Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

We got home from Scintillation, a small SF/fantasy convention in Montreal, yesterday afternoon. I enjoyed the con, but it took a lot out of me, and I'm not sure I enjoyed myself enough to be worth how draining it was (that's separate from the financial cost, three round-trip airfares and four nights in a hotel). If I go next year, I suspect I should either travel Thursday instead of Friday, or leave Sunday afternoon/evening rather than staying over Sunday night. The longer trip let us go to the pre-con and after-con picnics, plus Friday afternoon expeditions, and as much of the programming as we wanted.

I enjoyed some programming, and some unorganized socializing in the convention's public spaces. I skipped some programming, either because it was less interesting to me (e.g. discussions of writing techniqques) or to save energy. I got a ride to the Marche Jean Talon expedition on Friday from rushthatspeaks, and a ride to the Sunday evening picnic from Ruthanna. I didn't feel up to walking to Marche Jean Talon, and then walking around at the market; similarly, I didn't feel up to taking the metro to the Sunday evening picnic. (We did take a bus and the metro back from the picnic to the hotel Sunday night.)

We went to Frites Alors! with Tamara for lunch on Sunday, because I wanted poutine, and they have food Adrian likes (although not poutine, because it's full of cheese). By Monday, when we were grabbing something to eat on the way to the airport, I felt like I had eaten too much meat (in the form of dumplings) and just got a cucumber salad. We took the metro to get to the branch of Frites Alors! that has a (seasonal) patio; the convention hotel is in Chinatown, and most of the outdoor dining options near the hotel mean getting takeout and finding a park bench. That said, I'm glad that there's still at least one con that has some outdoor events, and requires masking indoors with a couple of exceptions.

[I may post more, but wanted to get at least this down before I forgot.]

My gift in this year's Scintillation Groundhog Day gift exchange is a pair of teal socks, which feel like wool. It came with no signature or note, just the name of the company it's from. I checked with ambyr, and the anonymity was accidental. I will follow up with the gifter to verify that the socks are made of wool.

They feel thick, and thus suited for cold winter days, of which we do still get a few.

In the other direction, I sent my recipient a Sandra Boynton T-shirt and post-it notes. I had them shipped directly from Zazzle, with notes saying "1/2" and "2/2" because the t-shirts and stationery are printed in different places.

We had poutine for lunch today because David Levine suggested it, and it was good. He and I both try to have poutine at least once per visit to Montreal, and this weekend has been mostly dumplings

I just made a hotel reservation for Scintillation (a small book-focused con in Montreal), for myself, adrian_turtle, and cattitude.

I haven't been to a convention since well before the pandemic. I was hoping to go to last year's Scintillation. but we were moving that month, and no way could I have handled both.

Planning to go this time is definitely optimistic. Scintillation's covid policies are very good, but we do have to travel there and back.