Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

The Gryphon receives his award
from the 2005 Otakon con chair

This weekend we got to spend a lot of time with friends, even though not all of it was fun and games.

Saturday, The Gryphon and I attended an Otakon meeting, where we elected officers for the coming year. That went smoothly with little contention. Plus, it was a gorgeous, sunny day, the first in ages.

As an added bonus, we were both recognized for our efforts at this year's Otakon. I received a recognition certificate thanking me for my work. The Gryphon got the coveted Hiroko-Chan award, featuring the Otakon mascot, for his work above and beyond the call of duty.

Afterwards, we went to dinner with a number of our friends, including The Paper, The Cheshire Cat, The White Rabbit, The Dormouse and another friend who doesn't have a nickname but who does have an adorable baby daughter. She wasn't with him that day, but we talked about her.

I had been concerned about her because she was so calm and quiet I was wondering if she could hear. I finally asked him about it during a break at the meeting, and he told me she definitely hears noises, since she responds to things that her older brother does. She's also beginning to make some experimental noises on her own. Just happens to be a remarkably calm and quiet baby.

I was in a very silly mood at dinner, and before you knew it, I was talking about things such as a theological theory based on Warner Brothers cartoons: the idea that good and evil are only professional adversaries. After the end of the day, they clock out and hang out together, catch a football game. Kind of like the sheep dog and the wolf in the cartoons.

In this group, we like to get into absurdist theories and then expand on them. The White Rabbit is especially good at playing this game. He'll propose an absolutely ridiculous tenet with a straight face, and then start expanding on it. One of the many reasons he and I get along so well, I suppose.

Lately, if I haven't said this enough times, I feel like I'm myself again. For so many years, due to things going on in my personal life, I was so depressed and down on myself that I even had a somewhat stunted sense of humor. Nowadays, I feel the old confidence coming back and the playfulness, too.

I could give a lot of credit to The Gryphon, but I also have to acknowledge that if I hadn't done a lot of self growth and dealt with personal issues, I'd never have found him. I would have looked right through him and found someone wrong for me.

We had such a whirlwind discussion that I can barely remember individual bits and pieces. I do remember telling our friend, the father of that quiet baby, how many times he gave me much needed comic relief during Otakon. He's a very cheerful sort of guy; I told him he must have been an outgoing, happy baby, too. After all, your personality is supposedly fixed by the time you're about five years old.

The conversations from last night are a little fresher in my mind. This took place at dinner after a bunch of us had met up to see the new Wallace and Gromit movie, The Curse of the Were Rabbit. If you have not seen this movie yet, you should. If you have seen it, see it again. The movie is by the same folks who did Chicken Run as well as, of course, the Wallace and Gromit shorts.

They are very talented animators, and the movie is fun for children and adults. Unfortunately, Aardman Animation just lost their studio and all their props, sets and characters in a fire, so they can use any help we can give them.

This time it was a slightly different group: The White Rabbit and a filmmaker friend, The Martial Artist and The Book Lover, The Paper and The Cheshire cat. We ate at Uno's, a Chicago style pizza chain.

A couple times I put my foot in my mouth and said things that could be misinterpreted. Like, for example, when I informed The White Rabbit that we'd seen a Members Only jacket just like his in a vintage clothing store last weekend. He looked a bit chagrined, as if I was saying he's outdated. But I hastened to explain: it's a classic jacket people like enough to pay vintage clothing store prices for it.

In much the same way, when the filmmaker affected a working class British accent, I told him that, with that accent and with his shaggy hairstyle, he reminded me of The Who in the Sixties. Quickly, I added, "That's a very high compliment, believe me." Fortunately, he agreed, as he's a big Who fan. Frankly, I'm not surprised!

I also made an observation about The Cheshire Cat and The Paper, that the difference in their height wasn't nearly as obvious when they sit down as when they stand up. Then I started inwardly kicking myself, because some people are sensitive about their height, and you never know whether they think they're too short or too tall. Fortunately, my comment just led to a conservation about people we know who are extremely tall and how you can be unaware of that fact until, for example, you catch sight of yourself standing next to them in a mirror.

I also told The Cheshire Cat about an observation I made of him when I first met him back in college. Then, he struck me as a tall person who wanted to be shorter. It seemed like he was always bending over, hunching his shoulders, as if to make himself less conspicuous. But in recent years, he walks along, straight-backed, tall and proud.

He said that he didn't know many tall people back then, being one of the only people in our circle who was over six foot. I guess this made him feel out of place. Personally, I believe that's part of it, but I also attribute the change to confidence gained through maturity and through his very supportive, wonderfully matched life partner, his wife, The Paper.

Just like with me and The Gryphon, when you find a partner who's supportive, it helps make you even stronger, helps you like yourself, the way you are, and see your strengths.

We had a lot of fun, the group of us, but dinner was winding down and The Gryphon had to be somewhere. He participates in a gaming group two Sundays a month, and this week he was starting a new role playing game, as the GM. So I ran him into Center City and then went on a personal errand. I needed a winter coat.

After going through my winter clothes this week, setting aside the sweaters, pants, skirts and other items that I'll sell in the consignment store, I realized that my winter coat is finally, undeniably too big. It had been loose on me by the end of last winter, and even though my weight has pretty much held steady all summer, it was clearly the wrong size now. Since we're visiting my brother and his family in Vermont this week, I knew it would be a good idea to have a warm coat, just in case. It's already starting to get nippy enough here.

I stopped first at the local neighborhood Target, which was, fortunately, open. The Paper had warned me that many retailers close early on Sundays, but I guess Target is an exception. I had a hard time finding a coat that fit me properly and was also a good price. I found a great black leather jacket, but it was above my price range.

So I ended up with a brown faux suede coat that comes to just above the knee and is very flattering. It's warmer than the wind breaker I'd been wearing, which is better suited for the milder days of spring.

Walking my dog, Una, this morning, however, I decided I'd better give it another shot. After all, the last time I visited my brother, it was a good 10 degrees or so colder in Vermont than in Philly, and I'm already wearing sweaters here.

This time, I tried the Burlington Coat Factory. Fortunately, I hit them early enough in the season that they had a nice selection in my size. It came down to a choice between a charcoal gray wool-blend cloth coat with a fake fur neckline that was extremely flattering but about $20 more than I really wanted to spend, and a waist-length powder blue cloth coat of similar thickness with matching blue fake fur trim, fitting in my price range.

I ultimately went for the blue one, because while it was a little less glamorous it was still cute, and it has a hood, which is great for blustery winter days. I also worried that the charcoal coat, even though it was fake fur, might look too much like real fur. I don't support the use of fur, so if I was going to have anything fur-like on my coat, I wanted it to be clearly fake.

An added bonus is that this coat matches the funky blue polka-dotted scarf I already have, which got me plenty of compliments last year. Now, I finally feel ready for Vermont!

Copyright 2005 by Alyce Wilson

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