Rich and Strange Aeons

Complaints

Scary turbulence on every flight except connecting La Serena.

Apartment complex has cleared the courtyard walk, but the public sidewalk in front is a deathly death trap of deadly ice.

Been going to Arisia. Either the hotel was cooler today or I'm starting to get sick.

Haven't filked much. There's been interesting things until 23:15, and there's a lot more people. Friday I got in my "Soldier Ask Not" and left, almost barely making the last trains. Saturday I hung a bit, then left earlier. Today I bailed out of a 22:00 "can we trust photos" panel and went directly home.

Con suite isn't stocked as well as Boskone's. Smaller selection and less reliably stocked. Though the Arisia meatballs are back. And it's much easier to get to than in 2011 -- 16th floor then, Galleria now. They do have some nice bread.

I guess the food trucks were a big hit, they ran out of food early. I've mostly been living on home breakfast and dinner, and con suite.

Airport has "next silver line" displays now, but South Station and World Trade Center don't.

Nice stuff

People seemed to like my "Soldier Ask Not". I went to a "strong sound" workshop that was interesting, and I got told I've got "an excellent instrument", though apparently clarity problems. A Game of Thrones fan meetup today had amazingly few people show up but I had fun talking to a couple of people anyway, no spoilers barred.

Nice panels: "Why root for monarchies? Class and fantasy lit." One random linkback: supposedly in medieval France it was believed only special people could learn to read, even while a much higher literacy culture (98%? I disbelieve) was right over the Pyrenees. Similarly Americans tend to think of singing as a special talent, vs. other cultures where everyone's expected to. This came out of divine or magical legitimacy for monarchs.

"Poetry and prose", authors switching modes. Went mostly because I knew a panelist, and the 5 panelists outnumbered the 2, later 4, audience members. Still, was fun.

"Sheroes", on female heroines, with Tanya Huff and James Nicoll.

"Housekeeping for nerds". I was curious and knew a panelist. Surprisingly fun as well as informative, in terms of options for spending money on the problem, and a few tricks.

"Geeky belly dance" performances.

"Judaism in SF", with the added fun of sitting by an SCA person I know and swapping notes to quietly comment. (I'd type on my phone, she'd write on paper or whisper.) She's a lot more Jewish than I am and disagreed with some of the panel statements, but it was sure entertaining.

Yeah, I know I'm not saying much useful. No time for that.

I wanted to like "Let's rule the universe" on space empires but I gave up fast, it was just a morass of unstated assumptions. Space access *is* hard but stating that as unalterable fact when you're assuming FTL is rather messy. And "no one has any clue how to make an ansible, while NASA has warp drive programs!" True for program values of "a few people are paid to have wacky useless ideas."

I haven't sung much, but I've gone to singing 'panels' for lack of a better noun: story song, doom song context, silly song mashup.

Had a few nice transit or hall conversations, though haven't met anyone new that I'm likely to ever see again.

Only 30 minutes back. This is why good transit has to be every 5 minutes or better; if you have to wait 10 minutes, then another 10 minutes for a transfer, that adds up.

Met a few cute girls tonight, none I felt up to asking for contact information from, even though that probably makes more sense at a con where you won't see people again easily. Most were from an SCA dance -- I popped my head in, and got shanghaied. I'd had panels to go to, but if a girl is dragging me off to dance I know my priorities. A later one was rather chatty. Later I went to get a ($16! frigging hotel, but good, burger) and started chatting with someone at the bar in costume. Though she doesn't read much (eye problem) and is gay.

SCA had a neat dance, pinwheel, sort of like Simons Says Musical Partners. Outer ring of partners moves forward and back on command, people without partners try to steal in. At one point I solved the problem by stepping into the star myself -- males were on the inside -- and waiting for a female to grab my free hand.

I kind of feel I should get into costuming, somewhat. Partly to fit in, partly so people are more likely to talk. I don't have any great sense of "I want to look like that" though.

Went to a panel Bujold-Paula was on, though I didn't introduce myself. (Had to leave early.) Went ot a bunch of interesting panels, due to my habit of weaving in and out; I think "how to run great games" was the only one I've sat through, and I was late for that one too. Don't feel like typing up panel descriptions now, though. 1am.
Didn't do as much filk as I'd expected. Panels! I did sing Galadriel's Lament, or Eldamar Song.

I bought a cheap box of Noein... then left it somewhere. Wasn't sure if I'd go back tomorrow, given when I get up vs. 3:30 closing, but if they report finding it I'll have to.

Arrived, Red-Silver lines, regged, got organized. They're good with the maps and handy schedules to circle things in, much better organized than say A-Cen. Went to part of a taboos in SF panel, with Barry Longyear and others (should I know that name?), I was attending to the schedule more than them. Popped into contra, early filk, then sat in on "so, your first Arisia?" which taught me some things, like what a Con Suite was. (24 hour hang-out lounge.

You can totally tell, visually, that you're among a bunch of geeks. Even before costumes show up. T-shirts and glasses and hairstyles and beards.

Went back to Best of Filk, which had gotten past set-up, and heard some nice songs. Watched the end of contra. Bought some food, took it to the con lounge, where I met a Dutch fan and her 8 year old daughter, both face-painted. From the Netherlands, probably lives in the US now, probably not Boston. The daughter rubbed my head when they left.

Pick pass play filk circle, re-met Mark Mandel, sang "Soldier Ask Not" and "Three Rings for the Elven-kings". I managed to forget the words to the latter in the clinch, very embarrassing, but smartphone came to the rescue. There were multiple math songs, mostly about Aleph-Null.

Then I went over to some Doctor Who audio show with Nyarlathotep, to meet Michael, a guy from my elementary school, last seen at the end of 6th grade, and we caught up. First person from Bell I've seen since running into Jenny in high school, though I've had electronic contact with a couple of the girls, and that mutually silent Facebook friending from a bunch of others. Dropped in on a party Samson had told me about to try to meet his friends, though we were overdressed (pajama party), back to filk, then Michael went to live Rocky Horror and I took the T home while I could. He'd offered a ride, but I figured I didn't want to be up that late.

Doesn't sound like much but 7 hours. I guess welcome panel, filk, suite, and Who/Michael were the bulk of it. So much for all those panels I'd circled!

Oh yeah, and before all this I saw 3 apartments. Hadn't meant to start looking already, but that rental agency I stopped by yesterday talked me into it. Figured I'd at least get some idea what's on the market.