Too much stuff has been going on; every time I try to sit down and sum it all up, I don't even know where to start.

So, instead, a meme, as seen randomly on ye olde DW circle --

What is the first TV show you remember watching?

Dark Shadows, the original, creepy, gothic cheese-fest. I was 5? I hid behind the couch b/c I wasn't allowed to watch but I was just sucked into the melodrama.

What is the first “grown up” TV show you watched?

See above, lol

Have you ever been in a wedding bridal party? What was your role? What did your outfit look like that you wore for the day?

Soooooo many, hah. (At least a half-dozen, not counting my own. At various moves, I've handed off a burgundy off-the-shoulder long dress (maid of honor), a turquoise tea-length with an iridescent chiffon overlay (bridesmaid and general errand runner), a pastel flowered tea length with a portrait collar (bridesmaid and keeper of the good champagne), and a black, fitted strapless sheath with sheer illusion long sleeves (from when Oldest was a ring-bearer and I was there to keep the peace.) But my first was THE BEST EVER. When I was 11 or 12, one of my younger aunts got married in the most giant, OTT wedding ever and I was a junior bridesmaid (along with a sister of the groom. My brother and the groom's younger brother were altar boys, though there were 3 priests also involved in the ceremony, so the kids just sat around in their robes.) It was the 1970s; the girls (bridesmaids, jr bridesmaids, flower girls and maids of honor (yes, 2) wore aqua (polyester) long gowns with ruffles criss-crossing our bosoms. The groomsmen wore cut-velvet dinner jackets, with swirly patterns cut into them and aqua ruffled shirts. The mothers wore gowns that were a sort of orange-y melon satin and a fuschia chiffon, while the fathers (two 50ish Polish and Italian immigrant steelworkers) rocked the fuck out of the same godawful dinner jackets with peach and pink ruffled shirts, to match their wives. There were 28 people in the bridal party (not counting the bride and groom), we made it through a High Mass with a full choir and at least 4 soloists singing every response and the aforementioned 3 priests (the parish priest, the priest who ran the volunteer group my aunt worked with and the groom's family priest) all having to speak. The reception was held at the Polish Falcon Hall where the cake was 5 layers with a (working) water fountain in the middle and 5 or 6 heart-shaped little sub-cakes connected by arched bridges to the main cake with the fountain and tiers AND at some point during a very vigorous polka, someone went careening into the cake table, knocking it down, and there was a small explosion as the water from the fountain shorted out the motor that was running the pump.

It was at this point that I swore there would not be an open bar at my own wedding, that I was not paying for my genial alcoholic family to go out and get smashed, and though it was nearly 20 years later, reader, there was not.

What is your ethnic background that you’re aware of?

Italian (Calabria) on my mother's side; Polish-Russian (from the part of Poland that always got the Russian invasions so who knows exactly who was what) on my father's. (I will tell you, though, that I looked up at one point during the second season of The Witcher as Vesomir started talking and said (to BabyBoy) words to the effect of holy shit, that's your grandfather. He even had the same mustache for a while, oy.

What was the last hotel you stayed in and where? Did you like it?

Well, we stayed at Old Key West and the Beach Club the last few times we went to Disney World, but those are technically condos, so I dunno if they count? We spent a couple of nights at the Swan at WDW before we moved over to the Beach Club in October. I mean, we do this almost every year, so yes, I do like them but that's kind of a given. The last hotel that *wasn't* attached to WDW was the Ritz Carlton Amelia Island, because I needed to use some free-night certificates before they expired and that was the nicest hotel within driving distance. It was beautiful and very upscale (I mean, it was a Ritz, so, yeah) and our room had a great ocean view, but if I go there again, I might be tempted to go with one of the rooms that don't have a balcony but have a patio with a fire table on it. I don't know, though--it really was a fabulous view.

I haven't fallen off the edge of the world or anything, I'm just really behind on everything fannish and am trying desperately to avoid spoilers in multiple fandoms.

But! we're back from spring break and I have plans to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier this weekend, so that should alleviate some of the craziness. (I'm seriously not checking in anywhere, not even fb.)

Anyway. Disney World is still there and for the Disney-philes on my flist/circle, I will add that the new Festival of Fantasy parade at MK is fabulous (semi-decent pictures here and here on tumblr; having lunch with an Imagineer is pretty cool even before you add in good food at the Brown Derby; and Morgan Freeman now narrates the updated, actually-bearable Hall of Presidents presentation. No naps were taken! This trip turned into the restaurant tour, which you all know is not ever going to make me sad, so that was fun, too. (It's hard to top a window seat at the California Grill on a clear evening, but Be Our Guest gave it some good competition. I'll never eat at the Castle again. Also, the Kobe burger at Yak & Yeti is seriously awesome--yes, D orders burgers everywhere, but you knew this already. I think I have to give the lowest marks to Le Cellier, which was not bad, just didn't knock it out of the park food-wise and had nothing atmospheric going for it.)

Alsoalso, the third-party vacation club broker worked out perfectly, which let us snag a savannah view studio at Kidani Village for approximately the price of a moderate-resort room. Many thumbs up and I'll be happy to provide links if somebody is thinking about taking the plunge.

Actual fannish content to follow soon, promise!

Ciao, bellas!

Oh, dw/lj ... it was the last weekend of the summer (yes, school started this morning, ugh) and the House of Boys was in mourning/pre-panic attack/in denial/already aggravated, so I needed *something* to keep me from strangling them all and D23, the Disney rah-rah convention was conveniently timed for maximum distraction.

First, there was Chris Evans babbling on about how much he loves his co-stars, which I went and liked on as many different media outlets as possible because ♥ ♥ ♥ And then Hiddleston sang the Bare Necessities, which was more ♥

But then. But then, somewhere in the middle of other D23 stuff, I kinda, sorta, felllllllll into the Disney Bound tags on tumblr and pinterest and maybe did not come back out for hours and hours and hours. It's slightly scary how many things I can pull from my closet and make work for some character or another (having the boot collection I do definitely helps.)

withdiamonds! Should we ever manage to align our schedules again, we have to think about Flora/Fauna/Merryweather, y/y?

In other news, my marvel_bang draft broke the minimum word count yesterday, which is \o/, but I don't think it's more than a third done and the draft is due at the end of the month, which is /o\. Also somewhere in there was a start on my polybigbang draft, which is holding steady on a Kono/Danny/Steve and about which I have *no* idea. I mean, I haven't written a word in H50 in almost 2 years, but who am I to question my brain?