The lesson is simple: the time that you close off and draw away from your friends is the time that you probably need them the most.There have been no gym stories for a while, and that should be a tip-off that I'm struggling. The month before dragon*con is always a wash for me when it comes to workouts, because my brain gets eaten by the twin towers of tech and DCTV. Coming on top of May's pneumonia diagnosis, things have sputtered for months. What had started off terribly well ended up in a major disappointment for me; the costume I had spent a year and a half researching was one I could not fit into when it came time for dragon*con 2005.

I put it away for another year. Not without tears, though.

There is light. There is the possibility of my finishing up my dragon*con 2005 duties by October 1, a possibility fraught with both excitement and trepidation.I have been playing Barenaked Ladies almost incessantly all day.

This is the part of the year that I refer to as "the slog." I have stories to tell about the past few months, but I am so wrapped up in the possibility of finally grinding through the remainder of my work that I have trouble focusing on anything but the finish line. Never mind that I really won't know what to do with myself when I get there.

I'm leaving early for dragon*con 2005. I've been watching the news with mingled fascination and horror, and with the growing realization that I should probably get to Atlanta either before or after Hurricane Katrina hits our area. We are a multiple-hour-drive inland, practically in Tennessee for crying out loud, and we are still going to have tropical-storm-force winds from this one.Silly me. I don't feel like driving in a tropical storm, and I've got a lot of stuff to do in Atlanta for tech, so I'm going to need to leave tomorrow morning.

"Good morning, this is Yarn Expressions.""Hi. I think I've got the weirdest question you're going to hear all day. My name's Amy…"

"Ah, yes. That ball of green yarn you bought yesterday afternoon is sitting here on the counter. You can pick it up at any time."

"I tore my car apart yesterday after I got home, looking for that yarn."

"Yeah, you probably wouldn't have found it in your car… If you hadn't called by noon we were going to call you."

"It's been sort of a long week."

"We all have those."

I just realized I hadn't posted since I got home from San Francisco, and subsequently wandered off to Atlanta.We're fine—busy, but fine—but we are also in the final prep phase for dragon*con 2005, and as usual, that is eating up most of our spare brain cycles. I can't promise anything more than sporadic posting between now and Labor Day.

I haven't forgotten about you guys, but I'm going to be neck-deep in code work, prep work, and logistics for the next two weeks, so it's unlikely you'll hear much from me.

Back soon.

Proof positive that you get what you asked for:

Knitting in fishnets! All the cool goths knit Continental-style.

It was quite a trick, disguising the reddish-blond hair and eyebrows under makeup, wig, and borrowed clothes. (The things we do for dragon*conTV taping!)