 Nostalgia, DVDs, old movies, television, OTR, fandom, good news and bad, picks, pans, cute budgie stories, cute terrier stories, and anything else I can think of. Contact me at theyoungfamily (at) earthlink (dot) net . . . . . . . . . .
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» Sunday, September 08, 2024
Some Farewells are Harder Than Others
 Emotionally, it's been a bummer of a week.
The saddest part was finding out a friend had died. I met Rose Marie Badgett on my first trip to a convention with friends rather than with my mother. There were six of us sharing a room: Rosie (from Kentucky), Alice and Maggi from Georgia, Mary from Massachusetts, and Gail and I from Rhode Island. We had a wilder weekend than we expected than at a Star Trek convention because all of us were supposed to leave on Monday, but Sunday night a big snowstorm blew into New York City, flights were suspended, Amtrak was running about twelve hours behind...and the hotel offered us another night at the con rate. We had a room party and James Doohan showed up, except we missed it because Gail and Rosie had gone out to dinner, and the other four of us were in Holly's room, Mary and Maggi because they wanted some quiet, and Alice and I were watching Backstairs at the White House. Rosie was one of the Space: 1999 fans in the bunch and I saw her twice a year until she moved to California and then I moved to Georgia. I think I saw her last in person in 1985. But we reconnected on Facebook. Apparently she had been ill for a while and passed away on Sunday. My consolation is that she and Lin have probably found each other by now and are telling tales to each other. Less hurtful but still mournful was the fact that we made our monthly trip to Canton on Thursday and Uncle Maddio's Pizza Joint was no more. They must have closed right after we went last month. So we made our monthly pilgrimage to Books-a-Million, then ate at a pizza place called Brooklyn Joe's. It was very good, but they don't make personal pizzas; however, they will make half a pizza one way and half another, so I got my usual bacon/black olive/no cheese and James got all the cheese and onion and mushrooms and burger he wanted on his half. Next time we will get a medium, though; we brought half of it home and had it for a meal a few days later. Sunday we also sort of "don't care"'d and didn't go to the Yellow Daisy Festival, either. Just not the same for me since the Country Pick'ns folks retired. We already had maple barbecue sauce anyway. I would have liked to have looked at the opal rings again and gotten James a new glass nail file (the one I bought him last year was broken and the "replacement" I got from Amazon is terrible—you have to saw at your nails to file them). Got some useful things done this week anyway: James had his preop for his new fistula surgery on Tuesday, I backed up the hard drive on the desktop, got gas for my car, picked up a prescription at Kaiser. Did you know there's a "lost" episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent? There is; fortunately it's a Nichols and Wheeler episode...I do dream about them finding a "lost" Goren and Eames! This one was about favoritism in picking out an Olympic site and apparently the Brazilians didn't like it, so it's neither on the DVD set nor in reruns. Someone recorded it when it was first broadcast, though, and that's what I saw. It was an underwhelming effort anyway. Jeff Goldblum overacted terribly in an interrogation scene with the female suspect. The best parts were insights into the ongoing Major Case storylines at the time: Megan Wheeler being interrogated by the FBI due to her fiance's involvement in money laundering and then throwing out her wedding invitations (very sad scene), Ross and Nichols arguing over the latter's decision to go see Breakfast at Tiffany's for insights into the case, and Nichols learning Wheeler's likes and dislikes. On Saturday we had fun at Taste of Smyrna; this time we went early (1) when it was cool and (2) James could have a meal before his club meeting afterward. We tasted the usual "drunken pork" and creamy grits, rice balls, elk and bison meatballs (I was disappointed; they were quite bland), and a very sweet bread pudding. No Asian food at all this year. Labels: books, conventions, errands, events, food, friends, loss, television  » Saturday, August 31, 2024
And Even More Medical Stuff
Went to Kroger this afternoon as has become my habit since James started dialysis to find the dairy cases completely rearranged and my favorite flavor of yogurt nowhere to be seen, and no more space for it on the shelf. First it's disappeared from Publix and now it's gone from Kroger. After I came home, I checked Chobani's website to see that they still do make the flavor, then called Publix hoping I could order it. The manager said he would look into it for me.Tuesday we had to go back to Kaiser Townpark for James to get the examination on his eyes to see if the Plaquinel is affecting them (it's not, so far). We discussed the computer glasses and were told that his distance glasses—the ones with the transitional lenses that "have to be trained"—are the ones he should be using for the computer. Wednesday was another dialysis day, and then, success on Thursday! I finally found the rub-ons I need for the porch. They were in the same places I had already looked a couple of times. Perhaps it's the little blue guys again. In the afternoon we went back to Townpark so James could have a new echocardiogram. We had lunch at Pacific Buffet and I bought some books at Barnes & Noble. James bought a DragonCon streaming membership and we were able to see a little bit of the convention this afternoon: a Star Trek: the Next Generation reunion panel and then the John Cleese panel. I believe Cleese is here for the entire convention, but he is only doing one panel, and this was it. Sunday has its own entry... Labels: conventions, crafts, food, health, sickness » Sunday, August 25, 2024
Things Done
I mentioned James got new glasses earlier this year. Well, he's been a bit discontented with them. The transitional glasses he ordered don't get dark enough, even enough in full sun, and to see the monitor on his computer with the "computer glasses," he has to bend way over the screen. So we went to Costco today, only to be told the transition lenses have to be "trained" by holding them up to the sun! Also that his computer glasses aren't going to work for the distance he is from the screen (31 inches).Who heard of lenses having to be "trained"? I ended up buying a new vacuum cleaner, another Dyson, at Costco because the price was so good. I love the old one, because it is so light, but the beater bar quit working and I wager it would cost as much to fix as to get a new one. I like the new one, but it is too darn heavy. I finally made it to the bank this week to re-work the CD that I was unable to renew when it expired. The bank happily worked with me putting it into another CD with a good interest rate (4.5 instead of .01!). I also cashed out about seven expired savings bonds that were no longer gathering interest and added those to the CD. The big thing that happened this week is that I bought a Sunday membership to DragonCon. I am really scared about it because it means I'll have to leave James alone for the day. But he really wants me to go; he even bought a tray for his walker so he can manage to make his breakfast and then eat it at his desk. Labels: cleaning, conventions, errands, financial, problems » Sunday, June 23, 2024
Heading for a Fall
James' back continued to hurt as the week crept on. We got an interesting little call from Kaiser saying that James' UTI was complicated by several different bacteria and perhaps it would be prudent to change his medication. We were seeing Dr. Jacobs on Tuesday and we said we would discuss that with him.Dr. Jacobs was an older man who put us at ease. He said he was the one who had hired our doctor, Mobley. We discussed the antibiotic and he wanted to be cautious and let James finish the cephalexin and then be retested to see if he needed further antibiotics rather than "changing horses midstream." We agreed. He also said a short course of high dose steroids might relax his back, so he put him on 60mg for three days, 40 for three days, and then 20 for five days. We also got the lift back, my savings account considerably poorer. Steroids usually make James lose weight. Well, it didn't this time. Taking one torsemide is certainly making him gain. I finally got frightened enough on Friday to give him a second one. We tried to go out on Friday: ate at the South Cobb diner, which is the sister restaurant of the West Cobb Diner with better parking. Alas, they don't have the cucumber salad anymore, and they have changed the turkey dinner stuffing; it's more cornbready and tastes, frankly, like Stove Top. On the way home we stopped at Ollie's Discount Store. James continued to deteriorate over the weekend. His back still hurt badly, and now he was complaining of feeling weak, and he is acting distracted. When he took a shower on Saturday night, there were dozens of little bumps on his abdomen that look like he is accumulating fluid there, and his skin is irritated. We were supposed to be at Libertycon this weekend, but we cancelled the hotel reservation on Wednesday right before the cutoff time, and James talked the Libertycon people into rolling over our membership till next year. Labels: conventions, food, health, shopping, sickness » Sunday, November 19, 2023
Conjuring the Week
It was an ultra-typical week. Thank the Lord nothing bad happened. In fact, I finally "ate a frog." Our garage door openers—we have six, but one is missing—are from 2006, when we bought the house. Two quit working, we figured, because the batteries were dead. The holder on my keyring one finally broke, so I swapped it out for the opener that was inside next to the garage. Now the working two, one each on our keyrings, were getting cranky. I kept saying "We need to bring them to Batteries Plus."
Naw, didn't need to do that at all. Looked 'em up, they take a standard 2032 round battery that we keep in stock because our scale and James' diabetes meter use the same battery. Pried them all open, put in new batteries. Now they all work. Win. This was the silly part: I said at the beginning of the month that, "Hey, Conjuration should be coming up soon. Let me see if a schedule is up." It wasn't. Then I totally forgot about it, and only remembered when I saw a friend's Facebook post. We couldn't do anything about it on Friday anyway, since James had a doctor's appointment, and then it turned out the doctor put in a new scrip for his arthritis that we had to go pick up. The convention was in a new location (Gwinnett County) rather than down near the airport, which suited us fine, but by the time we got there in rush hour traffic after going to Kaiser, we'd have to turn around and come home. So Saturday morning we got up and went. The new hotel is very nice. The old was a nice venue, but the food there was insanely expensive (a plate of spaghetti with one meatball for nearly $30???; even the sports bar was pricy, and you had to pay for parking), so we always had to bring our own sandwiches (although this helped keep the sodium down for James). It mainly catered to business travelers on expense accounts. The Sonesta had free parking, and during the weekend they put out a "floating" meal stand that had breakfast things in the morning and then lunch things until 3 p.m. I had chicken soup both times and it was flavorful, not overly salted, and had lots of noodles in it (and it wasn't Progresso; yeah, I'm looking at you, Panera Bread!). James had sliders both days. There was also a restaurant where, while the main meals were expensive, you could get a big burger for a reasonable $15, and they had these Philly cheese steak egg rolls that were to die for. We had them Saturday night, and should have ordered two each instead of one. Oh, and did I mention it was pet friendly? We met some really sweet dogs during the weekend. Anyway, enough with that. Conjuration basically has a Harry Potter theme with the names filed off; one of the co-founders told a very funny story about how, after they started the call, they got a very polite call from the Warner Brothers people about "your little Harry Potter convention" and he was quick to say that it was a convention about magical media of all kinds, and they had to do a couple of tweaks, but WB was cool about it. Saturday I did the following panels (lots of writing panels, as usual). James went to a few of his own things.
Talked with Alice for a while afterwards. James pre-paid for next year. Sadly, the restaurant was closed today and we couldn't get more egg rolls for supper. Labels: chores, conventions, health » Monday, June 26, 2023
LibertyCon, Part 3
Of course, Sunday was better, but the con was almost over, too!Another morning, another breakfast. Alas, no bacon today. Had to content myself with oatmeal, toast, milk, and a bagel and cream cheese. Walked Tucker in the green area behind the breakfast area/pool, and then it was back to the con. I still hadn't found the art show or the dealer's room, so James escorted me there first. James bought an attractive piece of a spaceship against a starfield, and also an ironically whimsical print of an atomic cloud as part of a scoop of ice cream on top of a cone. He bought me a pretty blue-and-silver bracelet made of links. So blue. No purchases in the Dealer's Room. LibertyCon always has a charity; this year it was Ronald McDonald House. One of the things that was auctioned for charity was a chance to play Larry Correia's roleplaying game "Gritty Cop Show," which is basically an amalgam of every cop show you've ever seen. Six people bid a total of $5000 to play, and we went to watch. The first hour was fun and I wish we'd stayed. Instead we went off to a panel that was supposed to be about care of your old books. But mostly the moderator talked about valuation and buying of rare books, which I find a bore. I don't buy books to collect, I buy them to read. Finally we went to the tribute to Eric Flint. Yesterday was still affecting how I felt and I think I dozed through most of this. James enjoyed it, since Flint's 1632 universe is a favorite of his. Finally we went to closing ceremonies, where they told us how much they earned for Ronald McDonald House, the guests for next year, etc., and then people complained or complimented and asked for different things for next year. It was lively and upbeat... And then we emerged from the room and holy hell was going on outside! It was pouring. Can't call it Georgia Monsoon Season. Let's call it Tennessee Monsoon Season. So we talked to Sue a little while and then walked the last time down the long, long hall, made it across the street without being drowned (the rain had slowed down). We waited a little while and the rain finally stopped, so we went out to go to McKay's Books (I bought a Valdemar book I didn't have and a book about a couple who sold their house and live permanently traveling in Europe) and finally get some decent food at City Café: James had a shepherd's pie (he should have sent it back; he said it was way too salty) and I had two exquisitely grilled pork chops, a baked potato, and of course City Café's outstanding chicken soup with broken-up spaghetti in it. We brought a nice slice of Death by Chocolate cake back to the hotel. Whatever channel I found had Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes that were a tribute to Raul Esparza's Rafael Barba character, including the one where he left the show, so we watched those and went to bed at midnight—checkout time wasn't until noon, so why not? During commercials packed a few things up. Monday morning we packed, made it down to breakfast just in time (have to remember ends at 9:30 on weekdays), then proceeded to walk Tucker, and pack, pack, pack. Then it was checkout time, and then getting on the road time. We had stopped at "Buc-ee's," one of those giant rest stops, on the way up, so I could pee. Buc-ee's is a chain from Texas, with a restaurant, lots and lots of gas pumps, and a huge store that specializes in jerky. They have opened about a half-dozen of them down here, and one is on the way to Chattanooga, in Calhoun. Walking in is overwhelming: it's a big store and people everywhere, and noisy. I went in and pee'd and that was it. We talked about stopping on the way back, especially as Tucker had gone crazy when he saw the tumult, but we were tired. So of course there was a traffic jam. We waited over a half hour in Adairsville for them to clear a fracas that appeared to have involved two tractor-trailer trucks. It was exhausting. We got home safely, and the house was okay (the big storm we'd had in Chattanooga roared south and had hit Atlanta like a cannonball in some places; supposedly trees were down in Cobb County, but around us was safe). I shoved clothes in the washer and that was the end of LibertyCon. We will go up on Thursday next year (if we get in) and stop at Publix or whatever, and buy food like pot pies or Hungry Man dinners. $26 for meatloaf indeed! » Saturday, June 24, 2023
LibertyCon, Part 2
Alas, there are bits of Saturday I don't remember.As always when we go away, I don't sleep all that well. And then the stress and the heat saw me awakening to lower GI problems. James had to help me get dressed, and we did make it down to Staybridge's outstanding breakfast bar: three waffle-making machines! Two kinds of bread and bagels to toast! Three hot foods (today: eggs, bacon, and sweet potato tots)! Oatmeal! Three kinds of cereal. Cream cheese, butter, and a bunch of other seasonings. Four kinds of "juice mixes," and coffee and tea of course. I had to raid the milk-for-cereal pitcher for milk. They still have their "grill out" suppers, too, but they're during the week. Walked Tucker, and then James went off to the convention center. I laid down for about forty-five minutes, then joined James for David Weber's panel. We are sorry, David Weber fans, that James was that guy during the panel. His cell phone rang and it was fucking Kaiser! They wanted him to go to Urgent Care right away to get an IV antibiotic! James finally had to leave the room because the woman who called seemingly could not understand that not only weren't we in Atlanta, we weren't even in Georgia, and kept arguing with him. Gah. James went off to the Baen Books panel. Here's where things get fuzzy. I know I fell asleep in a chair in a deserted hallway at the center of the convention center. (I was thinking the deserted location might be great for a police chase story!) There were writers' panels I wanted to see, like "The Art of Editing" and "Writing from the Perspective of a Historian," but I never made it to them. I did walk the dog early. At some point we had dinner at the restaurant. They had big beef brisket sandwiches and we tried those. James wasn't impressed. He said brisket is supposed to be tender and this was chewy; that it certainly wasn't Texas beef brisket anyway! The onion rings were good. And at 9 p.m. we did get to see the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company perform Ron Butler's "Resurrection Eve," about a wealthy, self-absorbed woman of the future who wants her "darling husband" resurrected so that they can have a family together. The results are...well, let's say things don't go well. They also did an adaptation of Larry Correia's "Maple Syrup Wars," which is a humorous tale about aliens who discover that maple syrup makes them...well, very high. Several of the alien species are willing to pay for the maple syrup, but one species wants to take it by force. We fight back, of course. Usually we stay afterwards and talk to folks, but we were both so bushed we just headed back to the hotel, and went to bed. Labels: Atlanta Radio Theatre Company, conventions, food, friends » Friday, June 23, 2023
LibertyCon, Part 1
James has always wanted to go to LibertyCon.LibertyCon has been going for 36 years now (having skipped 2020, of course), initially held in July, hence the name (there were three years it was held in May and for the last few years it has been reassigned to June). It is a small convention with a membership cap, and many of our friends have been going for years and years, until basically now it's like a fannish family reunion. 2020, James decided, was the year we were going to go. He bought tickets. And, of course, shit happened, and everyone's memberships rolled over to 2021. 2021 we were unable to go, and they rolled it over for us. Well, in 2022 we were unable to get hotel reservations in time. At this time, the convention was being held at the Marriott Hotel connected to the Chattanooga Convention Center, but the Marriott isn't pet friendly. However, the Staybridge Suites (our favorite hotel) at the other side are, and it costs more to board the critters than it does to pay the pet fee, so we wanted to bring them—Snowy has always loved "little rooms with teevee"! But James waited too late to get reservations. He managed to talk them into rolling us over one more time. It must be all that customer service he learned for IBM tech support. But this year we were in and we were going to go. I have to be truthful: I was ambivalent about it. Trips are hard on me now; since James' back and knee makes it that I have to do all the carrying, there's a lot of work for me. I have lists upon lists so we don't forget anything important, including his medical supplies which include bandages and tape in case his legs get a blister, the insulin, water for Tucker so he doesn't get diarrhea from strange water, etc. Plus, this is basically a science fiction writers con. I started out on Heinlein with some Asimov, but don't read any modern SF. There were a few writers' panels, but basically I'd be there to chat with friends, which would be the good part for me. Let's not even go into having to travel in the summer... So we packed a little day by day, and I had a long lead time to take stuff down to the truck; since we couldn't check in until three, we didn't need to leave until after noon. We left at one and should have left earlier: Chattanooga used to be a nice 75-minute drive, now until you get out of the Atlanta metro area it's a morass of traffic. The freeway was backed up, so we tried the highway instead and, of course, traffic lights. Plus we hadn't covered the bed of the truck and we ran in and out of rain during the nearly two hour trip. Apparently Interstate 24, which splits west at Chattanooga and was the way we had to go, is always backed up during daytime hours. Of course Waze took us through teeny city streets, including one steep hill on which I was convinced the chair lift was going to scrape bottom. However, we made it to Staybridge unscathed. Dropped all the stuff in the room, took Tucker for a walk—alas, Snowy never got to see another "little room with the teevee"—and then hurried to the convention center to get registered as there was a panel tonight that James really wanted to see. Staybridge is literally across the street from the convention center; you can just enter at that end and walk the length of it—we didn't know that at first and walked the outside till we found a way in—a big long hall with meeting rooms on one side and big exhibit halls and banquet halls on the other (with more meeting rooms as well). I think at least six different exhibitions can be held here. When we got there there were two different church groups; one stayed all weekend. Also a hunting exhibition was there on Saturday. LibertyCon was all the way down the long hall at the Marriott end. There was, alas, no food. The restaurant was horribly expensive—seriously, $26 for meatloaf?—so we ate some sandwiches from the downstairs café. I went to see a panel given by a woman who now works for child advocacy groups, but she was talking to us about serial killers. She is the daughter of a psychiatrist and a psychologist, and spent part of her childhood at the nurses station in a mental hospital. Her dad was one of the shrinks who examined Albert DeSalvo (the Boston Strangler, for those of you who didn't grow up hearing about this dude on the news). James was at a panel about "Guns of the Future," so I went back to Staybridge to take Tucker out before dark, then came back to the hotel. The panel James was looking forward to, "No Shit, There I Was," was at nine, but I wasn't all that interested. I had my tablet with me and I found a nice little nook off the hotel lobby and sat and edited a manuscript until he was done. The Staybridge room (James got the baby suite, with a separate bedroom) was quite nice and they have feather pillows. As always, there is a little kitchenette and dishes and pans, stove, sink, even a tiny dishwasher, and a living room together, then the bedroom, and the bath, which was handicapped accessible, had a pocket-panel door. This was good. However, I was a bit ticked at a jerry-rigged repair. The roll-in shower had a low shower head, for a person in a wheelchair, and then a higher, removable shower head on a long vertical pole which, theoretically, could be adjusted high or low. But the handle that kept the shower head up didn't tighten, so it slid down when you had a shower, and, because the hook that fastened the removable shower head to the pole was broken, they had made loops to hang it with two zip ties!!! And they didn't even clip the ends, so we both nearly poked ourselves in the eye several times. Oh, and body wash. I hate body wash. Give me a nice bar of soap every time. I hate "pump, pump, pump," wash one arm, "pump, pump, pump," wash the other arm, "pump, pump, pump," wash your stomach, on and on and on. We had soap with us, but there was nowhere in the shower to put it down. Sigh. Labels: conventions, travel » Thursday, June 22, 2023
Returns and Farewell
And the big news is: Strange New Worlds is back! I think this is now tied with Lower Decks as my favorite new Star Trek iteration. (Although Picard season three was pretty wonderful, with Amanda Plummer killing it as a deranged villain.) Is it me, or does Anson Mount's hair get higher with every series? LOL. Labels: conventions, death, food, health, shopping, television » Sunday, March 05, 2023
Gains and Losses
Things got done this week.We have a new laser printer. When James was hitched to the oxygen tank, he tripped over the tubing several times, thankfully never hurting himself, but he did kill the printer. We thought the cable plug was broken, but it's the plug inside that is broken. It would take as much to get the printer fixed as it would to buy a new one. So we went to MicroCenter and bought another Brother. We had to look carefully, because the new printer couldn't be over a certain height to fit on the shelf we have for it. I would have settled for black and white, which would have been smaller, but James wanted a color printer. We ordered new glasses at Costco. Less than $800 for four pairs of glasses for both of us. Go suck eggs, VisionWorks. Thursday we ordered new orthopedic shoes for James. Friday we went back to Dr. Salazar. James is going to start having steroid shots in his knees again. It will help alleviate some of the pain. Unfortunately the shots will eventually stop working. We also went to Barnes & Noble and decided we just can't do the buffet at Fried Tomato any longer. I love the pork ribs, but they also make me sick. Saturday we did do something fun: downtown Marietta hosted something called "Marietta: the Gathering," which was a bit like an outdoor convention with mostly a dealer's room. It was a lot of fun. There was at least one Star Trek artist there; most of it seemed anime and gaming oriented. I bought two kitsune pins (there's a kitsune reference in one of my stories) and we ran into Matt and Kelley Ceccato there. In some sad news, one of my favorite writers, Christopher Fowler, passed away. He had talked previously on Twitter about having cancer; it was the reason he had concluded the Bryant and May mysteries. I also found out that they are tearing down, floor by floor, the venerable old Hotel Pennsylvania in New York City. I went to my first science fiction convention there, and it feels as if I've lost another piece of myself. Labels: books, conventions, events, food, health, purchases, writing » Sunday, November 06, 2022
Defeat
We have had to cancel our trip to Rhode Island. I had plane and hotel reservations all made for the two of us, and confirmation that all RIPTA buses have wheelchair lifts. The only thing I had not made were the RI Comic Con memberships themselves, and glad I did not, because they were nonrefundable. Why? Because James would need a portable oxygen generator for the trip and Apria needs a three-week notice to get you one. He was just out of the hospital only two weeks ago (and they did say he could go!). (The "portable" oxygen generator, by the way, was that wretched 20-pound monster I had to struggle up the stairs with two weeks ago!) But I was still willing to get James and our luggage dumped in Kennedy Plaza with the darn thing to try to make it to RICC. I am absolutely heartbroken to not only be missing Vincent D'Onofrio and John Glover, but to be missing William Daniels and Bonnie Bartlett. Daniels is in his 90s and who knows when we will ever get a chance to see them again. The other horrible part of the week was having to drive to the Gwinnett Kaiser office for a followup appointment that basically took ten minutes. A two-hour drive home for a ten-minute visit. The only good thing about it was that the urologist was very cooperative, unlike James' current one, and gave us a scrip so we could try some self-lubricating disposable coude catheters for travel. I don't mind using the rubber ones for at home, but cathing in a hotel bathroom? (Alas, the coude catheters did not work for James; the rubber ones get more fluid out of him. But at least we got to try.) We did go to Conjuration over the weekend and had a good time at the panels we saw, talked to friends...but still not as good as getting to go home and have some decent food in the bargain! (I mean, we had an extra day; we were planning to take Amtrak to Boston, eat at Quincy Market or maybe the North End, and RIPTA does go out to Oakland Beach—we could have had doughboys and clam cakes and a lobster roll...)
Labels: conventions, excursions, food, health, sickness, vacation » Sunday, November 07, 2021
Conjuration Convocation
We ended up having a really nice time at Conjuration. Again, it's highly Harry Potter oriented, but they have a very nice writer's track, and we spent a lot of time at those panels.We were a little discombobulated Saturday morning, so did not arrive in time for an 11 a.m. panel that I was interested in; however, we discovered the schedule online was not accurate, either, and that panel wasn't being held. Alas, it also meant that the raptor demonstration we had wanted to see wasn't going to happen this weekend either. It was okay, though; we found things to do. In fact, I knew the moderator of the first panel we attended: Dr. Dea Mazingo-Gorman, who did the anthropology panels at Anachrocon. "When Magic Gets Sciency" was about customs in ancient societies that were considered "magical" back then that have a scientific basis. For instance, in ancient Egypt, worshipers of Horus wore eye makeup that identified them as members. While this eye makeup had lead in it, it also protected the Horus-worshippers from eye infections caused by bathing in the Nile due to its scientific properties. Another was Lake Avernus, which is near Pozzuoli, Italy. There are caves in the area which caused death when you entered them. Turns out the lake is the caldera of a former volcano and poisonous gas still issues into the caves. Also talked a lot about the interconnectedness of ravens and wolves, which appear in many different mythologies including Native Americans. Apparently when wolves vanished from Yellowstone, so did the ravens; when they reintroduced wolves, the ravens came back. Neat panel. Labels: conventions, friends, shopping, standard time, television » Friday, November 05, 2021
Fresh Apples and Magical Locations
We had a good weekend despite James' toe (which is now not red and looking better although the wound appears a little larger) and the news we got on Friday afternoon.Alas, first we had to get through the shopping on Thursday as well as getting James a blood/urine test for his nephrologist appointment next week. But that was pretty painless. Labels: conventions, excursions, food, shopping, weather, work » Saturday, October 09, 2021
Over Roads and Undercover
The rest of the week was not quite as solemn, and even a little fun. Thursday, of course, it was shopping, and then James had his six-months visit to the dermatologist. She froze off two little moles on his left earlobe, but otherwise gave him a clear bill of health. Unfortunately we should have popped in the pharmacy and picked up a new box of Ferrex. Now we're going to have to pop in at a Kaiser facility sometime in the two weeks he doesn't have an appointment just to get Ferrex. Bother. (Don't suggest online. Everyone is five dollars a box more than Kaiser.)And Friday it finally happened! The first time in two years there has been a library book sale! Report is here. Later in the day we went to Kaiser's TownPark facility and got our COVID-19 booster. » Tuesday, September 07, 2021
...And We Didn't Go to DragonCon
We did start prepping for it. I have the 100-calorie packs, the goldfish crackers, the Lance cracker packs, etc. all carefully stacked on a shelf in the laundry room. (Never did find juice boxes!) We talked about it. We had friends that intended to go, and these were the most sensible of our friends. They weren't the type that took unnecessary risks. Nevertheless, we were riding on the edge of that fence for most of the summer. James didn't even ask for Sunday and Monday off, I never reserved parking spaces. The news about the hospitals being overwhelmed by the Delta variant of COVID was daunting. But we were still considering it. When Betty passed away it was the last straw. She and John had just gone away for a weekend, and I know both of them were also sensible. They probably took precautions. And they were both vaccinated. And they both got sick. And Betty died. At this point James had already decided not to go, but oh, I was still thinking... We do have to get up early for DragonCon. I hate getting up early anymore (even though I'll have to do it for the Yellow Daisy Festival...and the Georgia Apple Festival). I don't feel any kind of refreshed unless I get up around 8:30. And you can't do that going to DragonCon. It has to be up early (at 6:30 on Friday because of registration and the traffic, and 7 a.m. other days if you have a panel at ten and you don't want to gulp your breakfast). But, as I admitted to someone, not going felt horrible. I felt like an superannuated firehorse who'd been put out to pasture, but still heard the ringing of the fire bell from the field, and oh, how I wanted to jump the fence and go to the fire, too! And I could still do it, if I wanted: get up at seven, grab some breakfast here to save money, take the car downtown (surely the garages weren't full). But I ended up not doing it because...well, as James and I were talking about: there are always alternate futures, and there was a future in which we both went to DragonCon and nothing happened. But there was also a future where we went and he got sick despite the mask and the lowered crowds, because of his co-morbidities. Or one future where I got sick, and then who would take care of his leg? Or a future where we both got sick...and who would be there for Tucker and Snowy? I could cry all I wanted all weekend about DragonCon (and I did, in odd corners), but nothing would be worse than how I would feel if something happened to James if I encouraged him to go or if the fids got neglected if we came down with the hellish thing. My wish about this past weekend is that in two or three weeks we can look at the posts on Facebook and realize no one we love got sick...not Alice and Ken, nor Aubrey, not all my friends at Brittrack, and that we were too cautious. Because that's so much better than the alternative. The Brittrack folks did do some virtual panels, including one on Agatha Christie and one on early Doctor Who, which were fun, and they did have the DragonCon parade on YouTube. Meanwhile, to make up for things, James took us up to Canton on Friday so we could have some decent pizza at Uncle Maddio's—that poor guy up there is still running the whole place alone since February—and go to Books-a-Million (bought Untamed, about a woman who is protecting the wildlife on Cumberland Island, and The Women's Hour, about the suffrage movement, the latter from the bargain books). It's sad when Books-a-Million has more books than most of the local Barnes & Nobles! We sacked out when we got home and watched Law & Order reruns. Saturday we took our clothes to the cleaner to prep for Jessie and John's wedding, and had dinner for James' birthday at Longhorn. I found a beaut of a gift for him from Hamilton Books: all about British aviation films. Sunday I put up more fall decor and Monday got to see the Sunday morning Christopher Eccleston interview from DragonCon that someone posted on YouTube. (If I'd gotten to see him, it would have meant I would have seen all the available Doctors live...Hartnell having passed on and Jodie Whittaker being unavailable.) Otherwise I've been mainlining Law & Order: Criminal Intent episodes in the afternoon from Peacock (and reading fanfic as well), starting from the beginning. Not sure I can stand the eps where they start playing with Goren's head, though. God, how I hated all those Hawaii Five-0 episodes where a member of the cast got tortured! But, gawd, it's fun watching Vincent D'Onofrio play "Detective Twitchy," as James calls him. It's an art form. Labels: books, conventions, death, DragonCon, excursions, friends, health, illness, television » Sunday, May 30, 2021
Pho, Phooey on the VA, and Phriends
If you wonder why these even weekly updates come so late, it's because, unless you choose some frantic activity to replace work when you retire, there's not a lot to write about. There's only a lot to write if there's an emergency—and those are certainly unwanted. My prayer to God is "I want to be bored." But then there's always that danger of boredom, too, which makes you depressed. So I do wish for something nice to do, but those options are truncated now that it's gotten hot. Neither James and I can bear heat any longer—it exhausts him and makes my heart do trippy things when we're exposed to heat too long. This is why we figure this year's DragonCon—which was just announced to be in-person this year—will probably be our last. Maybe we'll day trip or something further on. Wish more small conventions would come to the fore. We miss WHOlanta and Anachrocon. Will try to attend Spycon and the Harry Potter con in the fall. We have tickets for Libertycon, but they postponed it, which was a good thing, because the hotel prices made my jaw drop. This week, for instance: good stuff, but nothing earthshaking. Alice and Ken hosted a Memorial Day picnic. Alas, it was on Sunday, so James had to stay plugging at the computer, but I brought him home a burger and some sides. Met two of Alice and Ken's church friends, Emma and LJ, who were also fannish. Spent the rest of the evening watching the National Memorial Day Concert on PBS and crying through most of it. This year they did tributes to people who have otherwise been missed: battlefield nurses in Vietnam and the firefighters and police who walked into the World Trade Center on September 11 and never came home (along with those who died in the buildings). I find that twenty years later 9/11 still makes me sob uncontrollably and feel afraid. Monday I finally took all the scrapbooking stuff to Goodwill. During the week I put up the last of the Command caddies so it looks less frantic under the sinks. On Wednesday the visiting nurse, Jewel, came. We love Jewel and will miss her, but are crossing fingers that James' leg stays okay and we do not have to have a nurse any longer. Thursday we went to Sam's Club for Kraft cheese slices and mandarin orange cups, then did the rest of the shopping. On Friday we completed the new set of towels by stopping at the Bed, Bath & Beyond Akers Mill store and getting a set of bath sheets and hand towels in indigo, then swung by Hobby Lobby. Incredibly, they already have an aisle of Christmas "picks" (the stuff you make into bouquets) going up! I grabbed a few things for the yard since all the summer stuff was half off: metal birds on stakes, a duck plaque to go on one fence post, and a metal owl to go on the other. Saturday we frustrated ourselves for nearly three hours apply for a Veteran's ID card for James. You can get an annual park pass to National Parks for free if you are a vet and have proper ID. It took ages because they told you could use certain scanning formats for the documents you had to submit to confirm your ID, but you couldn't then use the same format (I scanned them as PDFs) to actually apply for the card (I had to rescan everything as a JPG). Then when we went to submit the rescanned stuff only then did they tell us you could only have a certain file size. I had to pull all the images into Paint Shop Pro and reduce the size and the colors to fit the specs. Someone who had no computer knowledge would have been flummoxed by the whole process. As it was, we were totally frustrated when we finally got to have lunch at 2:30 p.m., and picked up ice cream at Baskin-Robbins for a reward for putting up with it all. Oh, for Friday lunch we finally tried Pho24, which closed down last year just on the day we were going to try it. It was quite good. Labels: annoyances, conventions, food, friends, gatherings, health, organizing, shopping » Monday, September 07, 2020
"Faith Manages"
In the spring, when the COVID-19 lockdowns began, we could only wonder peripherally about what would happen in the future. Right then the hospitalization and death statistics were too overwhelming. Cobb County cancelled the spring Library Book Sale two days before the event, even though I was already planning a way to get through the event safely (mask and then leaving the books downstairs for a week to let any germs die—the thought then was the virus only lasted on surfaces 72 hours). We managed to make it to Atomicon; Helen, GA, shut down the very next day.As the spring, and then the summer moved on, more and more things were cancelled: Smyrna's Spring Jonquil Festival, Media West Con, then MomoCon and LibertyCon. DragonCon held out till the last minute, but then in July we got the word it was too cancelled. Sadness, but a little bit of relief, too. Imagine DragonCon wearing masks, in all that heat! Certainly there would be fewer people, as many would choose not to travel and especially not to fly, but crowds... And frankly I wasn't really feeling up to it physically. In the spring, before it got hot, I was walking two miles a day and didn't feel bad, but every summer is harder and harder on me, and the thought of having to prep all the snacks, and cook the chicken and make the sandwiches, and then, the worst of all, having to get up early on Friday to fight rush hour traffic. The worst thing about summer is sleeping because even with the thermostat down to 68°F and three fans going, it's simply too warm. Then the chatter started on the various Facebook groups devoted to DragonCon tracks: BritTrack, American Sci-Fi Classics, SF Literature, etc. They were going to try to do some virtual stuff; arrange some interviews via Zoom and post the videos on YouTube. Well, okay. This would be some small solace, but what, really, could they do?  "What could they do?" indeed! They succeeded past our wildest dreams. Eventually DragonCon Goes Virtual had a Roku channel that was split up into three tracks. One was "DCTVLand," which showed panels from previous years. We were treated to the classic 2009 panel with William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, John Barrowman and Kai Owen discussing Torchwood in 2012, several interviews with the late Stan Lee and with Brian Henson, son of Jim, and more. A second track was the Fan Track, which featured panels from each of the multiple programming tracks at DragonCon actual: a BritTrack panel about tea and programming, costuming panels, Star Trek reunion panels, etc. The final track was "Main Programming," which included a virtual masquerade and a virtual parade. People sent in videos of themselves in costume to the former, people in costume marched around their back yards, local parks, and their own streets, and this was strung into a virtual parade interspersed with historical video of past parades. What wasn't on Roku was on YouTube. BritTrack did a whole string of panels, including two on James Bond and one on Sherlock Holmes archetypes (Adrian Monk, anyone? Or Gregory House?) American SciFi Classics turned out some delightful stuff. Saw a Zoom interview with author Jim Butcher, old panels with Grant Imahara 😭, Alton Brown, Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk, Carrie Fisher 😭, and a brand new panel with the cast of Star Trek: Voyager. We even had a performance by the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company that knocked our socks off. Also, it has apparently been a tradition at the masquerade—we haven't gone in years; too long a line—to play "Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century" during the judging. However, since DragonCon was being broadcast, they couldn't do it due to copyright violation. So they had people act it out. It was hysterical. You can watch it here! In short, it was a weird idea that totally, fabulously, worked. Heck, there's programming online we still haven't seen. And they've promised us all this nonsense will be available through the $10 streaming membership we bought. Several of the tracks have their programming up on YouTube without a streaming membership. So many people schemed, dreamed, worked hard, and then gave us something we didn't imagine they could: they gave us DragonCon weekend. In the words of J. Michael Straczynski: "Faith manages." Thank all of you, and God bless. (Stay well!) Labels: Atlanta Radio Theatre Company, conventions, DragonCon, events, health, sickness » Saturday, May 30, 2020
The Beautiful and the Sordid
Wednesday an official milestone was reached: 100,000 people in the United States had died of COVID-19.
And Wednesday we had another trip to Kaiser: James had to pick up the latest prescription for his UTI (now he has a fungal infection) and decided just to reorder a big batch of prescriptions as well. From there we went to Publix. We were actually thinking of going to Barnes & Noble, but instead we came home and I was glad of it, because (guess what) the heat was once again doing a number on my lower GI. We wanted to watch the SpaceX launch anyway: this is their first mission carrying human beings, two astronauts who are traveling to the International Space Station. And the launch is from Pad 39A at Cape Canaveral, where we went to the moon. Mission Control was alive once again. Alas, afternoon Florida weather struck: there was a chance of lightning and a tornado warning. Evidently they did not want a replay of the Apollo 12, where the whole spacecraft was hit by lightning. Twice. They have another launch window on Saturday. Thursday we had to go back to Kaiser, because while he got all his refills they never gave him the new prescription! Sigh. From there we did a turn around Lidl, then I ran into Kroger for no-salt mushrooms and low-sodium Pringles. We had to hurry home, because James had his first physical therapy appointment for his back that afternoon. While he was out, I decided to tool out to the Office Max on Thornton Road because I thought it was high time I made sure I had a refill for my Sheaffer pen that I use in my journal, and that store was the closest one that had any (there were supposedly three in stock). Well, when I got there, there were none on the rack. Between a very nice salesperson and the manager, they found me the last, lone one, but the package was broken open. They gave it to me for fifty cents. On the way home I stopped at a Big Lots and found more big rolls of Bounty, plus the oversize bottle of Suave shampoo I was looking for. And Home Depot had triple-taps; I got both a polarized one and two non-polarized ones. After shifting around a few things when I got home, we should have enough spares now. And Friday we had lunch out with friends! Gathered with Alice, Ken, and Aubrey at O'Charley's, where we got seated in a corner near the bar. The waitress brought your stuff and put it on a tray behind you, and you picked it up yourself, for minimal contact. It worked out well, and my steak, baked potato, and green salad was dandy. And then we did go to Barnes & Noble, which was both refreshing and disappointing. They have rearranged the entire store, with all the fiction now downstairs. I like the new layout, but I think if possible they may have fewer books in the store! So tired of all the dumb toys and stuffed animals and junk. I don't mind book-related toys so much, like Harry Potter wands and stuffed owls, and the like, because at least they have a connection with books, and learning toys, but building toys and dolls and stuffed animals are just annoying. Since I complained so mightily to them on Facebook, I decided I had to buy something: I found Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America, about the vice-presidents who succeeded to the presidency due to death (assassination or otherwise). We still got home very early; I watched three episodes of Longmire and then, to lure James away from the computer, found Strategic Air Command on Amazon Prime. It worked, too! Saturday morning I hurried downstairs to finally vacuum the library and then get the main area done, because we would spend late morning and most of the afternoon watching the SpaceX launch. It went flawlessly, even though there was a better chance of rain today and they went almost down to the wire on a weather scrub. But the clouds cleared and the Falcon rocket rose like a dream and lifted the Dragon spacecraft into orbit. It's so nice to see space coverage again! And I loved seeing the excitement of the younger people, including the two astronauts on the NASA coverage and drawings sent in by boys and girls inspired by exploration. Alan Siler had also arranged to have a virtual WHOlanta on Facebook. I got to the correct group late, and then was always a little behind, so I only saw a bit of the Doctor Who music discussion and a little more of Sophie Aldred, but did see all of Colin Baker. It was a great idea, but I was too distracted by the SpaceX mission to give it my proper attention. It was almost an antidote for what was going on downtown. People are protesting, and rightly, too, over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Ahmaud Arbery in south Georgia. The George Floyd death is particular nasty—the police officer had him pinned to the ground by putting a knee on his neck for eight minutes, effectively smothering the poor man while three other officers did nothing to stop him. The video of this is absolutely hideous and painful to watch. Arbery was shot earlier this year because two self-appointed neighborhood vigilantes thought this guy jogging through their neighborhood "might be" a burglar who had struck back in December and chased him down. He turned around and tried to fight them off—of course he did! what would you do if you were jogging and two crazy men suddenly started attacking you?—and they shot him (but haven't been arrested for it until now). But of course in a group of perfectly justified protestors there are always people who spoil it for everyone else: suddenly there are figures running amok setting fire to buildings and police cars, and then looting stores. Most of the stores wrecked and looted were owned by people of color, so who was actually harmed? An African-American police officer was deliberately hit and seriously injured as well, by someone on an ATV. Plus an AT&T store was looted. Because nothing says respect for the death of an innocent man like busting windows and stealing cell phones! Atlanta's mayor was furious and told them to go home and quit disrespecting George Floyd's death. I am having 1968 flashbacks. I was twelve in 1968. Via the news I saw Dr. Martin Luther King shot. I saw Bobby Kennedy shot. I saw riots at both the Democratic and Republican conventions. I saw police turn fire hoses and tear gas and German Shepherds on Vietnam protesters and Civil Rights marchers. I saw Watts burn. And I thought people would know better and be better when I was an adult. And we're still doing this effing racist shit. As if the color of your skin has anything to do with what kind of person you are! Madness! Revolting! Sickening! This isn't 1820, or even 1920! It's the 21st century and why are we still falling for this fake crap about "superior racial groups"? Labels: conventions, COVID-19, events, food, friends, health, shopping, space » Sunday, February 16, 2020
The Somber End to a Fun Weekend
Well, this was it. The final Anachrocon.We've been going to Anachrocon since it was a mostly steampunk convention at the Hilton at Perimeter Mall. (221B Con, the Sherlock Holmes convention, was also there for a while.) We sampled our first one just on a Sunday, enjoyed the few panels we saw (candy-making exhibitions, mostly), and signed up for the entire con the next year. The con branched out further once it moved to the Marriott at Century Center (where Timegate/WHOlanta was held after they moved from the Holiday Inn in Chamblee). They started having a whole track of history panels and there was also a Doctor Who track, along with costuming, fabrication, literature, and science. There are literature and science panels at DragonCon, but no real history tracks, just alternate history panels. It was so good to be able to talk to others about things that interested you in real history, like an infamous circus train crash in Georgia. Two men who re-enacted Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson also used to come to the con. Then there was a shake-up in the con committee, the con was held one year near our house (the Wyndham at Powers Ferry), and then they moved out to the Hilton at the airport like everyone (WHOlanta and 221B) else. But it was obvious at the Wyndham con that attendance was down. So...long story short, this year was the last. We had our own obstacle this year since the lift on the truck had been broken and we were still waiting for the insurance claim to process so we could arrange to have a new one installed. There was no way James could get the power chair there. Instead we decided to take the Kia and the rollator, since it was supposed to rain most of the weekend anyway. So on Friday we packed up our food (since the restaurants in the hotel are too expensive for words; the "Italian" place has spaghetti and meatballs for $22! Even the sports bar is expensive and tiny portions; I don't want to know what the lah-de-dah "Magnolia Room" charges), headed down to the airport about 2:30, annoyed to find out rush hour had already started. I let James off at the door and went to park the car out back. Our friends Clay and Maggi had also just arrived and they turned up soon afterwards. Spent most of this convention at the literature track, which, like last year, consisted of mostly writing panels. We spent Friday evening, in fact, solely in the literature track, where there was the one non-writing panel, the history of alternative history. The other Friday panels were about editing, writing effective villains, "That Took Me Out of the Story" (unforgivable errors mostly), and tropes. Saturday we were there from eleven until 9:30 p.m. (and probably would have been later had I not considered poor Tucker's bladder). We did a cruise around the Dealer's Room when we arrived, then went to sit down in the 17th Century Medicine panel given by Jo Frost, waiting for the Writing Historical Fiction panel (which, as always, boils down to "research! research! research!"), and we both went to the "Writing Alternative Universes" panel. At 2 p.m. I attended the Science Track's panel about "20s" technology. Debbie Viguie and a friend ran this as a humorous look at technology that came out in the 20s (1920s, 1820s, 1720s, 1620s...) doing a Bill and Ted riff. It was funny, and we voted for our favorite technologies and added things. (James had gone to a panel on tommy guns, and remarked wryly that he know more about tommy guns than the moderator.) Attended the "Effective Research" panel back in "litrachure," then went wandering back to History track to see the "Untouchables" panel. Jeremiah Mitchell was still finishing the Battle of Atlanta, and it ran way, way over, so his "Untouchables" presentation was a bit truncated (but still ran over). Jeremiah loves to talk about the things that interest him, and, boy, can he talk. I'd seen the Capone/Ness presentation previously but he attacked it at a different angle this time. So I was late getting out of that one and decided to give "Tesla vs. Edison" a miss. The next panel was about unusual roles for women, which we all went to, but it was different from what I expected. The moderator was talking about specific people; I thought it was going to be more general (talking about women who became soldiers, perhaps, like Deborah Sampson, or about women being tram drivers in World War I, etc.). After that Clay, Maggi, James, and I stood around swapping pet stories—and watching the cute dachshund, Dobby, walk back and forth with his human, wearing a little doggy three piece suit. The final Saturday panel was about the Kennedy assassination, which Maggi and I remember, but Clay and James don't, so they stayed outside and talked and we stayed in and watched Jeremiah, who had corralled all the conspiracy theory evidence (although there's enough non-conspiracy stuff to be puzzled about, like why no forensics teams ever saw that limousine) and started talking at 8:15, and, like the Energizer Bunny, kept going and going and going. Maggi left because her back was hurting, and I would have stayed if I hadn't started thinking Tucker was really going to need a walk—I tiptoed out at 9:30, Jeremiah having just reached the investigation that took place after the Warren Commission report. So in we walk Sunday morning, and the first person I run into is Jeremiah. I ask "What time did you finish last night?" He said "Eleven." I just laughed. We did three panels on Sunday, a literature one about developing story ideas, and then a panel in the history track about re-enactments and the value of historical accuracy. Instead, with the meager audience's help, it developed into funny re-enactment events and the crazy things re-enactors are asked (Jeremiah and Jo said they were both asked if their campfire was "real"). The third guy on the panel (Bill?) said that it was hard for beginners to attain historical accuracy anyway, because most re-enactors start in their teens when they have no money, and they don't have the cash to order handmade Civil War-era-like brogans ($400!). But, yeah, sneakers did kind of take you out of the moment. 😊 So we (well, Maggi and I at least) ended up back at the beginning for the last panel in Literature, "Give the Princess a Sword." Strong female characters—but don't make her a guy in a girl outfit. (The guys were outside in the open area, watching a demonstration swordfight.) We probably should have stayed for closing ceremonies, but being on his feet was catching up with James, so instead we headed home. We did buy Girl Scout cookies before we left. (And who was the last person we said goodbye to? Jeremiah. So he got the last word. 😉 ) There was one perk out of the Hilton this weekend: we never had to pay for parking! The ticket reader didn't work all three days—you couldn't insert the ticket into it; the feed did not work—and when you pressed the call button they just opened the gate for you. There's at least $15 saved. Which, of course was a good thing, because as we got on the freeway we had problems in two ways: we just went straight up through downtown because I-285 had construction all weekend, only to find out the freeway was backed up all the way through downtown. Of course being stuck in traffic was the perfect time for the car to start giving me trouble. It was idling low (500 RPM) with a visible vibration, and it was fighting me as I tried to accelerate. Any speed under 2000 RPM and there was a vibration. (There was also a tick when it idled.) We owe the hospital. We owe the IRS. And now this. Arrrrgh! Labels: annoyances, cars, conventions, friends » Monday, September 02, 2019
DragonCon, Day 4 (Or "A Day With the BritTrack--Stick Around, There are Crisps Later")
So after looking at all the DragonCon literature online, I could still not find out what time the DragonCon Store opened. I wanted to buy a streaming membership, only sold at the Store this year and not at registration as last year, and see if they had any stuffed baby dragons or T-shirts left for James. Finally poked around the website, which said the Store at the Marriott opened at eight, so I headed downtown early. A call of nature sent me rushing from the garage to the Marriott, and the first ladies' room was closed for cleaning. Took the escalator up to the next floor. Same here!!! Argh! Trotted past the DragonCon Store, which was not open at well after eight (so much for the website; bad webmaster!) and found that the much-discussed gender-neutral bathrooms were thankfully not being cleaned. A guy started to walk in next to me, saw me, started to turn away, and I said cheerfully, "It's gender-neutral! Come on in!"(These bathrooms are not the usual awful type of American toilet stalls that have wide gaps on either side of the door, so that by careful posing you could be a creepy peeping tom and see people "doing their business," but are individual little stalls with walls between them and good solid wooden doors with louvers for air. I had no problem using them with guys wandering around. I really appreciate the European-style toilet stall, which they have at Lidl, which are quite gap-free, although rather coffin-like. I did hear one objection to them, from a guy using the other gender-neutral bathroom which was originally a men's room; he didn't want women staring at him using the urinal! Dude, women aren't interested in your dangly bits as much as you seem to think they are. However, a screen there would probably be nice.) So the store wasn't open, so I trudged over to the Sheraton, picked up two memberships for next year, and stopped at the info booth to see what time the Store did open. Ten. Sigh. So I went back to the Marriott and got in line. They opened pretty promptly and during the wait I chatted with people in line. Alas, the cute sleeping baby dragons were sold out, as well as the T-shirts with the dragon looking remarkably like the Batman logo. I got the streaming membership, and picked up a DragonCon magnet for James' truck, then beat feet to the Hilton so I could at least see the rest of the Elementary vs. Sherlock panel. This was very egalitarian; at most of these I've been to everyone loves Sherlock and if Elementary isn't sneered at, it's at least given short shrift and a shrug (unless Louis Robinson is on the panel, and then you get a run for your money). This panel had a couple of people who loved both series equally and talked about the pros and cons of each, so when it ended and they proposed to take a vote, I said, "Why? They both stand on their own merits." And so we didn't vote—hurrah! So this is what I did on my final day at DragonCon: spent all of it at BritTrack, in the basement of the Hilton, with my "peeps." Now, I'd thought about going to the final Orville panel, but only J. Lee and Mark Jackson were left, and I would have had to hike to the Hyatt. Not today. I stayed instead for "Doctor Who: Mind the Gaps," about all the gap years there have been in the series (the one during Colin Baker, the long long gap after the classic series was cancelled and when the new series appeared, etc.). Alan Siler and the two Robs were on this panel, and we chatted about how we survived during the gaps, including during the big one when Virgin Books "New Adventures" and "Missing Adventures" books kept the series alive. Ah, I remember those days, perusing the new ones at the Science Fiction and Mystery Bookstore (otherwise known to old Atlanta fandom as "Mark's store), and at the late and so lamented Oxford Books. The third panel of the day was a history geek's (me! me!) dream: "Just Another Monarch Monday." They had a slide presentation of English kings and queens by era (Angevin, Plantagenet, Stuart, etc.) and what movies or television series you might find them in (for instance, in the Plantagenet era you would range from Robin Hood films like Prince of Thieves (and Men in Tights) and Robin and Marian, to Braveheart (Edward Longshanks), the Tudors everything from Charles Laughton's Henry VIII to things like Shakespeare in Love, with the Georges you get into everything from the comic prince in Blackadder III to Queen Victoria, and thus to modern day and The Crown. Really informative and fun panel. Didn't know there was a new movie out about Queen Anne's court. And then finally, inevitably, what's always traditionally been my last DragonCon panel: the wrap-up, "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish." The trackrunners and volunteers are dead tired, they don't want to take things home, so there are snacks for all while everyone talks about what worked and what didn't. Some of the night stuff sounds like a blast, but we simply can't afford to stay at the con hotels (even the overflow hotels) and take a rest before the nightly revelry. (We stayed at the hotel twice for Timegate/WHOlanta so we could participate in the late-night programming, only to wearily climb up to our room both times after the cabaret/masquerade was over and go to sleep instead, and that was over five years ago!) I snacked on ranch Doritos and plain Fritos, brought crunchy Cheetos and a Coke Zero home for James, tried ham and mustard flavored British "crisps," chatted with folks, and simply enjoyed one more hour with friends until it was time for Butch and I to make tracks for home. So, no visit to the Dealer's Room for me this year at all. Couldn't really afford it, but regret that I didn't get to go to Artist's Alley (also in the same building; liked it better when they were near the art show) and say hi to Andy Runton and see if there was a new "Owly" book or print out. Heck, never even made it to the art show. As my retirement has proved, even with what seems like all the time in the world, you can't do everything. Maybe next year...
Labels: books, conventions, Doctor Who, friends, history, shopping, television |
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