Oof.

[swan_tower]

Got home last night from my family reunion the World Fantasy Convention, which was its usual splendid self. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it's gotten better over time: a lot of people are con regulars, which means that it's easy to build up a community of people you know and look forward to seeing each year. Also, I've gotten less stressed about being there; I used to worry about the moments where I seemed out of gear, not able to engage with people the way I wanted to, Squandering my Valuable Time There -- but these days I just chill out, and lo, the issue resolves itself. Trusting that makes the whole thing a lot easier.

This one was especially good because it featured a lot of meeting up with people I know online, but have never really hung out with in person. time_shark, saladinahmed -- heck, I even met jimhines for realz! Not to mention many other wonderful folks I didn't know well at all, but had great conversations with nonetheless. Also, the location meant a bunch of my B-ton friends were able to come, whether from Indiana or the places they've scattered to since, and seeing them was especially nice.

And now my voice sounds like somebody raked it over a cheese-grater, because that's what WFC is to me: the place I go to talk all weekend long, often over the roar of several hundred other people doing the same thing. Then I come home exhausted and halfway to mute and happy.

It's my family reunion. Complete with hugs and drunkenness and the occasional bits of Personal Drama, and then we all scatter to the four winds until next year. Which in this case will be San Diego; I'm thinking of driving down. It would be a ten-hour drive by the coastal route, but if I can get a co-driver it might be worth it. Heck, I might even take an extra day, stop for the night somewhere along Highway 1, make a bit of a vacation out of it. We'll see.

Comments

[unforth.livejournal.com]

I won't know til a long, long time from now, but I meant my offer to be your co-driver...

[unforth.livejournal.com]

(also, it was totally awesome to see you, and it was an awesome convention, and I'm glad I went, except for the part where it's taking all my will power to not go narcoleptic in front of my computer from exhaustion. ;) )

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I won't even know if I'm driving til a long, long time from now anyway. But that would be delightful.

[oneminutemonkey.livejournal.com]

I almost caught up with you... I saw the back of you at one point! :>

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Heh. That's the flip side, that I forgot to include in my post: the more people I know at WFC, the more inevitable it is that I'll miss my chance to hang out with some of them. Sorry I missed you!

[akashiver.livejournal.com]

Lovely to see you at WFC, albeit briefly. Will you be heading to ICFA this year?

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Yup! In fact, would you like to room together?

[akashiver.livejournal.com]

But of course. I think Dar's interested too, though she doesn't know for sure if she's going yet.

[ckastens.livejournal.com]

It was a pleasure to meet you in person! Hope the opportunity repeats in the future.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Ahahahaha -- man, if you hadn't commented, I never would have made the connection that the "kastens" part of your username is short for something. Thank you for connecting your online and RL personas in my head!

(This is the weird quirk of LJ friendships: I frequently have no idea, or forget, who a user is when they're not online. The handle is what I remember.)

Anyway, yes, it was a pleasure to meet you, and also to hear your reading. I'm definitely going to be looking for your stuff.

[ckastens.livejournal.com]

Yeah, easier to remember than "christopher_kastensmidt"...

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Yup -- but it does mean I need a nudge to hook the two together. Now that they are, much becomes clear.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

It was lovely to see you.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

You too! And I still have your map; I will treasure it forever. :-)

(Next time we see each other, you can make me draw a map of Britain. The days when I could do it accurately are well past.)