Happy Birthday Tankuma!

   Tank is turning 11 today!  I can't believe it and he doesn't really either.  He definitely doesn't act his age.  He gets the zoomies all the time and likes to wake people up at 4am by chewing on some plastic or figuring out how to open their door.  I still need to get him some crinkle balls for his birthday.  He got one of his presents early, I made him his own Worry Worm, but no eyes so he can really chomp on it and I don't have to worry about him hurting a tooth.

  The other night he managed to open the door to Ryan's room at 4am, thoroughly scaring him.  Tank just gave an innocent little meow like he didn't do anything wrong.  He still doesn't like it when Ryan puts him in his shirt, but that happens a lot less often now and I've even seen them hanging out together!

  I know he's going to be getting a lot of birthday kisses from people today, at least from me and Ryan.

RKOcon

 Thursday 

  Had to get up earlier than I like to.  Tank had also been mean to me and slept downstairs in his cat hammock instead of snuggling with me.

  Even though Shane had invited us to come along on this trip a while ago, I didn't know if I wanted to try and make something fun to wear.  I couldn't think of anything to make for myself and was a bit grumpy that this was yet another convention that I didn't make anything for.  I then had the idea to make some worry worms to leave around the convention for people to randomly find.  I made a cute card to go with them with the poem too.

  After we had been on the train a bit, but before we headed to the Cafe Car, Ryan and I both heard some tiny meows.  Someone two rows behind us had his small fluffy cat with him.  I amused him by saying hi to the cat.

  When we checked in there was only the official table selling things, but there were some empty tables as well.  We got a worm on a string with our badges, I didn't know I was keeping with the theme.

  I left my first worm around and we ventured out.  It was suggested that we make sure we make it to Newport Creamery.  We got the loaded twister fries for the table, and I got a bowl of the Newport's Famous Clam Chowder.  The bubblegum Awful Awful was really good.  It was thick like a good milkshake, but lighter.

  When we got back from dinner the first worm was gone.  I put another one out on our floor and one more on two other floors.  I hope people like them.

  We went to go see The Room.  I've never seen the movie at all before, but Shane and Ryan really wanted to see it with a shadow cast.  It was a lot of fun.  The movie is really bad, but the shadow cast was really funny.  I would watch it again with a shadow cast.

Friday 

  Since we hadn't slept yet I don't know if this goes under Friday or Thursday.  We went in search of some after parties.  Our first stop was a room with someone who made a bunch of custom flavored alcohols.  The Sour Patch Kids vodka was my favorite.  A series of events lead us to bringing someone back to their friend and chatting with new people on the smoking patio.  We made a new friend, TR and hung out until about six in the morning.  He took quite a liking to Ryan.

  After The Tallest of Johns got to the room and settled in, we got him checked in to the con.  Shane had to get ready for one of the shows, but the rest of us went to the costuming panel.  We learned about wig styling and maintenance, Frank jacket secrets, costuming tricks, and some sewing/decorative ideas.  It seemed like it would have worked better as a few panels because so many topics were covered.

  Shane was the band lead in Repo the Genetic Opera, and it looked like he had a great time.  They had alternates for the characters, so it made the quick changes that happen between scenes really easy and smooth.  One of the people who played Blind Mags actually sang along.

   Wise Guys Deli was a quick choice for lunch.  I got The Accountant - Meyer Lansky, it was pastrami and corned beef topped with Swiss cheese, thousand island dressing and sauerkraut.  It was bigger than I had wanted, but our timing was going to be off for dinner, so it worked out. 

  There was a bit of a relaxing hangout time before heading down to Shock Treatment.  Shane got to play red blazer Ralph.  It was so much fun, and the energy was really good.  Ryan and I were offered free pizza on the way back to the room.

  We gathered some of the people we knew from around the con to go to the drag show.  One of my favorite performances was by Haunted Holy.

Saturday 

  There was a dance after the drag show, but not many people stuck around for that.  We found another dance on the bottom floor of the hotel.  While hanging out with random people outside of the dance we decided to order pizza.  While we waited for that, we got to know Peaches some more.

  It took an hour and a half to get it through Door Dash, but it only took half an hour for the people who ordered directly from the restaurant.  Their bacon chicken ranch pizza was pretty good, but probably would have been better if I hadn't been so tired.

  We took a leisurely morning where we went back to CVS for beverages and then ordered in some Dunkin Donuts.  There was some more time before we wanted to do anything, so Ryan and I got some merch.

  The Rocky Horror Picture Show was at a secondary location.  They wanted to make sure to be able to get everyone who went to the convention in and also some extra people from the area.

  During the preshow there was a technical problem, but when the music stopped we just kept singing the song and the person just kept going.  There were some awards, which were quite touching and one got very emotional.

  During the actual movie there were so many callbacks happening at the same time.  It was really exciting when most of us had the same one.

  The one of the Eddies must have gotten too excited because when he went to lift the Columbia he leaned too far back and they both went down.  I thought he was going to hit his head and though he was able to get back up before too long it looked like the Columbia was really hurting.  We later found out that both of them are doing okay.

Sunday 

  After a bus ride back to the hotel where we ordered McDonalds on Bill's phone, we hung out with Robin in the room.  Once we were fed we hit the con again.  Karaoke was pretty fun, but we ended up back on the patio talking with people.  It was finally nice out and I don't think some of us wanted the con to end.  Shane and I came in to go to bed around about 4:30am while Ryan caught up with some people.

  Ryan and I didn't know that the Dave & Buster's after-party was only from noon-2pm, so we didn't think we could have made it before our train was going to head out.  While we were drinking some Starbucks and recouping a little, I counted how many cards I had left and figured out that I left 18 worms around the convention for people to find.

Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver Pooling in Papaya - Hook: 5.5mm

  Suzanne treated us right on the way back for our train ride.  She said we could get as many drinks or as much food as we wanted.  I was the rebel and got the shrimp, scallop, and crab cake instead of the chicken biryani for lunch.  There was a cheese platter during our trip at some point too.  For dinner we all ordered the Asian Noodle Salad, but Ryan was the only one to not get the prosecco with it.  Around Pennsylvania is when we were offered some mixed nuts.

  We were all just so tired from the weekend, it really felt like the whole thing had been at least a whole week.  It was so much fun and I got to meet so many nice people.  We are planning to head to Baltimore to go and see Chocolate Covered Rocky Horror next month and we are already planning on going to the con again next year!

Packing for RKOcon

  Shane and I went to his eye doctor again.  They were able to get some pictures this time, which is an improvement.  The guy also referred to Shane's eye as a snow globe eye, who knew I know medical terms.

  All the labs came back negative, so he doesn't have to take the pills anymore.  The doctor took another ultrasound, she said the big bump is still there but isn't getting worse.  There is still talk about surgery to get rid of the cloudiness and really see what is going on.  It isn't an emergency though.

  Shane had discovered that Dr Chen had lived in Chicago.  She said she grew up there so Shane had to quiz her on her favorite deep dish pizza.  Pequod's Pizza was one of them.  She also knew about The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which surprised both of us.

  I got some fun new shirts to wear to the con.  I also got a few worry worms ready to give out to people.  I'm also planning on leaving some around with the poem for people to find.  I'm excited to go!

Pesto Party and Some Eye Stuff!

   My mom saw a listing online for some basil and sent me to go and get it.  I thought I was going to get a bundle, but I got a whole large bag of it.  The pesto I made is really good, I changed the recipe some, like using cashews instead of pine nuts and adding a bit of lemon.  I might have to make this more, though it is alarming how many leaves go into it and how little pesto you get out of it.

  Since I've made a few batches of themed Worry Worms, I was thinking I could possibly make some to sell online.  I don't know if that is against any "rules" out there about them, but I've changed the pattern a few times, so I've made it my own.  I've also seen many other people selling them online.  Since my favorite one is the one with three "ears" on each side of it's head, I'm thinking of focusing on those to sell.  I'm going to call them either Axolotl Worms or Axolotl Worry Worms.  I was thinking of making about nine in each color, with different eye options.  If they get really popular I could start making more in each color.  If they never catch on, then I can throw them into the donation bag.

  Shane had been having some eye problems after a dog he was watching licked his eye.  The first doctor thought it was a lower retina detachment, so we hurried to Tysons to see a retina specialist.  Turns out it was scar tissue and some stuff floating around in there.  It was apparently interesting enough that they called other people in to take a look.

  We then headed to DC for them to take a sample of eye juice and inject something.  They wanted make sure there is no infection or anything else super bad.  They think it might be uveitis.  There was also a "quick" chest x-ray before they let him go, about a mere five hours after we got there.

  His eye was already doing better once he woke up.  We got to the appointment the next day early, so we went to Sophia's deli for breakfast/brunch, they had good sandwiches.  The usual numbing and dilating happened before some pictures were taken.  During our visit we got to sit in a variety of colors of chair which meant different things.  The final room of the day had various lights on the wall by the door which let the doctor know which one to go to next and which rooms were vacant.  I got to see an eye ultrasound happen.

  We were told to come back the next day.  Vision was about the same as the day before.  So far all the tests have come back negative, but still no PCR from the sample they took.  She thinks everything looks about the same and he doesn't have to come back in to see her until next Wednesday.  It's good to hear "stay the course" when the course is medicine and not surgeries.