Patti's Annual Christmas letter
Hello everyone!
Despite the roller coaster ride this year has been for pretty much everyone I’ve talked to, I hope this finds you and yours weathering the storm that has been 2009. It has definitely been a tough year all around (I think sometimes I feel sorriest for President Obama, who inherited this huge mess from the previous and quite useless twit in the Oval Office), but family, good friends, cut backs and perseverance have kept me going, and I hope the same can be said at your end. This will be kind of long, as I am going to include photos, so…
Downer news first: This year saw the loss of my uncle, Carl Stauffer, and a good friend of many years, Verna Schossow (from my Star Trek/William Shatner days). They will be sorely missed--Verna‘s was always the first Christmas greeting I got each year, always over Thanksgiving weekend, and I’m already missing it. Plus my sister-in-law, Suega Hardy, had a stroke this past summer, but is getting better and better every day, thankfully.
The economy caused this year to be a bit of a strain financially for me, and it was not helped by clients not paying their bills on time (or at all). Work didn’t pick up as usual in the spring, and summer was even more dismal, but it finally did pick up a bit this fall. Unfortunately, my income declined by about 25-30% overall, and a big purchase in spring (more later) rather truncated my activities most of the year. For the rest, things are pretty much as usual and everyone is more or less healthy and doing well, including the folks. So, let’s move on to the rest of the year’s happenings….
We had a big party for Mom’s 90th birthday this year in January--amazing, eh? Mom’s gonna outlive us all! A big “thanks again!” for all who were able to make it to celebrate with her, especially cousin Irvin and my long-time friend Cheryl, who traveled quite far to be there, as well as Wendi and Alex, who had come out for the holidays and stayed long enough to celebrate with her.
(Mom, center, with her sister Henrietta & nephew Irvin)
In February, I took a trip to New Jersey for my first James event of the year--yep, I still have that James Marsters hobby! I was only able to attend a few of the many events he did this year, but I enjoyed those I attended immensely and it was a really good year where my fan-relationship with James is concerned. While I was in New Jersey, Wendi came down for the weekend, and we partied in New York City as well as NJ. Wendi, good sport that she is, not only chauffeured/shuttled a gang of us the 30 or so miles between hotel and venue, but she also went to see James in concert with me. (She’d seen him with his band several years ago, but not solo). It just happened that we bumped into James in the parking lot after the show, so I got to introduce Wendi to James, and I had the rare and hilarious privilege of seeing the usually-unflappable Wendi get flustered and tongue-tied (from JamesFog--a proven condition most everyone falls into when meeting James)!
(party girls!)
In April, my friend Amy Sue aided and abetted my obsession by offering me a place to stay if I came to FX, a convention in Florida James was attending, I got a great airfare deal and I had a great time hanging with the gang again. (unfortunately, I was unable to get together with my brother-in-law Scott while I was there L ). About 3 weeks later, I also went to London again (for the 3rd year in a row), to attend a number of James events, including, *finally* a concert ON my birthday. I mentioned it in passing to James at FX, but didn’t expect him to remember it. A friend asked him to sign a gift for me at an event I was unable to attend two weeks after FX, and gave it to me at the venue on my birthday, but I figured that would be the end of it. So, imagine my shock, surprise and delight when James took the stage in London May 1st, and the first thing he did was shout out to me, saying, “Before I forget, I want to mention a very special person…Patti is celebrating her birthday today!“ And then he looked around for me, smiled into my eyes and said quietly “Happy Birthday” to me as the rest of the audience cheered. He handed me the set list after the show, as well (which he signed “H.B.” the next day, heh). Talk about fabulous birthdays! :D
(with friends Charlien, Helen and Natalie, recreating--in our own unique way--a famous picture for a contest)
Later, in mid-June, James did a radio play, which was taped before a live audience over five days. My friend Julie from Northern Cali came down and attended some of them with me. I managed to go to four of them (I was on the road the first night), and had some really great face time with James, who hung out with me/us before and after each of the performances. If you’d like to see what that‘s like, Julie and I made a little video, which we posted to You Tube at our site, “PBnJStuff“, called “James and Sunshine“ which can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DaZip1iOls. ;)
Sadly, due to the continuing decline in the economy and a rise in my own expenses, that was the last time I got to see James this year, despite having a ticket to an event in London in Oct (which I had to eat, as the event people wouldn‘t let me resell it), as I couldn‘t afford the trip. However, a great friend, Rosie, collected all my swag and even got the photo ops done for me.
(…I guess James missed me…)
(…later I let him know I missed him too…  …which got quite a laugh from James, I’m told). ;)
Julie again came down in July, with our friend Sandy, and we attended ComicCon (my 3rd year), and again gathered much great swag. We’d all attended CC’s baby sister, WonderCon, earlier in the year in San Francisco, but nothing beats ComicCon for hugeness and geek-girl freebies!
Wendi and Alex opted to come out for Thanksgiving this year, as it was also Wendi’s *10 year* High School reunion! (OMG! Am I really that old?!). We will miss them at Christmas, but we thoroughly enjoyed the time we were able to spend with them while they were here.
(Alex *loved* the markers…that‘s him being Spiderman...or maybe Batman…)
However, the really big news I’ve been alluding to is…I bought a house! I just happened to notice one day, at the beginning of April, that the mobile home two doors down from the folks’ house was up for sale by owner, and long story short, a week later I was a homeowner, sneaking in under another buyer, who was dithering. (Oh, and there’s the oddity that I had to lie about my age--OLDER mind you--as it’s a retirement park and one must be 55 to live here!) The house is old and a bit careworn, but it was cheap (only $10K!) and it’s all mine (except, of course, for the payments I have to make to the folks, who helped me buy it!) and it came with lots of extras, like a fridge, a washer and dryer, a new heater and recently resealed roof (which was well proven out when it began raining last week!) It’s only 12 X 40 but has an extra room built on the long side, a solarium of sorts, in front of which is a semi-enclosed gazebo-like front patio. There is also a small back yard, with another covered patio and *huge* and very prolific orange and grapefruit trees, and an even more gigantic avocado tree (which only produced one avocado, LOL!), plus a cactus garden and a huge shed for storing all of my extra Stuff(TM) and various collections, and which also has a work bench along one side for, um, working. ;) I’ve spent a lot of time fixing up the house as much as possible with the little money I could muster, and getting reacquainted with my Stuff(TM), which has been in storage for four years. I really enjoy having my own space again, even though I still spend a lot of time at the folks’ (I left the desktop computer at their place for Mom to use, and Mom *insists* I come for many of my meals--which also provides me a chance to check up on them each day). Here’s the new place (my address is the same but I’m in #51 now):
(my new place, and why I’m a pauper nowadays!)
Aside from going to see the new “Star Trek” movie four times (loved it!) and James’ movie, “Dragonball:Evolution” twice (loved it too, and I’d’ve gone more, but it was in As I said, it was a quieter year, what with the economy being so bad for so long and buying a house and all. I had fewer long distance runs and have been keeping closer to home overall, as I now have a home of my own to be at! I spend a lot of my free time working on and around the house these days (we got word less than a month after I bought it that it had to be painted, on top of everything else!) and finding places to put all my Stuff(TM). I’ve picked up a few new aches and pains, and I’m more often broke than not, but mostly…things are good.
Here’s wishing you all a lovely holiday season, whatever form it takes for you, and hoping everyone has a much better 2010.
Peace
Patti :)
2009
Despite the roller coaster ride this year has been for pretty much everyone I’ve talked to, I hope this finds you and yours weathering the storm that has been 2009. It has definitely been a tough year all around (I think sometimes I feel sorriest for President Obama, who inherited this huge mess from the previous and quite useless twit in the Oval Office), but family, good friends, cut backs and perseverance have kept me going, and I hope the same can be said at your end. This will be kind of long, as I am going to include photos, so…
Downer news first: This year saw the loss of my uncle, Carl Stauffer, and a good friend of many years, Verna Schossow (from my Star Trek/William Shatner days). They will be sorely missed--Verna‘s was always the first Christmas greeting I got each year, always over Thanksgiving weekend, and I’m already missing it. Plus my sister-in-law, Suega Hardy, had a stroke this past summer, but is getting better and better every day, thankfully.
The economy caused this year to be a bit of a strain financially for me, and it was not helped by clients not paying their bills on time (or at all). Work didn’t pick up as usual in the spring, and summer was even more dismal, but it finally did pick up a bit this fall. Unfortunately, my income declined by about 25-30% overall, and a big purchase in spring (more later) rather truncated my activities most of the year. For the rest, things are pretty much as usual and everyone is more or less healthy and doing well, including the folks. So, let’s move on to the rest of the year’s happenings….
We had a big party for Mom’s 90th birthday this year in January--amazing, eh? Mom’s gonna outlive us all! A big “thanks again!” for all who were able to make it to celebrate with her, especially cousin Irvin and my long-time friend Cheryl, who traveled quite far to be there, as well as Wendi and Alex, who had come out for the holidays and stayed long enough to celebrate with her.
(Mom, center, with her sister Henrietta & nephew Irvin)
In February, I took a trip to New Jersey for my first James event of the year--yep, I still have that James Marsters hobby! I was only able to attend a few of the many events he did this year, but I enjoyed those I attended immensely and it was a really good year where my fan-relationship with James is concerned. While I was in New Jersey, Wendi came down for the weekend, and we partied in New York City as well as NJ. Wendi, good sport that she is, not only chauffeured/shuttled a gang of us the 30 or so miles between hotel and venue, but she also went to see James in concert with me. (She’d seen him with his band several years ago, but not solo). It just happened that we bumped into James in the parking lot after the show, so I got to introduce Wendi to James, and I had the rare and hilarious privilege of seeing the usually-unflappable Wendi get flustered and tongue-tied (from JamesFog--a proven condition most everyone falls into when meeting James)!
(party girls!)
In April, my friend Amy Sue aided and abetted my obsession by offering me a place to stay if I came to FX, a convention in Florida James was attending, I got a great airfare deal and I had a great time hanging with the gang again. (unfortunately, I was unable to get together with my brother-in-law Scott while I was there L ). About 3 weeks later, I also went to London again (for the 3rd year in a row), to attend a number of James events, including, *finally* a concert ON my birthday. I mentioned it in passing to James at FX, but didn’t expect him to remember it. A friend asked him to sign a gift for me at an event I was unable to attend two weeks after FX, and gave it to me at the venue on my birthday, but I figured that would be the end of it. So, imagine my shock, surprise and delight when James took the stage in London May 1st, and the first thing he did was shout out to me, saying, “Before I forget, I want to mention a very special person…Patti is celebrating her birthday today!“ And then he looked around for me, smiled into my eyes and said quietly “Happy Birthday” to me as the rest of the audience cheered. He handed me the set list after the show, as well (which he signed “H.B.” the next day, heh). Talk about fabulous birthdays! :D
(with friends Charlien, Helen and Natalie, recreating--in our own unique way--a famous picture for a contest)
Later, in mid-June, James did a radio play, which was taped before a live audience over five days. My friend Julie from Northern Cali came down and attended some of them with me. I managed to go to four of them (I was on the road the first night), and had some really great face time with James, who hung out with me/us before and after each of the performances. If you’d like to see what that‘s like, Julie and I made a little video, which we posted to You Tube at our site, “PBnJStuff“, called “James and Sunshine“ which can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DaZip1iOls. ;)
Sadly, due to the continuing decline in the economy and a rise in my own expenses, that was the last time I got to see James this year, despite having a ticket to an event in London in Oct (which I had to eat, as the event people wouldn‘t let me resell it), as I couldn‘t afford the trip. However, a great friend, Rosie, collected all my swag and even got the photo ops done for me.
(…I guess James missed me…)
(…later I let him know I missed him too…  …which got quite a laugh from James, I’m told). ;)
Julie again came down in July, with our friend Sandy, and we attended ComicCon (my 3rd year), and again gathered much great swag. We’d all attended CC’s baby sister, WonderCon, earlier in the year in San Francisco, but nothing beats ComicCon for hugeness and geek-girl freebies!
Wendi and Alex opted to come out for Thanksgiving this year, as it was also Wendi’s *10 year* High School reunion! (OMG! Am I really that old?!). We will miss them at Christmas, but we thoroughly enjoyed the time we were able to spend with them while they were here.
(Alex *loved* the markers…that‘s him being Spiderman...or maybe Batman…)
However, the really big news I’ve been alluding to is…I bought a house! I just happened to notice one day, at the beginning of April, that the mobile home two doors down from the folks’ house was up for sale by owner, and long story short, a week later I was a homeowner, sneaking in under another buyer, who was dithering. (Oh, and there’s the oddity that I had to lie about my age--OLDER mind you--as it’s a retirement park and one must be 55 to live here!) The house is old and a bit careworn, but it was cheap (only $10K!) and it’s all mine (except, of course, for the payments I have to make to the folks, who helped me buy it!) and it came with lots of extras, like a fridge, a washer and dryer, a new heater and recently resealed roof (which was well proven out when it began raining last week!) It’s only 12 X 40 but has an extra room built on the long side, a solarium of sorts, in front of which is a semi-enclosed gazebo-like front patio. There is also a small back yard, with another covered patio and *huge* and very prolific orange and grapefruit trees, and an even more gigantic avocado tree (which only produced one avocado, LOL!), plus a cactus garden and a huge shed for storing all of my extra Stuff(TM) and various collections, and which also has a work bench along one side for, um, working. ;) I’ve spent a lot of time fixing up the house as much as possible with the little money I could muster, and getting reacquainted with my Stuff(TM), which has been in storage for four years. I really enjoy having my own space again, even though I still spend a lot of time at the folks’ (I left the desktop computer at their place for Mom to use, and Mom *insists* I come for many of my meals--which also provides me a chance to check up on them each day). Here’s the new place (my address is the same but I’m in #51 now):
(my new place, and why I’m a pauper nowadays!)
Aside from going to see the new “Star Trek” movie four times (loved it!) and James’ movie, “Dragonball:Evolution” twice (loved it too, and I’d’ve gone more, but it was in As I said, it was a quieter year, what with the economy being so bad for so long and buying a house and all. I had fewer long distance runs and have been keeping closer to home overall, as I now have a home of my own to be at! I spend a lot of my free time working on and around the house these days (we got word less than a month after I bought it that it had to be painted, on top of everything else!) and finding places to put all my Stuff(TM). I’ve picked up a few new aches and pains, and I’m more often broke than not, but mostly…things are good.
Here’s wishing you all a lovely holiday season, whatever form it takes for you, and hoping everyone has a much better 2010.
Peace
Patti :)
2009