To tell or not to tell

You've already heard what I learned about surviving large Cons, but I'm sure you're wondering about the really cool "Oh, my frak! That's amazing!" stuff. Well...I can't do that without bragging. I know, I know. Assurances that there were indeed cool happenings aren't going to be enough for you. Hmm... Maybe if I tell the cool stories in a blase way, it might counteract the brag factor?

No, that's a terrible idea.

Ok, how about I keep the coolest of the cool to myself until the end and then I'll decide whether or not to share it. That sounds good.

Alright, to start off with I came home with some great books. The book on top I purchased, the three in the middle were free at registration, and the rest were given to me. I wasn't expecting to bring home a haul so this was a pleasant surprise. I'm really excited to have both of Jean's books. I loved her romances and I've been wanting to read her sci-fi for a while. I've also been wanting to read Sandman Slim. It's been highly recommended by a friend.

One of the activities was a lovely regency dance lesson. Unfortunately I only remember about half of each dance we learned but we had good time. I even learned how to properly curtsey from Mary Robinette Kowal and thanks to her clever mnemonic, I won't forget that.

While passing famous authors in the halls wasn't shocking, it did provide ample opportunity to take stealthies that I could use to tease friends (because I love them that much).

(The gentleman in the gray shirt on the left is Robert Silverberg. We were on the same flight.)

The fact that the hotel was attached to an upscale mall. How upscale? They had a Peruvian folk band playing American top 40 in the riverfront cafe by the foodcourt. You haven't lived until you've heard "My Heart Will Go On" played on a pan pipe.

But some of the most amazing sights and experiences were pure serendipity. Like this:

The man operating K-9 was very nice and we had a lovely chat about his collection (which included a working Dalek, and a DRD). I confess, the DRD made me squee. 

But undoubtedly the best part was becoming closer to my friends, making new ones, and being among my people. Whenever I go to an event where there are a lot of geeks and writers, that place automatically becomes a home away from home where I don't have to be afraid to belt out the Lumberjack song in a bar at one in the morning. (Yes, that happened and it was awesome.) It makes going home that much harder and yet, it gives me more to look forward to at the next event.

The Ironman of conventions

As I eluded to last week, in order to get the most out of WorldCon you have to pull some long days.  Now, I knew this going in. I've had long days like that before. I made it through a six hour tech rehearsal before giving my all on stage during the first dress rehearsal and I did it without turning into a zombie. I figured if I can do that, this would be no problem.

Oh, no no. This was much, much more.

This was like babysitting all four of my nieces, then doing to tech rehearsal before swimming five miles. And then five hours later you have to get up and do it again. All I have to say is thank heaven there was a Starbucks within fifty shuffling steps of the elevator. (If it's not a Conventions site selection rule yet, it should be.) I may have to do some endurance training before my next WorldCon because Saturday morning, not only did I hit the proverbial wall, I was pushed through it by a truck, run over, and dragged for fifty feet. Not only did I want to sleep for a week, I had no motivation whatsoever, and my feet were incredibly sore. Ok, wearing four inch heels at the Tor party may have had something to do with that last one, but that's just between you and me. Shh!

(Side note: It took two weeks for the blisters to heal so next time I'm definitely taking heels that are no taller than three inches.) (What? Don't look at me like that. Fantastic shoes make me feel more confident.)

I will admit that WorldCon is longer than the average Con and I wasn't the only one who was partied out and in desperate need of cruellers Saturday morning. The way I see it, this gives me even more reason to pace myself better next time because my networking abilities on those last two days were severely hampered by fatigue. I also think this makes it even more important to be there on the first day so I can meet as many people as I can when I'm refreshed and can make the most of the opportunity. Hopefully I'll remember these lessons. I don't expect to make it to another WorldCon until Spokane in 2015, but we'll see. Miracles can happen.

Waterfowl fellatio

No, I'm not venturing into critter erotica. Since that's now out of your mind I will say that this blog's title isn't a tease.

I've been getting everything I need for WorldCon ready. List of what to pack: done. Business cards: printed. Pitches: in progress. List of panels to attend: getting longer. Confidence: M.I.A.

I'm a worrywart. Always have been. Once my head is filled with worst case scenarios there's no going back. I know myself well enough to recognize the warning signs so I can stop my brain before it reaches critical...most of the time. The times I can't are when the stakes are high. Right now, the stakes are high because I want this BAD. I want to be a full time writer. I've wanted it since high school, which coincidentally was the last time I had freak out like this.

At my high school, not only did we have to pass all of the requisite classes, we had to complete the Senior Project (Dun, dun, dun). I don't remember the specifics of the project (it was a long time ago) but in short it involved writing a very long research paper, a service project, and giving an oral presentation to a panel. Anyone who failed to complete any of these three items with a passing grade didn't graduate. The last item, the oral presentation, was done the last week of class so if you screwed up, you were up a creek without a poodle.

There was no school the day of the presentation so the building was filled with stressed out seniors memorizing notes. I'd memorized mine the night before so I had nothing to do while I waited for my turn. A friend saw that I was unnecessarily freaked out and took it upon himself to provide a much needed distraction -- breaking into the teacher's lounge and pulling up illicit things on the internet. This was in 1997 so that meant logging into Netscape and waiting for the dial-up connection to load the desired content one trickle at a time. So during the half hour we spent in the lounge we were only able to listen to two short audio files. The first was a Thundercat outtake of Mum-Ra talking dirty to Cheetara and the second was of Donald Duck getting a blow job from a goat.

I know, it's unorthodox but it did the trick. I laughed until I cried. My cheeks hurt from smiling so much and I completely forgot about all those worst case scenarios. My hands still shook during the presentation (a panel of judges can unnerve a girl) but I got through it with a passing grade.

So next week I plan to bring lots of fun entertainments for the flight to San Antonio. One friend has already pledged to give me a long awaited chapter to read, I've got Kevin Hearne's books to read, and I've got technology that I can fill with raucous sound bites to take the edge off of my nerves. By the time the plane lands I should be good to go.

An Impromptu Rehearsal

Saturday night I returned to the theater for a special event. A dear friend, who also happens to be my favorite director, finished her degree and a commencement ceremony along with a reception was being held at ACT. I should clarify that the only person at this commencement ceremony that had actually graduated was my friend. The valedictorian's speech was script that was lovingly written by the organizers and the rest of the "graduating class" were the casts of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Out of all the commencements I've been to, not only was this the first that didn't threaten to put me to sleep, it was by far the funniest.

It was wonderful being able to see my theater family again, many of whom I hadn't seen in several months. There were even a few people there that I hadn't seen since I retired. Of course, since it had been so long, the questions I heard the most were "what are you up to?" and "how is the writing going?" I've written in a past post about how I don't mind answering these questions. However, I've never been subjected to it with as much frequency as that night. It actually started to get on my nerves. I had to remind myself that being asked about my writing was a good thing. If they weren't genuinely interested, they wouldn't ask.

It didn't occur to me until near the end of the evening that this was exactly what I'd like to happen at WorldCon. So in some ways this was an unexpected practice run. (Leave it to actors to turn an event to an impromptu rehearsal without knowing it.) Once I had this mini-revelation, the whole night turned around. The questions ceased to be annoying and I didn't need to draw on my acting skills to make the thirtieth answer as energetic as the first. Yet again, changing how I view the situation has provided me with exactly what I needed.