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I went to Arisia last weekend, and had a blast. In no particular order, here are some of the things I did:
- Attended a terrific panel on sexual politics in fandom.
- Met![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mijan and got to read some of her fabulous fic *waves* Am also in awe of her mad costuming skillz, including the BEST Frodo I've ever seen.
- Sawcluegirl's truly spectacular blue and green Victorian taffeta extravaganza, which deservedly won a hall costume ribbon.
- Chatted with several SCAdians, plus had a nice conversation with a steampunk guy who had the most incredible set of exoskeleton stilt things, all plated and kitted out.copperbadge would have *loved* it.
- Saw my old friend Walter and heard part of the new book he's working on. Note to publishers everywhere: BUY IT. IT WILL BE AWESOME. SERIOUSLY. Also chatted with Lisa, Walter's wife and one of my oldest friends, and saw their gorgeous daughter, Aline.
- Attended Masquerade and laughed my ass off at the Dalek's response to hard times (hint: "exterminate!" becomes more than a buzzy little catchphrase).
- Bought a book of essays by John Scalzi, best known on teh Interwebs for taping a piece of raw bacon to his long-suffering cat.
- Bought a book of ballads collected by John Jacob Niles, which will now replace the treasured copy I literally read to death about fifteen years ago.
- Stayed in a wonderful hotel near MIT with C, who is now my semi-official Traveling Con Roomie since we've done this at least half a dozen times over the past few years. As usual, she's the perfect roommate, and we had a terrific time.
- Wore my Professor McGonagall costume, to great acclaim.
- Finally, and most important: I gave blood. I'd wanted to for years and had never had the time or the nerve, since a really unfortunate experience during a flu vaccination when I was a toddler* had left me phobic about having blood drawn. Having a cancer scare sort of puts things into perspective, and the only thing I couldn't bear was actually watching the IV go into my arm.
I've learned a few things for the next time I give blood (which will be in March, since it's past time for me to start doing this regularly): drink *much* more afterwards than I thought would be necessary, get lots of rest, and eat plenty of protein and iron-rich foods. Also, don't wear the high-heeled boots. Really.
All in all, it was a great con, and I'm glad I went. C and I aren't sure if we're going next year or not, but we'd like to. It was just what I needed.
*I flexed my bicep *during* the injection, which meant that the needle bent in a couple of places. Poor Dr. Gourash spent the next ten minutes apologizing to my mother; she'd been a nurse for about ten years before going to medical school and had never had a child do this before. Mum assured her that no, we weren't going to sue, but it took me several decades to get over being afraid of needles.
- Attended a terrific panel on sexual politics in fandom.
- Met
mijan and got to read some of her fabulous fic *waves* Am also in awe of her mad costuming skillz, including the BEST Frodo I've ever seen.- Saw
cluegirl's truly spectacular blue and green Victorian taffeta extravaganza, which deservedly won a hall costume ribbon.- Chatted with several SCAdians, plus had a nice conversation with a steampunk guy who had the most incredible set of exoskeleton stilt things, all plated and kitted out.
copperbadge would have *loved* it.- Saw my old friend Walter and heard part of the new book he's working on. Note to publishers everywhere: BUY IT. IT WILL BE AWESOME. SERIOUSLY. Also chatted with Lisa, Walter's wife and one of my oldest friends, and saw their gorgeous daughter, Aline.
- Attended Masquerade and laughed my ass off at the Dalek's response to hard times (hint: "exterminate!" becomes more than a buzzy little catchphrase).
- Bought a book of essays by John Scalzi, best known on teh Interwebs for taping a piece of raw bacon to his long-suffering cat.
- Bought a book of ballads collected by John Jacob Niles, which will now replace the treasured copy I literally read to death about fifteen years ago.
- Stayed in a wonderful hotel near MIT with C, who is now my semi-official Traveling Con Roomie since we've done this at least half a dozen times over the past few years. As usual, she's the perfect roommate, and we had a terrific time.
- Wore my Professor McGonagall costume, to great acclaim.
- Finally, and most important: I gave blood. I'd wanted to for years and had never had the time or the nerve, since a really unfortunate experience during a flu vaccination when I was a toddler* had left me phobic about having blood drawn. Having a cancer scare sort of puts things into perspective, and the only thing I couldn't bear was actually watching the IV go into my arm.
I've learned a few things for the next time I give blood (which will be in March, since it's past time for me to start doing this regularly): drink *much* more afterwards than I thought would be necessary, get lots of rest, and eat plenty of protein and iron-rich foods. Also, don't wear the high-heeled boots. Really.
All in all, it was a great con, and I'm glad I went. C and I aren't sure if we're going next year or not, but we'd like to. It was just what I needed.
*I flexed my bicep *during* the injection, which meant that the needle bent in a couple of places. Poor Dr. Gourash spent the next ten minutes apologizing to my mother; she'd been a nurse for about ten years before going to medical school and had never had a child do this before. Mum assured her that no, we weren't going to sue, but it took me several decades to get over being afraid of needles.
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no subject
Date: 2010-01-19 03:26 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-01-19 10:41 am (UTC)From:Congratulations on the blood donation too. I must get back to that myself - my problem has been getting healthy enough to donate, recently! Current UK advice, BTW, is to drink a glass of water *before* donating, as well as fluids afterwards; and as I've told donation newbies before, remember you've just lost almost a pint of body fluids, you're partially dehydrated afterwards! When I'm due to go, I take an iron tablet every day for three or four days beforehand as well. And after a couple of embarrassing almost-faints, I now make sure I stay horizontal for a bit longer, and get up more cautiously.