Stealing from Sue

Sue posted this on her LJ, so I thought I'd try it here and see what kind of responses I get...


Instructions:I would like everyone who reads this to ask me 3 questions: no more, no less. Ask me anything you want.ANYTHING!Doesn't mean I'll answer them in the way you expect.Then go to your journal, copy and paste this, allowing your friends (including me) to ask you anything.Let slip the dogs of...um...curiosity!

A Janesville Jaunt

I had to take the morning off to drive up to Janesville (in Wisconsin) to take care of a couple of something with my parents. (Nothing bad, but nothing I want to make public either.) I left the time I normally leave for work but kept driving past the exit, listening to a couple of CDs I had burned. Illinois has been converting their tolls to an Open Road Tollway system, which means that if you have an I-PASS, you can pay at highway driving speed without having to stop. The one at South Beloit was supposed to be finished, but when I passed through, the ORT lanes were blocked off, even though they looked ready to go. Perhaps I was just a couple of hours too early.

The rest of the trip should have been uneventful, but I got off an exit too early and ended up in a part of Janesville I wasn't familiar with. To make matters worse, even Janesville was getting into the construction act; several of the streets were blocked off. Luckily I knew the place I had to go was next to the library, so when I saw a library truck, I followed it through the maze until I was back on familiar ground. I was twenty minutes late, but everything still worked out. Then I drove to my parents' house to pick up a few things. Guess what; the road leading to their subdivision was partially ripped up: you could drive out but not in. Since I've biked around the area, I knew there was another way into the subdivision, so I drove on down to that street and threaded my way back to where I needed to go. I have to admit I was glad to get back on the highway, which was much easier driving in comparison.

Writing: I did the line edits for two of Heather's chapters; I'll review them one more time tomorrow for overall comments and see if I can send them back to her. I spent a couple of hours goofing off; now it's time to see if I can buckle down before bedtime.

Lazy Sunday

Today was one of those days where Eugene and I hung out at home. (He did have to run a couple of errands, though.) It was nice just to chill. It wasn't completely unproductive, though, I ...

* Posted crits for Sue's three chapters
* Caught up with the news
* Received three chapters from Heather and did the initial read-through (still have to e-mail her, though)
* Edited a chapter of LL using comments from my reviewers on OWW
* Crocheted while watching Iron Chef with Eugene (and drinking raspberry dessert wine!)
* Talked to a friend from college

And of course spent way too much time playing the latest game I downloaded from Yahoo! I should have spent more time writing and getting ready for our vacation next week, but sometimes you have to get away from the "shoulds." There'll be time for that tomorrow when the work week starts again.

Time to Relax

It was a pretty long week at work, so today I just wanted to relax. Well, after running errands (didn't get all of them done, as I forgot something at home) and dusting and vacuuming and baking bread and making supper. And then doing laundry when Eugene came home. Not to mention copyediting three chapters for Sue--though I haven't done the overall comments yet. But otherwise I've been goofing off at home. I didn't even edit today, but since we got all of our chores done for the weekend, I should have some time tomorrow for Lennon's Line. It doesn't make for an exciting blog, but downtime is good occasionally.

The Battle of the Bottle Cap

This has been a pretty busy week at work. I'm going to be learning a new technique -- I won't say what or for what purpose, as it would decrease readership if I had to track everyone down to silence them. Not that I would ever, ever do that--but I digress. Anyway, we ordered new chemicals for this procedure, and the other day I decided to open one of them and start preparing some solutions.

This particular chemical is ether (I think I can safely say that). You may remember it from high school experiments with fruit flies. It's a dangerous, flammable chemical, so it's sealed for my protection. Under the regular cap was a bottle cap. There was a hole in the center of the bottle cap, displaying a liner under it.

I have a Swiss army knife at work; it was a freebie at a seminar I attended a few years ago. It has two bottle openers on it, but neither one of them would catch the crimps on this bottle cap. I tried using a couple of other tools, including scissors, to pry it off, but that didn't work either. The best I could do was rip the metal. I then tried puncturing the liner, but that was pretty tough too. I probably wrestled with that bottle for fifteen-twenty minutes before I managed to "open" it. I'm not quite sure now how I ripped the liner off, but the metal cap remained in place. I couldn't get my pipet (a device for measuring liquids) into the the hole I created, so I had to pour some of the ether into a beaker first.

After all that work, you'd think it would be easy to close the bottle. No such luck. The metal cap stuck up, so I couldn't get the cap on straight. This is a big problem when you're dealing with something like ether; it could evaporate and fill the lab with dangerous fumes. The best I could do was pound the ripped edges of the bottle cap into the bottle so I could put the cap on. When all was said and done, I probably spent a half hour just on the ether.

I'm all for safety in the lab, but I'd like to be able to open chemicals without hurting myself. I'm still amazed I did all of that without the clutz factor catching up to me.

Anyway, that's been the most exciting thing I have to blog about. Still editing Lennon's Line and writing a bit of Key on the side. But now I want to goof around a bit with a game I downloaded from Yahoo! last night.

Zoo Pictures

As promised, I uploaded the pictures to Snapfish. Here's the link. I'm not sure if you need to be registered with Snapfish to see the album; please let me know either way.

Not much else exciting to report. We did get a new shower curtain today; our old one was ripped. Target doesn't have much of a selection, but this one is nicer than the old one. I even bought new shower hooks.

Writing: Almost done critting Sue's latest chapters. Then I can have some time for my own projects.

The "Oo" in "Zoo"

Brookfield Zoo had an ad campaign that said they put the "oo" in "zoo." We got a chance to test that for ourselves today as we visited, and I'd agree that they are full of "oos."

I think I went to this zoo once when I was a kid, but all I remember is riding the tram. Eugene was there more recently for a photography class/shoot. It's certainly too big to see all of it in one day; I think it's 16 acres.

The first exhibit we visited was a seasonal butterfly display. The majority we saw were monarchs, but it was impressive to see so many together at once. We took quite a few photos there; even though I don't have Eugene's powerful camera, I was still able to get some good shots. We looked at a few other animals--lions and tigers, the bears were later--before heading over to the dolphin show. It was only twenty minutes long, which didn't seem long enough, given that we were there half an hour before the show started. The dolphins did do some things I've haven't seen before, such as a hunting technique in which they herd fish onto land and another one where they whack fish (or beach balls) with their tails. Unfortunately, the batteries in my camera died during the show, but it's so hard to get good pictures of that anyway. I had to buy batteries at an inflated price afterwards.

The main food court was on the other side of the zoo, so we wandered over there, stopping along the way to look at bears, primates, and tropical animals. The food court was so-so; we wound up getting prepackaged sandwiches and salad. Afterwards, we learned there was a tapas restaurant in the food court; too bad we didn't have a chance to try it. We looked at the birds and snakes before starting to make our way back to the main gate, but along the way we tried Dipping Dots ice cream (much colder than regular ice cream, but not bad), watched swans and geese get fed, and checked out animals from Africa and Down Under. We were there for about six hours and still didn't see everything. Our feet felt like they had traversed the entire zoo, however.

I'm having trouble uploading photos again, so I'm going to try to post them to Snapfish and then link to them later.

Ice Cream and Kofi

"Everyone must have ice cream with Kofi Annan sometime."

These immortal words were spoken tonight at an improv comedy show. We found a comedy theater only about twenty minutes from us in the burbs (as opposed to having to drive into Chicago to see ComedySportz). Tonight was the first time we went to this theater. It was a small one with a stark stage, but the seats were comfortable, and the votives on the tables provided a cozy atmosphere. Before the show started, we (and the rest of the audience) had a chance to write down word and phrase suggestions for the scenes on slips of paper; there was also a blackboard in the back where you could offer other suggestions.

Most of the troupe was on tour, so it was a husband-and-wife team of actors on stage. They not only acted but took tickets, ran the concession stand, and did everything else. Everything ran pretty smoothly, though. Like ComedySportz, this group believes that you don't need to be raunchy to be funny, which is a good thing as there were families in the audience. Some of the kids even volunteered to be in the scenes, which is something I never do.

The title of this blog entry comes from a suggestion Eugene wrote down before the show. They used it during a game called Slips. (Every so often during the scene, the actors have to pick a random slip of paper and use the word or phrase in the scene.) Eugene wrote down something like "having ice cream with Kofi Annan at the United Nations." He actually wrote two phrases (well, technically a word and the above phrase) on the slip, which may explain why the actor who picked up that slip paused before continuing with the scene. They also used one of my phrases: "Your mother should know." (I had to sneak in a Beatles reference; it's a song title.)

We enjoyed the show and plan to go back sometime; we may even see some of the non-improv shows. Afterwards, we did have ice cream, although Kofi didn't show up. It was still welcome after a long day of cleaning, running errands, making pizza, and reviewing. I did get in some time on Lennon's Line; all I did was chop down a scene. As long as I get some time for my writing in....

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

I mentioned this book in Monday's post, and since work was slow and I didn't get much reviewing or writing done this evening (ABC Family had the Friday night block of Whose Line Is It Anyway?), I thought I could describe this book and its effects on me, since it's my favorite nonfiction book.

I first read this book in high school when a guy I knew recommended it to me; I think he was reading it for a philosophy class. If you're not familiar with this book, which originally was published in the 70's, it's about a father and his son taking a motorcycle trip across America. But that's not all. The father was a former scientist turned philosopher, and as the trip progresses, he discusses everything from the scientific method to the problems of choosing which hypotheses to test to differing viewpoints (classical people look at the world analytically, whereas romantics are more concerned with beauty--left brain vs. right brain, basically), gradually working his way into Eastern and Western philosophy. (Don't worry; the author, Robert M. Pirsig, does a good job of making this all very understandable and down-to-earth.) As part of his discussion, Pirsig reflects on his experiences teaching freshman comp and how this led to him developing a theory of Quality. He maintains that Quality, particularly in writing, cannot be defined, but we still recognize what Quality is on an unconscious level. Quality cannot be taught as such, but some of the things that give writing Quality, such as organization, can be. Quality, according to Pirsig, is very much like the Tao of the Tao Te Ching. But although the book does go on to discuss other philosophers, it brings the concepts home by relating them to everyday problems such as fixing a motorcycle. There's also gumption, the psychic fuel/attitude that keeps a person motivated to keep working on problems, and techniques to help you get out of a stuck mindset. But all of this philosophizing has caused some personal problems for Pirsig, particularly with his son, so he has to work them out on the trip. Obviously, there's too much going on in this book for me to summarize it well; you'll just have to read it for yourself.

As I said, I first read this book in high school, and it was the right book meeting the right mind at the right time. It made so much sense to me when I read it and opened up my mind to new ways of thinking. I've read it several times since then, although I can't remember the last time I read it--it's hard to justify rereading books when you have stacks of unread ones to open. I underlined many passages in the book and made comments in the margins; my copy is battered but still readable. I've always been a perfectionist, but this book made me think about Quality in a whole new way. It also encouraged me to look further by reading some Eastern philosophy myself, such as the Tao Te Ching (in translation, of course!). I'm still interested in Taoism; I have a daily book of meditations which I've gone through a couple of times. I still pursue Quality in my own way, through writing.

I gave Eugene a copy of this book while we were still in undergrad. He in return gave me the sequel: Lila, An Inquiry Into Morals. I hate to say it, but I didn't "get" this book the same way I did the first one, and it didn't move me the same way. I guess Pirsig and I crossed paths once and then moved on our own courses. But that one encounter between the pages of a book pushed me in a different direction, and for that I will always be grateful.

Test From Sue's Blog...

Note: If you want to take this test yourself, it will require you to register with them. Of course, if I was really smart, I'd have a spam address for this sort of thing.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

Eugene does.

Ever since the show started, Eugene has been trying to get on it, but he didn't have much luck calling in. So when they had open auditions near us today, he took some time off to audition in person. (I had to work.) He didn't have to preregister; he just showed up. Of course, even though he got there well before the time they started, the line was already four deep. He said they started early because of that. Even so, he was in the third group of 250 people to take the test. While he waited, he talked with people who had driven in from as far away as Kansas and Tennessee.

He had a simple questionnaire to fill out before taking the test, just general information along with some conversation starters, such as his most embarrassing moment. (I won't post it on the blog, but some of you have seen it.) Actually, Eugene wound up taking two tests: one for a special movie version of the show and a general one. The movie one was very hard, according to him, and only four people in the entire group passed it. The general one was 30 multiple choice questions you had to answer in ten minutes. Between ten to fifteen people passed that one. Unfortunately, Eugene wasn't one of them, so all he got was a T-shirt. While he took it in stride, he checked online to see if he could try again when we fly out to New York next month, but there were no tickets available for the time we're there. Too bad; I might have auditioned along with him.

As for me, my day was much less exciting, just the usual work and chores at home. I think I may start reviewing Part Two of Lennon's Line tonight. Since I haven't gone over that section so much, it might be easier than going back to Part One.

Passion and Perseverance

My writing friend Sue blogged on LiveJournal (makoiyi's Journal--see links to the side) today about passion and writing. She feels writing is nothing without passion and that the first draft is the most passionate. This becomes a problem when you need to rewrite, as revising and polishing can take some of the passion out of the story. I agree with her to some extent. My main project right now is editing Lennon's Line so I can start sending it out, and I've gone over the first part so many times I'm sick of it. I'm taking a break from it for a while to work on Key. I do worry sometimes that by changing that part from first person to third that I have sucked Jo's unique voice out of the story. But Sue also worries that juggling everything you need to do right--POV, character, dialogue, motivation, plot, among others--can also take life from a story. I have two answers for this. The first is that as you become more experienced, you develop an instinct that helps you do more things correctly in the first draft. You develop a better ear for dialogue and pacing, for instance. The second thing is that you don't have to get everything right on the first try. For instance, in a first draft, I tend to focus most on the characters and the plot. After I've got that down, I can then look at it and realize, "Oh, I need more setting here," and work it in. By the time I post something on OWW, I've gone over it a few times to make it as good as I can before someone else shows me how to improve it. All of this takes lots of time. That's why perseverance is just as important as passion; indeed, passion can breed perseverance.

I'm reminded of a story I read in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig. I'm not sure if I remember this correctly, but a westerner was making a pilgrimage with some monks to a temple on a mountain. He eventually had to give up, not because he was physically unfit, but because his ego got in the way and wouldn't let him cope with the discomforts of the trip. The monks' faith enabled them to sense the holiness of the mountain with each step they took. Pirsig ended the anecdote by saying, "If you climb a mountain to prove how big you are, you'll never make it. And even if you do, it's a hollow victory." Writing can start out as something you do for your ego, but the path to publication is longer, narrower, and even thornier than the road to Heaven. If you don't do it for love, you'll never make it.

Speaking of which, writing about writing isn't writing itself, so I should see if I can get some done before going to bed.

Get Together

I belong to a forum of local brides and newlyweds. Today a bunch of us got together at Gino's. Eugene came along with me. There were a few other husbands and fiances there, but the women outnumbered the men at least six to one. There were two other men at our table, however, and by the way they kept talking sports made me feel outnumbered! But Eugene baked brownies with chocolate ganache frosting, so he deserved some male bonding time. I'd met only a couple of the women in real life, so it was nice meeting more of them. I'm sure Eugene's brownies helped with the introductions. ;) Maybe later, when we have a house with more space, we can invite some of them over.

Of course, I'm having problems uploading images, so I'll have to try again later. Sigh.

Day Tripping

Remember my post a couple weeks ago about whether or not I wanted to go to the Beatles Fest? Well, I did. I had to do a couple of errands first, so I missed the meet-up for forum members beforehand. I did talk to a couple of people I know from the forum later, and they said only about half-a-dozen people showed up. Oh well.

The fest officially begins at noon on Saturdays and Sundays, and normally there's a long line of people waiting to go into the dealers' room at that time. So I checked out a couple of exhibits first. One of them was a large collection of Beatles records from around the world; there was also an artist with some nice black-and-white art. The other exhibit had more artwork, some of it from the Beatles themselves and some from other artists. I'd seen that one before; it's been at the fest for several years. Then I went downstairs to the dealers' room. There were people selling everything Beatle-related that you can imagine--books, records, photos, clothing, collectibles--you name it, it was there. I browsed for a while, but many of the items were things I'd seen before. There were some new Beatles books out that I was tempted to get, but in the end I decided to just add them to my Amazon wish list and hope Eugene gets the hint. I bought two T-shirts, but that was it. Normally I walk away with much more.

I watched some videos for a while, even though I had them on VHS at home. Then I went upstairs for an overpriced lunch. While I ate, a group played Beatles music in the lobby, so I sat down to listen to them for a couple of hours. Then I looked around at some more photographic exhibits. These weren't anything new, but I have to admit I do enjoy looking at the photographs--the Beatles make good eye candy. I bought some of the black-and-white artwork I'd admired earlier: a series of the Beatles at various stages in their lives. Then, since Eugene and I had dinner plans with his family, I headed home. The fest will continue tomorrow, but I won't have time to go then. It's too bad, as one of my friends can only go there tomorrow, so I won't get to see her. Still, I did just about everything I wanted to do except make a contribution to the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, something I do every year for John's sake. Perhaps I can still do it online.

Day Tripping

Remember my post a couple weeks ago about whether or not I wanted to go to the Beatles Fest? Well, I did. I had to do a couple of errands first, so I missed the meet-up for forum members beforehand. I did talk to a couple of people I know from the forum later, and they said only about half-a-dozen people showed up. Oh well.

The fest officially begins at noon on Saturdays and Sundays, and normally there's a long line of people waiting to go into the dealers' room at that time. So I checked out a couple of exhibits first. One of them was a large collection of Beatles records from around the world; there was also an artist with some nice black-and-white art. The other exhibit had more artwork, some of it from the Beatles themselves and some from other artists. I'd seen that one before; it's been at the fest for several years. Then I went downstairs to the dealers' room. There were people selling everything Beatle-related that you can imagine--books, records, photos, clothing, collectibles--you name it, it was there. I browsed for a while, but many of the items were things I'd seen before. There were some new Beatles books out that I was tempted to get, but in the end I decided to just add them to my Amazon wish list and hope Eugene gets the hint. I bought two T-shirts, but that was it. Normally I walk away with much more.

I watched some videos for a while, even though I had them on VHS at home. Then I went upstairs for an overpriced lunch. While I ate, a group played Beatles music in the lobby, so I sat down to listen to them for a couple of hours. Then I looked around at some more photographic exhibits. These weren't anything new, but I have to admit I do enjoy looking at the photographs--the Beatles make good eye candy. I bought some of the black-and-white artwork I'd admired earlier: a series of the Beatles at various stages in their lives. Then, since Eugene and I had dinner plans with his family, I headed home. The fest will continue tomorrow, but I won't have time to go then. It's too bad, as one of my friends can only go there tomorrow, so I won't get to see her. Still, I did just about everything I wanted to do except make a contribution to the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, something I do every year for John's sake. Perhaps I can still do it online.

Eugene's Birthday Celebration

I'm a little late with this, but here it is.

Tuesday night I made a special dinner for Eugene. We had steak, potatoes, vegetables, and double chocolate bread pudding. Then he got to open his presents. I gave him a statue of Bast, the Egyptian cat goddess, that he'd seen when we went to the King Tut exhibit last month. He brought it to work; we joked that his cats would start leaving dead mice in front of it. I also gave him a Bast Christmas ornament and a Billy Joel DVD of his videos. The rest of the night was the same as every other night (and no, we don't try to take over the world; who wants that?)

Last night I treated him to dinner at a nearby seafood place. On the way there, we saw two deer, a hawk, and an egret on a dead tree. The food was pretty good, even if the service seemed to take a while.

Today we didn't have a celebration, obviously. I was pretty busy at work, running around like I was on Iron Lab Tech, trying to run several experiments at once. At least I don't have to worry about any challengers.

Writing: I think I stated before that I'm taking a break from Lennon's Line. Instead, I've been working on one of its sequels. It's been slow going, but that's to be expected when I'm working in the living room. Time to move the laptop back into the office now that it's cooling down.

Happy Birthday, Eugene!

Well, Eugene's dad wished him a happy birthday on Friday, Russ did it on his blog last night, and his mom did the same today. Eugene's birthday is actually tomorrow, August 8. I figure I should post my own tribute tonight so everyone has time to add their own greetings.

Russ mentioned how Eugene's animal magnetism originally drew me to him. (There certainly wasn't any animal magnetism between me and Russ, so I'll let my readers decide who wins out in that area. ;) ) But a man needs more than magnetism to make a good husband:



He has to have a good sense of humor to deal with everything life throws at you...






















He has to be housebroken, or at least trainable.... ;)
























Dancing isn't a strict must-have, but it's a good activity to do together, plus some dances, like the tango, can be quite sensual. Eugene's taken tango lessons with me; Russ, on the other hand...well, do I need to mention the video clip from our wedding? It's on Sara's blog, if you haven't seen it.



















But most of all, he has to be a wonderful, warm-hearted man who makes each day something special because you can share it with him. This photo, like all the others I've posted, was taken on our honeymoon. Although that was a fantastic, once-in-a-lifetime event, even going shopping with Eugene, hanging out at the bookstore, or being at home is more fun because of him.














Russ is a good friend of ours, which of course explains why we dig at each other on our blogs. But in my life, I love Eugene more.

Happy birthday, Sweetie.

Tall Ships

Every three years, a fleet of Tall Ships--replicas of famous ships--sails into Chicago for a few days. They dock at Navy Pier or along the Chicago River, and if you buy a pass, you can board them and look around. Unfortunately, the last time they came, they also brought a downpour with them. We went anyway, but even with ponchos, it was miserable--at least for me. Well, the ships are back, and Eugene wanted to go. I felt I ought to indulge him this week for some odd reason that will be revealed soon. (evil laugh) So we drove down to Chicago today and saw the ships along the Chicago River. Although it did rain, it was very light, hardly a drizzle. There were lines to board each ship, but they weren't terrible. We brought Oscar the Orca along for some photos, and the ships' crews got a kick out it. Most of the pictures I took were with Oscar. There were about six to eight ships docked along the river; more were at Navy Pier, but we decided not to go there. The oldest ship we saw had been built over eighty years ago; the others were more recent. They were mostly wooden ships, replicas of schooners and trading vessels, although a couple had cannons.

After we'd seen the ships, we walked over to Marshall's Fields to have lunch in the Walnut Room. Since we hadn't been able to have brunch there during the Christmas season, I thought it would be nice to go there before the much-dreaded name change to Macy's. (I personally don't care, but I know of people who do.) Then we headed over to Millenium Park and visited our favorite sculpture, the Bean. We took more photos there. We strolled through the garden for a bit and watched part of a wedding being held at the park before driving home.

Here are the photos:


I can't remember which ship this is.

















Oscar pilots a ship from Wisconsin.














Sigh. I'm experiencing techincal difficulties posting additional pictures, so I'll have to try again later.

Not a Unicorn, but Still Cool

You Are a Pegasus

You are a perfectionist, with an eye for beauty. You know how to live a good life - and you rarely deviate from your good taste. While you aren't outgoing, you have excellent social skills. People both admire you - and feel very comfortable around you.

What Mythological Creature Are You?

Hey Russ...

Thought you might like to know your card came today. We thought it was pretty funny, but if I'd been in that situation, I've have asked for ten singles instead of two fives. Anyway, you haven't blogged for a while, so I thought I'd just say something here. It would make more sense to comment on your blog, but it's more interesting blogging about you than about the chores I did today. At least tonight should be more interesting; Eugene wants to go to Best Buy and Comp USA, then after we come home, we can have lemon and lime sorbet while he makes more of the mango mint. Maybe I can even get some editing done.

More later....

It's Finished!

Remember back to the beginning of February, when I starting crocheting an afghan? Probably not. Well, I finally finished it. Here's a picture:

















It's doubled over, and I still have to trim the fringe. I think for now I want to work on something smaller, though.

When the Rain Comes...

I haven't been this happy to see rain in a long time. It started to rain tonight as Eugene and I were making a Dairy Queen run (we're out of sorbet), and after we got home, the rain really picked up. We lost the Dish Network a few times during the evening, but at least it didn't go out during Whose Line. It'll be nice to have a break from the heat tomorrow.

Writing: I don't think I'm going to get any editing done for the next couple of days as I catch up on crits for OWW. Maybe I'll get lucky tomorrow night.

To Fest or Not To Fest....

That is the question.

I've been going to The Fest for Beatles Fans (previously known as Beatlefest, but the name had to be changed for legal reasons) for several years now. This year, I didn't buy tickets in advance. It's coming up next weekend. Truth to tell, I didn't take notice of the date earlier; I'm used to it being later in the month. So now I'm debating whether or not it's worth attending this year. It tends to be very much the same year after year--same exhibits, same types of programming, same dealers in the huckster's room. Even the guests have been there before.
While it's fun for me to unleash my inner Beatlegeek and go around all day in a Beatles T-shirt and denim jacket listening to Beatles music and admiring photographs of them, it does get old seeing the same things every year. And thanks to more legal issues, the Fest doesn't show the movies in the main ballroom anymore. Yes, I've seen A Hard Day's Night and Help! and Yellow Submarine lots of times, but it's more fun to see them with other fans. Plus it's expensive. It would be $44 bucks just for a one-day admission, and that's not counting parking and food and all the goodies I'd want to buy. For comparison, WisCon is $45 for the whole four-day weekend, and you get access to the con suite with free food and a bag of souvenirs. I was originally thinking to skip the Fest this year and put the money toward our upcoming vacation in London.

So why am I having second thoughts? There will be people I know from Beatlelinks, the forum I belong to, that I haven't seen in a long time. (Unfortunately, I won't be able to go with one of my friends this year, as she can only go Sunday, and I have plans for that day.) Plus, it is a heady feeling to wander around the hotel and see other people who share your passion for the music. It can be fun listening to people play and sing; sometimes singalongs form in the hallways. If I don't go, I'll feel like I'm missing something.

I guess I can wait until next Saturday to make up my mind, since I'd have to buy a ticket at the door. Eugene's telling me I should go if I want to go; I'm still trying to figure out how much I want to go.