Yesterday was a busy and fun day. Ages ago I RSVPd to go to the West Coast SFWA reception, in Long Beach—which wasn’t far from where we lived then. Then we moved here. And Brian announced that Morgana’s 40th birthday party was the same day. Here. Ack. We managed to do both, but there was lots of driving involved.

The SFWA reception was small, perhaps because advertising for it was minimal. The food was quite good, however, and the first two drinks were free. I saw Jenn and Vera, met Greg van Eekhout (whose journal I read—I’m never sure if as part of an introduction whether “I read your journal” gives a basis for conversation or makes one sound like a stalker), and had a chance to chat with Deborah Ross (aka Deborah Wheeler), whom we hadn’t seen in years. So all that was very good indeed.

On the way down, we saw a giant Sky Captain robot outside one of the major theatres. A several-stories-high robot. Yet another cool thing about living in LA!

(That said, we really want to see “Sky Captain”, and have been saying for more than a week that we’re going to have a date night…)

So then we headed back through LA to Oxnard. Most folks had left Morgana’s party, but a fair number were still there, and some who were about to leave sat back down to hang out with us for a bit.

I think the best part of the day was that I got to be a girl. For more than a month I’ve been in t-shirts and shorts whilst packing and moving, or t-shirts and leggings and bike gear, and/or jeans and shirts while travelling. Specifically for the reception and party, I went out and bought a dress. A short flippy flowery dress. And I had nail polish to match. My feet have forgotten how to deal with heels, but I looked pretty damn snazzy, and that was a blast. It’s fun to be a girl every once in a while. :-)

Now back to t-shirts and shorts whilst we unpack and scrub and move boxes, and I curl up here or there to write… And that’s okay, too.