cornerofmadness

So there was a kickoff talk for the 15th annual Mothman festival. I went with the chair of my dept,her friend and the Ochem professor. Actually the chair had won an 18" pizza, 2L of pop and a bag of chips from Giovanni's so we had that first and then went down to the talk.

Boy is this festival getting HUGE. They think that 8000 people will be here over the weekend. I plan to go back on SUnday. This is the first time they had anything on friday. The talk was your usual Bigfoot stuff (and honestly, not that good but they gave stuff out as gifts, didn't win any). 6 assholes sat in front of us. Okay three assholes and three people who were with them. They sat there mocking them the whole time. The other downside was it was hot as hell in that old theater.

We walked down the street to the historic Lowe hotel and the Mothman statue and to my shock all the stores were opened late for this AND the food vendors were out. We got lemonades and funnel cake and I wish to hell that my good camera wasn't home on the charger because my cell phone didn't do a good job. There was a full moon and I should have been able to get some very artful pictures (though I DO NOT have a good camera for moon shots).

And tonight the phone won't speak to my computer so photos will have to wait.

The faculty meeting went well and was frustrating at the same time. The changes to the biology program passed but on the other hand, our moron governor is making changes that are hurting people. There isn't any one involved in education on the committees he's using (all politicans and bankers) and Ohio is 40th out of 50 and they've inverted the payment structure with the state kicking in less than a third and the rest is all on the student vs the exact opposite just 8 years ago. I DO need to start looking to get out of Ohio.

My parents had a busy day. They're still traveling. I'm VERY disappointed in them as they are in Tonopah NV and did NOT stay at the Clown motel. Anyhow they were waiting for the restaurant in the hotel in Lake Tahoe to open when a young man in a hoodie entered it. They thought he was an employee but instead he tried to rob it. He got away from the female security guard and Dad body slammed him. The hotel comped their breakfast and their room for the night in return.

Also yay, BBC America has put original Star Trek on their friday night line up. I watched Is THere in Truth No Beauty and realized that the jealous blind scientist in that episode is the same actress who played Dr. Pulaski on StTNG. I never knew that.

Also I think I know why I've been feeling so shitty all week. Feels like one of those ovarian cysts burst today.

Day 16 -332 words

So today was the annual steampunk train ride in Nelsonville. My neighbors, especially shit stirring drama king (as he shall now be known as) loved my dress up. For a second time I have to conceed that Google Earth and Mapquest are on drugs. This is further than 1 hour away (more like ten, fifteen minutes longer) but this time I allowed for that.

I think it was a smaller group this time, but the usual core was there. Plus a lesbian couple from Columbus with their kids and a couple from Pittsburgh. The only downside was it was nearly 90 degrees and equal humidity (I was almost wishing I was in AZ). Also we ended up in one of the non-air conditioned cars for nearly 3 hours. I literally have no idea how women back then did it and concluded that they were made of sterner stuff than I.

In fact I drank 2 bottles of water (okay one was sugary lemonade which should have made things worse) and then was on that train for nearly 3 hours and then we all went to the Dew House which is an old hotel turned sort of a half way house/assisted living for disabled people but with a coffee shop in the ground floor. I drank two large cups of ice coffee and still once I got to the chinese restaurant I STILL didn't have to pee much. I was THAT dehydrated (this from a diabetic who has to pee every 2 hours at best especially after something surgary). Even then I had two more cups of water and a tim horton iced tea and still most of that stayed in the body to replenish.

It was a relaxing fun time. Talked some, sat and just watched the scenery roll by mostly. There is one town though that I don't know the name of (and I think it's actually in WV) that is SO depressingly poor, I actually want to find it and document it. It made me feel bad for wasting money on this train ride. I can't even explain just how run down and terrible these trailers were and the houses (though there were a few outstanding early 1800s brick homes) too. I saw a teenaged boy waving to us through a 1970s trailer window and I could have sworn it was gutted and if not should have been. Most mysterious was the nearly falling down shed with two solar panels on it. That was WTF.

We stopped at Robinson (Roberts?) village on Hocking College's grounds, a 1700s village (original homes pulled from everywhere) but seriously either they need to put money in to fix it or stop letting people go there. MANY of the wooden steps and ramps into the buildings were broken and a few were so spongy underfoot I refused to go up them.

Afterward in the coffee shop, I think I stunned and maybe scared the guy from Pittsburgh (or maybe he was pissed I interrupted him but probably stunned as we were talking before that affiably or it's my social anxiety issues....) Anyhow he was lamenting that in Pittsburgh there really aren't steampunk groups that want to do anything, just cosplay at various events and he was tired of running things. I was the president of Parsec for years. I leapt up OMG I was a MEMBER of Parsec. I was, back in the 80s. So cool. He told me things I didn't know about the Carneige Library in actual Carniege in that it was once a meeting ground for the confederates and when the library was reclaimed (after the last member of the ex-Confederates stopped using it as a meeting hall in the 1930s and it was immediately locked up and remained that way until the 1980s) that they tried to get it repainted in the original colors of pumpkin! I need to go see how much of that is true.

I got the phone to work. I'm sure i'll have more pictures later.

Me and mothman from last night. I learned my phone takes particularly shitty low light photos so nothing else was worth looking at