ZCon stuff

[katallison]

Really, what I should do is just write out a template for for my Con (non-)Reports, along the lines of:

[hyperbolic statement of how exhausted I am]
[general squeeing about what a fabulous time I had]
[facepalming at amount of backlogged LJ/e-mail I have to wade through]
[random bitching about traffic and/or airlines, depending on mode of transportation used]
[valentines for various cool people I got to talk to]
[extremely incoherent and fragmentary recollections of panels]
[obligatory TMI about hangovers, embarrassing behavior under influence of alcohol, etc.]
[utterly bogus and fraudulent promises about more complete con report forthcoming in the near future]
[big sentimental I-love-you-guys gush of affection for fandom in general]
[staggering bedwards]

And just a little bit of template-filling-in ...

--It was great fun to get to talk at length with various people I had previously met only briefly or not at all, including justacat and laurakaye and [oh god this is where I start spacing out on names and commit mortifying acts of omission];

--To my great joy, not only were Zen and nancy and nancy's baby and Pete in attendance, but also AuKestrel and Denise Raymond (the latter two under deep cover, lurking in the Z&n Room of Slack and watching DVDs);

--Those who have been waiting impatiently for the long-promised sequel to Denise's All the Comforts of Home/Chicago Tales could do worse than to bug the hell out of Denise, because folks, she is slacking, *slacking*, and needs to be jolted the hell out of her Smithbauer thing and gotten back on track;

--I only went to one panel, the dS one, which I was a little nervous about since the topic was simply listed as "General Discussion" and that often means people sitting around not knowing what to say, but it went very well, with a handout of discussion topics prepared by the moderators (Stormy, thermidor, cmshaw); I talked too much, but apart from that many interesting things were said, and Stormy handed out treats! Smarties! Cool Canadian swag!

--nancy's baby is the Cutest. Baby. Ever. IJS.

--While it sucked to load up the whole entourage of Z&n and baby and Pete and AuK and Denise and Kat and drive miles out to Bennigan's for steak dinners, only to have the baby go into screaming meltdown so that we decided to do take-out instead, and then sat for an *hour* waiting for our take-out because of Bennigan's staff incompetence ... while that sucked, it *rocked* to get five steak dinners and a burger comped because we had to wait so long, and then to head back to the Room of Slack with a hundred dollars' worth of free food. Thank you, Manager of Bennigan's, and may your tribe increase.

--I got to see Valentin again! And there was much rejoicing. Also, I do think I have successfully pimped her into LJ-dom. ::evil chortling and hand-rubbing:: Your code is in the mail, hon, and welcome to the madhouse. *g*

--I didn't get *nearly* enough time to talk with dargie, which is hardly surprising because she was swamped with ConCom work, but it was a great joy to see her again.

--Shoshanna is a fabulous roomie, in part because she wakes up at the same insane 6:30 a.m. times that I do, and tells me all about her strange and unsettling dreams, and then goes to breakfast with me.

--The Wisconsin countryside in mid-October is heart-rendingly beautiful, especially in late afternoon, with the slanting golden light on the autumn foliage. Also, it is great fun to drive through the beautiful countryside when the usually-crap central Wisconsin radio station starts channelling the Media Cannibals and decides to play me a mix of Songs From Kat's Favorite Vids, one after another.

--Many people need to see Zen's new RayK vid, and if I have anything to say about it, they shall. Oh yes. They shall.

--Denise Raymond remains one of the most consistently hilarious people I have ever met, in or out of fandom. Especially when she is full of the Gay Scotch ("It goes down easy!"). It helped that I was also full of the Gay Scotch, of course.

--And now it is time for the statutory declarations of exhaustedness, and the staggering-bedwards. And the big gush of soppy fannish lurve. Y'all rock.

ETA: Ah, crap, and I forgot to say that I got to see the lovely and wonderful rowanfairchild! Who, granted, was spending a lot of time hanging with her evil Oz-fandom buddies, but we got to exchange a few words at least; not nearly enough, but it's always a joy to see her.

Comments

[shayheyred.livejournal.com]

Jealous, jealous, jealous, but thrilled you had an excellent time!

[the-star-fish.livejournal.com]

::Cries piteously at missing such fun::

::runs off to poke Denise::

::wonders if Kat is going to Escapade::

::is gloomy because February is so far off::

[ardent-muses.livejournal.com]

LOL at the template.

Hideously jealous, complete with heart-rending sobs.

Glad you're back. :)

[justacat.livejournal.com]

I loved getting the chance to talk more with you, too. Looking forward to more of it at future cons ... though you could always drop by chat sometime too! :-)

(And your con report template is right on the money!)

[arallara.livejournal.com]

All right, you have just made me very, very, very excited for Escapade. Rock on. *G*

Glad you got some con-time!

Zconnnn

[stormheller.livejournal.com]

I can't believe you have a con report up already. Can I borrow your template?

Thank you so much for coming to our Due South panel. Since most of the panels I've run in the past consist of 5 people, I'm afraid I had just a bit of the ol' caribou-in-the-headlights thing going on.

And no, actually, you could have talked more and it would have been great. Thanks to you and zen and Laura Kaye and Kal and (insert fannish name here) and all the other contributors for making it such an interesting and successful panel.

~ Stormy Stormheller back in Toronto!

[pollitt.livejournal.com]

Kat, love your template -- too good.

I loved having a chance to get to talk to you for a bit, and I'm glad that you were able to hang with us for a while too. It was great to see you again.

rowanfairchild! Who, granted, was spending a lot of time hanging with her evil Oz-fandom buddies

Well, her writer's group at least... :)

[katallison.livejournal.com]

Ah hah! There you are! You know, you told me where your LJ was, but somehow my post-con impaired-with-exhaustion brain couldn't locate it.

Thank *you* for running a really good panel, and also for the treats! (I nibbled Smarties all the way home to Minneapolis.)

And may I just say, apropos of nothing, I now have major Hair Envy goin' on with you. You've got exactly the hair I've always wanted (mine is stick-straight, except for the bad-perm-growing-out, and mousy-brown-grey when I don't dye it).

[katallison.livejournal.com]

Escapade! Escapade! Escapade! ::::fist-pumping, showers of confetti, Hallelujah Chorus swelling::::

Can't wait to see you in Feb., sweetie!

[katallison.livejournal.com]

You must, must, must make it to a con sometime soon. (Or, that is to say, a con that I'm also at. *g*) Connexions isn't that far away from you, right? There's a big dS contingent there every year, and it would be great to meet you!

[katallison.livejournal.com]

I will absolutely and indeed be at Escapade, and am so looking forward to seeing you! Fun shall be had, Gay Scotch shall be drunk, with any luck Denise will be there too, along with a cast of--well, hundreds, and all shall be wonderful.

(You *are* going, right? I could check on the new website, except I apparently d/l'd the address onto my computer at work, and cannot now find it. Oh, the disorganization of me.)

[the-star-fish.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've just been allowed to register -- I haven't paid yet, but I've scoped out ticket prices (ouch) and now I'm trying to determine the roommate situation.

Yay!!

[thermidor.livejournal.com]

It was really great to meet you! I hope I'll get a chance to see you again sometime.

I'm relieved the dS panel went well and happy people seemed to enjoy it!

Dude!

[rowanfairchild.livejournal.com]

Go ahead, keep flinging good natured shit at me, it makes me feel confident in your nub. Heh. I just posted a DS story a few months ago! I have WiPs! I do! And my so-called evil OZ buddy was converted to the HCL ranks this weekend, so all is not for naught. *g*

Truly, Kat, you were the one person I really wish I'd gotten to spend a little more time with. Connexions this year -- I ain't gonna miss it. Gay scotch all 'round.

-R

Due South Panel & BlairSkinRug

[stormheller.livejournal.com]

I really hope someone runs a due South panel at Escapade. Laura Shapiro's 2 years ago was great. (Did we have one last year? I forget.) Ever consider runniing a panel? If I run it, I'm afraid I don't listen to the excellent comments of others because I'm too worried about what to say if there's a lull and is everybody having a good time.

And thanks for saying nice things about my hair. Needless to say growing up in the 60s and 70s, I always wanted straight hair. Then came the 80s and, apparently, there I remain. Still, I'm glad I've grown it back and hate to admit it was directly attributable to Blair Sandburg. Jeeze.

See ya at Escapade.
~ Stormy

Yep, I'm pimped

[tovalentin.livejournal.com]

And here I am, and eager to find all the dS discussions I keep hearing have moved from ml to lj. Can't believe I didn't get to the Room of Slack, although it was a treat to see Zen! And how does one get to see her RayK vid?