Gee Whiz, Slow Again!

After renaming my blog a few weeks back, I haven't posted in nearly a month. I was somewhat overwhelmed by getting ready for Noreascon IV, this year's World Science Fiction Convention in Boston. While I'd changed jobs in the course of convention planning (resigned from being the Exhibits division director to taking a less stressful job as the FANAC exhibit area head and general Exhibits staffer), I was still pretty busy.

Over the last two weeks, while I was pretty much happy by how the convention went, I've been surrounded by the deaths, illnesses, and bad luck of friends and family members. Longtime Boston fan George Flynn died just before Worldcon. I've known George since my early days in fandom, and enjoyed his writing and appreciated his proofreading work on many NESFA and MCFI publications. My sister-in-law lost her job just a few months after my brother lost his, and her brother is terminally ill. My mother landed in the hospital after she couldn't walk one morning (she has a knee problem and it sounds like she may need surgery). And, yesterday, when Jim and I visited a shop we hadn't visited in a few months, we heard of the sudden, tragic death of the store's co-owner earlier in the summer. We'd been going to Mellinger's a few times a year since we found it just after we moved to Pittsburgh eleven years ago.

I'm not chronically sad or depressed, but my insomnia continues to be bad, which means my concentration is bad, I work very slowly, and I'm unbelievably forgetful. I hope to upload lots of Worldcon photos and even write a report. This will probably take some time. I also hope to help organize the many photos we collected for the fanac.org Web site over the next few months.

Worldcon, while busy and frazzled at times, was mostly pretty pleasant. I was thrilled by how well The Mended Drum worked out - while I can't take design credit, I can take concept credit! The Art Show was about the best since MagiCon. First Night and the Friday Night Events were different events that both went very well. While the Hugos ran much longer than I expected, Neil Gaiman did a fine job as MC. I hear the Program was great - at least the items I was on went very well. We also had some lovely meals out with friends (at Brasserie Joe's, Leagal Seafood, Summer Shack, and the Pour House), and I got to take my Dad out for his 75th birthday (Durgin Park) and my youngest brother out for his 40th birthday (Marche Move-n-Pick).

Jim and I spent a few days up in Gloucester after Worldcon, a nice break before returning home that I really appreciated. We had an elegant dinner at Ocean View Inn (where we also stayed) and lovely breakfasts at Sugar Magnolia. We also drove and walked around Gloucester and Rockport, and hiked through Halibut State Park up in northern Cape Ann.

Would You Like Your Very Own "Teresa Heinz Kerry for First Lady" Bumper Sticker?

Oh, what a deal I have for you.

Jeanne Clark from Women Leaders Online has been acquiring the following bumper sticker:



If you are attending Noreascon and promise to put this on your car as soon as you can, I can give one to you in Boston. I just need some advanced notice so I can get more stickers.

Getting Ready for Noreascon

I'll be helping out at Noreascon IV. If you're looking for me, the best place to find me as at the FANAC exhibit on the Concourse (Hall C of the Hynes). And I'm sure I'll be stopping by the Mended Drum from time to time.

I'll also be doing a few program items:

Thursday 6:00pm Tour of the Village -- I'll lead a group of attendees on a tour of the convention. Special emphasis on First Night Activities. Meet at the Goddard Rocket replica, in the center of Hall C - no advance sign-up required.

Friday 10:00am Welcome to the SF Community -- with Gay Haldeman, Mary Kay Kare and Roger Sims (An orientation seminar on the background of the World Science Fiction Convention and tips on making the most of the con.)

Saturday 1:00pm Exhibit Hall Docent Tour -- I'll lead a group of attendees on a detailed tour of Hall C and the other exhibits. Meet at the Goddard Rocket replica, in the center of Hall C - no advance sign-up required.

Saturday 4:00pm BAD Con Advice for Newbies -- with David Levine, Sandra McDonald and Priscilla Olson (Please - bring a sense of irony! Fannish etiquette, with a twist.....)

Saturday 5:00pm Tour of the Village -- I'll lead a group of attendees on a tour of the convention. Meet at the Goddard Rocket replica, in the center of Hall C - no advance sign-up required.

Sunday 3:00pm LOTR: Looking Back at the Films -- with MaryAnn Johanson and Kathy Morrow (The film series is over, the dust has settled, was it all worth it? A look back, and assessment of the series as a whole.) [[Visit The One Ring to meet lots of other LOTR fans, and take The Ultimate Lord of the Rings test to just see how geeky you really are! I scored 75, making me "Elrond's Advisor."]]

My insomnia has come back with a vengence recently. I hope to get some sleep before I go back to Boston in a few weeks.

Take a Deep Breath...

I haven't been posting much recently because I've been finishing up the Tenn collection, Dancing Naked, for Noreascon 4. It took a lot of time, but I think it's turned out pretty well (if you buy it at Noreascon or thereafter, you can tell me what you think!).

Recently, I've been overly obsessive about politics in my blog. In real life, while I am somewhat obsessive about politics these days, it's not all I think about or write about. And I've decided to divert most of my political writing to two new Web sites:

• The Facts Do Matter: Why Facts Should Always Trump Politics


• The Facts Don't Matter: An Ongoing Record of the Lies of the George W. Bush Administration

Starting this week, I'll be getting caught up on housework, make some notes in the blog, and start back to work on Exhibits things for Jim Hudson and Noreascon IV.

Greetings from Boston

We're up in Boston, attending a planning meeting for Noreascon IV.

During the Exhibits meeting, we came up with another rough draft on
Hall C design:



Jim and I had a fabulous dinner out at Locke-Ober last night, to celebrate our 27th anniversary. When I mentioned that to my mother, she said she'd had memorable swordfish there over 50 years ago. I can report that the swordfish is still quite memorable. Tonight, we joined friends for a dinner at a Persian place, Lala Rokh in Beacon Hill. Another great dinner (and not nearly so expensive as Lock-Ober).

On Volunteering and Not...

As I've mentioned in here once or twice, I've been having a longtime battle with insomnia. Like lifelong. In the past, the insomnia goes away after a few weeks or month, and I sleep fairly normally for a while. But this time, I've been averaging about 5 hours of sleep for about 18 months. This is further complicated by the fact that I'm in that lovely grey area called "perimenopause" and I've been experiencing ridiculous mood swings for 1-2 weeks every month.

After having a lot of problems for a few months, things got worse and I started getting various types of medical help. Sadly, I discovered that while some of these things worked some of the time, nothing worked consistently.

So I was told to do what I could do to reduce stress.

After much soul-searching, I decided the one fairly stressful area I could give up was being the Exhibits division director for Noreascon. This was a very hard decision, but I'm not being as effective in this area as I want to be. Further, when I get home from work, I'm usually too exhausted to do much more than do the dishes.

So, I have resigned my DHship. Deb was able to get an excellent replacement for me, Jim Hudson. I'll stay on as a member of Jim's staff. I'm still editing the Tenn essay GoH book.

I don't know what kind of Worldcon volunteering I'll be doing in the future. I've asked to be a press staff person for Scotland, but haven't heard anything. Over the next few years, I won't be as involved in Worldcon planning as I've been over the last eight years or so.

Staggering Back to Blogdom

Gee, has it been six weeks already? Time sure flies... ;->

Anyway, between having a rough time with sinuses, moving to a mostly
full-time job, and working on conventions and Web sites, I haven't had
much time for blogging. I'm still reading other people's and enjoying,
but I haven't had the time to be motivated about my own.

I am excited to be working on Noreascon 4 as
the Exhibits/Fixed Functions Division Director. I'll probably post some of my ideas here as things progress. If you have exhibit ideas for the 2004 Worldcon, feel free to send me E-mail, or talk to me in person at Con Jose.