Done over the weekend (20100702 Fr - 05 Mo)
0701-4 Westercon+ConChord. Pasadena Hilton 626-577-1000 * 3 memberships purchased 20091128 * reserve Westercon/ConChord room ($129/night) conf# 3390509396 0702 Fr - 0705 Mo (3 nights) No laundry available. Use hotel towels. ... and `there IS a laondromat. 240597866 0702 Fr o laundry - pads * up 6:30; W=193; drugs, nose, teeth * last minute packing: * CPAP, drugs, neti pot; pads and other laundry @ Wonders World: 25 Bizarre Buildings @saffronroses * air in the tires @ Legal analysis: "Polyamory as a Sexual Orientation" ysabetwordsmith * caught some of the Bohnhoffs' concert, all of Paul Kwinn's * Paper Wings in the Kazoo nominees' concert & circle singing. Bears, Lad, QV * bed 1:30ish. Tiny room, 5 people. Squish. 0703 Sa * up 8ish (?); drugs : (11:29:59 AM) me: The free wi-fi is, unfortunately, not worth a whole lot more than one pays for it. Too slow to work over, though it'll do for web browsing. * Kazoo award: category: dragons; song: Paper Wings Serious, but hopeful, and with a good melody. I'd have been ok with losing to Gilda and the Dragon. * most of Marilyn Miller's concert. Oh, fracking, yes * Stone Dragons & bought copy of Hearth and Hive from Tom J. & motorcycle jacket $75 at Interfilk auction. Asked to try it on, and the opposition (Sue Fox) conceded. (Johno said that the entire room agreed that it looked right on me.) Showed off to Wolfling via skype * Seanan's GOH concert : Typical Hilton service: 1:45 in the restaurant. The kids ended up in the bar after the restaurant filled up, and got served in about 1:30 Apparently the restaurant isn't normally open in the evening. WTF?? " QOTD: Waiter: Can I get you more drinks? Me and Colleen in chorus: Only if they're on the house. " : annoyed but not a bit surprised that the hotel doesn't have feeedback forms at the desk... and that "recent stay comments" doesn't work until after you check out. * 10pm polyamory circle (after Masq.) sang Bigger On the Inside, The River % the idea that I might look "seriously hot" in that jacket is... odd. * sang Get Up and Go : Desktop switcher broken after upgrade. Sucks. 0704 Su * up 9:30; drugs, nose; bath * 11am Lynn Gold, Jordin, Allison Lonsdale * 2pm 2fers: Rosie, Riverheart. Not my best performance of Riverheart; kept getting distracted. They were using a condenser mic, and there was a very noticable ring of not-quite-damped feedback. Remind me not to use a studio condenser mic on stage, and ask for an SM58 next time : wtf: So the YD calls me to find out where Colleen is so she can ask Colleen to ask me to give her a $20. * Dead Dog: Can't Get It Up (rq. from Lee Gold) (08:30:44 PM) me: Lee Gold requested Bound for Hacker's Heaven : desktop switcher broken because I rebound the change workspace keys? probably not -- they're probably independent: the keys work. * left the circle about 10:30; went out on Vampire Megabyte and Uncle Ernie 0705 Mo * up 8ish; drugs, nose : apparently the free internet was only for the con. :P Silly bear; I thought Hilton had found a clue somewhere. Good thing I'm using git. * out of the hotel around 11? Home 8:15ish. Lunch at Pea Soup A's. : Colleen had great difficulty getting in and out of the van. * bed ~11
Oh. Right. WesterConChord. A good, mostly-relaxing weekend, which sort of surprised me. Taking a teenager (the YD's friend K) along who was paying for her room and board by taking care of Colleen made all the difference.
I did a fair amount of singing, in circles and a two-shot (where I did Rosie and Riverheart, but not all that well).
The high point was definitely the Interfilk auction, where I got a black leather jacket. After the bidding got up to $75 I asked to try it on, at which point the person bidding against me said something to the effect of "ok, it's yours". N. said this meant I must have looked "seriously hot" in it, but my little bear-like brain is having a great deal of trouble with that concept. And somebody took my picture with the wenches; I hope that shows up on LJ soon. Then you can judge for yourselves.
And the Kazoo award -- "Paper Wings" won in the "Dragons" category. Being the only nominee who actually showed up at the concert to sing their own song undoubtedly helped. Plus the fact that it's serious, hopeful, and has a pretty melody. I wouldn't have minded losing to "Gilda and the Dragon", though.
Art show. We got a lovely print of a dragon and teapot by Sue Dawe (in the auction), a fused-glass tile titled "Eye of Argus", and a Cthulhu-themed ceramic butter keeper and spoon jar that I had come close to buying at a previous con.
The hotel had free internet for the duration of the con, but it wasn't fast enough to make ssh to home a pleasant experience. I did my note-taking on a local copy and synchronized (via git) when I got home. Hence the multi-day post.
Not nearly as much talking with friends as I would have liked, of course, but I introduced a couple of new people to my music.
Colleen was having a pretty bad time of it, between leg cramps, a lot of difficulty walking and getting between the car and the scooter, and the narrowness and height of the bed. Grump. She still enjoyed the con, though. As did I; a lot more than I expected to.