The Mandelbear's Musings

Worldcon was... well, yes. Something like that, anyway. Good, but exhausting, somewhat frantic, and marred by a filk hotel that reeked of smoke everywhere but our room (which was large and well-laid-out). Also, the Peppermill's WiFi was sporadic at best. Fortunately, between free valet parking and the fact that convention center parking was free with a handicap placard, and the CC itself was totally smoke-free, we managed. We toughed out the smoke in the filk room Friday and Saturday nights; small, but good energy.

Between meals, laundry, and a couple of good Tempered Glass rehearsals, I missed the panels completely, and only got to maybe a third of the concerts. Maybe less. And had some good conversations, but far fewer than I'd wanted or hoped to. I did get to go hang out in one of the Peppermill's excellent swimming pools with Naomi on Friday, which was good. (The pool was long, shallow, and had a waterfall. Fun!)

The fact that we'd had to check out a day early, Sunday rather than Monday, didn't help at all. Still, family emergencies take precedence (everybody is safe; no need to worry), and there are some advantages to having a day free to recover before going to work.

But there were a lot of people we didn't get to hang out with or say goodbye to. And I go to cons more for the people than anything else these days. It was good to have another con where I wasn't scheduled to perform, though.

Backing up, I had a PT appointment Tuesday about my strained right trapezius muscle -- apparently this is almost entirely the result of bad posture. Leaving my shoulders slumped and my head forward results in the trapezius being continuously stretched; actually using it can easily result in its getting strained. She gave me some exercises; Colleen claims that she notices a difference after only a week.

Some luggage notes in no particular order: I looked up Southwest's under-seat stowage dimensions: Chami fits. She worked well on the trip, too; I was able to piggyback her on the Travelpro, though that combination really needs a strap to stabilize it. The Amazon electronics box works, but isn't big enough for everything; I need something about the same width and depth, but 6" or so longer to fit all the way up one side. I stacked a smaller box with the recorder in that slot, but it kept falling out.

Another problem is that Chami isn't big enough for a full-sized music stand desk. I took the Travelpro to the open filk Saturday night, which worked better but meant largely emptying it and repacking in the morning. I also tried wearing Chami plus Minnie as a backpack -- way too heavy for me. And there isn't a good way to wear Chami and Plink together, either. That may be worth some hacking to accomplish.

In other luggage notes, I managed to leave the blue tote with Colleen's netbook, kindle, and meds sitting on the floor by the front desk when we checked in. Fortunately it was found and turned in; the weekend could have been much worse.

Musical note: I went to Bill Mills' concert, and discovered that he was a fan of mine! Felt good, but weird. I gave him a copy of CC&S. At the filk that evening, I hauled out "Wheelin'" as he was packing up; I think I impressed him.

So... a very mixed bag. Some terrific parts, some miserable parts, a lot of stress, a few good conversations, quite a few missed opportunities. And I doubt I'll ever be back to the Peppermill. Good riddance. Did I mention the tacky mass-produced paintings?

Some good links that came by during the week, up in the notes as usual.