Abandonada's Journal

9:53pm: Hi! I've been distracted by offline concerns lately and am way behind on reading and commenting on your LJ posts--very sorry! Will have to remedy that--but not tonight. Quickie update instead:

Last night, I attended a Sigur Rós concert (band from Iceland). I love their music. They played in the concert hall where the Seattle Symphony plays.

I've gone back to school on Tuesday nights. It's a class in Grammar--such fun! My aim is to earn a certificate in Editing. Its through the adult extension program at U of Washington.

One of my brothers up here proposed to his girlfriend. So there's going to be a wedding! No details yet.

My mom didn't quite make it to her 80th birthday party when I was down in California. Instead, she had another fall and we spent the party time gathered in the hospital. It was still fun to see the rest of my family. Today, ten days later, she was supposed to leave and return to the facility where she's been living. No info on how that went.

Last, I held my little two-week old nephew for four hours yesterday while his mom showered, paid bills, watered plants, etc. The things I take for granted. It's so cool to hold a newborn baby.

We have the whole circle of life in play right now, kiddies.

6:44am: Am suffering from Internet withdrawal...
I'm in overly-sunny Southern California visiting my mom for a few days. It's so hard to connect to the Internet! The only way I can do it is at Starbucks. I'm staying at my mom's empty house and she doesn't have Internet. I no longer have library cards for this area, either.

But it's nice to see my mom, nice to see some of my siblings and their kids. One of my brother has a new baby, born last Monday--on Bilbo and Frodo's birthday!

Back to the Internet while I have a connection! Happy weekend to all!

5:15am: It's a happy hobbit birthday!
September 22, birthday of both Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. Two very inspirational characters!

( One photo of Bilbo and FrodoCollapse )

8:49am: More photos from Dragon*Con 2008
This is traveling day so it's back to the west coast. I'll do another post later this week with photos of different costumes from various fandoms.

My friend rakshi put up some really cute ones I somehow got of Sean grinning in this entry.

Sean's gallery on Rakshi's web site is here. All the photos there now were taken by me but I didn't do any of the color or lighting correction.

( Five Tolkien costume photos from Dragon*Con 2008Collapse )

11:30pm: Draggin' at Dragon*Con
At Dragon*Con in Atlanta, Georgia for the weekend. This is Day 1 of the con and it was mostly spent looking at costumes and trying to find Sean Astin.

My friend rakshi and I entered a Tolkien costume contest as Sam and Frodo. We tied for Best Group Costume. Very unexpected, I assure you.

Here are some photos from his "Meet Mr. Smith" panel. A little blurry but not too bad.

( Five photos of Sean AstinCollapse )

9:31pm: My mom had brain surgery today--and it was a success! YAY!

Actually, she had her head shaved, a hole cut in her skull and a drain stuck in to remove all the blood that's accumulated there. She kept falling and banging her head which caused her brain to bleed. She's a tough old gal and should recover without too much difficulty.

And now back to knitting and Olympic TV watching. I feel so relieved!

9:05pm: Let's go public with this one!
Hi! Have returned from San Diego, California and Comic-con. Great event, I love it year after year. I took bunches of photos, none that great but it's okay, I had a blast taking them.

My friend spookystoy let me stay with her again. You'd think she'd get tired of me and my silly ways but no, not yet. Her cat, on the other hand, was not so amused.

You can search online and get more and better photos of the different people and events. I took loads so if a certain photo interests you, please let me know and I'll burden you with more from that event.

( Six photos and a little description below. More in a future post.Collapse )

5:30pm: Tolkien poem on the radio
The professor who's giving the Tolkien lectures up at the University said that this coming Sunday, February 3, one of the local radio stations will broadcast one of Tolkien's poems The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son. What makes it noteworthy is that Tolkien himself does the reading on a recording he made at home. The professor says he even did sound effects! How cute is that!

I hope this will really be on. The time is 6:00 pm Pacific Time (GMT -8 hours), Sunday, February 3. Here's a link to the radio station, the Sunday show is called Mostly Medieval:

http://kbcs.fm/site/PageServer?pagename=weeklyprogramschedule

You can listen with RealOne, Windows Media Player, or iTunes. Click "Listen Live" in the upper right-hand corner.

5:17am: Last night I saw "Elizabeth: The Golden Age". It was worth seeing for Cate Blanchett's costumes alone.

I made it sort of a Girl's Night Out by taking Galadriel, Purple Dress Eowyn and Coronation Arwyen. Galadriel sat in my lap and appeared to enjoy herself. We'll have to all go out again sometime.