Further Assimilations

This morning, I stared into the shaving mirror while performing my daily skin irritation ritual, and remembered someone at Technicon referring to me as one of the con's "elder statesmen". I enjoyed the compliment... but it's still a little weird trying to think of myself that way.

Didn't get to stay in bed any later than 9:30 or so this weekend - too much to do! Happy weekend, though. We were celebrating Starr's graduation from nursing school at the top of her class! I think that excellent things are ahead for her.

My Dad drove up to see me yesterday, and I'm planning to go see my Mom and my sister before long this summer. There's been a bit of distance, because of how wrapped-up I've been in myself lately, and I'm really looking forward to re-connecting with them all this year.

The living-room TV's flipped its power supply, and we're down to watching Good Eats on a 12" portable we had in the bedroom. I was looking at getting an AppleTV in a few weeks, but I suspect I'll be putting that off a bit. One of the reasons I'm so far behind on my TV watching is that a lot of it's on the computer, and I just don't think of my desktop Mac as a media center - more of a creativity, communications, and gaming support device. TV programs are for relaxing in the living room - so, really, that makes me a perfect AppleTV customer. (Another reason I'm behind is that I usually have much better things to do than television. Even really good television. I'm almost to the point of cutting things I like from the DVR schedule that I know I just won't get around to watching. People keep saying things like "you should start watching Heroes!" and I look at my backlog and think "yeah... next year maybe!")

Dave S. will be running his Marvel Super Heroes game tonight. I haven't been able to attend since March, and I can't wait to catch up with everyone. For the last sessions, I'd had to finish at work and fly right over to arrive fashionably late; with my new schedule I can take it a little easier.

My outlook's not too bad for a Monday morning.

Some cool things about Technicon 23:

Giving rattrap his combined holiday present for the next several years.
Playing the WoW board game with jsciv, meiran, and candidevoltaire; then buying a copy.
A copy of The Heroic Trio from kittykatya.
Opening the wrong door and accidentally joining this year's Vile Skit.
Being practically the only character in vileone's LARP that was exactly what he said he was: no more, no less.
Friday dinner seated between Dwight, raininva, and Christy.
Friday night panels that went Most Excellently. (Some details soon in a filtered post, heh heh.)
A Vile Script that forced me to wrestle with rainbowsaber. (Oh, shucks.)
Helping southernsinger perform "The Dragon & The Lady" for Holly Lisle.
Late Saturday dinner and great conversation with meiran.
Thanks to trenn, chown -R us:us yourbase.
Frequent backrubby morale- and energy-boosts from shrewlet.
Two boxes full of new reading material from the Auction.
Cool artwork from kittenchan and ranchonmars.
It's my 20th Technicon.

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Some less-cool things about Technicon 23:

It's my 20th Technicon.
Not enough time to be in Whose Con Is It?
Long drives from and to Norfolk.
Not enough quality time with many friends.
My lousy Simon Cowell imitation.
A body that gave out too early on Saturday night. (For once, stomach issues rather than exhaustion.)
Our air mattress developing a hole.
Not enough time for after-con dinner in Blacksburg. (But a good one with Bert & Meche in Salem.)

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I'd call TCon 23 a success, for my part. Well done, nius, and thanks for the good weekend!

Getting ready for Technicon! Trying to make sure that outfits are washed, promised digital gifts are completed, and other ducks are in a row. Last night I picked up something I need for one of the panels... heh heh heh.

While I chase my tail, here's Optimus Prime as a real truck.

I've always liked Niven's Laws. I don't slavishly agree with them, but they are an excellent source of topics to ponder.

This leads to the fact that I've just deleted a lengthy rant about SF/fantasy fans who, despite entreaties from their favorite authors that they start thinking for themselves, are still want to be told what to think and what to believe. The only thing we humans got that the rest of the animal kindgom didn't is a more complex brain. It's way past time that we as a race consider trying out some of its higher gears, just to see what happens, you know?

( Ok, wow, Technicon report, cool. )

I have a long Technicon report I'm working on. For now, I'll just say that the sun is shining, the air is warm, and we have ducks and bunnies in our front yard. Yay for spring!

OTOH, Elfie's mailserver is rejecting my password. So I probably have a few days' worth of mail on hold right now. :(

The element of Technicon that has stayed with me most this morning is the great pain in my legs from dancing too much too quickly Saturday night. Oh, yes... and I think that next time raininva and I go to India Garden, we're ordering just bland chicken "tanders" and the garlic "naan" (bread). Our stomachs aren't international enough for much else.

( Details of the con )Thanks to nius for putting on a great con - I had tons of fun! I'm already looking forward to vond's Technicon next year!

Gonna be a busy night tonight and tomorrow night - lots to do before Technicon. Last night, raininva and I assigned stats to all the Badge Wars characters, so progress is being made on that front.

• Run more laundry tonight.


• Rain and I need to make sure that the BattleBots are ready and that we have good batteries for them.


• Burn a CD for Dwight (with the dance cuts he wanted).


• Contact trenn to see if he has duplicates of the last two XXXenophile cards I need for a complete set. Offer trades.


• Build actual badges for all Badge Wars characters and enter assigned stats.


• Design Badge Wars rules cards.


• Rebuild my Junkyard Geeks video-capture system to get badge photos for several characters. Still not sure what I'm going to do for art for a few characters such as The Vile One.

That's everything I can think of off the top of my head, though I'm sure there's more.

Just did a Rocky Horror showing at TCon 19, thanks to Barb's video room... now it looks like a local club will be running it midnight Friday and Saturday at the Cinema Cafe. $3.50 for tickets, $2 for a prop kit. Tolls of Madness is the link. We might go to the Saturday showing after TCon Dead Dog.

Technicon starts a week from tomorrow, and they've posted an early version of the schedule. I do realize that con schedules are subject to complete revision until late Sunday afternoon, but I couldn't help noticing a few things.

The first thing is that my sweetie and I are involved in one of the Live-Action Role Playing games, and that at least one (possibly both) of the games starts Friday night at 8:00. So we may miss meiran's Women in SF panel :( I've enjoyed representing the Liberated Male there in the past, and I'd be sorry to miss this one.

Another scheduled LARP event (if it's for the one I'm in) may cause me to miss the first half of the Amateur Film panel, which would be a shame. We don't have a submission this year like we were going to, but it's fun to see what others bring and comment on it.

(2 years ago: "Are you sure you want me as a panelist? I haven't actually been involved in anything since Space Rogues - all I can talk about is the several projects I hope to start work on sometime soon."

"Amateur shmamateur, that makes you a Hollywood professional!")

The person I will be playing in the LARP is a major Russian political figure, I haven't decided whether my accent should be "Boris Badenov" or Connery's "Alexsandr Ramius" (i.e. Moscow by way of Scotland).

This year's midnight discussions include the SW Virginia Spiritual Alliance (a pagan group), Polyamory 101, and a BDSM demonstration / panel. Who says science fiction fans never do anything but watch their Trek videos?