Wiscon/shoulder update

The sore shoulder is still bothering me, so I won't be online as much for a bit, I suspect. My plan is to call my doctor's office in a few minutes and ask for an appointment.

Wiscon was fun, but the shoulder pain was draining and I did less, and probably enjoyed it less, than I otherwise would have. Sunday morning, when I was about to bail from a panel because of this, matociquala suggested I try a sling, and quick experimentation with a sweater proved it worthwhile, so cattitude got me one at the drugstore, and it did help. A bit later in the day, I ran into carbonel, who is a Trained Professional and showed me how it ought to be rigged. Thank you all.

More details, possibly, later.

Also, I doubt I'll be on AIM for a bit; I will be answering the telephone, because I can do that one-handed.

http://technorati.com/tag/wiscon

Wiscon/shoulder update

The sore shoulder is still bothering me, so I won't be online as much for a bit, I suspect. My plan is to call my doctor's office in a few minutes and ask for an appointment.

Wiscon was fun, but the shoulder pain was draining and I did less, and probably enjoyed it less, than I otherwise would have. Sunday morning, when I was about to bail from a panel because of this, matociquala suggested I try a sling, and quick experimentation with a sweater proved it worthwhile, so cattitude got me one at the drugstore, and it did help. A bit later in the day, I ran into carbonel, who is a Trained Professional and showed me how it ought to be rigged. Thank you all.

More details, possibly, later.

Also, I doubt I'll be on AIM for a bit; I will be answering the telephone, because I can do that one-handed.

http://technorati.com/tag/wiscon

Wiscon, pieces thereof

I was on two panels. "Disappearing the Body" was a lot of fun, and we brought up an assortment of relevant science fiction. It did transpire that the moderator, Andrea Hairston, and I have completely different ideas of what "cognitive" means, but I decided that wasn't an argument worth having then and there, though I mentioned it to fellow-panelist imnotandrei afterwards. "Feminism and Technology" didn't fit together as well for me, in part because while I'd just gotten a sling for my arm, I was also one day further into shoulder pain, distraction, and interrupted sleep; Lis Carey was also short on sleep, though I think she enjoyed her distractions more than I did; and Linda McAllister, moderating, had a bad sore throat. A more focused topic might also have helped. Nusuth.

The only other programming I went to was a panel on "Transforming Sexuality," which I decided to follow Janet Lafler and Matt Austern (who are not on LJ) down the hall from the con suite to. That was fun: about 15 people sitting around in chairs, and a reasonably focused discussion of things including but not limited to hermaphrodites and the circumstances under which people would choose to transform their own physical sex, or that of their children. I suggested that it would be a pop-culture thing, pursued by teenagers who forged their parents' signatures on the permission forms.

No, no readings; no auction, no GoH speeches. I did go to the Tiptree bake sale, and gave juliebata a hand selling stuff, at a quiet afternoon time.

Bought an assortment of books. I am currently very happily reading Mary Gentle's A Sundial in a Grave: 1610. I abandoned a book I got off the freebie table about halfway through, and halfway through my trip home, because I was less and less pleased by the serial killer viewpoint character. (Sorry, can't recall title, it has cover copy promoting it as "dark urban fantasy"--fantasy because it's full of faeries, dark I assume for the reason already stated.)

Some very good meals, notably at Muramoto, recommended by a Univ. of Wisconsin professor Allen Baum knows--and who was there at the next table when we were seated, we in this case being Alan, Donya Hazard White, cattitude, and I. The best squid Cattitude and I have ever tasted; wonderful rack of lamb, a cooked-duck sushi roll (by the definition in which the rice makes it sushi), lots of other good stuff, iced oolong tea, were I minnahaha I'd have taken notes. Desserts were a semi-freddo (seems to be a variant on ice cream, very nice) in a green tea sauce, a strawberry "spring roll" with ginger ice cream, green apple and ginger sorbet, and black sesame ice cream, which Allen immediately and accurately described as "halvah ice cream."

Sunday night an early dinner, me, Cattitude, and truepenny at Himal Chuli, which supplied the vegetables I'd been vaguely missing all weekend, in the form of butternut squash with onions and green peas. Then we walked down to the Union for ice cream; as I usually do, I got the orange custard chocolate chip, and we went out on the terrace because Cattitude hadn't seen it before; he got to feeling very nostalgic, from the smell of the lake, Truepenny pointed out a rainbow, and we were rained on. Much better than the dessert salon, in my experience, not least because it doesn't pretend to have tea and fail to understand that boiling water is necessary. I got real tea at Michelangelo's, which has the additional advantage of being around the corner from the hotel, and from Ruth Nichols, who Cattitude and I accompanied home for a bit on Saturday because she needed to pick something up and didn't want to leave the con. So I asked if company would help, she said yes, and I said "let's go." This led to some fun gardening--weeding and a little planting--and a mug of Earl Grey.

A bunch of time with elisem, including sitting around a room party Friday evening and catching up on each other's lives a bit; helping with the Haiku Earring Party on Saturday night; and brunch Sunday, but that was unfocused because her parents had shown up on short notice, and knowing they were waiting upstairs to visit with her was rather a distraction. I'd have liked more, but she got the basic state-of-the-Vicki report, and patiently listened to me burble about how wonderful my sweeties are.

More later, maybe.

http://technorati.com/tag/wiscon

Wiscon, pieces thereof

I was on two panels. "Disappearing the Body" was a lot of fun, and we brought up an assortment of relevant science fiction. It did transpire that the moderator, Andrea Hairston, and I have completely different ideas of what "cognitive" means, but I decided that wasn't an argument worth having then and there, though I mentioned it to fellow-panelist imnotandrei afterwards. "Feminism and Technology" didn't fit together as well for me, in part because while I'd just gotten a sling for my arm, I was also one day further into shoulder pain, distraction, and interrupted sleep; Lis Carey was also short on sleep, though I think she enjoyed her distractions more than I did; and Linda McAllister, moderating, had a bad sore throat. A more focused topic might also have helped. Nusuth.

The only other programming I went to was a panel on "Transforming Sexuality," which I decided to follow Janet Lafler and Matt Austern (who are not on LJ) down the hall from the con suite to. That was fun: about 15 people sitting around in chairs, and a reasonably focused discussion of things including but not limited to hermaphrodites and the circumstances under which people would choose to transform their own physical sex, or that of their children. I suggested that it would be a pop-culture thing, pursued by teenagers who forged their parents' signatures on the permission forms.

No, no readings; no auction, no GoH speeches. I did go to the Tiptree bake sale, and gave juliebata a hand selling stuff, at a quiet afternoon time.

Bought an assortment of books. I am currently very happily reading Mary Gentle's A Sundial in a Grave: 1610. I abandoned a book I got off the freebie table about halfway through, and halfway through my trip home, because I was less and less pleased by the serial killer viewpoint character. (Sorry, can't recall title, it has cover copy promoting it as "dark urban fantasy"--fantasy because it's full of faeries, dark I assume for the reason already stated.)

Some very good meals, notably at Muramoto, recommended by a Univ. of Wisconsin professor Allen Baum knows--and who was there at the next table when we were seated, we in this case being Alan, Donya Hazard White, cattitude, and I. The best squid Cattitude and I have ever tasted; wonderful rack of lamb, a cooked-duck sushi roll (by the definition in which the rice makes it sushi), lots of other good stuff, iced oolong tea, were I minnahaha I'd have taken notes. Desserts were a semi-freddo (seems to be a variant on ice cream, very nice) in a green tea sauce, a strawberry "spring roll" with ginger ice cream, green apple and ginger sorbet, and black sesame ice cream, which Allen immediately and accurately described as "halvah ice cream."

Sunday night an early dinner, me, Cattitude, and truepenny at Himal Chuli, which supplied the vegetables I'd been vaguely missing all weekend, in the form of butternut squash with onions and green peas. Then we walked down to the Union for ice cream; as I usually do, I got the orange custard chocolate chip, and we went out on the terrace because Cattitude hadn't seen it before; he got to feeling very nostalgic, from the smell of the lake, Truepenny pointed out a rainbow, and we were rained on. Much better than the dessert salon, in my experience, not least because it doesn't pretend to have tea and fail to understand that boiling water is necessary. I got real tea at Michelangelo's, which has the additional advantage of being around the corner from the hotel, and from Ruth Nichols, who Cattitude and I accompanied home for a bit on Saturday because she needed to pick something up and didn't want to leave the con. So I asked if company would help, she said yes, and I said "let's go." This led to some fun gardening--weeding and a little planting--and a mug of Earl Grey.

A bunch of time with elisem, including sitting around a room party Friday evening and catching up on each other's lives a bit; helping with the Haiku Earring Party on Saturday night; and brunch Sunday, but that was unfocused because her parents had shown up on short notice, and knowing they were waiting upstairs to visit with her was rather a distraction. I'd have liked more, but she got the basic state-of-the-Vicki report, and patiently listened to me burble about how wonderful my sweeties are.

More later, maybe.

http://technorati.com/tag/wiscon

Cat update

julian_tiger was glad, and I think relieved, to have us home after the long weekend (slightly longer than intended--we ran into several delays on the trip home, both mechanical and weather-related). Today, he's been all fine and snuggly; he woke me by washing me, which is a novelty that would grow old quickly if continued. He's also found two new foods he likes--banana pakora, and fresh red plums.

More worrisome, I had to extract him from the bedroom closet twice, and then head him off a third time, while getting out a shirt this morning. One extraction with my left arm, one with a foot. And he has clearly figured out how to open one of the hall closets; fortunately, we don't use that one for clothing.

Cat update

julian_tiger was glad, and I think relieved, to have us home after the long weekend (slightly longer than intended--we ran into several delays on the trip home, both mechanical and weather-related). Today, he's been all fine and snuggly; he woke me by washing me, which is a novelty that would grow old quickly if continued. He's also found two new foods he likes--banana pakora, and fresh red plums.

More worrisome, I had to extract him from the bedroom closet twice, and then head him off a third time, while getting out a shirt this morning. One extraction with my left arm, one with a foot. And he has clearly figured out how to open one of the hall closets; fortunately, we don't use that one for clothing.

Wiscon, another note

I wound up mentioning two different people I know on LJ during Wiscon programming, on two different panels. For our panel on disappearing the body, I mentioned knowing someone who makes a point of not revealing their gender online. And in the panel on transforming sexuality, one of the panelists asserted, when transgendered people came up, that there might well be people who would want to be phenotypically both male and female, but not people who would want to be neither. So I pointed out that, in fact, I know someone whose preferred gender would be neuter, and that the doctors he had consulted had asserted that his preferred gender didn't exist, and that if it did nobody would want to be it. (You'd think his consulting them would have led them to question at least the latter, but most theories can stand up to a few inconvenient facts.)

http://technorati.com/tag/wiscon

Wiscon, another note

I wound up mentioning two different people I know on LJ during Wiscon programming, on two different panels. For our panel on disappearing the body, I mentioned knowing someone who makes a point of not revealing their gender online. And in the panel on transforming sexuality, one of the panelists asserted, when transgendered people came up, that there might well be people who would want to be phenotypically both male and female, but not people who would want to be neither. So I pointed out that, in fact, I know someone whose preferred gender would be neuter, and that the doctors he had consulted had asserted that his preferred gender didn't exist, and that if it did nobody would want to be it. (You'd think his consulting them would have led them to question at least the latter, but most theories can stand up to a few inconvenient facts.)

http://technorati.com/tag/wiscon