have Eureka down to a science. There's a discord for Aether, my datacenter, that coordinates Baldesion Arsenal runs literally every single night and sometimes multiple times per night, and last night the timing worked out well enough that I was able to go--Laila and [instagram.com profile] sashagee were both asleep, I had been the one to put Laila to bed so I wasn't taking un-earned time, and my book group had ended a bit earlier than normal so it wasn't overlapping with everything. I set up all my logos actions (special abilities that can only be used in Eureka), signed up through the Discord, and joined the party that it DMed me the info of.

After having watched a huge pile of bodies appear in Eureka Hydatos headquarters two nights ago thanks to a botched BA run, I thought I'd be in for a harrowing experience, but it was extremely easy. The first two bosses, Art/Owain and Raiden, both died in about three minutes each, with Raiden only getting off a single mechanic, and then when we got to the infamous Absolute Virtue, the boss that took FFXI players an 18-hour fight to finally defeat after years of failed attempts--here's a blog post about one such attempt from back when people didn't know exactly what AV's mechanics were--it died in four minutes before ever getting to use its Call Wyvern skill. I was nervous when we got to Proto-Ozma, because I knew that unlike the version in Weeping City of Mhach, Proto-Ozma's Black Hole straight-up sucks you out of the dungeon and you get no rewards, but I needn't have worried. The player doing the calls on Discord led us through the fight beautifully, and the only screwup, when two people took a meteor to the same location instead of separating the blasts, was nullified through the use of a tank Limit Break. Ozma died, I got my mount, and I'm done with Eureka!

Well, not done done. I still want to improve my elemental armor sets to +2, which requires more drops from the Baldesion Arsenal. [instagram.com profile] sashagee hasn't done Eureka at all and I promised I'd go there with her. There's still some very rare drops I'll either get or, more likely, make enough money to just buy. But the story and the achievement are mine, and I no longer have to be jealous of people flying around on their tamed FFIX boss!
dorchadas: (Maedhros A King Is He (No Text))
Well, this is definitely some of the biggest news I've ever posted about:

2021-05-13 - Sleepy Laila

Laila Rose (from לילה, "night") was born at 4:02 p.m. May 13th.

Originally, [instagram.com profile] sashagee and I were just going into the hospital on Wednesday because she wasn't feeling well. She had a headache and was starting to get spotty vision, and while she had an appointment later that day with the midwives she didn't think she should wait that long, so I took the afternoon off and drove her to the ob/gen triage at the hospital like the midwives had suggested if anything seemed out of the ordinary. When she got there, they did standard intake, put her in a room, and then hooked her up to a fetal heartrate monitor. That caused a huge flurry of activity because the baby's heartrate was around 110--very low for babies--and didn't have much variability, so several nurses ran in and started prepping, a doctor came in, and just as she was explaining the risks of an emergency C-section to [instagram.com profile] sashagee, the baby's heartrate recovered back up to the ~140 you want it at.

Obviously they couldn't send us home after almost scheduling an emergency surgery, though, and since Laila was one day overdue anyway they decided to induce labor. [instagram.com profile] sashagee was originally going to do a natural birth--we got a preview of this later in the evening when we heard a woman screaming somewhere down the hall and then, about twenty minutes later, a baby crying--but once her contractions started she almost passed out multiple times, so she opted for an epidural. That caused another flurry of activity because after administering the epidural, her blood pressure and the baby's heartrate both dropped, so more nurses came in, a doctor came in and started once again prepping for an emergency C-section Emoji Panic flailing ...and then everything went back to normal again. With the epidural in, she was even able to get some sleep, while [instagram.com profile] thosesocks kindly came to pick me up and drive me back to our house to pick everything up that I had left behind when I thought it was a simple doctor's visit.

They started the second stage of inducing labor around 3:40 p.m. on Thursday, and after 15 minutes of pushing, our daughter was born healthy! I ended up assisting with the labor, helping a nurse hold on to one of [instagram.com profile] sashagee's legs while she pushed. I admit, before we went to the hospital I was worried that I'd be squeamish about the birth, but I wasn't. I watched part of the placenta come out, followed by Laila's head, followed by the rest of her body in a rush, and I'll remember for the rest of my life the nurses laying Laila on [instagram.com profile] sashagee's chest as [instagram.com profile] sashagee cried and said "She's perfect."

Laila almost immediately went for the boob, so she and [instagram.com profile] sashagee had a bit of bonding time, then I got to hold her while the nurses checked [instagram.com profile] sashagee and cleaned her up, and then they took Laila over to be weighed (3500g exactly, much to the nurses' surprise, about 7 lbs 11 oz) and measured (19 inches), and then while my parents came to visit--my father took me back to the house to shower and eat, since [instagram.com profile] sashagee got a bunch of meals but I got nothing--they moved her to the new mom and baby section where we spent the next two days. That was the less-exciting part, where they did tests, [instagram.com profile] sashagee fed Laila, I slept on the inflatable/pull-out couch thing, and [instagram.com profile] sashagee healed while they made sure nothing serious went wrong with either her or Laila. After the last test came back clear, showing slightly higher-than-normal new baby jaundice but nothing serious, they let us go and we came back home with our newborn daughter! It's been a bit rough at home caring for her without the nurses to ask for advice and help--she refuses to even be in her bassinet for more than a few minutes, even when I'm actively cooing at her and holding her hands to show her that I'm still right there--but I know there's an adjustment period and I'm determined to adjust!

I'm a father!! Emoji eye bugging out

Bonus picture of Laila showing her resemblance to Kirby Emoji Kirby cheering:

2021-15-13 - Laila very round cheeks
Kirbaby.
dorchadas: (Maedhros A King Is He (No Text))
As I speak, the dryer is going with the first load of laundry.

As I wrote about a month ago, we had a leak in the wall that required a hefty plumber's bill to fix. I went back and forth with the association for a while trying to wrangle payment out of them and last Friday they finally sent me an email with an image of the full repayment. So I told my parents, and since my father had offered to come fix the wall, he and my mother spent pretty much the entire weekend at our place with him doing the work. I helped where I could, but to my slight embarrassment it ended up being probably 99% my father's doing--the laundry closet is small enough that only one person can fit in there at a time, so I couldn't even really help with painting or holding anything. I mostly just passed tools to him when he needed them and held down baseboard when he was cutting them.

But the laundry room is fixed and redone and now we can do laundry again! Time to do the fluffy new towels we bought. Emoji ~Cat Planet

Maternity photos!

2021-Apr-14, Wednesday 14:49
dorchadas: (FFVIII Squall and Rinoa dancing)
Just a brief note (I have more I'm writing that'll come later), but if you want to see [instagram.com profile] sashagee's maternity photos, she posted some of them on her instagram here!

COVID shot

2021-Feb-15, Monday 09:41
dorchadas: (Perfection)
Just a quick note that I got my first shot of the COVID vaccine (Moderna version)! I was at the clinic for another post-surgery follow-up on Friday and while I was talking to the doctor, a nurse stuck her head into the exam room and said that they had an extra dose of the vaccine that was going to expire and would I like it? Obviously I said yes, so they gave me the shot, watched me for fifteen minutes to make sure that I didn't have an adverse reaction, and then sent me home. The injection site was sore, but that's all that happened and now I go in next month for my second shot and then I'll be (mostly) immune!

[instagram.com profile] sashagee can't get the vaccine since she's pregnant, so this is a real blessing.
dorchadas: (Cowboy Bebop Butterfly)
A couple days late to this news, obviously, but we have a coronavirus vaccine and it works.

Back in April I was very skeptical that this would happen, I think for good reason. The fastest previous vaccine had taken years. Less than ten percent of vaccines under development ever make it through trials and are approved. Yet here we are, with not just one vaccine but multiple vaccines. That's even better, because there's greater odds that if someone can't take any particular vaccine due to health concerns, one of the other vaccines might work for them.

They put music over footage of the first shipment of vaccine being wheeled into a hospital:


The top tweet is here, with the NBA on ESPN theme, though there are quite a few examples in the thread.

Given what we knew in April, I still think I was right to be skeptical then, but I'm glad I was wrong. We still have some months of restrictions in play as the vaccine is rolled out and we try to figure out how likely people who've been vaccinated are to spread the plague even if they aren't affected by it--latest results are very promising--but the end is in sight, and much sooner than a lot of people (and me) expected. Emoji La
dorchadas: (In America)
I'm not online for Shabbat, but I still knew exactly what was happening yesterday. It's unseasonably warm in Chicago, above 20°C for days, and so we had the windows open and we could hear cars honking and shouting and cheering from outside. [twitter.com profile] lisekatevans texted me at 11:30 a.m. telling me that it was basically over. Later, I went out for a walk to see the fall colors and see what was going on, and when I walked into Clark Street there were cars going up and down the street, honking their horns and cheering:

2020-11-07 - Andersonville Celebrations

Brought to you by gay communists for socialism. There were literally people dancing and singing in the streets. As I've seen multiple places, it was more like the population celebrating the fall of a dictator rather than the election of a new president. Which isn't half-wrong--with Trump's repeated statements about not accepting the results of the election, and maybe seeking additional terms past a second one if he was elected again. He was very clearly angling for additional power and the Republican Party and their voters was perfectly happy to let him.

That's the real issue here--the environment that gave rise to Trump still exists. More Republicans voted for Trump in 2020 than in 2016, meaning they looked at incipient fascism and decided that they wanted more of it. Deliberate cruelty as the primary driver of government policy. As the tweet says:

We have to show that their attitudes are unacceptable while allowing them an opportunity to change their mind. As frustrating as it might be, giving them no path back means they'll just double-down repeatedly. A lot of them will do that anyway, but it's important for the future of the country that we reduce the prevalence of fascist beliefs in the Republican Party without compromising our own. Progressive policy did well in the election--people want change that helps them. A big chunk of them just apparently want a tyrannical blowhard to do it.

Still, we are in an objectively better situation than we were a few days ago!

Danger! Danger!

2020-Jul-04, Saturday 15:19
dorchadas: (Chiyoda)
On Friday [instagram.com profile] sashagee and I went shopping in Andersonville mostly because all my knives are super dull and I need to fix that, but also so we could look at some of the shops around there and get donuts at Dollop Diner. While out, we walked into Five Elements so I could finally get some new chopsticks to replace the old ones that I've had for a decade with the lacquer flaking off, and as I was in there, the shop clerk excitedly said that he liked my mask--plain black with ("danger") written on it--and asked me if I knew what it meant. I said "danger," we chatted a bit, and then when [instagram.com profile] sashagee and I were done looking around and went up to the counter, he handed me this:

2020-07-03 - Five elements calligraphy
Left is Japanese, right is Chinese.

Apparently most customers get one with something like "beauty" or "dreams," but he said this was the most appropriate choice for me. Emoji Kirby smile
dorchadas: (Warcraft Stormcrow)
Hey, remember going outside? That was pretty cool, right? At least, in theory--right now I'm sitting in my sun nook and watching snow come down furiously outside my window, which means that Fool's Spring is over and winter has returned to Chicago. At least until tomorrow, when it'll be 13° C out. Welcome to the Midwest--other places have four seasons, and so do we, we just have them over the course of twenty-four hours.

I first heard of A Short Hike when [twitter.com profile] meowtima played through it a couple weeks ago, so I put it on my wish list. Then a week or so ago it went on sale, and after waffling over it for a couple days I bought it. [facebook.com profile] aaron.hosek had bought it at the same time, and we fired it up at the same time. He works for Chicago Public Schools so he has more free time than me right now and beat it first, and came back into our group chat and said it was a masterpiece. And especially now, in the Plague Year when life is not super great, I agree. Get this game.

A Short Hike soaring over the forest
With the greatest of ease.

Read more... )
dorchadas: (Perfection)
I did so much this weekend, everyone.

BBQ Shabbat, Rickicles, and beach day )

Today is Purim, so I'm fasting for Ta'anit Esther, because even though I completed a tractate of the Talmud and thus am eligible for a siyyum, I did it mostly by listening to podcasts and catching Daf Yomi memes, so I don't really feel like I'm actually eligible. Tonight is the Mishkam Purim party, which was the first major Mishkan even I went to after Kol Nidre, and I'm excited! I just need to concentrate on my work long enough to get there.

What an amazing weekend! Emoji ~Cat Planet
dorchadas: (Kirby Celebrating with food)
Happy New Year! I drank too much last night and I haven't felt 100% today, but it was nice and relaxing. [instagram.com profile] thosesocks invited me and some other people over for a quiet day listening to folk music and eating cheese. I made zenzai, traditional Japanese red bean New Year's soup, and [instagram.com profile] thosesocks made tea for us all, and now I'm at home with a wood-wick candle burning and watching Reverse Angle's take on the 1998 Godzilla.

It's been a good year. On Facebook, I wrote:
I went into 2019, teeth barred and a knife behind my back, ready to immediately start stabbing the moment it looked like anything was threatening.

Three, maybe four months in, I put the knife down and kept walking, and I haven't felt the lack.

People repeatedly tell me how different I am. How I seem like an almost completely different person than I used to. They tell me that I'm more social than they could have imagined even for themselves, and ask me how I have the energy to do it. My *sister* told me that she was jealous of my social life and asked me for my secret, and let me tell you, that was the day that Hell froze over.

At my last party, people kept asking me "How do you know all these people!?"

The story of the last decade was, I suppose, of being a plant in a glass bottle. I had plenty of light and water, but when I hit the edge of the bottle I just stopped growing and I figured that was the limit of the world. When in 2018 the glass shattered, I thought that it was a world-ending disaster...but it actually let me grow in ways I hadn't thought were previously possible.

In 2019 I made a bunch of new friends. I started dating again. I put down the video games that have defined my life for thirty years because I *don't have time to play* because I'm too busy seeing people, going to theatre shows, watching movies at friends' houses, and going to museums. I am, in other words, a new man.

So, bring on the roaring 2020s. Give me neon noir, synthwave jazz, electric-blue cocktails in dingy speakeasies, black trenchcoats with collars turned up against climate-change-induced polar vortices, and, hopefully, a story I can start with "And then she walked in." I am more than ready
So there's a good summary of my year! It was a great year overall.

The song that defined my 2018 was "Dynasty," by Miia:


The scar I can't reverse
When the more it heals the worse it hurts
Gave you every piece of me, no wonder it's missing
Don't know how to be so close to someone so distant

And all I gave you is gone
Tumbled like it was stone
Thought we built a dynasty that heaven couldn't shake
Thought we built a dynasty like nothing ever made
Thought we built a dynasty forever couldn't break
Up


But the song that defined 2019 was "Gorgeous" by Illenium:


Sometimes I gotta pinch myself
Oh, gorgeous
Hello today
Well let me introduce myself
Oh, gorgeous

All those days that passed me by
I can’t believe I’m still alive
They say you need the dark to shine
It’s like I can see for the first time
And it’s gorgeous
It was a good year.

Here's my answers for the traditional New Year's forty questions meme:

Forty questions )

So, it's been a year

2019-Nov-20, Wednesday 12:54
dorchadas: (Warcraft Night Elf Free)
I was surprised when Facebook told me yesterday that I divorced [personal profile] schoolpsychnerd a year ago. I had honestly completely forgotten that the anniversary was approaching.

...which says it all, doesn't it? Emoji ~ Dancing Meow

I described it a couple people as feeling like in the past, I had been stuffed in a box, and now I was taken out and I could take up space. Not even extra space, just space. [personal profile] schoolpsychnerd had a lot of trauma in her past, and she put in a lot of effort to overcome it, and I think she was mostly successful--more successful than a lot of people would have been. But our relationship, and my personality, still ended up bending around it due to its gravity.

I asked my therapist occasionally what had happened to the old me, pre-moving to Japan, who accepted [livejournal.com profile] jaiderai's invitation to travel two and a half hours to a college I'd never been to so I could meet a girl he knew and wanted to introduce me to, or who would hang out with friends after work all the time. And now I know the answer--he was there all the time, buried under everything piled on top of him. And over the last year I've pushed all that out of the way and stood on my feet. I've had a bunch of friends tell me how much I've changed, how I seem so much happier, how full my life seems now. All of that is correct.

And I can carry that hindsight forward. The reason I tagged this post 悟り is because I have a much better understanding of who I really am now, when I'm free to define it on my own terms. I remember my therapist being astonished at how much I changed over the course of the year-and-a-half we saw each other. At our last session, she told me:
"You seem really happy now. Some people never get there."
That post says I play plenty of video games, but I don't even do that lately! I've played five minutes of video games in the last month. I bought Link's Awakening the day it came out, played it the following weekend, and haven't touched it since. There's so much to do that I just don't have time.

Just look at my post for last weekend or the weekend before that for examples of what I mean. Last weekend, I very deliberately took the largest space of free time I had and filled it. I did the same thing tonight--I'm going to a lecture about architecture at a bar.

The previous chapter is definitely over. Now, it's time to live my life.

Yom Kippur

2019-Oct-10, Thursday 13:01
dorchadas: (Judaism Magen David)
בראש השנה יכתבון, וביום צום כיפור יחתמון
"On Rosh Hashanah it is written, and on Yom Kippur it is sealed."
-The Unetanah Tokef
Definitely glad I was here instead of at work, even if they did schedule a meeting on Yom Kippur:

The Day of Atonement )
dorchadas: (Warcraft Night Elf Free)
For now, anyway.

Last night was my final meeting with my therapist, who came back briefly from her maternity leave so we could have a concluding session. It was mostly me talking about some revelations I've had in the meantime (that aren't necessary to go into here), and her describing how she saw my progress over our time together, and especially when compared to the first time I saw her in 2016. She said that I was easier to talk to, that I seemed more present and less coldly formal in my interactions with her, and that I was overall happier. That it was progress that a lot of people are unable to make.

I think she's right. Not just because I feel happier--though I do--but also I've had a lot of friends tell me the same thing. I don't filter everything through ritual or particular requirements anymore, and I'm perfectly willing to drop my solitary evening plans if a friend texts or, vice versa, text a friend and see if they want to come along to whatever it is I'm doing that night. I make more plans, I go to more things, I do more. I still play plenty of video games, but I do it when I'm alone and don't make time for it. When I'm on my deathbed, I doubt my regrets will be like, "I never finished Witcher III."

I even spontaneously invited a bunch of people to Shabbat dinner tonight!Emoji back and forth dance No one could come, but that's understandable. We're all adults with lives. But that's something I never would have done a couple years ago without at least two weeks' planning. Of course, if I had planned further in advance, maybe people could have come, and I'll remember that for next time.

At the end, my therapist gave me a hug and said that she'd send an email when she was coming back from maternity leave to check up on me. Will I need it? I don't know--there's value in therapy even if there's nothing explicitly "wrong" with you. But at the moment, I'm happy to part with the knowledge that I've made enough progress to almost be a different person in some ways.

And now, forward. Emoji Mario walking forward Emoji Luigi walking forward
dorchadas: (Dreams are older)
I just got back from maybe the only vacation I've ever taken with the purposes of just relaxing. [twitter.com profile] lisekatevans invited me and some other friends up to her parents' lake house in Sand Lake, Michigan, for the weekend, so I took a half day on Friday, met her downtown at 1 p.m. with some other people, and we made our way up the interstate to our destination.

Normally I do an exhaustive account of everything I did when I take a trip like this, but almost everything we did on this trip comes under the heading of "relaxing," so I’m not going to do that. I’m going to do a photo essay instead.

Pictures below:

Food and nature, the two things I take pictures of )
dorchadas: (Judaism Magen David)
I feel a little badly for the woman who kept looking behind her as I was walking, presumably because she thought I was following her. I was, but only because we were both going to the same place. Emoji embarrassed rub head

I've been to Mishkan twice before, to Kol Nidre at the Vic and to the Purimspiel, but I've never been to Shabbat services before. I was a bit leery of actually going, becuase Mishkan's translations of the Hebrew tend to be a little...loose, let's say...in the past, and they rubbed me the wrong way, so I wasn't sure how well I would take to actual Shabbat services if they were handled the same way. It turned out that I had nothing to worry about.

There was a huge focus on music, with the rabbi and a group of people in the center (the more traditional style--historical the bimah was in the center, not up near the front) playing instruments and singing. A lot of nigunim (one example) between the Psalms and prayers, all of which really made it easy to get pulled in. They had that same minor-key, haunting quality that I remembered from Kol Nidre. In the past I've very strongly resisted being absorbed into nearly any group activity, no matter the context, but within a few minutes I was nodding and singing along. Once I figured the melodies out, because of course they were slightly different than the ones I was used to.

The most exciting part was the pidyon ha-ben ceremony, the symbolic "buying back" of a firstborn son from their duty of serving the priesthood. We haven't had priests or a temple in two millennia, but tradition is hard to eradicate, so the couple brought their son David and a friend who was a Kohen along, and the rabbi performed a, as she put, parody of the ceremony. She'd never done it before and admitted having to go to Chabad's website for some guidance on how it should be conducted. I say tradition is hard to eradicate, but this isn't something that's usually done in liberal Jewish circles.

I had to duck out after the Amidah to go to Starlight Radio Dreams--just this week Jewish Public Media put out a podcast entitled "Can I attend the theatre on Shabbat?" and my immediate response on seeing it was "Just @ me next time, rabbi"--but reluctantly. I really wanted to stay and hear the rabbi's discussion of Parashat Pinchas and of Tisha b'Av, but I had another commitment.

Next time, though, I'll stay through dinner. Emoji Kirby smile

CONvergence 2019

2019-Jul-09, Tuesday 09:25
dorchadas: (Enter the Samurai)
Previously, the only non-anime con I've been to is C2E2 2017, so I really wasn't sure what to expect from CONvergence. But a bunch of my friends told me they went and had a great time, and I was going with a bunch of people I knew, so I was sure that it would be at least pleasant.

It was more than pleasant. It was amazing.

Tuesday )

Wednesday )

Thursday )

Friday )

Saturday )

Sunday )

Monday )

I had such a wonderful time! As I said, I've only ever been to anime cons before, so I wasn't sure what I was getting into. The answer was "The Enchanted Forest!" But also a smaller con that's not blown up into a gigantic mess like ACEN is past the edge of becoming. I never had to wait in a huge line, I got into everything I wanted (as long as it didn't conflict with something else), and I didn't go to anything that wasn't worthwhile. Next year is a bit up in the air, since the con moved hotels this year and so CONvergence 2020 is in August rather than July, but if everyone goes I'll gladly come with them.

It was also nice to not feel like an ancient relic. At anime conventions, I always feel like I'm one of the oldest people there at 36. Admittedly, that does fit with anime--[twitter.com profile] lisekatevans and I were pretty scornful when Cowboy Bebop revealed that grizzled, world-weary ex-cop Jet Black is 36--but it's still disorienting sometimes. At CONvergence I was right in the middle of the age range, which is about where I should be. Emoji Kawaii frog

I used to make a con circuit, from 2005 to 2008, going to multiple cons every year. Maybe it's time to get back into that again. Emoji Kirby smile

Here’s one last picture of all the Bubbles and Baubles staff in their costumes:

Welcome to the Enchanted Forest! )

ACEN 2019!

2019-May-19, Sunday 16:40
dorchadas: (Enter the Samurai)
This is the first time I've gone to a con on Thursday in over a decade, since the last time I went to Ohayocon. But Anime Chicago was having one of their monthly mixers at the hotel where the con was taking place, and I really didn't want to head out all the way to Rosemont on a Thursday night, hang out, go back home, then turn around and go back to the hotel the next morning. I had kind of resigned myself to it when [facebook.com profile] RogueNire reached out and said I was welcome to stay Thursday night with her and [facebook.com profile] zbrund in their friends' room, so I prepped for a long con weekend.

I also took Monday off. Going to need extra recovery time.

Thursday )

Friday )

Saturday )

Sunday )

There was a lot of great cosplay I saw that I didn't have the chance to take a picture of. The NCR Ranger I mentioned up top. A group of Asian women dressed as platelets from Hataraku Saibō. A picture-perfect Violet Evergarden. A Dokukurage (Eng: Tentacruel) with a decorated parasol and ball gown to form the head and body. Solaire and a Dark Souls III Firekeeper. Banana from Revue Starlight. The Final Fantasy white mage and black mage. The various "loving father looking for missing daughter and dog" Shō Tucker cosplays. The squad of Princess Crown cosplayers with Bowsette, Booette, Tanooki Mario-ette, and Goombette who all went in separate directions just as I reached them.

ACEN is still a ton of fun, but there are definitely changes. I was talking with [livejournal.com profile] stephen_poon about how fewer people we know are going and it gets less and less likely that we'll run into people we know as the years progress. I didn't see [livejournal.com profile] ping816 or [facebook.com profile] mabown or [livejournal.com profile] smtemp or [facebook.com profile] shane.suydam at all, since [facebook.com profile] mabown didn't get a room this year. I've run into [personal profile] theome the last few ACENs, but not this one. I hung out with all the Anime Chicago people and that was a great time, but of course it's not like it was. We are not like we were. I still see the excitement and energy I had back when I was going to Otakon in 2006 in a lot of the attendees at ACEN, but I was thirteen years younger then and I hadn't yet lived in Japan. Of course I was excited to be among my people. Now, my people are tea ceremony enthusiasts, kagura lovers, Japanese learners, and the friends I've been coming to ACEN to see for over a decade, and going to a panel that's all about how great a particular series is just doesn't appeal.

I kind of want to do a kagura panel now, but I can't imagine anyone would attend it. Emoji embarrassed rub head

Every year I gauge how I feel. At ACEN 2012 and ACEN 2014, I wasn't certain I wanted to keep coming back and only tradition kept me going. Now I’m back in the camp (ACEN) of having a great time! I’m looking forward to another great time next year, too.
dorchadas: (Kirby Spaceship Happy)
Our new talking point.

We just had a department meeting, and one of the presentations was on brand strategy. This would normally not be interesting to me--anything involving #brand #engagement is like Kryponite--but he brought up some recent things the AMA has been doing that caught my attention. The most recent is the AMA filing a lawsuit against the Trump regime challenging its Title X restrictions that would strip funding from any group where doctors discussed abortion, and a ruling was just handed down yesterday blocking those restrictions. The AMA is nonpartisan and almost never sues anyone, but the presenter pointed out there was an easy way to get people engaged here:
"We don't want the government telling doctors what they can say or not say."
He brought up two other recent actions--the AMA filed a brief against the regime's attempt to ruin healthcare for millions with the Obamacare decision in Texas (press release), and he also talked about how he had been thinking we should make some kind of statement about antivaxxers only to find that we had sent a letter to tech companies about that concern already.

Part of his discussion was about targeted engagement, sending notice of certain actions to specific demographics, and since I'm in the section that helps compile physician demographic information, I'm contributing to our efforts in getting people involved in protecting American healthcare. In a small way, but still.

I don't often feel proud to work for the AMA, or like I'm making a difference in the world, but I do today. Emoji Weeee smiling happy face
dorchadas: (Judaism Magen David)
That's how I started my Seder on Friday, as I was the only Jew in attendance.

Thanks to years of living in Japan, I conduct most of my life on the floor, so I didn't have people sit around a central Seder table. Instead we sat in a circle on the floor and the table was off to the side, within easy reach, so whenever we needed something I could reach over and grab it. I really liked the way it looked when it came together:

2019-04-19 - 5779 First Seder table setup
Flowers provided by [twitter.com profile] lisekatevans, pikachus provided by me.

Why is this night different from all other nights? )
dorchadas: (Judaism Magen David)
To you, the day Christmas came was the most important day of the year. But for me,

Street Fighter but for me it was Tuesday gif

Thank you for being here with me for that joke.

On Monday, as is Christmas tradition, I went down to Chinatown for Chinese food. [twitter.com profile] meowtima invited me, along with a bunch of other people who don't celebrate Christmas, so it was five Jews, one Chinese person, one Malaysian person, and one Kazakh person. We ate an enormous amount of food, I got compliments on my aesthetic, we had a big discussion over halakha--this is almost inevitable if you get a bunch of Jews all together in one place--and when I requested that we make sure to order a variety of dishes so there would be plenty for me to eat that wasn't treif, someone said:
At least one of the five of us keeps our ancient traditions.
It was definitely worth the almost-an-hour that we waited before we were seated, and I'm glad that we deputized [twitter.com profile] meowtima and his Malaysian friend to do the ordering. I got home at almost midnight, extremely full, and then went to bed.

Oh, and [twitter.com profile] meowtima got me a present! He said it was stupid, but when I opened it and found a plague doctor mask I didn’t think so. It makes me want to plan a Darkest Dungeon cosplay—I’ve already got a lot of what I need in my ordinary wardrobe. I mean, as I write this I’m wearing a black sweater with glove sleeves, a black woolen poncho/cloak, and a black hooded infinity scarf.

Tuesday, it was Tuesday. I did nothing. Emoji Happy cat

Wednesday I took advantage of all of my time off and bought tickets to go see Fiddler on the Roof, which has a three-week run in Chicago! I've never seen a stage production of it before, and I got seats right at the front of the balcony. To cut straight to the point, it was fantastic and I'm incredibly glad I went. Tevye's quotes from the Bible, the increasingly unorthodox (Emoji Jewish with Torah) marriages of his daughters, the jokes, it was all great. I especially liked his performance of "If I Were a Rich Man," which made it seem like he really got into the fantasy of not having to work, swaying as he sang to himself (a bit like davening, now that I think about it). It was much more free-spirited than the movie version.

The reviews had some complaints about the performances of Golde and Yente, but the only other version of Fiddler I've seen is the movie and I barely remember it, so I don't have anything to compare it to. I felt that Tevye's performance, which really played up a man trying to make the best of poverty by means of his faith and the wisdom of the Good Book:
"Tevye: As Abraham said, I am a stranger in a strange land...
Mendel: Moses said that.
Tevye: Ah. Well, as King David said, I am slow of speech, and slow of tongue.
Mendel: That was also Moses.
Tevye: For a man who was slow of tongue, he talked a lot."
was enough to carry the whole production for me. Which is good, because it's really centered around him. No one else gets much character development--his daughters are developed only through their marriages (except for the two youngest), and his wife doesn't change at all. Neither really does anyone else. It's Tevye's story, and it shows. But I loved it for that, and the man playing Tevye was great.
"Perchik: Wealth is a curse!
Tevye: Then may G-d smite me with it and may I never recover!"
There were two people behind me who had never seen the show before, who spent the whole intermission talking about how funny the show was and how much they liked it.

I went to bed very late, which wasn't great because on Thursday I got up very early to go meet [facebook.com profile] aaron.hosek for our yearly brunch at Svea. Emoji Weeee smiling happy face Every December they have a Christmas plate that's delicious, so this is our fifth annual trip there. I only go there once a year, in December, and I always look forward to it. We sat at the counter this year, ate our food, and talked about things other than video games! Hopefully we can do it again next year.

I hope everyone's having a good December and you're looking forward to the New Year!

Party weekend

2018-Dec-24, Monday 10:55
dorchadas: (FFX Yuna Dancing)
I was pretty busy last weekend.
A tale of party after party )

Tonight I'm doing something once more. As is the way of my people, I'm going out to Chinese food! [twitter.com profile] meowtima is going too, so I imagine it'll be wonderful. Going to need to make space in my stomach for the food.

This kind of weekend is something that I used to absolutely dread, but I had a blast. It was great and I was looking forward to it the whole time, but I admit sitting here and writing this with no other real obligation is pretty nice. I do have to go shopping and go pick up a package, but that'll take an hour at most. Then dinner tonight, and tomorrow I'm doing nothing. What a lovely few days. Emoji back and forth dance
dorchadas: (Chicago)
Well, technically it's the "Sweetish Stroll." Last year's dessert crawl was supposed to be the last dessert crawl, after which it was going to be combined with the Taste of Andersonville as a single event. I guess a lot of people complained, because they brought it back under a new name and with slightly fewer participants than last year. I think it was cheaper, though, and especially since I got a discount as a repeat customer.

I only decided to go at the last minute and invited a bunch of people, and of them, [twitter.com profile] pinandstutter, [instagram.com profile] kelachris, and [twitter.com profile] liszante responded, so at 2:30 we gathered at the Swedish American Museum in Andersonville, picked up our dessert passports, and set out.

Pictures here )

After that, stuffed, we walked out in the rain back to [twitter.com profile] pinandstutter and [instagram.com profile] kelachris's car, where [twitter.com profile] liszante also borrowed a ride since they're much closer to her apartment. I walked home, got my heat working again, and here I am.

I did eat dinner, but not much of it.
dorchadas: (Dreams are older)
This is the first time I've traveled alone in fourteen years. I was pretty nervous about going, but [livejournal.com profile] spacialk was incredibly kind and bought me a ticket, and there's no way I'd turn down that generosity. So off to Philadelphia I went for a long weekend trip!

Friday )

Saturday )

Sunday )

Monday )

The next morning, I made miso soup for breakfast on a weekday for the first time in months.

This was such an amazing trip! I'm so glad that everyone was able to come together and make it happen, and I'm so grateful for their kind hospitality. I really needed this trip and even though I'm not at work, grinding away at thousands of records that the new database jut passed over for some reason, I feel a lot more relaxed.

What a lovely way to spend a weekend. Emoji La

👰💖👰

2018-Aug-20, Monday 17:38
dorchadas: (Dreams are older)
On Saturday, I went to [personal profile] veryroundbird and [twitter.com profile] faypire's wedding!

It was at Elawa Farm in Lake Forest, a ways north, so I got a Lyft with [livejournal.com profile] mutantur starting from my apartment and picking him up on the way. I was wearing a black three-piece suit and black shirt, with a bit of purple on my tie, and he was wearing a light tan suit with a blue shirt and a blue-and-yellow-and-grey tie, so when he got in, he joked that he had expected we'd look like an angel and a demon on their way somewhere. I replied that we were doing a closet Good Omens cosplay, and thus we traveled to the wedding site.

After some slight confusion when we arrived--everyone was inside in the dancing area, so no one was visible on either side of the building when we looked for them--people filed out and took their seats to wait for the ceremony, and I got a pretty good view:

2018-08-18 Degen and Carly Chuppah
The chuppah was especially beautiful.

The musicians played for half an hour while I chatted with the people around me, mostly [livejournal.com profile] mutantur and [twitter.com profile] liszante, and other than the cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," which is, uh, not a romantic song, I really liked the string duet. They fit especially well when the brides came out and took their place under the chuppah, and the ceremony began exactly on time.

I've never been to a particularly long wedding and this wasn't an exception. There was a brief section where the rabbi spoke at the beginning, a couple readings, the rabbi recited a slightly-modified version of the sheva brachot, and then he read letters that [personal profile] veryroundbird and [twitter.com profile] faypire had each written about each other, the most memorable part of of which to me was where [personal profile] veryroundbird said she loved [twitter.com profile] faypire "more than the roundest, softest bird," which is a great deal indeed. Then they recited their vows--[twitter.com profile] faypire in Hebrew and English, [personal profile] veryroundbird in English--and they were wife and wife! Emoji Kawaii heart

I did not get a good picture of the ceremony itself, but I did get a picture of the wedding party later as we were all enjoying appetizers:

2018-08-18 - Degen and Carly's Wedding wedding party
Awww.

We ate salmon tartare, lamb with pesto, mini quiches, avocade dip on tiny rolls, and an enormous amount of cheese while drinking the wedding's signature drink, pink lemonade and rosé gin, and then we had dinner and then dancing. I did not do much dancing except for the last song--"Hit the Road Jack"--instead mostly chatting with people. I wasn't sat at the same table as [livejournal.com profile] mutantur or [twitter.com profile] liszante, but I was sitting with [personal profile] drydem, and [tumblr.com profile] damaskrosechicago, as well as several people I didn't know, so I mostly listened to the conversation, but that's something I both have a lot of practice at and enjoy.

I didn't get much of a chance to talk to either of the brides, but it's a wedding. That happens at weddings. I got to wish them both mazel tov, at least.

After the last song, [twitter.com profile] liszante told [livejournal.com profile] mutantur and me that she had rented a car but didn't have any passengers because [tumblr.com profile] goodbyeomelas had gotten sick at the last moment and hadn't been able to make it, so she offered to take us home. We gladly accepted her offer, said our goodbyes, and left after a lovely ceremony and a lovely evening. As [personal profile] veryroundbird said, the ritual is complete.

If you'd like to see more photos, check this hashtag on Instagram.

Profile

dorchadas: (Default)
dorchadas

June 2025

M T W T F S S
      1
234 5 678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
30      

Syndicate

RSS Atom