Wiscon Report

Tuesday/Wednesday- At mom-n-dad's. Humid weather. Still, it was lovely to sit out in the backyard and watch the hummingbird show. Two feeders = frequent guests. The lilacs were long done, but peonies were in full swing. We ate yummy mom-food, I stressed about my missing clothes, and Luke stressed about the upcoming photo booth at Wiscon.

Thursday- In years past, we've mailed a box of clothing and incidentals to my folks, in order to have less to take on the airplane. This year, we each sent a box of our own clothes. Luke's box arrived, mine didn't. Mom takes us to the local Goodwill, where I find a fancy dress, shoes, swimsuits, pants, and a top. Mom also lends me some clothes of her own. I feel a lot better. We get to the Concourse around lunchtime, and store our luggage till the room was ready. Time for a Plaza burger! After we got into our room, Luke helped with Tiptree auction stuff. I don't remember what I did till dinner. I ended up on a spontaneous outing with Leah and several others at Tutto Pasta. Everyone was talking about Dr Who, a show I've never seen, but it was fun anyway. It's only Thursday, but Wiscon is underway!

Friday- After passing out LJ stickers in the gathering, I meet up with rdkeir and we do the shopping for the LJ party. He's nursing a miserable cold, but comes through as a hero of the revolution. Champagne, OJ, cake, we're set. Rick takes to his bed and we don't see him again till Sunday. The LJ party goes well, we're in a room farther down the hall, and that seems to hurt attendence a little, but the room is full of laughter, and all the cake is soon gone.

Saturday- I drank enough Friday to get rather tipsy, but I don't start the day with a hangover. I run into Lucy N. and we do the farmer's market. I buy a pumpkin bar with cream cheese frosting, some cookies, a mini-loaf of zucchni bread, and a venison snack stick. A little later I go to the "Future of Food" panel, which was very interesting. Speaking of food, I'm already starting to forget when I ate with people. Salad with intelligentrix, Kabul with her, Simba and Luke, Orpheum Lobby with David, Simba and Luke. Fine meals, all.
We briefly went to the Tiptree auction, but headed upstairs for parties soon after. I was hanging out with P. (Shhhh! Don't say her name!!) and she wanted to go to a panel about surveillance and privacy, so I tagged along. It was a very dark and not-fun subject, and I bailed after about half an hour and went back upstairs to parties.

Sunday- I got myself up and went to the 10am panel about Caprica. Not a huge audience, but everyone had interesting things to say about the show. Well worth getting up for! I don't remember what I did until it was time for the "Fighting Imposter Syndrome" panel, but I managed to miss the first fifteen minutes or so. This was a GREAT panel. At the end, people were given the chance to come up front and say why they felt like an imposter sometimes. Immediately after, was the "Dissecting the Language of Fail" panel. Another really great one.
Now it was time to see if we could get into the bakesale room, where we were going to have the photo booth. It was indeed empty, so Luke and I started moving furniture around. There was a backdrop and lights that had been rented for the photo booth. As we started to put things together, we realized that we were in trouble. The lights weren't the right type, and one of them didn't even work. The backdrop wasn't the right color. Our salvation came when rdkeir arose from his sickbed and brought in pretty much everything that was needed. His giant camera bag had extra flashes and batteries, spare umbrella reflector-thingies, lenses, and light stands. It took hours to get everything together and working. We were glad we got in the room as early as we did.
We went off to get dressed, and then we started. It was slow till guest of honor speeches were done, then there was a long line and crowds. Luke took pictures nonstop for about six hours, without even a bathroom break. There was still a line when his back started really hurting and he had to call it quits. Then we had to pack up all the rented stuff, separate it from Rick's stuff, and get it all downstairs. An exhausting, but successful evening.

Monday- I walked around the Capitol Square to stop in a few shops I'd passed by earlier, but most of them were closed. The Madison Marathon was finishing up, and it was nice to see people cheering the runners on. It was hot, but did that stop me from buying chocolate? Of course not. We had tentative dinner plans, but they fell through, so Luke and I went in the pool, as is our tradition for Monday at Wiscon. After that, dead cow party. We had six bottles of champagne left over from Friday, so I gave them to the dead cow folks. It was too loud in the party room, so a bunch of us went down to the bar for a while. I found out that raanve is my sister in pop-culture adoration. I tried to wow her with the fact that I watched both Sesame Street and Saturday Night Live on the very first day they were broadcast.

Tuesday- We sat in the lobby saying goodbye to people then my folks picked us up around lunchtime. Laundry day!! Ham on the grill and potato salad, yum. And a few more hummingbirds.

Wednesday- The 10am bus to Chicago. I have picked up Rick's cold, and it's starting to take hold. I try not to give it to Luke's family.

Thursday- Luke and I were hoping to go on at least one excursion downtown, but I'm not up for it. We do walk to the Penzey's Spices outlet store in Oak Park. We stock up for the year, and have it shipped so we don't have to carry it home.

Today, Friday- Luke and family are on an outing to a nearby conservatory. I stayed here and slept in. Now I'm typing this...

Tomorrow- Terrifying airplane ride home.