katallison | (no subject)

A mild, benign, sunny afternoon, after a chilly morning, the kind of afternoon that lets me believe that winter is finally, at last, for the time being, over. (Unless it, y'know, snows again.) This morning I was as depressed as I've been in a long time, but once at work I somehow snapped into gear, got my desk *cleaned off* for the first time in ... well, a *long* time, and then had student appointments all day, bing-bing-bing, and did good work with each of them.

I think I may have finally pulled myself out of the winter's crazed impetus to flight, and then the rancorous period of adjustment to that impetus being thwarted, and am now coming to terms with the reality that I'll probably not be going anywhere, for the time being. It's the eternal struggle of middle age: which battles are still worth fighting, which things do I simply accept with some effort at grace?

One battle I'm still definitely fighting is to get the whole computer system successfully hooked up. Grr and also arrrgh. I've got a good array of helpful documents--the quality of Apple's on-line support makes up for the extreme inadequacy of the print manuals that come with hardware--but I think I just need a big block of time to fiddle with things. Like, maybe, this weekend.

I realize part of the problem is just the difficulty of manouevering around with cables and connections, and *that* is basically a problem with my desk. I have a big long rant in the Box of Unvented Rants about the unsatisfactory design of most computer desks; the immobility, the lack of appropriate storage for peripherals and accessories, the inability to accommodate a 19" monitor, the difficulty of accessing the back of the CPU. This and this are not too far off what I want, though I dislike the sunken-and-angled monitor space (yes, I know, it's supposed to be ergonomic). Casters are essential; I'm so bloody sick of crawling around on the floor, groping blindly, trying to plug and unplug stuff.

Oh, and I was going to post some disjointed Connexions comments, wasn't I?

My uncannily long spell of air-travel good luck ended when my original flight to Baltimore got cancelled (the plane had defective rear thrusters, a phrase I went around muttering at intervals throughout the weekend, with silly giggles), so my arising at 4:30 a.m. turned out to be for naught, but in any event I arrived safely. Rode the shuttle to the hotel with someone whose fellow-fan status I twigged by virtue of her "Still Not King" t-shirt, and we had a nice conversation.

Day 1, truncated as it was, was all about the meeting and greeting, hugging, high-speed babble, and the first of many trips to the Greyhound Station food court. (You leave the hotel lobby through an obscure unmarked door, go down a grimy corridor, past a huge array of pinball and video machines, and voila, you're in the bus station, surrounded by herds of the tired, disgruntled and emphatically non-fannish populace, and faced with the KFC/Sbarro/A&W burgers that were the weekend's nutritional mainstays.)

Quick recollections: Reuniting with my beloved Connexions posse --

arallara,

bethbethbeth,

blunaris,

carlacoupe,

kestrelsan,

latxcvi,

miriam_heddy,

the_star_fish,

twistedchick -- and with the immensely wonderful

eryea, who became an instant posse member. Sorely missing

shrift and

rowanfairchild. Getting to meet

shellmidwife and

darthrami , total sweeties both, who tried to lure me into going with them to Fells Point for crabs and atmosphere (I was tempted, but decided I was just too tired and inert). Completely and emphatically falling off the non-smoking wagon. Ingesting a good deal of scotch on an empty stomach, and crashing into bed even before the vid show started.

Day 2 began with massive headache (which was understandable; but then day 3 did as well, when I'd had nothing but one small chaste glass of red wine the previous night, and others reported similar experiences--headache, nausea, bad sleep; I think there might be something wonky in the hotel's ventilation system.) Went to the LJ panel, probably talked too much. At some point I managed to meet up with

verdandi and

viedma, to my great pleasure, although I quickly degenerated into my usual nervous socially-maladroit babble, hands flapping; it's just really difficult to have any kind of coherent conversations at cons, at least with people I've just met, so I can only hope we get to meet again in some less turbulent venue. I *did* get to spend some coherent time with

tazlet, and to read the first part of her wonderful and hilarious forthcoming Dread Pirate Methos story; I'm looking forward to its completion and posting.

Lessee...stuff happened, and more stuff, and then there was the banquet (always stressful, due to crowds/noise/etc.) and then the vid show, where I should have been taking notes, but oh well. I recall with pleasure a very tasty Wes/Gunn vid, by ... Central Consortium? Can't recall the vidder, though; and there were a surprising number of QAF/US vids (surprising, I guess, because I've never considered it a big fandom). The vid that stands out in my memory was Sockii's Babylon 5 vid, which I found grave, lovely, moving, and this despite the fact I've never seen a minute of the actual show and have no idea of the plotline or characters. It wowed me, despite some unfortunate tracking interference at the bottom of the screen.

I crashed into bed immediately after the vid show, woke with the aforementioned unearned headache, and then Sunday was a low-key day of conversation, roaming the dealer's room (being gobsmacked at some very strange Tab-Hunteresque hair in a photo of Paul Gross), and then more conversation. Everyone seemed to be talking a great deal about Harry Potter, which I guess I'll have to break down and nose into at some point. Oh, and the Slashy Old Men panel was in here somewhere, which I enjoyed, and which

kerguelen and

bethbethbeth have discussed, so I'll refrain from comment, because this entry is already insanely long.

Got to ride to the airport with Shell and Aral, got to have some good long talk with Aral while waiting for flights, got a peaceful ride home, and it all now seems far away and long ago, damn it.

And there's more I want to say about the differences between Connexions and Escapade, how they mirror for me some different strands in slash fandom, but I am abruptly out of energy. Must find dinner.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

::hugs Kat and gives her some random karma::

And there's more I want to say about the differences between Connexions and Escapade, how they mirror for me some different strands in slash fandom, but I am abruptly out of energy.

Oh, but please do, when you have time--this sounds fascinating! Titillating, even! {g}

I want to hear about this, too. :-)

-J

Thanks Kat! Very interesting, as always. I'm madly jealous, but I'm also glad you had a good time. :)

Wish we'd had more time to talk. Am I worthy of becoming a posse member?

It was great to meet you.

"At some point I managed to meet up with verdandi and viedma, to my great pleasure, although I quickly degenerated into my usual nervous socially-maladroit babble, hands flapping..."

Pish-posh, what are you talking about? You were delightful. :-) And we must indeed meet again in some less rushed venue.

Everybody was talking about HP? Damn, if I'd actually attended a panel or two I could have heard some of it for myself.