Boskone: Wired and Fried
Boskone was good, if busy. I found myself on 6 program items - two concerts (my own and a kids' concert with mewsic), two performer's circles, a panel, and host for one theme filk. Between that and feeding ourselves and Sam, the only non-filk program items I managed were Ada Palmer's reading and Fran Wilde's kaffeklatch.
Note to self: if you feel like you're overscheduled, you probably are. I need to be better about drawing a line on how many items I'll do, especially at a con like Boskone where the overall programming is so strong. I hate to turn program items down; I'm flattered someone feels I bring enough value to a program to put me on 6 items and I don't want to be that person who makes the programming team's life hard. (I've had to deal with that person as Balticon's Filk/Music Coordinator.) But I'm there to see the con too, not just collect a badge and do program items.
Also making the con interesting was my sleep-deprived state heading into the weekend. I'd come off a business conference earlier in the week, getting home late Wednesday before the con. Then we had to get up early to make our train north (see below). So I was not quite running on full speed most of the weekend. Hence the title of this post, courtesy of a comment from runnerwolf as she passed me trudging towards the bathrooms that I looked both wired and fried at the same time. Yeah, pretty much.
Song Sequitur managed again to lead me down at least one unusual byway. After Tony & Vixy did DaVinci's Notebook's "I Wish I Were" and Ben did his "Divine Monkey", I wrapped both themes (wishing and monkeys) together by doing the Kinks' "Apeman".
Setlist from my concert:
"Never Too Late" (words and music me)
"X-Rated Dinner Date" (words me, music "A Chat With Your Mom" by Peter & Lou Berryman)
"The Actor" (words Jeff Bohnhoff, music "The Boxer" by Simon & Garfunkel)
"Bridge Shanty" (words and music me)
"Songs Flying Free" (words and music me)
"Sedona" (words and music me)
We experimented with taking Amtrak to the con, figuring it would be no longer than the car trip, given the vagaries of I-95 traffic, and might be less given the vagaries of traveling with a baby. It worked out fairly well. Going up we managed to grab one of the facing rows of seats, so we could lay Sam across one of the rows for naps and stuff. Going back we managed to get one of the first rows behind the bathroom, where there was enough room (it being technically a luggage storage area) to park the stroller with Sam in it. Navigating the Silver Line wasn't too bad either, even with luggage plus stroller. It helps that weather was fairly mild for Boskone.
We did sneak in a nice Saturday dinner at Salvatore's with a cousin of mine. First time I've caught up with any of my remaining Boston-area relatives in several years.
Note to self: if you feel like you're overscheduled, you probably are. I need to be better about drawing a line on how many items I'll do, especially at a con like Boskone where the overall programming is so strong. I hate to turn program items down; I'm flattered someone feels I bring enough value to a program to put me on 6 items and I don't want to be that person who makes the programming team's life hard. (I've had to deal with that person as Balticon's Filk/Music Coordinator.) But I'm there to see the con too, not just collect a badge and do program items.
Also making the con interesting was my sleep-deprived state heading into the weekend. I'd come off a business conference earlier in the week, getting home late Wednesday before the con. Then we had to get up early to make our train north (see below). So I was not quite running on full speed most of the weekend. Hence the title of this post, courtesy of a comment from runnerwolf as she passed me trudging towards the bathrooms that I looked both wired and fried at the same time. Yeah, pretty much.
Song Sequitur managed again to lead me down at least one unusual byway. After Tony & Vixy did DaVinci's Notebook's "I Wish I Were" and Ben did his "Divine Monkey", I wrapped both themes (wishing and monkeys) together by doing the Kinks' "Apeman".
Setlist from my concert:
"Never Too Late" (words and music me)
"X-Rated Dinner Date" (words me, music "A Chat With Your Mom" by Peter & Lou Berryman)
"The Actor" (words Jeff Bohnhoff, music "The Boxer" by Simon & Garfunkel)
"Bridge Shanty" (words and music me)
"Songs Flying Free" (words and music me)
"Sedona" (words and music me)
We experimented with taking Amtrak to the con, figuring it would be no longer than the car trip, given the vagaries of I-95 traffic, and might be less given the vagaries of traveling with a baby. It worked out fairly well. Going up we managed to grab one of the facing rows of seats, so we could lay Sam across one of the rows for naps and stuff. Going back we managed to get one of the first rows behind the bathroom, where there was enough room (it being technically a luggage storage area) to park the stroller with Sam in it. Navigating the Silver Line wasn't too bad either, even with luggage plus stroller. It helps that weather was fairly mild for Boskone.
We did sneak in a nice Saturday dinner at Salvatore's with a cousin of mine. First time I've caught up with any of my remaining Boston-area relatives in several years.