(no subject)
I should probably post something here. It's been a long time. It's just been a crazy summer and I haven't had much chance to catch my breath, let alone organize my thoughts. I've been neglecting all my social media.
So you know about the beginning of it - dropping everything to visit a friend in the hospital, coming back just in time to repack and get a few hours' sleep before going to Colorado with my sister's family. Had fun there, but couldn't sleep because of the altitude. Rested up from that, went to MA for the annual family bonding time. Which is always rewarding and fulfilling, but not really something that lends itself easily to posting.
Thing is that there was an internet meetup in London which cut into the middle of that. So I flew from MA to London, stayed in London for two weeks, then flew back for the last week. All of which was awesome, but absolutely exhausting. I've been flat out for the last week. And that's not counting the days in London where I basically stayed in bed until dinner time. (I got zero sleep on the flight out there and instead just stayed up for an extra day. Which put me on the right schedule, but at a heavy price.)
Still, it's not often I get to spend time with friends in person, and the first week in London was a blast. We didn't really do anything much in specific. Walked around downtown, walked around the parks, walked around the museums... By the end of it, my feet went from aching to numb. But it was a really fun group. We just swapped stories and talked and laughed and it was great. There are a couple of hundred pictures, all told, most of which involve us making goofy faces at each other.
In the second week, I tried to rest. But I also met up with a couple of other Internet friends I'd never managed to see in person before. Which involved more walking, but was still very cool.
And then I hit WorldCon. It was smaller than I expected. My first con was New York ComicCon, and I kind of expect everything at that scale now. Even though I've also been going to VCON (in Vancouver), which is smaller and warmer and much more fun. But I hadn't expected WorldCon to feel more like VCON than NYCC.
I started off with a Dreamwidth meetup organized by![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
liv. I'd been invited by seekingferret, and... I don't know. I didn't really know anyone there. And I haven't felt a part of the DW community in a while. I've stopped posting because I don't have much to say anymore. And my reading page has slowed to a crawl. And I found that I didn't really have anything to say to people. I tried to listen, to keep up with the conversation (or, more commonly, three or four different conversations). But... it was much like being on DW has become for me. I have nothing that I feel is worth contributing and I don't feel connected to the community, and the conversations, for the most part, weren't about things that grabbed me. Everyone seemed nice enough, but I didn't feel like I fit. It wasn't my crowd. So I wandered off. Which, in truth, I probably would have done with LJ and DW long since, if it took any more effort than refreshing two tabs and skimming through. And if doing so didn't manage to net the occasional post of interest.
Anyway... From there I went to some panels. I don't even remember which ones. But they were interesting at the time. Attended a Girl Genius radio play, which was an absolute blast. Met and chatted with some random people. Browsed the dealer area and the art show. Got to talk to CE Murphy (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mizkit), who was very warm. (Nice to not only see her in person, but to do so when my brain wasn't melting into incoherence from the stifling heat of the NYCC show floor.) The Masquerade (cosplay contest) was impressive. Spent a few hours just sitting in the reading room, listening to one author after another read selections of their work. Found a few new ones to try. It was my first WorldCon, and I'm really glad I went. Not sure if I'll go to next year's, but I'm considering it. Really, though, I'm happy with VCON.
Speaking of VCON... that's coming up. I somehow got roped into being this year's registrar. It's nice to be doing something helpful and productive. But I'm wondering how much I'll actually manage to do at the con, since the registrar is supposed to be at the reg desk most of the time. (I've got a deputy registrar I can switch off with, at least.) We'll see. And then I'll figure out what to do about next year.
Right now, I'm just trying to rest up from the last few months. And move my sleep schedule around becauseannabtg is coming to visit in a little over a week, and, as things stand, I'd be mostly nocturnal then. Going to have to push forward at twice the usual rate so I can be awake during the daytime for her. And then it's the holiday. And then I fly to Vancouver. And then... I'm not sure what happens in October, really. Plans seem to keep changing.
Meantime, I'm trying to sort things out on the medical side (getting the prescriptions I need, fighting insurance, trying to see if I can get someone to pay for Xyrem, trying to see if I can get on Hetlioz, etc). And the cafe project... *sigh* Every time we think we've found a place, the deal seems to fall through. It's been frustrating. And all sorts of sucky things are happening to people I care about, to the point that I just want to call a mulligan on 2014.
But still... the last few weeks, exhausting as they were, were a thrill and a treat. I'm really lucky to have all that. To be able to fly to London. To have such cool friends. To have such an exceptional (immediate) family.
So you know about the beginning of it - dropping everything to visit a friend in the hospital, coming back just in time to repack and get a few hours' sleep before going to Colorado with my sister's family. Had fun there, but couldn't sleep because of the altitude. Rested up from that, went to MA for the annual family bonding time. Which is always rewarding and fulfilling, but not really something that lends itself easily to posting.
Thing is that there was an internet meetup in London which cut into the middle of that. So I flew from MA to London, stayed in London for two weeks, then flew back for the last week. All of which was awesome, but absolutely exhausting. I've been flat out for the last week. And that's not counting the days in London where I basically stayed in bed until dinner time. (I got zero sleep on the flight out there and instead just stayed up for an extra day. Which put me on the right schedule, but at a heavy price.)
Still, it's not often I get to spend time with friends in person, and the first week in London was a blast. We didn't really do anything much in specific. Walked around downtown, walked around the parks, walked around the museums... By the end of it, my feet went from aching to numb. But it was a really fun group. We just swapped stories and talked and laughed and it was great. There are a couple of hundred pictures, all told, most of which involve us making goofy faces at each other.
In the second week, I tried to rest. But I also met up with a couple of other Internet friends I'd never managed to see in person before. Which involved more walking, but was still very cool.
And then I hit WorldCon. It was smaller than I expected. My first con was New York ComicCon, and I kind of expect everything at that scale now. Even though I've also been going to VCON (in Vancouver), which is smaller and warmer and much more fun. But I hadn't expected WorldCon to feel more like VCON than NYCC.
I started off with a Dreamwidth meetup organized by
liv. I'd been invited by seekingferret, and... I don't know. I didn't really know anyone there. And I haven't felt a part of the DW community in a while. I've stopped posting because I don't have much to say anymore. And my reading page has slowed to a crawl. And I found that I didn't really have anything to say to people. I tried to listen, to keep up with the conversation (or, more commonly, three or four different conversations). But... it was much like being on DW has become for me. I have nothing that I feel is worth contributing and I don't feel connected to the community, and the conversations, for the most part, weren't about things that grabbed me. Everyone seemed nice enough, but I didn't feel like I fit. It wasn't my crowd. So I wandered off. Which, in truth, I probably would have done with LJ and DW long since, if it took any more effort than refreshing two tabs and skimming through. And if doing so didn't manage to net the occasional post of interest.Anyway... From there I went to some panels. I don't even remember which ones. But they were interesting at the time. Attended a Girl Genius radio play, which was an absolute blast. Met and chatted with some random people. Browsed the dealer area and the art show. Got to talk to CE Murphy (
mizkit), who was very warm. (Nice to not only see her in person, but to do so when my brain wasn't melting into incoherence from the stifling heat of the NYCC show floor.) The Masquerade (cosplay contest) was impressive. Spent a few hours just sitting in the reading room, listening to one author after another read selections of their work. Found a few new ones to try. It was my first WorldCon, and I'm really glad I went. Not sure if I'll go to next year's, but I'm considering it. Really, though, I'm happy with VCON. Speaking of VCON... that's coming up. I somehow got roped into being this year's registrar. It's nice to be doing something helpful and productive. But I'm wondering how much I'll actually manage to do at the con, since the registrar is supposed to be at the reg desk most of the time. (I've got a deputy registrar I can switch off with, at least.) We'll see. And then I'll figure out what to do about next year.
Right now, I'm just trying to rest up from the last few months. And move my sleep schedule around because
annabtg is coming to visit in a little over a week, and, as things stand, I'd be mostly nocturnal then. Going to have to push forward at twice the usual rate so I can be awake during the daytime for her. And then it's the holiday. And then I fly to Vancouver. And then... I'm not sure what happens in October, really. Plans seem to keep changing.Meantime, I'm trying to sort things out on the medical side (getting the prescriptions I need, fighting insurance, trying to see if I can get someone to pay for Xyrem, trying to see if I can get on Hetlioz, etc). And the cafe project... *sigh* Every time we think we've found a place, the deal seems to fall through. It's been frustrating. And all sorts of sucky things are happening to people I care about, to the point that I just want to call a mulligan on 2014.
But still... the last few weeks, exhausting as they were, were a thrill and a treat. I'm really lucky to have all that. To be able to fly to London. To have such cool friends. To have such an exceptional (immediate) family.