The first thing I did on Friday morning of Wiscon was wake up much too early.
The second thing I did was go soak in the hotel's hot tub. It was a little weird being there that early: when I got there, someone was using a pool vacuum to clear out some sand. We chatted a little, and he showed me how to turn the jets on. There was nobody else in the water, but two or three people were using the exercise room. I soaked a bit, hoping it would ease my shoulder and back, which had been sore for a few days, slid into the cool pool to keep my body temperature okay, and repeated. (Usually I swim, slowly and awkwardly, in the cooldown stage, but this time I just stood around, rather than exert my sore shoulder.)
I had an early lunch Friday with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
elisem at Nick's, a Greek diner on State Street (which is, or was, a regular hangout for Madison fandom), lured in by the chance at avgolemono soup. We talked, which was good, and then went back to the con, where I helped her set up her dealer's table. I went to my room, got a pair of earrings I'd sent her a bug report on a little while ago, and she put on new earwires. This batch of earrings had been sold as experimental, so I thought, correctly, that she would appreciate the bug report; I wasn't expecting free repairs, especially as Elise's usual "guarantee" is "everything will break, sooner or later" (though my earrings seem to get lost more often than wearing out). I think part of Elise's reason for repairing them/replacing the ear wires is that it gave her a chance to examine them and confirm our guess as to what had gone wrong.
This was also a chance to hang out and talk to her, and![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
roadnotes, a bit more. Eventually I wandered over to the Gathering, where I browsed the clothing swap (but found nothing I liked that fit), and got a cookie and some hot water for tea. Someone expressed surprise that I had brought my own tea, but I have accepted that the otherwise excellent hotel cannot boil water. So I had some jasmine pearls, because I'm happy with green tea brewed at temperatures that would be too cool for black.
I went out to dinner withashnistrike, her wife Nameseeker, and their friends Brin and Gary, who I don't think are on DW or LJ. After dinner, we went back to the hotel and hung out in the lobby long enough to miss opening ceremonies, as I usually do. (I sometimes enjoy them when I go, but they don't feel important to me, unlike the GOH presentations on Sunday.) In the last couple of years I've fallen very naturally into spending large chunks of time with them at Wiscon; this is one of those friendships that, as bcholmes puts it, are years deep and three days wide. My friendship with Ashnistrike and Nameseeker may be getting a bit wider than that: I do read Ashnistrike's LJ, and am hoping to see Nameseeker here in New York in a couple of weeks. But I wouldn't have any idea of how to find Brin and Gary, whose company I enjoy, other than by asking them to put me in touch.
The only party I specifically remember going to on Friday evening was the LJ/Dreamwidth one, which had user icon stickers, cake, and mimosas (holyoutlaw's idea of a weak drink was still stronger than I'd asked for, but not problematically so). Random conversations, and so to a relatively early bed.
(I didn't get to any programming Friday, unless you count the Gathering.)
The second thing I did was go soak in the hotel's hot tub. It was a little weird being there that early: when I got there, someone was using a pool vacuum to clear out some sand. We chatted a little, and he showed me how to turn the jets on. There was nobody else in the water, but two or three people were using the exercise room. I soaked a bit, hoping it would ease my shoulder and back, which had been sore for a few days, slid into the cool pool to keep my body temperature okay, and repeated. (Usually I swim, slowly and awkwardly, in the cooldown stage, but this time I just stood around, rather than exert my sore shoulder.)
I had an early lunch Friday with
elisem at Nick's, a Greek diner on State Street (which is, or was, a regular hangout for Madison fandom), lured in by the chance at avgolemono soup. We talked, which was good, and then went back to the con, where I helped her set up her dealer's table. I went to my room, got a pair of earrings I'd sent her a bug report on a little while ago, and she put on new earwires. This batch of earrings had been sold as experimental, so I thought, correctly, that she would appreciate the bug report; I wasn't expecting free repairs, especially as Elise's usual "guarantee" is "everything will break, sooner or later" (though my earrings seem to get lost more often than wearing out). I think part of Elise's reason for repairing them/replacing the ear wires is that it gave her a chance to examine them and confirm our guess as to what had gone wrong.This was also a chance to hang out and talk to her, and
roadnotes, a bit more. Eventually I wandered over to the Gathering, where I browsed the clothing swap (but found nothing I liked that fit), and got a cookie and some hot water for tea. Someone expressed surprise that I had brought my own tea, but I have accepted that the otherwise excellent hotel cannot boil water. So I had some jasmine pearls, because I'm happy with green tea brewed at temperatures that would be too cool for black.I went out to dinner with
ashnistrike, her wife Nameseeker, and their friends Brin and Gary, who I don't think are on DW or LJ. After dinner, we went back to the hotel and hung out in the lobby long enough to miss opening ceremonies, as I usually do. (I sometimes enjoy them when I go, but they don't feel important to me, unlike the GOH presentations on Sunday.) In the last couple of years I've fallen very naturally into spending large chunks of time with them at Wiscon; this is one of those friendships that, as bcholmes puts it, are years deep and three days wide. My friendship with Ashnistrike and Nameseeker may be getting a bit wider than that: I do read Ashnistrike's LJ, and am hoping to see Nameseeker here in New York in a couple of weeks. But I wouldn't have any idea of how to find Brin and Gary, whose company I enjoy, other than by asking them to put me in touch. The only party I specifically remember going to on Friday evening was the LJ/Dreamwidth one, which had user icon stickers, cake, and mimosas (
holyoutlaw's idea of a weak drink was still stronger than I'd asked for, but not problematically so). Random conversations, and so to a relatively early bed.(I didn't get to any programming Friday, unless you count the Gathering.)
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