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WisCon, post the first
May. 29th, 2010 03:25 pm The expedition to Madison started off badly. I took up the bags to load the car, miss-stepped and fell down the short flight of basement stairs (we have 2 flights with a landing in between), slamming my right shoulder and hip and arm into the wall. This was much better than going down the big flight of basement steps which are edged in metal and end in a concrete wall, but still. Ow. And more ow. :-(((
The rest of the trip went splendidly though - lovely weather, good mileage, Michael Franti and Spearhead and Dessa on the stereo, free-flowing and interesting conversation. All good.
Pulled into the parking garage, went to unload the luggage and promptly jammed my right hand with luggagey bits. Ow, part 2.
Got our room, saw a bunch of friends and colleagues and went off to celebrate mr_bad_example's b-day with Nepali food. Then our roommate Shari and I hit the hot-tub and met interesting and charming folks including artist/author Kat Beyer and her husband and the ever-fun Kelly McCullough and spouse Dr. Laura McCullough. From thence, back to the room to rinse off the pool water and then on to the parties. It seems a bit people-light this year but perhaps tonight will be livelier. We did have the lovely surprise of running into a writer friend from NYC who I haven't seen in a couple of years as well as other fun folks so we had a fine time.
This morning, it was off to the Farmer's Market for goodies and breakfast, then back to pick up Tiptree t-shirts. I hit part of the art show (need to go back later to see the rest) then went to the Politics of Steampunk panel. This was pretty interesting - there was a lot of discussion about post-colonial narratives and how people of color who are steampunk fans fit into that (check out Silver Goggles for some suggestions) as well as about parallels between contemporary Western society and Victorian culture and empire. Then it was off to Teddywedgers for pasties, followed by volunteering at the Broad Universe table for a bit. I talked us up and sold several books (one of them mine) and distributed lit. After that, it was the "Not Another @$@$ Race" panel, which was hilarious. Now off to go do my first panel for this WisCon. I will be hitting the parties in my new steampunk outfit, which should be interesting.
The rest of the trip went splendidly though - lovely weather, good mileage, Michael Franti and Spearhead and Dessa on the stereo, free-flowing and interesting conversation. All good.
Pulled into the parking garage, went to unload the luggage and promptly jammed my right hand with luggagey bits. Ow, part 2.
Got our room, saw a bunch of friends and colleagues and went off to celebrate mr_bad_example's b-day with Nepali food. Then our roommate Shari and I hit the hot-tub and met interesting and charming folks including artist/author Kat Beyer and her husband and the ever-fun Kelly McCullough and spouse Dr. Laura McCullough. From thence, back to the room to rinse off the pool water and then on to the parties. It seems a bit people-light this year but perhaps tonight will be livelier. We did have the lovely surprise of running into a writer friend from NYC who I haven't seen in a couple of years as well as other fun folks so we had a fine time.
This morning, it was off to the Farmer's Market for goodies and breakfast, then back to pick up Tiptree t-shirts. I hit part of the art show (need to go back later to see the rest) then went to the Politics of Steampunk panel. This was pretty interesting - there was a lot of discussion about post-colonial narratives and how people of color who are steampunk fans fit into that (check out Silver Goggles for some suggestions) as well as about parallels between contemporary Western society and Victorian culture and empire. Then it was off to Teddywedgers for pasties, followed by volunteering at the Broad Universe table for a bit. I talked us up and sold several books (one of them mine) and distributed lit. After that, it was the "Not Another @$@$ Race" panel, which was hilarious. Now off to go do my first panel for this WisCon. I will be hitting the parties in my new steampunk outfit, which should be interesting.