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Being a Minicon report, title courtesy of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rysmiel; cattitude and I shared a room with Rysmiel, papersky, and zorinth, because we know we're compatible and because one of the reasons we were at Minicon was to share time with them.
I got to the con about 2:30 Friday, and headed to the Green Room as soon as I checked in.magentamn, cakmpls, carbonel, and several other people had everything set up, and Carol very kindly put together a sign-up sheet for Green Room shifts when I asked her to. We never did sort out communications with Bill Christ, who is in charge of volunteers--it didn't help that when I went looking for him on Saturday, the volunteers table was no longer near registration, and the people who were staffing the Bridge said they didn't know where to find it, or him, and had no idea of how to help me. Bridge=troubleshooting and contact point; if you have no idea of what's going on, you shouldn't be sitting there. Nonetheless, everything worked out in the end, including Ben G. WINOLJ (whom jenett is not dating, for those to whom that's a useful identifier) letting me grab him while he was just wandering around the dealers' room and get him to take an evening shift; tanac and Jenett taking care of all the mornings; and Rachel showing up when I'd given up on having my Saturday dinner break. She'd signed up through the volunteers desk, after emailing me a few days pre-con, but I didn't know that until she walked in at 5:30 Saturday.
In addition to taking care of all the shopping, Magenta baked: three trays of excellent brownies and a lemon-iced sheet cake. That on top of the assorted more-or-less healthy stuff (fruit, veg, bread, cold cuts), bagels and muffins from the con suite for the mornings, and of course coffee and tea: the program participants were well fed, and we had leftovers to give to the con suite (for the dead dog, mostly) when Green Room closed. If I run the Green Room again, I'll try to organize things further in advance--nobody else's fault, I didn't know until February that I would be at this Minicon--and have a book with me for the slow periods when I'm alone in there. There aren't a lot of those, fortunately: I got to talk to a lot of interesting people, about all sorts of things, and only once had to explain to people that this isn't the con suite, and that they were being loud enough on non-programming-related stuff that they should go elsewhere, which they calmly and politely did. (The Green Room was right next to the room being used for readings, so we had to be careful about noise even when nobody was using the Green Room to prepare for a program item.)
The alternate title for this con report could have been "Sleep Deprivation." As far as I can put it together, I literally lay in bed for six or seven hours Friday night, without sleeping at all, before giving up around 6:15, showering, and going to the con suite (to avoid disturbing the rest of the people in my room, who were managing to sleep). As long as I was up, I helped with con suite morning cleanup and set-up, easy things like picking up abandoned cups, filling the hot water pot, and cutting up muffins. Around 8,papersky came up to the con suite to find me, and we went out to breakfast (I'd left a note on the bathroom counter explaining where I was, and asking her, or anyone else who got up early, to come find me). Saturday night was better, but I still slept fitfully: it's a wonder I was functional at all on Sunday. (Sunday and Monday nights I slept fairly well, and last night, home and in my own bed, I slept for ten hours. Another day or so and I should be caught up.)
I didn't get to a lot of programming, in part because being Green Room head meant taking any otherwise un-covered shifts. What I did get to: readings bytruepenny, who read an excellent excerpt from her not-yet-published novel, and Mike Ford, who read a delightful parody, Jeeves meets The Fellowship of the Ring (he followed that with "Twenty Questers," but I had to leave in the middle of that to take a Green Room shift--fortunately, it's in his new collection, so I've read it); Ask Dr. Mike (excellent, as usual); and part of Opening Ceremonies, including good talks by GoHs Walter Jon Williams and Sharyn November. I'd meant to go to Closing Ceremonies, but got to talking with Catherine Crockett (WINOLJ): we stopped by her room for what was supposed to be a few minutes, and talked for about an hour and a half. That was fun, but I would have liked to see pegkerr receiving her necklace.
Several good meals, in good company, but I spent more on food than I'd meant to. That includes two dinners and a breakfast with (among others)jonsinger; he has suggested that cattitude and I visit him and lisajulie some time soon, and it's very tempting. I had lunch on Saturday with elisem--she'd just gotten back from a late breakfast, so she ate dessert while I had a nice big salad and we talked about life and work and relationships. Lots of Greek food Saturday with Cally WINOLJ (who also helped with Green Room), quility, and a friend of hers. I have a vague suspicion that I didn't have lunch Sunday, after the large and tasty breakfast at Hell's Kitchen, but I had a huge dinner and had to get Papersky, who was eating with a different group at the same restaurant, to send Zorinth, Rysmiel, and davidgoldfarb to help me finish my chocolate mousse (Cattitude also helped, of course; Singer, who couldn't eat the mousse, got the berry it was garnished with). And large quantities of sushi Monday, the usual mass post-Minicon expedition to Sakura. Every year, I forget until I'm in the restaurant that the sushi is significantly more expensive than I'd expect to pay in New York; it's tasty, but not outstandingly so, at least not if you're sitting upstairs and handing order sheets to the waitresses. On the other hand, they get points for paying attention: I ordered ama ebi ["sweet" raw shrimp] and forgot to ask them to deep-fry the heads. After she'd served it and I'd eaten one piece, I commented to someone else in our party that I'd meant to ask for the heads and forgotten. The waitress didn't say anything, but the next time she came upstairs, she presented me with a separate plate containing two fried shrimp heads (yes, eyes and all). Since different people's fish arrived at different rates--Papersky pointed out to me on Tuesday that they brought my second order before her first--and for added variety, we shared things around. Joel Rosenberg gave me, and a couple of other people, pieces of a tasty lobster-and-asparagus roll that was a special that day. Joel either has a different sense of when to hold a grudge than I do--I killfiled him publicly a while back, which means that I'd have no complaint if he snubbed me in return--or a poor memory. It was good sushi.
I realized late Saturday that I needed a prescription refill, not having brought enough pills with me. This meant tracking down Lisa Freitag (WINOLJ), who is a physician as well as a friend of mine, and getting her to call in a prescription for a few days' supply to an all-night pharmacy (since it was fairly late Saturday, and Sunday was Easter). Lisa, once I found her in the Tor party, was happy to oblige; the following morning, Jenett drove me to the drugstore, we picked up the pills, and I was much relieved. Other people had also offered a lift if need be, but either I couldn't find them early in the morning, or I didn't want to impose on them because they were people I barely know.
I didn't buy much at the con, other than meals. I came home with Willy Ley's Birth of Zoology, Steven Brust's Sethra Lavode (which Cattitude bought, but left with me so I could read it on the plane), and a pair of earrings made by Elise. Papersky got me the earrings, danglies with purple glass flowers/stars, a fine purple that went with my hair and was just the thing to cheer me up after I'd been running around dealing with the medication. I also bought a pair of earrings, a fine new design made of wandering wire and Swarovski crystals, but they fell out of my ears repeatedly Monday morning, so I gave them to Papersky to take to Elise for repair (since she was staying at Elise and Juan's Monday night), and then we both forgot about them, so they're now in Montreal.
The Ley book is fun. I've read a chapter and a half so far. There's good stuff about what makes a science and about the differences between zoology and, for example, cattle-breeding. There are nice anecdotal bits: someone brought an okapi to Persepolis as a gift to Cyrus the Great, which we know from a painting; it then sat there, un-interpreted, for over 2000 years, until word of the okapi again got from southern Africa to the Mediterranean. I've also been noticing things that we've learned, or revised, since it was published in 1968, including changes in taxonomic categories (notably "reptiles") and a remark about there being no way to know whether great apes throw things, without living among them: I'm not sure when Jane Goodall started her fieldwork, but it took a while for it to gain attention.
After Monday's dim sum,minnehaha K generously drove me and Rysmiel back to the hotel, where we proceeded to hang out for the rest of the day and into Tuesday morning. We skipped the extra–Dead Dog (at a local fan's home) in favor of quality time together and getting to bed early.
The trip to the airport Tuesday was uneventful, except for repeatedly having to fend off a livery car driver who offered to take us to the airport while we were waiting for the SuperShuttle. If I'd wanted a cab, I'd have asked for one; besides, I had a cup of tea to finish. We rendezvous'd with Papersky and Zorinth at the airport, checked in for our flights (they, and I, were all on Northwest, and at numerically nearby gates). On our way to get lunch before the flight (I'd had a cookie and a half, Rysmiel half a cookie, and I have no idea if Zorinth or Papersky had had breakfast), we passed a little airport bookstore, where Papersky spotted the new Neal Stephenson book on the front display, and as she descended on it, I spotted Ben G, remembered that he'd mentioned working in the airport, and gave him a hug. It had been two whole days since we'd seen each other, after all. We chatted briefly, Papersky paid for her book, Ben made a lunch suggestion that turned out to be the place I'd had in mind (there aren't a lot of good places to eat in any airport), and we went two doors down. While we were deciding what to eat, Ben dashed in and handed us customer comment forms, which we were happy to fill out with kind words for his excellent customer service. After salad (me) and sandwiches (everyone else), we headed toward the gate, and spottedgerisullivan en route. More hugs and cheerful greetings; my gate was first, and most of the passengers were already on board when I got there, so I said quick goodbyes, and got on the plane.
Home, with a bit of a weather delay, where Cattitude greeted me with hugs and a big pot of chili. Whatever else may be said about traveling separately, there's a lot to be said for arriving to a home-cooked meal.
rysmiel; cattitude and I shared a room with Rysmiel, papersky, and zorinth, because we know we're compatible and because one of the reasons we were at Minicon was to share time with them.I got to the con about 2:30 Friday, and headed to the Green Room as soon as I checked in.
magentamn, cakmpls, carbonel, and several other people had everything set up, and Carol very kindly put together a sign-up sheet for Green Room shifts when I asked her to. We never did sort out communications with Bill Christ, who is in charge of volunteers--it didn't help that when I went looking for him on Saturday, the volunteers table was no longer near registration, and the people who were staffing the Bridge said they didn't know where to find it, or him, and had no idea of how to help me. Bridge=troubleshooting and contact point; if you have no idea of what's going on, you shouldn't be sitting there. Nonetheless, everything worked out in the end, including Ben G. WINOLJ (whom jenett is not dating, for those to whom that's a useful identifier) letting me grab him while he was just wandering around the dealers' room and get him to take an evening shift; tanac and Jenett taking care of all the mornings; and Rachel showing up when I'd given up on having my Saturday dinner break. She'd signed up through the volunteers desk, after emailing me a few days pre-con, but I didn't know that until she walked in at 5:30 Saturday.In addition to taking care of all the shopping, Magenta baked: three trays of excellent brownies and a lemon-iced sheet cake. That on top of the assorted more-or-less healthy stuff (fruit, veg, bread, cold cuts), bagels and muffins from the con suite for the mornings, and of course coffee and tea: the program participants were well fed, and we had leftovers to give to the con suite (for the dead dog, mostly) when Green Room closed. If I run the Green Room again, I'll try to organize things further in advance--nobody else's fault, I didn't know until February that I would be at this Minicon--and have a book with me for the slow periods when I'm alone in there. There aren't a lot of those, fortunately: I got to talk to a lot of interesting people, about all sorts of things, and only once had to explain to people that this isn't the con suite, and that they were being loud enough on non-programming-related stuff that they should go elsewhere, which they calmly and politely did. (The Green Room was right next to the room being used for readings, so we had to be careful about noise even when nobody was using the Green Room to prepare for a program item.)
The alternate title for this con report could have been "Sleep Deprivation." As far as I can put it together, I literally lay in bed for six or seven hours Friday night, without sleeping at all, before giving up around 6:15, showering, and going to the con suite (to avoid disturbing the rest of the people in my room, who were managing to sleep). As long as I was up, I helped with con suite morning cleanup and set-up, easy things like picking up abandoned cups, filling the hot water pot, and cutting up muffins. Around 8,
papersky came up to the con suite to find me, and we went out to breakfast (I'd left a note on the bathroom counter explaining where I was, and asking her, or anyone else who got up early, to come find me). Saturday night was better, but I still slept fitfully: it's a wonder I was functional at all on Sunday. (Sunday and Monday nights I slept fairly well, and last night, home and in my own bed, I slept for ten hours. Another day or so and I should be caught up.)I didn't get to a lot of programming, in part because being Green Room head meant taking any otherwise un-covered shifts. What I did get to: readings by
truepenny, who read an excellent excerpt from her not-yet-published novel, and Mike Ford, who read a delightful parody, Jeeves meets The Fellowship of the Ring (he followed that with "Twenty Questers," but I had to leave in the middle of that to take a Green Room shift--fortunately, it's in his new collection, so I've read it); Ask Dr. Mike (excellent, as usual); and part of Opening Ceremonies, including good talks by GoHs Walter Jon Williams and Sharyn November. I'd meant to go to Closing Ceremonies, but got to talking with Catherine Crockett (WINOLJ): we stopped by her room for what was supposed to be a few minutes, and talked for about an hour and a half. That was fun, but I would have liked to see pegkerr receiving her necklace.Several good meals, in good company, but I spent more on food than I'd meant to. That includes two dinners and a breakfast with (among others)
jonsinger; he has suggested that cattitude and I visit him and lisajulie some time soon, and it's very tempting. I had lunch on Saturday with elisem--she'd just gotten back from a late breakfast, so she ate dessert while I had a nice big salad and we talked about life and work and relationships. Lots of Greek food Saturday with Cally WINOLJ (who also helped with Green Room), quility, and a friend of hers. I have a vague suspicion that I didn't have lunch Sunday, after the large and tasty breakfast at Hell's Kitchen, but I had a huge dinner and had to get Papersky, who was eating with a different group at the same restaurant, to send Zorinth, Rysmiel, and davidgoldfarb to help me finish my chocolate mousse (Cattitude also helped, of course; Singer, who couldn't eat the mousse, got the berry it was garnished with). And large quantities of sushi Monday, the usual mass post-Minicon expedition to Sakura. Every year, I forget until I'm in the restaurant that the sushi is significantly more expensive than I'd expect to pay in New York; it's tasty, but not outstandingly so, at least not if you're sitting upstairs and handing order sheets to the waitresses. On the other hand, they get points for paying attention: I ordered ama ebi ["sweet" raw shrimp] and forgot to ask them to deep-fry the heads. After she'd served it and I'd eaten one piece, I commented to someone else in our party that I'd meant to ask for the heads and forgotten. The waitress didn't say anything, but the next time she came upstairs, she presented me with a separate plate containing two fried shrimp heads (yes, eyes and all). Since different people's fish arrived at different rates--Papersky pointed out to me on Tuesday that they brought my second order before her first--and for added variety, we shared things around. Joel Rosenberg gave me, and a couple of other people, pieces of a tasty lobster-and-asparagus roll that was a special that day. Joel either has a different sense of when to hold a grudge than I do--I killfiled him publicly a while back, which means that I'd have no complaint if he snubbed me in return--or a poor memory. It was good sushi.I realized late Saturday that I needed a prescription refill, not having brought enough pills with me. This meant tracking down Lisa Freitag (WINOLJ), who is a physician as well as a friend of mine, and getting her to call in a prescription for a few days' supply to an all-night pharmacy (since it was fairly late Saturday, and Sunday was Easter). Lisa, once I found her in the Tor party, was happy to oblige; the following morning, Jenett drove me to the drugstore, we picked up the pills, and I was much relieved. Other people had also offered a lift if need be, but either I couldn't find them early in the morning, or I didn't want to impose on them because they were people I barely know.
I didn't buy much at the con, other than meals. I came home with Willy Ley's Birth of Zoology, Steven Brust's Sethra Lavode (which Cattitude bought, but left with me so I could read it on the plane), and a pair of earrings made by Elise. Papersky got me the earrings, danglies with purple glass flowers/stars, a fine purple that went with my hair and was just the thing to cheer me up after I'd been running around dealing with the medication. I also bought a pair of earrings, a fine new design made of wandering wire and Swarovski crystals, but they fell out of my ears repeatedly Monday morning, so I gave them to Papersky to take to Elise for repair (since she was staying at Elise and Juan's Monday night), and then we both forgot about them, so they're now in Montreal.
The Ley book is fun. I've read a chapter and a half so far. There's good stuff about what makes a science and about the differences between zoology and, for example, cattle-breeding. There are nice anecdotal bits: someone brought an okapi to Persepolis as a gift to Cyrus the Great, which we know from a painting; it then sat there, un-interpreted, for over 2000 years, until word of the okapi again got from southern Africa to the Mediterranean. I've also been noticing things that we've learned, or revised, since it was published in 1968, including changes in taxonomic categories (notably "reptiles") and a remark about there being no way to know whether great apes throw things, without living among them: I'm not sure when Jane Goodall started her fieldwork, but it took a while for it to gain attention.
After Monday's dim sum,
minnehaha K generously drove me and Rysmiel back to the hotel, where we proceeded to hang out for the rest of the day and into Tuesday morning. We skipped the extra–Dead Dog (at a local fan's home) in favor of quality time together and getting to bed early.The trip to the airport Tuesday was uneventful, except for repeatedly having to fend off a livery car driver who offered to take us to the airport while we were waiting for the SuperShuttle. If I'd wanted a cab, I'd have asked for one; besides, I had a cup of tea to finish. We rendezvous'd with Papersky and Zorinth at the airport, checked in for our flights (they, and I, were all on Northwest, and at numerically nearby gates). On our way to get lunch before the flight (I'd had a cookie and a half, Rysmiel half a cookie, and I have no idea if Zorinth or Papersky had had breakfast), we passed a little airport bookstore, where Papersky spotted the new Neal Stephenson book on the front display, and as she descended on it, I spotted Ben G, remembered that he'd mentioned working in the airport, and gave him a hug. It had been two whole days since we'd seen each other, after all. We chatted briefly, Papersky paid for her book, Ben made a lunch suggestion that turned out to be the place I'd had in mind (there aren't a lot of good places to eat in any airport), and we went two doors down. While we were deciding what to eat, Ben dashed in and handed us customer comment forms, which we were happy to fill out with kind words for his excellent customer service. After salad (me) and sandwiches (everyone else), we headed toward the gate, and spotted
gerisullivan en route. More hugs and cheerful greetings; my gate was first, and most of the passengers were already on board when I got there, so I said quick goodbyes, and got on the plane.Home, with a bit of a weather delay, where Cattitude greeted me with hugs and a big pot of chili. Whatever else may be said about traveling separately, there's a lot to be said for arriving to a home-cooked meal.
From:
Brust
[I really need a good "books" icon.]
From:
Re: Brust
I adored The Phoenix Guard but didn't care as much for After.
From:
Re: Brust
And stop drooling on the cat.