There Was a Con

In which I spent good times with skogkatt  and Moss, almost enough time with shadesong , more than I usually get to spend with teenybuffalo  and nineweaving , though less than I would like, not nearly enough with sovay , sindrian   upstart_crow  or last_real_ange , and, to my sorrow almost none with yendi  or ajodasso  (the latter I met for the first time, and hope to meet again).  Most of these people live a little more than half an hour more driving than I DO EVERY WORKING DAMN DAY from me.    Arisia had a slower pace, in some ways, than Readercon, where everyone is always rushing to make professional contacts and people come from much further out.  For me, it is a smaller con.  Weird, but there it is.  

I am exhausted.  My legs ache from moving slowly, standing still, tension.

My panels went well.

The first - Interstitial Fiction was the worst; it became the taxonomy panel, and I think I came off as glib, flip and shallow in my opening remarks to the moderator, who thereafter sort of treated me as though what was going to come out of my mouth was going to be madness or stupidity.  The blame for that panel, I think was shared around; the audience as well, seemed to have a number of axe grinders and the hipsters took over the asylum.

Dark Fantasy turned out to be quite good, and a panelist with whom I remember having kind of negative experiences last year makes me question my recollection (I will not name this person, but they were excellent in both panels on which we both served).  There was more I wanted to talk about in regards to that one, though I have to remember, next time, that Mercedes Lackey uses rape-as-character-development all the damn time.  Which actually kind of fed into a point I wanted to discuss... Maybe in a blog post.

Fairy tales and Myths went quite well (it could hardly go wrong; I got to be on an all-star lineup with that one) and though I had little to contribute, I did get Slendy in there and that was fun.

The one I moderated, Setting as Character, again, all-star lineup, and I LOVE THAT SUBJECT.  We knocked that one out of the park, I think.  I need to make sure that Readercon does this.  I need to make sure the four of us who were on it (plus sova ) get to be on it.

Then there was the readings.  I am getting pretty good at reading, and I was reading some of my best work. Everyone kicked ass.  There was a song sung that tore my heart straight out, too.  

I got to table for the Backup Project, which was good.  I got to paint while I tabled, which was fun.  I went to some of skogkatt  and teenybuffalo 's panels ( teenybuffalo can moderate - con organizers, take note.  She rode herd on a panel that could have gone way off the rails and into awful places, late at night, but she kept it together and made it look easy), I did not get a chance to go to really anything else - I was putting out too much energy (even though I kept telling myself to stay cool, and I did stay cool[er] - everything I was able to conserve I threw into my panels and readings) for anything else.  

I had better shoes this time.  I brought snacks with me.  I am thinking that a lighter computer is in order.  I lost my notebook, but the only thing I needed in there were to notes for the werewolf story which, actually, got invalidated by my experiences - I have much better ideas for that now.  Also, I can buy a new notebook for writing!  Backpack, not courier bag.  Lighter load.  Use the green room.  Bring oranges.  Stay cool, let things happen.  Be painting.  Tell fortunes.  Be mindful of boundaries.  Find hiding places.  Sleep more.  Prepare.  Prepare.  Prepare.

It's fun.  Intense, but fun.  There's more I want to talk about, but not today.