Philcon 2009, Part III - Sunday
RBS, Dr. Jay Wile, and I breakfasted at the Crystal Lake Diner in Westmont, our customary eatery.
This is located on Cuthbert Drive around the corner from where my late great-aunt and -uncle Dot and Ray Marcucci lived and near the former home of my daughter's grandparents. I always have a pang when I'm in the area, the air almost laden with nostalgia.
Diner carbs serve me as a good antidote to maudlin-wallowing. Richard had a 10 AM panel on how the Syfy channel had betrayed the Fen that built it, so we had to get back to the Cherry Hill Crowne Plaza before then.
I used the time to pack up and moving everything but my laptop into the van before attending Laurie Ann Gilman and Keith DeCandido's panel on why writers should keep their day job, a highly important yet widely neglected nuts & bolts discussion of the economics and accounting necessary to the business side of the craft.
Laurie kindly signed some more of her books for me while we waited for the elevators after the panel, then I headed for Jay's panel "Towards a Theory of Quantum Gravity".
[L-R, John Ashmead, Dr. Jay Wile, Dr. Catherine Asaro. Not pictured Karl Kofoed.]
This was heavy lifting. That the subject was in the least bit accessible was due to the competence of the panelists. John and Catherine at one point used an analogy of a formal party to explain formal interactions in quantum mechanics. When asking for clarification of this concept, I introduced the notion of quantum time interacting like a servant passing around hors d'oeuvres: present but not calling attention to himself.
John has accomplished the neat trick of fitting his doctoral dissertation on a business card. I sent this photo to Jay and Catherine. Jay's wife is a big fan of Catherine's books.
After this, we gathered for lunch with Pamela and Bob.
I captured this photo of Dr. Jay Wile and Art GoH Dr. Frank Wu in front of the hotel.
Jay and Frank were roommates at the University of Rochester. This had been the first time in a couple of decades that they gotten together.
[Jay Wile & Frank Wu kick up their heels]
I had a last panel at 3PM discussing the Influential Stories that Changed SF. As I was nearly unconscious with fatigue at that stage, I'm surprised I was able to offer anything coherent to the discussion.
After stopping in the Gripe Session, I headed home to Delaware, another successful Philcon under my belt. BTDT, bought the T-shirt. :>)
JJB
This is located on Cuthbert Drive around the corner from where my late great-aunt and -uncle Dot and Ray Marcucci lived and near the former home of my daughter's grandparents. I always have a pang when I'm in the area, the air almost laden with nostalgia.
Diner carbs serve me as a good antidote to maudlin-wallowing. Richard had a 10 AM panel on how the Syfy channel had betrayed the Fen that built it, so we had to get back to the Cherry Hill Crowne Plaza before then.
I used the time to pack up and moving everything but my laptop into the van before attending Laurie Ann Gilman and Keith DeCandido's panel on why writers should keep their day job, a highly important yet widely neglected nuts & bolts discussion of the economics and accounting necessary to the business side of the craft.
Laurie kindly signed some more of her books for me while we waited for the elevators after the panel, then I headed for Jay's panel "Towards a Theory of Quantum Gravity".
[L-R, John Ashmead, Dr. Jay Wile, Dr. Catherine Asaro. Not pictured Karl Kofoed.]
This was heavy lifting. That the subject was in the least bit accessible was due to the competence of the panelists. John and Catherine at one point used an analogy of a formal party to explain formal interactions in quantum mechanics. When asking for clarification of this concept, I introduced the notion of quantum time interacting like a servant passing around hors d'oeuvres: present but not calling attention to himself.
John has accomplished the neat trick of fitting his doctoral dissertation on a business card. I sent this photo to Jay and Catherine. Jay's wife is a big fan of Catherine's books.
After this, we gathered for lunch with Pamela and Bob.
I captured this photo of Dr. Jay Wile and Art GoH Dr. Frank Wu in front of the hotel.
Jay and Frank were roommates at the University of Rochester. This had been the first time in a couple of decades that they gotten together.
[Jay Wile & Frank Wu kick up their heels]
I had a last panel at 3PM discussing the Influential Stories that Changed SF. As I was nearly unconscious with fatigue at that stage, I'm surprised I was able to offer anything coherent to the discussion.
After stopping in the Gripe Session, I headed home to Delaware, another successful Philcon under my belt. BTDT, bought the T-shirt. :>)
JJB