Winter wonderland

It's so nice to sit here in the matutinal dimness, drinking a cup of morning wake-up, looking out at the blanket of white covering the cityscape and listening to the gentle fall of flakes...

Except, of course, that it's just all wet 'n' gray out, as usual. Johnbai's Blizzard of yesterday afternoon turned into just another melange of precipitation events: fluffy snow, wet snow, bitter rain, plain rain, and so on. There might have been a golden hour or so when the scene had the look and feel of a snowstorm, but we soon returned to textbook form: variations on a theme in the key of soggy.

I think that Johnbai and I squandered that snowy hour in front of his computer, working on a script outline for his latest animated project. I think the time was well-spent and that we have laid the groundwork to seriously Bring the Funny in this little mash-up, but I wonder if it might not have profited our souls more just to walk around the neighborhood for a while and leave the geekishness for later. Nonetheless, it was cool to spend time with the big guy and to have the unexpected bonus of O's delightful company, too.

Otis had a no-show appointment yesterday and shifted into full-artist mode for most of the day. She had been working on collage pieces and a major writing project for the past few weeks, and I have had the pleasure of swimming in the creative ripples.

I did drag Otis away from her muse away for some socializing last night. We stopped by the annual soirée of ToniToneTony and Skippy and basked in the warmth of their hospitality for a while, snagging a few art cards - they are both photogs - and spending a little time with A-Wo and K-Kay (but no sign of J-Force!).

We had to abbreviate our visit to zip into the heart of Ballard to stop by the launch party for Kris-10's business venture, the Hugawug line of dolls and books. It was a great little party: Kris looked every inch the entrepreneur as she worked the room, Rye-N was of course on hand for tactical and emotional support, the food was good, the bartender had generous pours, and we even had a chance to hook up with some pals from Otis's end of the universe. There was a positive feeling surrounding the event and we wish Kris and her partner all good luck!

Today might have to include some schoolishness, but I may avoid it for one more day, realizing that all next work week (and into the weekend) will be taken up with assessment activities anyway. My goal is to have all of my grading and evaluation completed by 11:59 pm Monday December 10. Then all I have to worry about over the long break is developing four or five new syllabi. But that's kind of the fun part, anyway.