Eastercon booked
Feb. 22nd, 2008 09:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackOK, I am going to Eastercon[1]! Yay: I'm very pleased, because I knew I might, and didn't want to go out of my way to, but in the end everything fell into place, and it seems 100% positive. It sounds like a really good con, and I didn't have any difficulty sorting out the accommodation, and I'll see a bunch of people, including some I don't see anywhere else.
I'm glad I managed it without very much faff, if it had taken lots of organising I wouldn't have, as I'd be more concerned with making sure the Sweden weekend is ok. But everything fell right into place, and I'm looking forward to it: cons I've been to before, so there I can wander round all day in a daze talking about science fiction and have fun without trying.
So I have a lot to look forward to over a month. Though not a lot of free weekends.
PS: My name now appears on the membership list -- with half a dozen people after it. I see other people were joining today too :)
Sharing a room
I'm sharing with angoel, which is very nice, although it's been ages since I voluntarily shared a room with anyone. But as someone said, one comes back to one's room and falls asleep, so it doesn't make much difference.
I'm at that awkward stage where I earn enough *could* just get a single room. But then I think of all the other things I could spend that on. Friends who work for biiiiig/important/up-and-coming companies often have a severe disconnect, in that when they're flown by the company, everything which can be expensed flows like water (effectively free, copious, meaningless once you have a certain threshold's worth), but everything else, and at other times, they're hovelled (because eg. they live in central london).
So at least one friend is always "Oh, of course you should get the best hotel. Or do you have to pay for this? Doh! OK, maybe spending less than n00GBP a night can be justified after all."
Badge name
What should my name badge name be? Real names are traditional. I think not my surname, as it's so long it grabs all the attention. "Jack" would be fine -- most people probably know me like that. And for most people, if they remember me, I'm probably the *only* Jack. There are, other than me, one Jack and one Jackie registered at the con. However, Jacks are getting more common, so it's probably worth being Jack V. which is sufficiently distinctive and anonymous to satisfy everything, just not quite as aesthetic as just Jack.
However, I'll probably meet at least someone who knows me by my LJ handle. Would "Jack (C. Daemon)" be a better choice? I don't want to adopt my online identity, though I'm increasingly fond of it. Jack is who I am; CartesianDaemon is who I am sometimes. There is a line drawn between my work life and my social life, but it's not drawn at the distinction between names, in most venues I am also Jack. But I'm becoming slowly aware that some people *do* meet me online, and C. Daemon is part of me, rather than something I just make up.
Footnotes
[1] What is an Eastercon? Well, you know talking about science fiction?[2] Well, imagine a thousand people all did so at once. This requires a certain amount of organisation to get everyone into the same place, and suggested topics in rooms, and so on. Said organisation is called a "con".
It's been described as like any academic or business conference, but that everything is interesting and you are knowledgeable about :) And is full of freaky people, but friendly, helpful people.
Eastercon is in about a month. You can no doubt guess by now why Eastercon is called that. This year's is by heathrow, known as "Orbital 2008"
[2] If you don't like this, then this is about the point you should probably stop reading :)
I'm glad I managed it without very much faff, if it had taken lots of organising I wouldn't have, as I'd be more concerned with making sure the Sweden weekend is ok. But everything fell right into place, and I'm looking forward to it: cons I've been to before, so there I can wander round all day in a daze talking about science fiction and have fun without trying.
So I have a lot to look forward to over a month. Though not a lot of free weekends.
PS: My name now appears on the membership list -- with half a dozen people after it. I see other people were joining today too :)
Sharing a room
I'm sharing with angoel, which is very nice, although it's been ages since I voluntarily shared a room with anyone. But as someone said, one comes back to one's room and falls asleep, so it doesn't make much difference.
I'm at that awkward stage where I earn enough *could* just get a single room. But then I think of all the other things I could spend that on. Friends who work for biiiiig/important/up-and-coming companies often have a severe disconnect, in that when they're flown by the company, everything which can be expensed flows like water (effectively free, copious, meaningless once you have a certain threshold's worth), but everything else, and at other times, they're hovelled (because eg. they live in central london).
So at least one friend is always "Oh, of course you should get the best hotel. Or do you have to pay for this? Doh! OK, maybe spending less than n00GBP a night can be justified after all."
Badge name
What should my name badge name be? Real names are traditional. I think not my surname, as it's so long it grabs all the attention. "Jack" would be fine -- most people probably know me like that. And for most people, if they remember me, I'm probably the *only* Jack. There are, other than me, one Jack and one Jackie registered at the con. However, Jacks are getting more common, so it's probably worth being Jack V. which is sufficiently distinctive and anonymous to satisfy everything, just not quite as aesthetic as just Jack.
However, I'll probably meet at least someone who knows me by my LJ handle. Would "Jack (C. Daemon)" be a better choice? I don't want to adopt my online identity, though I'm increasingly fond of it. Jack is who I am; CartesianDaemon is who I am sometimes. There is a line drawn between my work life and my social life, but it's not drawn at the distinction between names, in most venues I am also Jack. But I'm becoming slowly aware that some people *do* meet me online, and C. Daemon is part of me, rather than something I just make up.
Footnotes
[1] What is an Eastercon? Well, you know talking about science fiction?[2] Well, imagine a thousand people all did so at once. This requires a certain amount of organisation to get everyone into the same place, and suggested topics in rooms, and so on. Said organisation is called a "con".
It's been described as like any academic or business conference, but that everything is interesting and you are knowledgeable about :) And is full of freaky people, but friendly, helpful people.
Eastercon is in about a month. You can no doubt guess by now why Eastercon is called that. This year's is by heathrow, known as "Orbital 2008"
[2] If you don't like this, then this is about the point you should probably stop reading :)
no subject
Date: 2008-02-22 11:42 pm (UTC)Personally I like full names on badges, but just because there are some people I know the names of and like to work out who they are. I'll probably write my LJ name on with a permanent marker.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-22 11:53 pm (UTC)Personally I like full names on badges,
Yes, me too. It somehow makes everything feel more real :) But (a) I'm sure from Jack V. anyone who knows me at all will know me, and if they don't know me at all, cartesiandaemon is the way to start getting in touch, not googling for "jack vurname" (b) I feel slightly more comforable where people can't track me down *completely* from a brief glance (c) I might write the surname in small or something (they can't print that, can they?)