A New Year's Visitation
Jan. 4th, 2004 01:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kengrNew Year's Day I woke up around 2 PM.
I didn't do much other than get a bit of food and catch up on some computer stuff (Norton AV had been running since Wed night!)
I got a call from Gary in the late afternoon. This was because a day or two before I'd asked Anita if they were going to be home New Year's as I was planning on dropping their present by then.
I explained that I was running a bit late due to my long walk the night before. He said I could wait. But I told him I *would* be over.
What I didn't tell him was that it'd be Brooke who came over.
You see, I figured that having done the prep for the party the night before, I could get presentable with minimal work, and have Anita, and the kids meet Brooke for the first time. Gary had met Brooke at Orycon, but Anita wasn't there when I was wandering around as Brooke.
The kid's have an aunt who used to be an uncle (and Lin had told me that Jessica had figured it out some time ago), so that wasn't going to be a problem.
Anyway, I put on a nice dress and my cloak and grab a bag with the presents in it and headed over. They only live a few blocks away so it wasn't too bad. But it was harder than I expected.
Gary answered the door, and was only mildly surprised. The kids were off in the living room (at the back of the house) playing a video game or something. And (as usual) Anita was back in the bedroom favoring her foot.
He called the kids in to get their presents. Jessica was only a bit surprised to see me. Ethan was rather surprised. And predictably rude. :-)
Jessica got a shirt from Torrid and a promise of another $10 buck worth of jewelry or makeup subject to approval of her mother (why yes, I was looking for an excuse to go on a shopping trip with them. :-)
The shirt is black and has Purple (lavender?) lettering on it saying "You don't need to be jealous. Not everyone can be me". Jessica loved it. Not surprising. That shirt is *so* her.
For Gary and Anita I had to resort to gift certificates. I knew what sort of stuff to get them, but not what they already had. So I gave one a gift certificate to Powells. And the other one to a local gaming store. I expect that they'll stuff up on reading material and on AD&D stuff soon enough. :-)
Ethan I had just given up and given cash. And his rreaction was priceless. "I'm rich!". I informed him that he was *not* to spend it on candy of food. I wanted him to get something that'd last a while (and also not to eat himself sick).
They'd gotten me a silly gizmo. It's a toy that looks like a cross between a shruken bullhorm and a toy gum. It's a "voice changer". It has three voices. Spaceman, robot and alien. I love it.
I wound up hanging around over there for four hours, Theyinvited me to stay for dinner, which was pizza from Pizza Hut. :-)
I wound up spending most of it talking with Anita. A lot of it was "girl talk". :-)
She wanted the dress I was wearing. And it seems that she and Lin and I may be able to swap some stuff around since she's about in the middle between Lin and I sizewise.
Lin called a while before I left and she and Anita had a long talk. One item Lin mentioned to me later was that Anita agrees with Lin that I look better as Brooke than as Leonard.
A bit of a surprise to me, but I don't exactly object. But it is another reason to think hard about electrolysis for at least my face.
Another fun item was at one point when Ethan asked me why I was wearing a wig. Before I could respond, Gary dead-panned "It goes with the dress".
All and all, it went well, and it gives me an "excuse" to spend morew time as Brooke. Though I *really* have to train them to call me Brooke rather than Leonard. :-)
It'll be interesting to see what develops with Ethan. Part of what little interaction we had was him being his typical bratty self. But part of it was trying to figure things out. And I think that trying to explain what I'm doing and why to him will be a good thing for me. For him? I dunno. It won't hurt, and anything that stretches his mind would be good.
Though I may have to talk to him about it *without* Jessica around, as she's apt to make fun of him if he doesn't get stuff. Or even if he expresses the wrong sort of curiousity.
I didn't do much other than get a bit of food and catch up on some computer stuff (Norton AV had been running since Wed night!)
I got a call from Gary in the late afternoon. This was because a day or two before I'd asked Anita if they were going to be home New Year's as I was planning on dropping their present by then.
I explained that I was running a bit late due to my long walk the night before. He said I could wait. But I told him I *would* be over.
What I didn't tell him was that it'd be Brooke who came over.
You see, I figured that having done the prep for the party the night before, I could get presentable with minimal work, and have Anita, and the kids meet Brooke for the first time. Gary had met Brooke at Orycon, but Anita wasn't there when I was wandering around as Brooke.
The kid's have an aunt who used to be an uncle (and Lin had told me that Jessica had figured it out some time ago), so that wasn't going to be a problem.
Anyway, I put on a nice dress and my cloak and grab a bag with the presents in it and headed over. They only live a few blocks away so it wasn't too bad. But it was harder than I expected.
Gary answered the door, and was only mildly surprised. The kids were off in the living room (at the back of the house) playing a video game or something. And (as usual) Anita was back in the bedroom favoring her foot.
He called the kids in to get their presents. Jessica was only a bit surprised to see me. Ethan was rather surprised. And predictably rude. :-)
Jessica got a shirt from Torrid and a promise of another $10 buck worth of jewelry or makeup subject to approval of her mother (why yes, I was looking for an excuse to go on a shopping trip with them. :-)
The shirt is black and has Purple (lavender?) lettering on it saying "You don't need to be jealous. Not everyone can be me". Jessica loved it. Not surprising. That shirt is *so* her.
For Gary and Anita I had to resort to gift certificates. I knew what sort of stuff to get them, but not what they already had. So I gave one a gift certificate to Powells. And the other one to a local gaming store. I expect that they'll stuff up on reading material and on AD&D stuff soon enough. :-)
Ethan I had just given up and given cash. And his rreaction was priceless. "I'm rich!". I informed him that he was *not* to spend it on candy of food. I wanted him to get something that'd last a while (and also not to eat himself sick).
They'd gotten me a silly gizmo. It's a toy that looks like a cross between a shruken bullhorm and a toy gum. It's a "voice changer". It has three voices. Spaceman, robot and alien. I love it.
I wound up hanging around over there for four hours, Theyinvited me to stay for dinner, which was pizza from Pizza Hut. :-)
I wound up spending most of it talking with Anita. A lot of it was "girl talk". :-)
She wanted the dress I was wearing. And it seems that she and Lin and I may be able to swap some stuff around since she's about in the middle between Lin and I sizewise.
Lin called a while before I left and she and Anita had a long talk. One item Lin mentioned to me later was that Anita agrees with Lin that I look better as Brooke than as Leonard.
A bit of a surprise to me, but I don't exactly object. But it is another reason to think hard about electrolysis for at least my face.
Another fun item was at one point when Ethan asked me why I was wearing a wig. Before I could respond, Gary dead-panned "It goes with the dress".
All and all, it went well, and it gives me an "excuse" to spend morew time as Brooke. Though I *really* have to train them to call me Brooke rather than Leonard. :-)
It'll be interesting to see what develops with Ethan. Part of what little interaction we had was him being his typical bratty self. But part of it was trying to figure things out. And I think that trying to explain what I'm doing and why to him will be a good thing for me. For him? I dunno. It won't hurt, and anything that stretches his mind would be good.
Though I may have to talk to him about it *without* Jessica around, as she's apt to make fun of him if he doesn't get stuff. Or even if he expresses the wrong sort of curiousity.
