Tuesday, May 27th, 2003 - What I did on my Wiscon Vacation, part 1I'm home from Wiscon, listening to "The Book of Love" by the Magnetic Fields on repeat, (which I heard Thursday night in Susan's car and immediately had going through my head to the point where I was singing it out loud now and then throughout the con; ironically, Jenn had with her a gift of their three volume collection, 69 Love Songs, which she had picked off Tim's Amazon Wish List!). I should warn you, I'm feeling very mushy. (Also very crampy, but the leftover warm fuzzies from Wiscon are a perfect distraction.) I'm tempted to just to start this entry by saying that if I hung out with you for awhile this weekend, I probably have a crush on you. But I won't, since I can't quite remember properly, but it certainly seems so. Yes, that's a lot of people. I don't know that it's a "classic" crush, but the effects are sort of the same: thinking about you all the time, feeling happy and warm and just a bit tingly, missing you already. Tim's with me, and we're both tender and tingly towards each other more than usual because of this weekend. I had a wonderful, lovely, shiny time this Wiscon, and it was all about the people.Thursday: Susan picked us up in Madison and took us back to Karen's lovely, lovely home. They said the house was built around 1910, and it had wonderfully creaky floors and beautiful dark wood trim and vibrantly painted walls -- I adored especially the velvet red walls and indigo ceiling of the dining room (Karen tells me eventually there will be stars on the blue, which I can't wait to see). The YA novel I'm working on features an old house with lots of character, so it was nice to stay in Karen's and get to poke around. We sat outside in the afternoon and enjoyed the moist Midwestern air and good friends. Tim and I took a nap for a bit, then had the most amazing lasagne (made by Par!) and headed off to A Room of One's Own, the bookstore where the Guests of Honor were reading. We got there what turned out to be late, due to a mixup. I had my first view of China of the con. I tried not to stare (pretty much true the whole con). Afterwards, we went to the Angelic, where we had beer, food and much conversation. Got to talk to Kelly Link and Gavin Grant, Ted Chiang, Mary Anne and probably more I'm forgetting. After dinner (which was a good portobello alfredo pasta) a bunch of us (Kristin Livdahl and Alan DeNiro, Ted Chiang and Marcia, Susan, Jenn Reese, Mary Anne, me and Tim) went back to Karen and Par's for a slumber party. We talked for a good while. Tim and I had claimed the guest bed back in Janurary, so we got a futon, and Jenn Reese slept on the rug in the room with us -- the three of us were chatting well into the night (I was told later the rumbling of our voices could be heard throughout the house). Much fun. I woke up Friday morning with a horrible headache. By the time I'd had breakfast and was in Susan's car going to the hotel, I felt awful. Both Susan and I had a lie down in the room before doing anything. I pretty much had this headache until Saturday evening, though it was joined along the way with other ills that lingered longer. I just pushed through the headache, trying to eat and hydrate and have fun no matter what. Suceeded. Anyway, got up and went to stand in line for registration about the time it opened. The line took a while, but that was ok as it gave Tim and I the chance to meet and chat with Theadora Goss and Laruel Winter. After this, coffee, then the Broad Universe Gathering, which was a fair where you could pay $3 to get your hair braided in a crown on your head (which I did) or make a pretty book, or string beads, or get a massage (meant to do that one but didn't; wasn't sure if it'd make my headache worse or not) or get dressed up in a sari (which I didn't do). Nice to just hang in one place -- I ran around and took pictures of people (hopefully Tim will put these on the web soon), which i'm glad I did since I didn't remember to do that for the rest of the con. I also got to admire up close the China Mieville action figure made for the Tiptree auction. Very amusing -- it came with a tiny copy of the American edition of Perdido Street Station and a tiny laptop with the first chapter on the screen. Hee! I also met the vivaciou Tempest at the Gathering, though I hung out with her more at the various parties throughout the weekend. After Gathering, dinner at the Tibetan restaurant with Tim, Jenn, Susan and Nick Mamatas. Lovely people, great fun. We rested, then went up to the Rat Bastard's party. Jim Munroe read letters he received in response to bills he'd sent to major corporations for mention in his new book, Everything in Silico. Tee hee! Very funny. I like Jim Munroe; he remembered us from last year, and this year he brought his lovely wife, Susan. Nick's right, Jim's very tall -- when I stand talking to him and Tim, I feel very short (I'm not really for a woman -- I'm 5'8"). Anyway, I'd worn stockings and a skirt, but after Jim's presentation I ran upstairs (only two floors up; took the stairs) and changed into comfy capri pants for dancing. Much dancing and laughing and talking. Tim could partake of the keg, but I was only drinking water since my head was pounding. It was weird, physically, I felt awful. But I had fun. I danced and talked and hung out and just ignored the headache. When I stopped and took a breather, it came back, pulsing at me insistently, so I ended up not seeming like I had a headache at all (well, I hope). I hung out with Nick, Ted, Kristin, Barth, Chris Barzak and his cool girlfriend, Jackie, Susan, Jenn, Tempest -- ack! I'm going to forget someone, lots of someones. I'm pretty sure I met K.Z. Perry that night, though I got to talk to her much more later. She's very fun to talk to, and I really dug her story in Problem Child (which I just read today). The Rat Bastards throw a good party, and it was a mistake to schedule them against the Carl Brandon Society Dance, since everyone likes to dance at Rat Bastard parties. So, moving right along . . . oh, wait, I was doing those day titles, wasn't I? Oops, ok then:
Saturday Dinner started with Tim and I sitting on State street, listening to the folk band across the street. The weather was lovely and the town is really pretty cute. We started mulling over whether we really could stand the winters, if we were to move to Madison. We talked about it, decided to think more about it. Well, my sandwich, which I had pictured as fresh tomatoes, mozzarella and basil turned out to be bland tomato sauce on french bread, covered in melted mozzarella (I suppose the basil was in the sauce). My potato leek soup had no flavor (tasted like potatoes in milk). People next to us lit up their ciggarettes, and it blew over to us. Just then, a couple walked by in shirts with American flags on them. Tim commented that they wore them without irony. I told him about my sandwich. And the smoke. And we decided we really couldn't put up with the Midwest after all. Saturday night was the Tiptree auction, which was fun as always. They could take credit cards, which drove up the prices on things (not that I could afford to do more than toss a dollar in a hat and spend two more on a chance to win the space girl jacket). Neat to see Ursula K. LeGuin's needlework. There was also a copy of Four Ways to Forgiveness that had been read by a female astronaut while in orbit on the Columbia that had documentation and everything. Very cool. The auction was so crowded that we had to stand in the back, though eventually some seats opened up. Tim went down to the open mike poetry reading and I joined him after a bit. I'd forgotten my poetry up in my room, and instead of running up to get it, I just listened. I was astounded by the quality of the poetry this year -- there was only a couple of pieces that weren't really good, and the rest was well-written and even well-performed. Sad that I didn't read myself (I always get such a charge out of performing) but I sorta felt like a poetry poser, since the stuff I've tried to write recently has sucked. Much more into fiction these days, oh well. After poetry, we went to hear Gavin Grant, Christopher Rowe and Kelly Link read. Both Gavin and Chris had the accent thing going (Scottish and Kentuckian respectively), which I love, not to mention that the stories they read were really well-written. Kelly read a story out of Trampoline (the new antho she just edited), written by someone else (Ed Parks? Tim has the book right now), which was interesting and pretty good. After the reading, I was pretty tired of sitting, so I was happy to go upstairs and drink beer at the Tor party. By now my headache was gone, and I was willing to risk it so I could drink a little and loosen up. I only had three beers, but I'm enough of a lightweight that it got me a bit tipsy (and not nearly drunk enough to really embarrass myself, so that's good). We had some discussion of last year's Tor party, and how as the party thinned out the Ratbastards had brought down their stereo and got music and dancing started; soon after this conversation Nick disappeared and reappeared a bit later with Kristin Livdahl and stereo in tow. This was the party where I got to meet Jim Munroe's wife, Susan, and Lois McMaster Bujold (Tim'll tell you that i only spoke to her because I was drunk, but that's not true at all.). I told Lois that Miles got me through a really rough breakup 5 years ago (which he did) and told her I liked her stuff. Not long after this, Tim decided he wanted to go to bed and, worried that maybe I was a bit too drunk and would start flirting mercilessly with everyone, I followed. This might be the time to mention that not only did we have four adults in our room (Matt had flown in earlier that evening to join Susan), but that our air conditioning was not up to the task. The nights were hot and muggy and I hate sleeping in clothing in the best of circumstances; we did not sleep well the rest of the con, not really. Ah well. Sunday Man, this con report is huge, and it's not even very in-depth. I still haven't really talked about people, not really, or the feeling of belonging, of being part of something cool and hip, or the pride I had over my own writing having been read by folks (and liked), of being able to say I'm going to be in Polyphony and the respect that earned me, not to mention the pride of having people anticipating Flytrap, especially after seeing the awesome TOC we have lined up for them. It's very cool, to be surrounded by so many talented people for five whole days. This is long enough for part 1, I think. Hope to finish soon. |
Exercise Log:Dancing Friday night, running to try to catch a tight connection through O'Hare on Monday.Writing log:Getting back to work on the YA Novel.Words written since last entry: 3163 Current Publications:"Famishing" in Strange Horizons. My first pro sale! "Wetting the Bed" and a collab with Tim Pratt, "A Serious Case of Fairies" in Floodwater "How to Suck" reprinted in From Porn to Poetry: Clean Sheets Celebrates the Erotic Mind
Currently Reading:Say ... what time is it?Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet etc.
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