I had reluctantly decided that seeing Seanan perform at Music Under the Trees was not in the cards because budget, but a few things shifted. I had, of course, lost track and was sure it had sold out and/or already happened, so when Seanan retweeted that there were 6 tickets left, I asked alexseanchai if they had plans, then updated them on their new plans. (Which worked because we'd already had the "gosh this event yes please" chat, *and* because "my plan is sleep and an ice pack" is also a perfectly cromulent plan.)

So we zipped off on Saturday, not entirely knowing what to expect. (Belovedest had their monthly weekend work shift.) Signage picked up about where the map left off.

We found seats (extreme back right by the stone stairs) and LO THERE WAS MUSIC.

Highlights:
* Unexpectedly but unsurprisingly seeing tygerr and cawingcrow
* stealthcello explaining how her synaesthesia works in the composition process
* The reaction when I pitched "Unseelie toddler running through the farmers market" to Menage a Trio for musical improv
* Alexander James Adams, entirely
* The band that flooded Chicago, oops
* #notalldragons #butdefinitelythisguy
* The mushroom alfredo sauce
* The rhubarb fool would probably have been one but I was too overwhelmed to actually find an appropriate vessel or utensil
* Crocheting pieces of the happiness and magic into my lace nightgown in progress
* Ophelia
* Space Girl
* The one with the Furies, Furiosa, and political climate
* Still Catch the Tide
* My Story is Not Done
* Wicked Girls Saving Themselves

We absconded fairly quickly after, as everyone was ow and flomp. Traffic was a mess in Tacoma due to a previous drunk driver murdering a motorcyclist on I5. Belovedest had chicken strips heated and ready. They're a great partner.

Next year I want Belovedest and my morail and my morail's datefriend and all the bits of the polycule who would enjoy it to join us. And to maybe bring our own chairs.

I'd been anticipating having a quiet evening at home with my friends inside the computer. Instead, I wound up over at trystan_laryssa and dustraven's, with their old roommate (who I'm sure I used to have a nickname for) and his wife and their kids, and figment0 besides.

I brought pomegranates and butterbeer, in the cream soda and buttershots assemble-it-yourself form. We played Harry Potter Scene It, then Apples to Apples. There was great hilarity over the latter, especially after the last remaining awake kid conked out. I won "clean" with "girl scouts" (judge: dustraven) and "dirty" with "car bomb" (judge: figment0) but failed to bag "fuzzy" with "cheesecake" (the sort that's been left at the back of the refrigerator too long, and what was I supposed to play, Canada, Death Valley, or Israel?). The rest of the group voted that trystan_laryssa and I had to be separated, as we were getting too high a percentage of each other's apples.

[Poll #643557]
Is it customary to decide that the green apples that a person holds are a description of them? Our crew tonight seemed to find it customary to break out into song at pseudo-random intervals, like when someone said "dead" (we went through bits of "Dead Man's Party" and then TMBG's "Dead" the second time it came up) or when Bangkok got discussed (not much between despair and ecstasy). We did that last year too, however, not playing that game, so I think it's just the group. At some point I'd like to play the game in reverse, with green apples dealt out and red apples as the challenge. We'd run out of apples more quickly that way, but still fun for all.

Midnight was a bit of a scramble, as we were rather all in game. Champagne was poured. The guys got the TV on at 6 seconds until midnight, and I wound up clinking my cellphone against glasses (I'd been looking at the time on it). I demonstrated my Secret Weapon about hanging around with smokers when we went outside: incense. The dude gave me a light. After dustraven and trystan_laryssa had their New Year's Kiss, I snagged a little bit of a smooch from her. figment0 got a peck on the cheek. Someone was letting off fireworks, people were banging on pots and pans, and someone touched off something that went fucking BOOM in rather a scary bit of noise, such that half the people present thought it had been gunfire until physical evidence in the form of we'd seen light over the trees and intervening buildings pointed out that it had to have been a far-too-large firework going off far too low, because muzzle flash is evidently neither that bright nor that high. The kid slept through it all.

The requisite car alarms were set off. It's not a fireworks display until someone's car alarm goes off; the more car alarms the better the fireworks. Is "car alarms" an Apples to Apples card? If it's not, it should be a write-in.

After we were done outside, we went back inside and finished up the game. trystan_laryssa won; she'd wound up with the best of a number of bad rounds and reached ten first.

figment0 dropped me off home. I was staggering and weaving by that point: the energy was wearing off and the booze was wearing on. Two glasses of butterbeer and a fifth of a small glass of champagne doesn't sound like a lot, but it is if you're me, which I am; it also is on that much of not supper. Heck, it was rather a lot of not breakfast and not lunch either, because I was running out to the store to get carrots for breakfast (at 6 pm) when I called trystan_laryssa, and then I wound up chatting a little, not eating breakfast, and closing down the computer and leaving. Horror of horrors: I think I Forgot to Eat Real Food. And given that I was off visiting Guide Dog Aunt, who cooks better than I do and keeps Actual Food on hand, I may well be among the few who lost weight over the holiday season.

How do you get pomegranate out of a cat? I have pomegranate on my fingers. I sent pomegranate home with the girls. I don't think the cats got into the pomegranate. I cleared dishes out from the clean dish washer into the cupboards and then from the sink into the dirty dish washer.

I want to try out the rubber ice mold that I think will work for chocolate. Someday soon.