Done last Westercon weekend (20160702Sa - 04Mo)

[mdlbear]

So, last weekend was Westercon. It was the first we'd been to for a while -- Portland is close enough to drive to in less than 3 hours, so we were able to do it without my having to take any time off.

My concert Saturday evening went ok: Bigger on the Inside, The Stuff that Dreams are Made Of, Millennium's Dawn, Riverheart, The Toolmakers, The Bears (A Talk With the Middle-Sized Bear, A Tribute to the Middle-Aged Bear), The Travelers (Where the Heart Is, Windward), Rambling Silver Rose, QV, Ship of Stone.

There were a couple of flubs, but nothing serious -- not bad for next to no prep, but I'll have to get more serious about practicing. I had taken Plink, the little Vagabond travel guitar; that was almost certainly the right choice. Though I think the battery was dead; we ended up micing it for the concert, which got me off to a bit of a late start. Putting my phone, in clock mode, on the music stand turned out to work very well.

I didn't go to any panels -- just hung out in the filk room or the lobby with my laptop. (I'd also brought my work laptop, but never used it.) As usual, I enjoyed it more than I expected to beforehand: I've learned the hard way that it's better -- and I'm less likely -- to regret having done something than to regret not having done it. (Does that construction make sense? Probably, though it's less clear than I'd like.)

Great conversations over dinner with alatefeline on Saturday (or was that Sunday lunch?), and Roy and Joan Sunday. On the whole a good, fairly relaxed con.

Notes & links:

0702Sa
  * up 5:14; W=199.2?; dishes, last-minute packing
  @ Girls Crossing the Threshold of Geekery - Sibylla Bostoniensis f(Jean Rossner)
  * 8:52 packed; Colleen downstairs with coffee and a breakfast croissant.  Only remaining
    question is which guitar to bring.
  * 9-10 leave for Portland
  * we have a room for Sa and Su
  * Sa at the con -- apparently I forgot to sync this morning. *shrug*  Or last night.
  * got on the road 10ish; forgot to look at the clock when we arrived but it was probably
    around 1:30.  Nice drive; felt a little sleepy, which could forbode problems Monday
  * Now 2:44; in bar getting lunch.  They seem a little overrun.
  & I had apparently failed to pre-reg (which explains why I'm not in the schedule, but
    not why I got a concert anyway).
  % Left QL giving me fits.  Happens.
  * 5pm recording Jordan.  My recorder did its usual trick, but for once I caught it.
  * 6pm pretty good.  Nervous.
    Correctly identified alatefeline in the audience; had a blast watching her
    since it was clear she was hearing most of them for the first time.  A bit
    distracting. 
    Set:  Bigger on the Inside, Stuff that Dreams are Made Of, Millennium's Dawn,
	  Riverheart. Toolmakers, The Bears (A Talk With the Middle-Sized Bear, A Tribute
	  to the Middle-Aged Bear), The Travelers (Where the Heart Is, Windward), Rambling
	  Silver Rose, QV, Ship of Stone.  (ran one minute over, but started a little late
	  so that's ok.)
  * Circle:  Get Up and Go, Cicero
  
0703Su
  * up 8:30; ;
  % back hurts.
  * Currently fighting with network configuration.  I have a solid connection and an IP
    address, but apparently not DNS.  Darkstar works fine, so it's the stupid hotel.
  * Dealer's Room:  bought books from a couple of dealers; CDs from Ravan (Gimpworks)
    Ran into Chris Olds.  Hugs from him and several others.
  : 1:30ish now, in the lobby, I have a solid connection even though the indicator doesn't
    show it.  Showed some cat/house/rainbowcon pix to alatefeline
  * Made a Ticia icon, only to find that there was already one, but it didn't have a
    keyword on DW.  :/
  & Drinks, appetizers, and a fantastic conversation with Roy and Joan.  Showed xmonad and
    haskell to Roy.  Fun!
  * Probably no singing in the evening
  @ Poem: "The Love We Give Our Fragile Craft" - The Wordsmith's Forge
    Paid for the last few verses because I couldn't wait to see how it ended.
    Autism--It's Different in Girls - Scientific American makes sense given what I
    know of the YD.
    Learning How To Ask For Help • Snagglebox
  * Writing: 448 words in PJ
  
0704Mo Independence Day
  * Up 6:11; ; dishes, laundry
  @ Snagglebox Great resource.  Free ebooks
    Why I Hate Talking On The Phone • Snagglebox
    Anybody Can Have A Meltdown Wish I'd known this when the kids were little
    Teach Kids About Meltdowns
  * 8:30 packed.  Repaired the front zipper on Chami; took several tries but eventually
    worked.  Relies on the fact that plastic coils are compressible; I'll have to try it
    with the others, e.g. Colleen's Samsonite suitcase.
  @ A Different Model — Medical Care in Cuba — NEJM
  & So in the end I never used the work laptop.  Not clear whether the mistake was in
    bringing it along, or not using it when I had some spare time.
  * 9:30 Colleen packed.
  @ 13-year-old’s inspiring letter about autism goes viral Brilliant.
  * some maintenance in ~/bin.
  : Turns out that Colleen called Lynn and told her that we were coming and that I wanted
    a concert.  Nobody tells me anything.
  * 1:30 late checkout -> actually checked out 12:48; wanted to get it done before Roy
    and Joan's bandura presentation at 1pm.  They are a bit disorganized.  No mics.
    I'm not recording; should have brought the video recorder.
    I am also a bit distracted.
  * Merged bin into Config, which will make things a lot simpler.
  * left somewhere around 2:30, arrived sometime around 6.  175 miles each way.
    Uneventful drive, but I'm glad we didn't leave any later.
  % I must be even more of an introvert than I used to be; feeling completely drained, and
    I don't think it's all physical.
  * Writing:  514 words in the weekly post (not counting notes or header)
  * used cable ties to fix the connector on Colleen's chair that keeps coming out.  It's a
    9-pin D connector, and some idiot had overtightened the screws that held it in, and
    snapped them both off.  Fortunately, there was room to wrap a pair of cable ties
    around the connector and the control box it plugs into.
  * Reducing Kat's allowance to $50/week.  Rent.
  ! Happy to get back to Ticia.  I told several people during the con that I missed her;
    not clear whether that was real, or just what I thought I should be feeling.  But I
    think it was real, because there's just something right about having her
    there in the box on my desk, purring.  And I think I will sleep better tonight.

Comments

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

I often don't love filk. Well, it would be wrong to say "often"-- I've been to few cons. But I hope to hear you some day.

[mdlbear]

That would be wonderful. Meanwhile, all my lyrics and a lot of recordings are on my website(s) -- start at http://steve.savitzky.net/Songs

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Very enjoyable. Though of course everything's better live. :D