Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

Over on basfa, I have forwarded a question from cherylmorgan regarding whether we should consider this Monday at BASFA "Costumer's Night."

My office is encouraging people to wear costumes on Tuesday. I however, already wore my WSFS uniform there last year, and my football (gridiron) referee uniform the year before that, which pretty much exhausts my stock. I have some much more elaborate costumes -- the most elaborate of which was in my FGoH exhibit at CascadiaCon -- but I need to lose a lot more weight (at least fifty more pounds, probably more) before I could ever consider fitting in to any of them again. And they take a lot more preparation than the uniforms I have, which are really just toss-on-and-go things.

This being the first weekend after cherylmorgan returned, as is typical, we needed to do some shopping. My minivan was also due for an oil change.

Our first stop was Seawolf Trading Company, a "pirate store" located a short distance from the apartment. We had some idea of picking up pieces for pirate-based Halloween costumes, but were generally unimpressed by the store. I suppose if I had more money I wouldn't mind spending nearly $200 for a mass-produced pirate captain outfit that would probably fall apart on one wearing, but it didn't appeal to me in my current finances.

After escaping the clutches of the pirates, I dropped Cheryl off at the Hub shopping center in Fremont and drove over to Jiffy Lube. They informed me that I was overdue for transmission fluid service as well. As I recall, when I did the oil change prior to the trip to Worldcon, I was faced with the "perfect storm" of every single maintenance item coming due simultaneously, and I postponed the transmission fluid change in favor of all the others; however, I had to bite the bullet today.

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Heading back to the Hub, I connected up with Cheryl. The earlier delays meant it was time for lunch, so after a stop at the New Hung Kee Noodle house in the Hub, we were able to complete our various errands and head back home. This being the final day before daylight saving time ends, I proposed we try to get out for a walk around Quarry Lakes, but Cheryl -- having been stranded by me at the Hub for over an hour -- was too tired for it, and I can't say as I blame her under the circumstances. Maybe tomorrow, although we'll need to remember to go at least an hour earlier than we normally would during the summer.