Victorian Technological Exposition

I don't miss Food Network enough to actually order cable... but man, I could watch it all day when it happens to be available. (Which is probably another good reason not to get cable....) I am so hungry for baked fettuccini in asiago sauce now.

Anyway, the Victorian Technological Exposition, a.k.a. Steampunk Ball! It was a blast. I was glad that I got to go with a bunch of friends.

Funniest moment: we drive up, and are peering in the window going 'are we at the right place?' Then we realize that we can see triath... teaching the dancing. I was like, "She wasn't helping to organize this! ...was she?" jmpava pointed out that it figured; you can always find triath in the middle of the excitement. (Really, what happened was that the original dance teacher bailed, and since triath and istgut have experience, they volunteered, which was awesome.) I danced a little with donaithnen and then repaired upstairs to hang out and watch.

There were several games (I unsurprisingly sat out -- see above re: shy girl -- but had a lot of fun watching from the balcony), a technological pavilion with a Thinking Machine, an electricity device, a stereoscope, and a set of prints of clockwork insects, and snacklets and drinks including absinthe. (The absinthe was even served 'properly' -- ie, a little was poured in the glass, then a sugar cube was placed on a slotted spoon over the glass and then icewater is dripped over the spoon and sugar cube to dissolve the sugar into the drink. This brings some of the dissolved flavorings in the absinthe out of solution, giving the absinthe a milky appearance.) I quite enjoyed the absinthe, but it was met with a mixed reception from our group. ;)

Everyone was dressed brilliantly -- some more Victorian than others, some more steamy than others, but pretty much everyone got into it and looked awesome.

( Pics -- VERY image heavy )

State of the Cora

...is pretty good, all things considered, though I'm really getting about ready to go home.

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I have, to my mild shame, never seen Terminator 2. I'm told it's an excellent movie in addition to being an exiting action flick. (I have seen T3, which was entertaining if kind of stupid.) I will definitely see T2 at some point (yes, I know it's creepy and violent; I'm fairly sure I can deal, and Pav can tell me when not to look if it's relevant), but, in true Ask Livejournal fashion, when deciding whether to watch the first one first, I resort to ( a poll )

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I am not currently stressing about the conference. This is an odd state of affairs. I sort of feel, perversely, as though I ought to be stressed, so I'm a little worried about not being worried. Still! Could be a lot worse.

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I have aquired quite a collection of BPAL scents, and I'm in the process of noting down stuff about them and dividing them into 'OMG YES,' 'Nice enough to wear when the occasion is right,' 'Nice, but not for wearing (ie, use as a linen scent or similar),' and 'Eew.' (In general, I'm pretty sure the 'eew' scents are eew on me not because there's actually anything wrong with them but because they don't push my particular buttons, or because they don't work with my skin chemistry.) In the future, I'll probably be looking to give away the 'eews,' and maybe also some of the 'nice enough but not my favorite's, and also some of the duplicate imps. For now, though, ( thoughts about scent preferences and skin chemistry )