A Man On A Mission - Changing The Vision

July's nearly ended. Who wants to throw a weekend-long pool party? I'll man the grill since our usual griller's not here, but I'll be taking orders as they come -- I'm not risking messing up anybody's protein.

Also, the usual assortment of booze will be available from me at least for tomorrow night. And if I'm grilling/drinking by my lonesome... well. I dunno, but don't make me do that. It'd be sad.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

In this house, we celebrate with culturally traditional foods and drinks. Which basically just means eXcal had a really good actual Mexican restaurant cater for everybody and, despite how much it hurts my heart, our liquor of choice tonight is tequila! No vodka anywhere in sight. Obviously, we're also passing around virgin drinks. If you're not yet 21, you don't get to get tipsy.

Everything's in the kitchen and I'm manning the bar, such as it is. Shots are my specialty, so just keep that in mind. I am not an actual bartender and while I can do plenty of fancy tricks, I can't promise the drinks produced will actually be any good.

Alright, despite the recent shenanigans in the Chapel courtesy of the wormhole and the vending machine (we're pretty sure it was those two specific things and Forge has tweaked the vending machine so it won't happen again), I'd like to offer something of an all-call for eXcalibur type mission safety. In particular, we've got some gear and gadgets that we've developed (the gauntlet courtesy of Kitty, Garrison, and Molly's smarts and hard work) to ensure the highest degree of safety we can manage when traveling to alternate dimensions and realities.

We've noticed a few times that we could have used assistance once or twice while checking things out and making plans just in case we actually had to initiate another mission. In an effort to make sure everyone who might be interested in and/or willing to hope through into the unstable Einstein-Rosen bridge knows what they're carrying, why, and how to use it all, eXcalibur as a team will be holding educational seminar type things every couple months, once we have enough interest or once people's schedules align. Obviously, if something comes up in the meantime, we'll reach out to particular people who might be helpful - and believe me, I'm taking notes on what everybody's capable of or working toward when it's my turn in the DR cockpit.

There's also some general information for anyone who's interested in helping out with monitoring the wormhole, since we have to do that 24/7/365 (unless it's a leap year, obvs). I imagine this will be easier to disseminate, honestly, and likely a bit of training, then hands-on experience would be all that's needed.

Please let me or anyone else on the team know if you'd like to attend a seminar or get trained on monitoring things. (Shifts are generally eight hours, though we're very flexible, since we're a little bit desperate when it comes to people understanding the wormhole-specific software and protocols.)

Thanks!

Oh, and there'll be snacks.

I've just finished the first draft of my third scientific paper of the year - this one's on the interaction of mass with black holes, specifically those contained/confined through magical means and how that interaction allows for transference of living tissue (ie people) through space/time into alternate dimensions without them being vaporized - and sent it off to my editor.

If anyone feels like peer reviewing it, let me know. God knows I won't be able to actually send it anywhere or have it published. And just thinking about Jane getting her hands on it gives me hives. She's already got one stabilized Einstein-Rosen bridge to poke at. We don't need to give her an unstabilized one.

So I was planning a Tremors marathon this weekend, anyway, but it's come to my attention that Molly doesn't know what Tremors is and therefore we're starting the marathon immediately.

Got some leftover drinks from last weekend, but if you want in, bring your own snacks. I did get my latest order of bizarre (and wonderful) European candy, so that's fair game if you're interested. One bottle of vodka is for Skittles, but only one. You might want to bring mixers for variety, since I only have juice and liquor.

Watched Don't Look Up on Netflix before crashing out this morning and I gotta say. Satire's best when satire doesn't hit quite so close to trufax reality and these days I could just see that shit happening. Man, fuck politicians who ignore scientists and hard data.

So I know I've been under a rock for the last two years and change, but I definitely didn't miss Tremors 14 and Snarknado 11. I'm assuming the same stuff that's going on with everything else is messing with SyFy's programming... I need way more vodka than I currently have if I'm gonna be catching up on all these movies.

Also, I am recording this shit.

Right, so, in the spirit of the holidays and stuff, the dads are throwing the first of what they're hoping will become an annual decorating thing this Saturday. Me and Matt've been told to invite everybody we know, so you guys are all invited. It's the Saturday, for anybody who's still in town. Show up at the condo in the city whenever you want, but not before ten, because the food won't be ready till then.

Food'll be available all day. I think Andre threw in the towel and decided to have stuff catered? But I'm not 100% sure. There'll be holiday themed drinks starting with mimosas, I've been told, though I don't know how you make orange juice and champagne holiday-ish. It's a family-friendly party, since Steve's business partner's bringing her family, too, so non-alcoholic stuff'll be available. Last I checked, her kids weren't tiny, so it'll mostly be high school aged people. Probably.

It's non-denominational, if that features as a thing for anybody. There's a bunch of different trees but also just general like wreaths or garlands and lights and stuff, too. No actual crafts are going to be made at this party. Also, no gifts required. If you're feeling really generous and want to give something, they're asking that donations be made to the Masbia Soup Kitchen Network. They run soup kitchens in Brooklyn, Queens, and Hell's Kitchen.

But mostly, this is just a reason to get together, eat food, put up some lights, drink some good stuff, and have some fun. Everybody's welcome. Board games can be arranged, if enough people are interested.

Sooooooooooooo... I really like roasted pumpkin seeds, but I'm pants at making them. Seriously, smoke everywhere, fire detectors blaring, possibly one time the fire department actually showed up at my apartment and then all the hot firemen gave me suuuuuuuuuuuuper unimpressed faces.

But, I seem to have acquired two pumpkins of my very own, which appeared out of nowhere, so! Who wants to have the actual pumpkin stuff to make pumpkin related food items from? (Or use for target practice, I guess. I mean, if I get no takers, maybe that's what I'll do with their hollowed out selves after the 31st.) As long as you assist in roasting pumpkin seeds department, the pumpkin bodies are all yours.

Pretty please with a latte of your choosing on top?

I NEED A CHEMIST.

Please note, I didn't listen to that thing with sound cause I was doing a thing, but I am totes hitting that up the next time I go to a rave. Mostly I'm pretty sure this whole thing involves different viscosity for every liquid involved -- they'd all have to weigh something different than the others and be lighter than the main base to float and not mix like that, right? Even without being able to see all the colors, that's just fucking cool.