gwyn | Entries tagged with travels

Here's something I don't understand: I got an email with a cute comment on a story, and I wanted to respond to it. It does not exist on my story or in my AO3 inbox. I know people can delete their comments, but I didn't think that meant they disappeared from your inbox as well--in the past when someone deleted a comment, I could still find the original in my AO3 inbox. The only difference I can see is that I hadn't yet replied to this one, and previous deletions, I had replied. I think this is so weird that it could just disappear out of my inbox like that. Is that standard?

I haven't been keeping up with things beyond the Justified rewatch postings. I meant to post about my trip to New Orleans a couple weeks ago, but then I came home and had that first excision for one of the cancerous moles, the one on my back, and kind of fell back into non-posting mode.

So, long story short--I had planned a trip with

killabeez and Mrs. Killabeez to New Orleans, and they invited some friends, so it was like we had a cool little mini-con in a couple of rented apartments. Most of them were down there for longer than me; I'd really only been able to swing four or five days, which I know is not much especially when you've wanted to go your whole life but never wanted to go there alone, which is how I usually travel. I do wish I'd gone for at least another day, but we were there for a Mardi Gras parade, one of the ones that's not part of the official Mardi Gras parades list but which was an amazing amount of fun anyways and much more perfect for a bunch of fans: it's the Chewbacchus parade, which is SF & F themed and such a hoot! My first ever Mardi Gras parade!

It was originally going to be a birthday trip since killa and I have birthdays close together, and I wanted to do something for my milestone birthday, but kind of morphed to accomodate different people's schedules, so it worked out for being on the cusp of Mardi Gras, which I'd never thought I'd be able to see and was the happiest of accidents. So everywhere we went was decked out in the purple, green, and gold of Mardi Gras colors, and beads were everywhere. We got to see the Preservation Hall Jazz Band at a cool Q&A they do at Preservation Hall, and eat FLAMAZING food, and take a New Orleans streetcar, and eat beignets. It didn't work out with my short schedule to see the World War II Museum, or go on a cemetery tour, but I still had so much fun seeing stuff, and accidentally stumbled on the store that belongs to Villalobos Rescue Center, the focus of the Animal Planet show Pitbulls and Parolees, so of course i had to get a T-shirt.

The place we rented was in the Garden District and there were lots of nice places around, and honestly, I don't think I've ever eaten so well. On Sunday, after most folks had left and it was just me and the Missuses, we stopped for a while in Pirate's Alley for a drink at a cool old bar, and they discovered that their favorite singer was playing that night when they didn't think they'd get to see her this trip--so we decided to go do our dinner reservation early to make the show in time, and I was like "Oh, I have barely started my drinkkkkk...oh hey, it's New Orleans! I can take my drink with me!" The fact that you can get to-go cups for your booze and drink and walk along is amazing to me. I mean, yeah, litter is a problem, but damn, it was fun! All in all, it was a great time, and I am so glad I went with people who know the city and how things go, and OMG I need to go back again soon. (I posted a few pictures on my instagram, but not a lot.)

When I made my plans, I didn't know that I was going to be having a couple of these surgeries for the cancer spots on my skin, and had also made plans to go to Escapade on Thursday. I'm...really feeling the shock of the finances, and it was probably a dumb decision, but nonrefundable tickets, etc. As soon as I get home from Escapade I have to go in for the much more unpleasant Moh's surgery on my cheek. I worked myself up into a tizzy for the back thing last week, because every time I have tried to talk about pain relief for these really painful things, they tell me that it doesn't hurt, and that I can only take tylenol, the most useless substance on earth. Since I bleed like a stuck pig, they are especially annoying about this, even though some studies are showing NSAIDs don't necessarily really increase bleeding risk. But there was a new nurse this time and I asked her about it, and she was really great--the first one who didn't basically say "sucks to be you" when I said tylenol was useless and I knew from experience I would be in pain.

So this time they gave me a prescription for oxycontin for a couple days, which made such a difference in being able to sleep and work. They also gave me--and this was something I didn't even know was possible--internal stitches under the skin, so they dissolve in time and the glue on the outside eventually falls off, which meant I didn't have to go back (more $$ for a visit) or change a dressing (which is really hard to do when you live alone and it's in the middle of your back). Still, I'm getting worked up again about the more painful and invasive face surgery that awaits next week when I get back from the con. I'm absolutely dreading trying to get them to give me pain meds, it's been so difficult historically, and everyone acts like you're trying to scam opioids, which is ridiculous. If I wanted to get drugs to abuse there are way, way simpler methods than having people cut parts of me off with a scalpel.

Anyway, money anxiety and terror aside, I'm looking forward to sunshine in LA, because the rain has been epic this winter here and there have been weeks where it never stopped, just rain every single fuckin' day for endless days in a row. My yard became a mud pit. And I'm doing a couple panels, I guess: one for Schitt's Creek with

nestra, and another about comics to MCU Marvel fandom with

przed. My Captain America fandom panel didn't make the cut, grumble grumble. There won't be a lot of time down there, we're coming home earlier than usual, but if I can get to a beach, I really want to. I'm not used to traveling so close together, it feels weird to leave when I just got home, but I neeeed sunshine. (Though, hilariously, it's sunny today but cold.) And also, more chances to see friends; New Orleans whetted my appetite.

Got back from New York Monday, but it's taken me a while to get back to normal, and I have so much work and so many fannish obligations (and a con this weekend! OMG) that it's been hard to find time to sit and post. I had a good time in some respects, not so good in others. My friend who I was meeting up with to see Chris Evans in Lobby Hero, and who had bought the tickets, brought her friend from work, and…that did not go well, at least for me.

I really enjoyed the play--I thought Chris was fantastic, and the whole cast was uniformly great. I had this moment of embarrassment squick when Chris first came on stage, because you could tell the audience was swarming with fangirls and I was afraid there would be applause or squealing or something, and I did hear one or two people start to clap, but fortunately it didn't happen. Michael Cera is not someone I am particularly fond of but he did an amazing job as Jeff, the central character around whom everyone else revolves. The actress who plays the partner of Chris's character was excellent and she really held her own against everyone, and I was shocked to find out she is English because her New York accent was pretty damn good. I give Chris credit too--I have heard his horrifying attempt at a Southern accent and I know this isn't his strong suit, but he pulled it off. The actor who played William was the one who impressed me the most, Brian Tyree Henry; he's definitely someone I plan to watch for in the future (I haven't watched Atlanta, but I think I will check it out for him). He wasn't always great at projecting and I sometimes wondered if people in the balcony could hear him, because even in the second row I had trouble with his quieter lines, but damn he was good.

The play is definitely a Kenneth Lonergan piece--super tight focus on a smallish number of characters, often a feckless sort of protagonist--usually but not always male, trying to drill down into why people do the things they do, lots of self-doubting, not particularly cheerful, crackling dialogue when characters do speak and lines that make you laugh out loud. There was one line that Chris has that made me laugh so hard that I had to jam my hand over my mouth to stop laughing so I wouldn't make a spectacle of myself. (I…am not going to get into my feelings about Lonergan and his defense of Casey Affleck right now, but suffice to say it lowered my opinion of him.) And I was really impressed with how well Chris handled being such a vile, manipulative bastard, because while he's played assholes and less than savory dudes before, this is very far off brand for him, and I'm glad he took on the challenge. He really does melt into the role of that particular type of NYPD cop--my friend works in the field and she mentioned how he has the cop lean, the hands on belt stance used to intimidate, all the little nuances down. He switches from charming and smarmy in his manipulations to hostile and frightening in a heartbeat, and it's a side of him as an actor I hadn't seen before, really.

Everyone talks about the mustache, and I have to say it's perfect for the role (the play's set in '99) with the brush cut. I had a theory that when you saw him in motion, in costume, it wouldn't be quite so noticeably terrible and Mario Brothersy, and I was right. Especially when he's wearing the hat, or just preening or strutting on stage, you forget it's Chris Evans with a terrible 'stache. He used his physicality well--he seems like a normal, tall guy who's appropriately fit until he goes into threatening mode and then he draws himself up to his full height, chest out, looming over his partner, Dawn, or leaning into Jeff's space and scaring him. He's actually off stage a lot of the time--I knew he wasn't really the lead but I was surprised by how much he was missing from the story (there's a reason for that). And you know, because I'm shallow, when he was six feet away from me I was noticing that even with the heavy belt and the baggy pants, you cannot hide that ass. (And also, just how amazingly, truly pale his skin is, which, like, I knew but when you see it in real life you're like wow, he's maybe even paler than I am!)

So all in all, it was totally worth building a trip around, I loved the play and the performances, and if you have the chance to see him in it before it's gone, I'd definitely recommend it. The updates they've made to the Helen Hayes theatre, too, were really nice--there aren't any real obstructions and it's quite small, so if you're there for the 'stache, you shouldn't be disappointed.

Getting out of the theatre after was insane--I knew there was a barricade for people wanting to wait at the stage door, but I had no idea it would be that bananas, not helped by being next door to Frozen. I was afraid my friend would want to wait, but it was bone-breaking cold out and I was woefully underdressed (I…really did not plan well for such unseasonably cold weather and outside of a nice Friday, I was always frozen myself), so I was super happy when she said she just wanted to go to Junior's for her traditional post-theatre eats. That place was nuts, too, but I've always wanted to go so was glad to do it. I have to admit, it's so nice to be in a city that you can eat dinner at midnight in. I'm a night owl, and even in the hipster disctricts in Seattle, stuff closes down so early.

Other highlights: got to have fangirl dinner with friends (thank you again, cesperanza, for organizing that!) at a lovely restaurant, finally made it to the Met after being thwarted for years, and went down to DUMBO in Brooklyn and the Brooklyn Historical Society's new location there. Found some lovely little details I want to work into Stucky fic. Also met up with anoel on Sunday at my hotel and ordered in Thai food, which made a nice decompression end to the trip. I'll probably write more about those things later. I've been posting a few pics here and there on my instagram account (teatotally).

Current Mood: drained

I'm sitting out on the balcony of our amazing ocean-front hotel room, watching the surfers and the people walking along Ocean Blvd. beach walk and enjoying the weather, waiting for Tina to wake up again. She went off before dawn to do sunrise photography, a perfect complement to the sunset photography she did on the roof terrace last night. It was stunning, some small band of clouds suddenly making an appearance just as the sun went below the horizon so that we got crepuscular rays. Toward the actual sunset a number of people joined us on the terrace and everyone was asking her about her professional equipment.

I bought a fancy cocktail in the bar and brought it up to lie back on the chaise and drink while waiting for sunset, and of course spilled it right away. That was really the only major downside of the day--even with a last minute gate change to the far satellite terminal at the airport, it wasn't as crappy traveling as usual, and I even had a middle seat free next to me, which is unheard of on Alaska flights--the guy in the window seat and I were looking at each other like "dare we hope?" as they closed the doors. Made the trip a lot better.

Lindbergh airport is nearly exactly the same as the last time I left it--ten years ago. I was surprised how little it had changed. It looks like they're making some cosmetic changes to the terminal Alaska flies into, but otherwise it's largely the same. And as we were driving around yesterday, I realized there were still so many businesses and buildings that haven't changed in a decade, either.

Oooo! An armada of pelicans just flew right in front of my face!

Anyway. That makes me feel probably even sadder than I was coming down. But it's so beautiful right now that it helps mitigate some of the sadness--today it's going to be 71 F and we're hoping to head over to Coronado. We went to the Cat Cafe we'd read about on Cute Overload yesterday, which was nice, and stopped for food nearby. Downtown/Gaslamp district has changed the most. It used to be just business and the Horton Place mall, and now it's absolutely filled with condos and apartment buildings and everything's bustling. At one point I was just standing there blinking, realizing I didn't know ANYthing of where I was, that I couldn't identify a single thing. And felt incredibly old, too.

But this is the first time I felt like I really understood why my sister loved living here. I had always had the dream that eventually I'd move down here with her and we'd live in a house and complain about the kids these days and have a million cats. Maybe I'll still move down here (hah, like I could afford it), and yell at clouds in her memory or something. But it's so gorgeous, and still a small city in spite of everything, a beach community still in so many ways. Pacific Beach was always my favorite, and the hotel is fantastic, really chic and lovely but still has that feel like it belongs to a beach community. I could get used to the terrible water if it came with sunshine and the occasional marine layer cool day, just the things sis_r liked best.

We went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner last night, where I'd gone with sis_r years ago before it became a big chain. Got too much to eat, but it was strange, going there and then walking by the bar where we'd played pool. I don't know that there's a part of town I don't have a memory of her, and maybe that's the thing, I need to come here more often and make new ones.

God, I don't want to leave and go up to that putrid hotel in the putrid airport district of LA. :::cries forever:::

mmmm hunky surfers in half-off wetstuits walking by...