One hour's more sleep last night: morning ablutions and dog walking and restocking the backpacks and we were ready to go. My headache and arm ache of last night had vanished; sure glad I was feeling better. The weather was beautiful, too, only 61°F.

Once again breakfast at Cafe Momo. We saw the cutest thing: a mom dressed in a red leaf print dress with her hair dyed black, carrying the cutest baby in a Stitch sleeper; so she was Lilo!

James didn't have a 10 a.m. panel; I had two of them on my schedule. I ended up at the eclipse panel at the Science track in the Hilton, where they were talking about the "fake" glasses (none of the ones Amazon sold were fake; they just didn't have an ISO sticker) and also about not needing a super camera to take photos of it and about photoshopped images that were passed off as real. He had some killer pics taken by iPhones and just regular cameras just like mine. And of course talking about what a high seeing totality is.

Next it was off to the Hyatt for Mercedes Lackey and her husband Larry Dixon. They were in a room opposite of James' panel room—since the elevators are so in demand on Saturday he pretty much just stays in the Hyatt at the Sci-Fi Literature track (he wanted to go to a panel on the 6-Day War at the Westin, but there was no way to get around the crowd lined up for the parade)—so I ran in, gave him a kiss, and then went to my panel. This was a Q&A where Misty and Larry answered questions about writing, Valdemar, old characters, collaborating on books, collaborating with other writers, etc., and they told a cute story about one of their birds (they rehabilitate raptors and have African greys), a small cockatoo. Apparently the bird has learned to cross his wings in front of his body, making a heart shape with them. Then he cocks his head, puts up one foot, and says "Pretty?" Oh, yes, he has them trained!

From one author to another; off to the Jim Butcher panel! Jim is always fun. He came out in a Hamilton outfit and later on answered a question in song from the play. He talked about how easy it is to write a first person character (Harry Dresden) versus writing third person (because  you have to decide from whose POV you will tell the story), but that sometimes he gets sick of Harry because he lives in his head all the time. His funniest story was a childhood memory about being at a church camp in Brazil singing at Baptist churches and at farmer's markets, and being cursed by a witch doctor while performing at the latter. Right afterwards, he was almost bitten by a poisonous spider and a ditto snake. But he defeated the curse and the witch doctor was beaten up by villagers after they realized if a teenager could defeat the curse, he wasn't all that he seemed!

I had a free hour here, so went to see the art show. Pretty similar to last year, although I was taken by an illustrator who does kitsunes, and also a pastoral print of sheep turning into clouds around a floating city. Next I had to run for the bathroom, and when one was closed had to race for another. Finally I went to wait for the Carrie Fisher and Kenny Baker tribute panel and read my tablet. There was a service dog here named Red, and he watched his owner worriedly every time the person stepped away from him.

The panel was nice, with funny stories from the panelists, many of whom had interviewed or met Carrie Fisher and Kenny Baker at gatherings. One man told a rather sad story about taking his daughter, a big Kenny Baker fan, to an autograph signing just a few weeks before he died where he couldn't speak and was signing autographs slowly but doggedly. All he could do was meet the girl's eyes and smile through them. There were some clips of Carrie Fisher and Kenny Baker from various interviews on YouTube. Fans also shared what Carrie Fisher meant to them.

Then it was back to the Hilton to attend Victoria. This was a great panel about the series, with lots of give-and-take from the audience.

John Barrowman had a show upstairs in the Hilton at seven, but when I emerged from Victoria and went upstairs it was evident there was no way to get James upstairs in the power chair on time for the event; the elevators were mobbed. Too bad it wasn't at the Sheraton as it was last time; the elevators in the Sheraton are manageable. I looked to see if there was any type of elevator at the back, or a ramp, but no dice. It was still furiously loud with a DJ hosting the racket—but I was "okay" with it tonight; no problems—and would probably be worse when we got out of the concert if we made it at all. So I told James to meet me on the corner of Courtland Street and John Portman. It took a while because he exited the Hyatt through the Motor Lobby, a route he's never taken, and then took a wrong turn and was heading for Ted Turner Boulevard (formerly Spring Street). Luckily I found him on the Life360 map and redirected him before he got too much further.

So we were home early; James had some soup instead of his sandwich and I watched The Incredible Dr. Pol and cried over a cat who had to be put to sleep.

Perhaps it was better we avoided the Barrowman concert: there were complaints all over Facebook about the crowd, people not getting in, and one person complaining that he couldn't get in but disabled people were allowed in. (Well, that's because they have spots saved for them.) Also reports of someone in security yelling at the disabled people waiting to get in. On the other hand, John came out in a Wonder Woman costume and sang "Copacabana." That's our guy!

Labels: conventions, DragonCon, friends

----------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:07:00 PM

Comments: Post a Comment