Farthing Party, etc.

[redbird]

I'm just back from Farthing Party, papersky's small science fiction convention/large party in Montreal. cattitude and I had a wonderful time, and I think julian_tiger is in the process of forgiving us.



My hands were feeling fine this morning: no pain or stiffness or waking, and no tingliness last night or today. I'll take that as confirmation of the RSI diagnosis—I didn't touch a keyboard for four days, and didn't write much or spend much time with the iPod Touch either. So, continue the stretches, and continue trying to rest my hands. This will be easier said than done.

I saw a bright green fireball meteor last night, with a couple of smaller green bits behind the main one, while waiting for other people to be ready to leave Papersky's party and go back to the con hotel. I didn't identify it as such, because I'd never seen one before: my first thought was to wonder why people might be setting off fireworks, even though it was moving down and fireworks usually rise.

Papersky and rysmiel renewed their wedding vows during the weekend, and asked me to read the same bit from Desolation Road that I read ten years ago at the wedding. That was fun, and I'd forgotten how much I liked that passage. They were impressed that, unable to find the book quickly last week, I had pulled out the email Jo had sent me about it in 2001. This time, jonsinger officiated, instead of the registrar, and pnh read Theoden's speech calling the Riders of Rohan to battle. A couple of minutes later, rysmiel said "Thank you, love," and kissed me, which felt very warm and cozy.

There was a lot of good programming. In addition to reading Saturday evening, I was on a panel about Ken MacLeod's fiction, with Papersky, rysmiel, fjm, and Rene whose username I keep forgetting; late in the con, and a small audience, but it went well. Jo, moderating, skipped introductions, which I appreciated: I had things to say about the books, and the writer, but nothing useful about why I wanted to talk about them.

I liked the "Fractally Weird" panel, though I was hoping for more weird things about the world, and less technique-of-writing stuff. (That was my misreading of the description, mostly.) My notes from that panel: "The problem with fiction is it's creationist, and creationism is more simplistic than evolution" (Greer Gilman/nineweaving); tnh noting that one of the designers of the Harrier VTOL jet was Thomas Sopwith; and "There's a very fine line between creativity and error" (TNH) I think that was the panel that talked about the question of how/whether you can signal "I made this bit up," to avoiding angering or losing readers who feel lied to, without breaking the reading trance for people who already know that you're making up a past literary figure.

"Old Books that Are Still Exciting" was fun, though I'd read a lot of the choices already. I have notes here that say "Flesh and Spirit, Carol Berg" and "The Child that Books Built, Francis Spofford," which may be from that panel; I'm not sure where the pointer to "The Book Dragon," by Donn Kushner, comes from. I also enjoyed the panel on maps in books, once the panel got past the I-would-think-obvious point that the existence of bad fantasy maps doesn't mean maps are a bad idea. I think that panel is when I scribbled "parasang" (in Greek characters) on my notes, along with the reminder to mention Rats and Gargoyles (set in an unmappable world whose inhabitants keep getting lost) and the poor quality of the only map that Genly Ai and Therem Harth rem ir Estraven have to guide them across the glacier, because the Orgota don't often go into their Fire Hills. (One point made early in the panel was that the maps printed in the front of fantasy novels are often better than the characters have, or could have.)

The hotel was a bit weird, as well as more expensive than last year's; we're hoping that by next year, the Plaza will be done renovating and open again (assuming for the moment that Jo does this again next year). I think most of us liked that location, on Rue St. Denis, better than this one, a few blocks west, a short block from Boulevard St. Laurent. On the other hand, that puts the hotel a significant few blocks closer to Chinatown, and I had dim sum at Kam Fung both yesterday and today. Yesterday in a small group of morning people, and this morning in a large group of almost everyone who hadn't gone home yet, plus Papersky (not rysmiel, who was catching up on much-needed sleep).

I was a bit stressed out yesterday afternoon, I think just pre-panel jitters; ice cream helped, bought at a little place called Ripples (this year's location was enough further from Suite 88 that I never got there). Ginger may not be an exotic flavor, but I've had trouble finding it recently (Chinatown Ice Cream Factory keeps running out). I had crepes twice, including the really nice leek and scallion ones from Le Bulle du Carre for Friday brunch, and poutine Thursday evening.

The hotel had ground cherries as part of the breakfast buffet this morning. Interesting, a bit sourer than I like; Cattitude suggested they would be better as an ingredient than as fruit eaten by itself.

Our flight home pulled up just short of landing, and a minute or two later someone came on the PA to say that we were going around again, followed in a couple of minutes by the explanation that another plane had been stopped on the runway. Entirely smooth, and we got a good view of the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan skyline on the return north.

It was nice seeing Sarah Emrys (WINOLJ) someplace other than Wiscon, introducing her to Cattitude, and eating in groups that included both of them and other people; at the last couple of Wiscons I've been spending a lot of time with Sarah and her wife, and joining their dinner groups. I feel as though I got plenty of time with each of Jo, rysmiel, and Jon Singer, which I had hoped for but not counted on; last year it seemed as though everyone wanted more of Jo's time than she had available. I think this year's con was smaller than last year's, which may be relevant.

No live music this year, I think mostly because the acoustics in the Saturday party space were horrible, and maybe also because elisem wasn't there, and PNH and TNH may have still been jet-lagged.

By the time I was halfway through writing this my hands and left forearm were reminding me that a few days rest does not mean "all better now"; I am carefully following all the "take a break" messages on my computer.