jack: (Default)
I had a great time at Eastercon, for the first time Liv and I both went. My general impression was that there were quite a few interesting panels, but none really stand-out.

The scheduling of having breaks between panels, instead of hectic scheduling, was a good idea, but worked a lot less well if each timeslot didn't have something you really wanted to go to.

Having a themed ball where people in specific costumes were presented throughout, rather than a costume competition, seemed to work very well, and massively narrow the gulf between "people who dress up a bit" and "people who enter the competition". The called dances were reasonably well attended, although almost no-one danced to the other songs. (I really appreciated the opportunity to try, although am so far out of practice I couldn't do so very convincingly, at least while teaching a beginner), but I hope the format can be improved without dropping the idea. (Even if people just circulate and socialise while somewhat dressed up, it seemed like a good idea.)

It was all pleasant, although (at least in my impression) notably less expansive than many recent Eastercons; it felt like there was more than enough time to see everyone I knew, and go to the panels I wanted to, which was relaxing, but less exciting than a hectic whirl of trying to fit everything in.

The hotel was pleasant but expensive, and made an effort to produce actually nice breakfasts.

I was notably much less of a night-owl than I used to be, generally winding up by midnight or 1, and getting up by 9 and going to morning items. Either because I felt less impelled to rush to try to squeeze everything in, or because I've been keeping a more regular sleep schedule normally recently.

Eastercon

Mar. 26th, 2008 01:16 am
jack: (Default)
* By Monday, I'd got tired and a weird ache in my back, so didn't sleep terribly well. I was fine, but decided to flake out early (ie. about 7.15). However, I have to remind myself that was still a wonderful weekend, I don't have to squeeze every second out if I don't happen to feel like it.

* I saw quite a bit of several SGO friends I've known for a while now, and realised that I've often been comparatively quiet in their company, to the extent they don't hear long discourses on religion, etc, that sometimes come out of me.

* Bugshaw made my day saying one of my stories, the Ted Hughes inspired "How the Kitten Became", made something about Christianity suddenly seem comprehensible. Can you repeat it here, I can't quite describe it? But I was very chuffed that someone had read it and got something out of it, thank you.

Eastercon

Mar. 25th, 2008 01:39 pm
jack: (Default)
* Eastercn was great fun

* I have some good books, including some old classics and sequels I'm curious about but didn't want to buy, and some duplicates of my most accessible favourites to give away

* The travel was all pretty successful.

* Many nice people I knew went, and I got to know better, which is very nice.

* There were lots of interesting things, I've a whole bunch of percolating questions that'll crop up on

* I went to coffee with China MiƩville. I'd tried Iron Council but couldn't get into it, and had the impression of someone like Anne MacCaffrey, but he looks more like Vinnie Jones, and talks like he looks. His guest of honour slot wasn't devoted to anything about him, just here's an essay which recently occurred to me, now I'll talk about it, which was really interesting.

* I described him and Neil Gaiman as stubbornly not convinced that they're not a rockstar (with the charisma to pull it off). Neil failed to be kissed by anyone though, sorry foreeverdirt. (I would have asked him for a kiss to send you if I'd met him, but never did :))

* I wore my cloak increasingly more over the weekend. In my opinion, it went surprisingly well with the blue Hawaiian shirt. Worn inside out it's a lot more science-fictiony, as it's incredibly silver, but blue with flashed of silver lining is definitely the look I like.

* The hotel was very nice. They had mazes of twisty passages, but I liked the decoration, just the right mix of posh, tasteful, nice decoration, but sufficiently interesting not to be boring. And of course, slowly helpful notices appeared, "You are in a maze of twisty passages all alike" in the maze of twisty passages and "Beware of the Leopard" on the leopard statue.

* However, they slightly failed in some ways. I got the impression the staff doing what they regularly did were pleasant and helpful and knew what they were doing, but that they'd drafted in extra staff to deal with the vastly increased number of people for meals, for the extra bars, etc, who were nice, but didn't really know what they were doing.

Eg. when approximately a thousand people all want a glass of beer at once, it may be more helpful to place more emphasis on "serve pint, get exact money, next customer" than mainting the illusion that people will amble past the bar, strike up conversation, and casually mention that perhaps they're a little thirsty and did the bar have anything appropriate, and they'd be sure an appropriate little amount would find it onto the hotel bill later, and can I wait two minutes while you try to get the till to give a receipt? I don't blame the staff (who were obviously helpful, just didn't know enough) or the con committee (who did a great job), it's just a shame the hotel hadn't given some more directed training beforehand.

* I run out of socialising. I'm in a situation where I can just speak to someone standing there and we have lots in common and can speak easily. However only some of the time can I *do* that, after three days, I just stall and listen, without meeting new people.

* And there were a lot of friends there, but none I'm quite close enough to I can just flop with not worrying about whether I'm saying anything or not.

* And several panels had interesting ideas, but were frustrating, as there seemed to be someone waffling and I wanted to shake them, but I had too many different things to say at once and they jammed, me unable to work out what would be really most useful and what wouldn't.

* The "Crossing the steams: What's the difference between scifi or fantasy?" especially. Weston was very funny, and had a good point ("one of the things,and imho the only important one, that defines science-fiction is being rationalistic about physics"), but insisted on making it vociferously rather than consistently, when listening to other people would have been really interesting. And so everyone present only wanted to shoot that down rather than talking about anything else, but it was hopeless.

* I spent four days almost continuously in one building, only going outside just to experience fresh and snow for a couple of minutes each day. I think that's the longest I've spend inside, but can see why Americans and science fiction authors can imagine living entirely inside.

* Thanks to Sebby, who got me half his room in the main hotel, and was a interesting, polite and inoffensive room-mate. I hope you were glad of someone to share with too.
jack: (Default)
OK, 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 :)

Eastercon

Feb. 22nd, 2008 11:54 am
jack: (Default)
I couldn't decide whether to try to go to eastercon (http://www.orbital2008.org/) this year. I went to Worldcon in Glasgow, but never actually to an eastercon. It'd be nice, but I wasn't sure if it'd be free, so I decided I would if I could easily, otherwise not bother. But I'm not doing anything else, and today is the last official day of bookings, so I still could. Go impulsiveness indecision :)

The booking is well-practised but a little complicated as it's handled by the con or by the hotel. An eastercon regular will now explain any of the details relevant to this. I would book, except joint hotel bookings are handled by the con only for the main hotel. The overflow overflow has its lobby under construction, but (afaict from going partly through the booking process) has nice rooms for 75GBP single-occupancy or 85GBP twin-occupancy.

That's c. 180GBP con membership + hotel for three nights over Easter weekend. So -- no-one else who hadn't decided, or was already looking, would like to share a twin (or double) room, would they?

ETA: Getting a nearby travellodge was also suggested, which some people were doing, but I'd rather go next time instead when I can be central.

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