I actually got back Tuesday night, but the prospect of wading through a week's worth of RSS feeds and flist was daunting, so I played Gundam instead. Then yesterday I caught up on the reading part and played Gundam. Today I'm actually updating this thing then playing Gundam.
So. Wednesday last. My train from Durham to DC left about on time, then ground to a halt just before Selma-Smithfield. Apparently there was a signal problem, and there was a freight train stopped in the way, so we had to wait over an hour for it to move. Add on a few more short delays (to let freight trains pass on the same track), and we ended up 2 hours and 20 minutes delayed. My sister had a show, which meant we had to rush back to her apartment (which is cute and tiny and monstrously expensive) so she could get ready. I spent the evening using her wifi and crashed out before 10.
Thursday started inauspiciously: I woke with The Nausea. I took the Maxalt MLT sample my doctor had given me yonks ago, not knowing that it had a 2-hour onset of action. I made it to the train station, didn't eat breakfast, and spent $5 on a 1-ounce bag of dried cherries, because the damned things actually sounded good (unlike the wraps and pastries at Au Bon Pain, which turned my stomach). By the time the train came, I was feeling well enough, though I wasn't very hungry the whole day. The Northeast Regional wasn't delayed at all (or maybe 10 minutes tops, because of a few slow boarders).
I got to South Station, bought a fare, and called Kate, my roomie and ride to the hotel. I took the T to Alewife, where she picked me up, and we (me, her, and our other roomie, Mark) went for dinner to avoid the 5 pm traffic. I had a spanakopita, which was my first real food of the day, and it was really good.
Then it was to the hotel, where I unpacked some and went to the bar to hang with Don and Carrie. I had a beer. I don't believe I attended any of the evening programming, but I saw![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
skogkatt and met some friends of hers. I crashed out early, having been sick.
Friday I woke by 6:30 (our room was east-facing, and the curtains weren't 100% light-blocking) and laid about until about 7:30, when I got up and showered. I discovered that I'd remembered wrong, and the con didn't start till 11, and con suite & reg didn't open till 10. So I read one of the books I brought and talked with my roommates.
Then it was to the consuite, where I chatted with some more folks until I extricated myself and picked up my badge. Unlike last year, when there were about 5 panels I was interested in, this year I was busy almost all hours. I took notes on many of the panels I went to, but not all. If I type them, it'll be on a separate post. * indicates panels with notes
Here's what I did Friday:
11: What writing workshops do and don't offer*
12: Classic fiction: Howl's Moving Castle
1: skipped both Complicating Colonial Encounters and Microbial Madness so I could eat
2: No Childhood Left Behind*
3: SF in Developing Countries*
5: De Gustibus Est Disputandum
9: Broad Universe group reading (I read!)
I went to dinner in the pub with Don at 6, before his reading with the Crossed Genres team in the con suite at 7, where Camille Alexa also read. The spinach-artichoke dip was good, but it was easily 80% cheese, which wasn't what I was looking for. I'm told the real restaurant has reasonably-priced items, so I'll try there next year.
I went to Julia's party with the passports and stamps and stickers and things, and it was fun, though I had to pop out for my reading. I went back, though, and stayed fairly late. By this point, my extrovert switch was fully on, and I didn't want to leave, because I was ON, and it was GREAT, but I knew I had to sleep, so I did.
Saturday began with the breakfast of champions: A Luna bar, 2 dozen cherries, apple juice cut with Sprite, and 2 cookies from the Tiptree bake sale. I recommend this course of action.
10: Book Inflation
1: Urban (fantasy) renewal
2: Location as Character*
3: Cities Real and imaginary*
8: I've fallen (behind) and I can't get (caught) up
I caught about half of the Women's World Cup 3rd place match and followed the end on twitter (because it overlapped the 1:00 panel I wanted to go to) and skipped "Daughters of the Female Man." I hope somebody writes it up!
I went out for my first actual meal since Thursday with Don and Carrie at some point Saturday late afternoon. We went to Panera, and I had a tuna salad sandwich. (I'm an occasional pescatarian.) The protein was wonderful.
Then it was drinking scotch time. I tried this one that was AWESOME. It smelled like oranges and tasted like Christmas oranges. It's reasonably priced at around $50/750 mL bottle. I must acquire some.
Sunday began with brunch in the consuite provided by Viable Paradise. I had a chocolate cake Dunkin Donut, which, fuck yes. It's not the chocolate Bavarian kreme, but SO GOOD. It's hard to find Dunkin in the land of Krispy Kreme (ick). While I was eating and talking, one of the people who process the applications said she recognized my name, and that this was a really hard year, and they don't send the "apply again next year" letters lightly. (Which means I have to figure out if I want to apply again, or take Julia's advice and spend that large sum of money on going to a con outside the southeast and networking up there. Or possibly WorldCon next year.)
I talked with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dolohov, which I hadn't done in quite some time, and we made up, and yay.
Then it was back to the con.
10: Great War geeks unite pt 2*
12: Narrative treatment of permanent physical harm*
1: Social Darwinism in SFnal thought*
At 11, I went back to the lobby to check out of the room, and there's Neil Gaiman. In the lobby. Surrounded by people (of course). He decided to drop by the con to see his friends, then he went to the Shirley Jackson awards and won both the ones he was nominated for.
After the last panel, I went back to the bar to watch the WWC final. I took a walk at the end of regulation time and found Julia in the lobby, and she wanted to go to dinner. I'd already eaten more fries than was a good idea in the bar, and the people I was couch surfing with were making dinner, so I didn't want to eat, but I let them kidnap me anyway, so I hung out with her and Moss and Gwynne and the other guy, whose name I'm forgetting, while they ate Korean bbq. The WWC had gone to penalties by then, and it was showing on the restaurant's TV.
They dropped me off atstormsdotter and Boz' apartment, where I got a homemade pizza with mushrooms (nom), and we chatted until Ana & I were about to pass out from tired (which was around 10).
Monday Ana accompanied me to South Station, where I had some nice breakfast (I bought a wrap to take, then I saw smoothies, and they had cinnamon chip scones, which I couldn't resist) while waiting for my train. I arrived in DC at the appointed time and met my sister at the station.
We went out to dinner at a place called the Argonaut (not Greek themed at all), and I had a nice grilled cheese sandwich with tomato and veggie bacon and a bourbon barrel porter from Williamsburg, VA (rather nice, and a bargain at $8/12 oz restaurant price; they had a 22-oz Dragon's Milk for $20. Hahaha, no). We talked about stuff, then went back to her apartment, where we chatted with her roommate and ate lava cakes & ice cream.
Robin thinks mom would come visit us in Berlin if she had a travel buddy (and the money). I'm skeptical, but she knows her better. If she had someone either leading her or giving her precise directions (with landmarks; she's a big landmark-navigator), she'd do ok, says sis. And obvs we could meet them at the airport.
Tuesday began more auspiciously than Thursday, without a migraine. I had 2+ hours to kill at Union Station, so I got myself breakfast (then went back to get a bagel for lunch, and the cashier was really nice & put my cream cheese in a little bag with ice so it wouldn't spoil) at Au Bon Pain, then felt like a total tourist while I was taking pictures of the station (it's a gorgeous building; no Leipzig Hbf, but similar). Then I still had over an hour to wait, so I sat and read until the train boarded.
The train ride was going uneventfully for an hour or so, until CSX imposed a speed cap of 59 mph because of heat expansion on the tracks. This delayed us over an hour, but I made it home finally, and yay. Kitties demanded attention and pettings.
The Amtrak adventure, like the road trip adventure, is not one I'm looking to repeat. As much as I resent security theater and distrust the calibration of the pornoscanners (and their safety), flying takes a mere 2-3 hours (plus travel to & from the airport), and can be done on the same day. 16 hours each way is inefficient. If we had modern train service, real high-speed service like in Europe, the Durham-DC route would be 2 hours (per the Economist article I linked months ago), and DC-Boston 3, with the price to match, no doubt. (So flying would still probably be less expensive and shorter, but not by a significant amount once you factor in travel to & from the airport.) It was nice to see my sister, since I don't get to very often, but even so.
Next year should be fun!
So. Wednesday last. My train from Durham to DC left about on time, then ground to a halt just before Selma-Smithfield. Apparently there was a signal problem, and there was a freight train stopped in the way, so we had to wait over an hour for it to move. Add on a few more short delays (to let freight trains pass on the same track), and we ended up 2 hours and 20 minutes delayed. My sister had a show, which meant we had to rush back to her apartment (which is cute and tiny and monstrously expensive) so she could get ready. I spent the evening using her wifi and crashed out before 10.
Thursday started inauspiciously: I woke with The Nausea. I took the Maxalt MLT sample my doctor had given me yonks ago, not knowing that it had a 2-hour onset of action. I made it to the train station, didn't eat breakfast, and spent $5 on a 1-ounce bag of dried cherries, because the damned things actually sounded good (unlike the wraps and pastries at Au Bon Pain, which turned my stomach). By the time the train came, I was feeling well enough, though I wasn't very hungry the whole day. The Northeast Regional wasn't delayed at all (or maybe 10 minutes tops, because of a few slow boarders).
I got to South Station, bought a fare, and called Kate, my roomie and ride to the hotel. I took the T to Alewife, where she picked me up, and we (me, her, and our other roomie, Mark) went for dinner to avoid the 5 pm traffic. I had a spanakopita, which was my first real food of the day, and it was really good.
Then it was to the hotel, where I unpacked some and went to the bar to hang with Don and Carrie. I had a beer. I don't believe I attended any of the evening programming, but I saw
skogkatt and met some friends of hers. I crashed out early, having been sick.Friday I woke by 6:30 (our room was east-facing, and the curtains weren't 100% light-blocking) and laid about until about 7:30, when I got up and showered. I discovered that I'd remembered wrong, and the con didn't start till 11, and con suite & reg didn't open till 10. So I read one of the books I brought and talked with my roommates.
Then it was to the consuite, where I chatted with some more folks until I extricated myself and picked up my badge. Unlike last year, when there were about 5 panels I was interested in, this year I was busy almost all hours. I took notes on many of the panels I went to, but not all. If I type them, it'll be on a separate post. * indicates panels with notes
Here's what I did Friday:
11: What writing workshops do and don't offer*
12: Classic fiction: Howl's Moving Castle
1: skipped both Complicating Colonial Encounters and Microbial Madness so I could eat
2: No Childhood Left Behind*
3: SF in Developing Countries*
5: De Gustibus Est Disputandum
9: Broad Universe group reading (I read!)
I went to dinner in the pub with Don at 6, before his reading with the Crossed Genres team in the con suite at 7, where Camille Alexa also read. The spinach-artichoke dip was good, but it was easily 80% cheese, which wasn't what I was looking for. I'm told the real restaurant has reasonably-priced items, so I'll try there next year.
I went to Julia's party with the passports and stamps and stickers and things, and it was fun, though I had to pop out for my reading. I went back, though, and stayed fairly late. By this point, my extrovert switch was fully on, and I didn't want to leave, because I was ON, and it was GREAT, but I knew I had to sleep, so I did.
Saturday began with the breakfast of champions: A Luna bar, 2 dozen cherries, apple juice cut with Sprite, and 2 cookies from the Tiptree bake sale. I recommend this course of action.
10: Book Inflation
1: Urban (fantasy) renewal
2: Location as Character*
3: Cities Real and imaginary*
8: I've fallen (behind) and I can't get (caught) up
I caught about half of the Women's World Cup 3rd place match and followed the end on twitter (because it overlapped the 1:00 panel I wanted to go to) and skipped "Daughters of the Female Man." I hope somebody writes it up!
I went out for my first actual meal since Thursday with Don and Carrie at some point Saturday late afternoon. We went to Panera, and I had a tuna salad sandwich. (I'm an occasional pescatarian.) The protein was wonderful.
Then it was drinking scotch time. I tried this one that was AWESOME. It smelled like oranges and tasted like Christmas oranges. It's reasonably priced at around $50/750 mL bottle. I must acquire some.
Sunday began with brunch in the consuite provided by Viable Paradise. I had a chocolate cake Dunkin Donut, which, fuck yes. It's not the chocolate Bavarian kreme, but SO GOOD. It's hard to find Dunkin in the land of Krispy Kreme (ick). While I was eating and talking, one of the people who process the applications said she recognized my name, and that this was a really hard year, and they don't send the "apply again next year" letters lightly. (Which means I have to figure out if I want to apply again, or take Julia's advice and spend that large sum of money on going to a con outside the southeast and networking up there. Or possibly WorldCon next year.)
I talked with
dolohov, which I hadn't done in quite some time, and we made up, and yay.Then it was back to the con.
10: Great War geeks unite pt 2*
12: Narrative treatment of permanent physical harm*
1: Social Darwinism in SFnal thought*
At 11, I went back to the lobby to check out of the room, and there's Neil Gaiman. In the lobby. Surrounded by people (of course). He decided to drop by the con to see his friends, then he went to the Shirley Jackson awards and won both the ones he was nominated for.
After the last panel, I went back to the bar to watch the WWC final. I took a walk at the end of regulation time and found Julia in the lobby, and she wanted to go to dinner. I'd already eaten more fries than was a good idea in the bar, and the people I was couch surfing with were making dinner, so I didn't want to eat, but I let them kidnap me anyway, so I hung out with her and Moss and Gwynne and the other guy, whose name I'm forgetting, while they ate Korean bbq. The WWC had gone to penalties by then, and it was showing on the restaurant's TV.
They dropped me off at
stormsdotter and Boz' apartment, where I got a homemade pizza with mushrooms (nom), and we chatted until Ana & I were about to pass out from tired (which was around 10).Monday Ana accompanied me to South Station, where I had some nice breakfast (I bought a wrap to take, then I saw smoothies, and they had cinnamon chip scones, which I couldn't resist) while waiting for my train. I arrived in DC at the appointed time and met my sister at the station.
We went out to dinner at a place called the Argonaut (not Greek themed at all), and I had a nice grilled cheese sandwich with tomato and veggie bacon and a bourbon barrel porter from Williamsburg, VA (rather nice, and a bargain at $8/12 oz restaurant price; they had a 22-oz Dragon's Milk for $20. Hahaha, no). We talked about stuff, then went back to her apartment, where we chatted with her roommate and ate lava cakes & ice cream.
Robin thinks mom would come visit us in Berlin if she had a travel buddy (and the money). I'm skeptical, but she knows her better. If she had someone either leading her or giving her precise directions (with landmarks; she's a big landmark-navigator), she'd do ok, says sis. And obvs we could meet them at the airport.
Tuesday began more auspiciously than Thursday, without a migraine. I had 2+ hours to kill at Union Station, so I got myself breakfast (then went back to get a bagel for lunch, and the cashier was really nice & put my cream cheese in a little bag with ice so it wouldn't spoil) at Au Bon Pain, then felt like a total tourist while I was taking pictures of the station (it's a gorgeous building; no Leipzig Hbf, but similar). Then I still had over an hour to wait, so I sat and read until the train boarded.
The train ride was going uneventfully for an hour or so, until CSX imposed a speed cap of 59 mph because of heat expansion on the tracks. This delayed us over an hour, but I made it home finally, and yay. Kitties demanded attention and pettings.
The Amtrak adventure, like the road trip adventure, is not one I'm looking to repeat. As much as I resent security theater and distrust the calibration of the pornoscanners (and their safety), flying takes a mere 2-3 hours (plus travel to & from the airport), and can be done on the same day. 16 hours each way is inefficient. If we had modern train service, real high-speed service like in Europe, the Durham-DC route would be 2 hours (per the Economist article I linked months ago), and DC-Boston 3, with the price to match, no doubt. (So flying would still probably be less expensive and shorter, but not by a significant amount once you factor in travel to & from the airport.) It was nice to see my sister, since I don't get to very often, but even so.
Next year should be fun!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-07-25 11:28 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2011-07-25 11:44 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2011-07-21 04:19 pm (UTC)From:I think if someone recognized your name (which, given the number of applications they probably got, is good in itself) and volunteered information about the process and the response you got, that's a pretty good sign. I know it doesn't get you in, but it's still a very positive response.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-21 04:36 pm (UTC)From:It's true, and if I applied again, I may well get in. But I'm not sure the workshop environment is for me. They get up early and stay up late, and that's certain to give me a migraine, especially if you factor in the stress and having to write something while you're there. I need to work out if I want to go to join the Cool Kids Club and learn the sekrit handshake, or if I want to learn more writing. (And Julia's said there's no sekrit handshake that'll get you published, though, of course, being able to put "VP Alumna" on my cover letter would score a few points, because, hey, someone thinks I can write.)
no subject
Date: 2011-07-21 05:53 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2011-07-21 11:55 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2011-07-22 05:24 am (UTC)From:...which reminds me, we still haven't bought our plane tickets/made official plans for our trip to NC in October. We need to get on that.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-22 01:37 pm (UTC)From:Yay, October!
no subject
Date: 2011-07-22 06:42 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2011-07-22 01:34 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2011-07-22 01:38 pm (UTC)From: