Saturday, 4 September 2010
[NOTE: The photos will be added later. For now, just the Blog.]
I had every intention of doing the laundry when I got back to the hotel last night, but I was just SO tired! I thought if I got a couple of hours of sleep I could get up, do the laundry, then go back to sleep. But that wasn't to be either. When the alarm went off, I just turned it off, rolled over and went back to sleep.
I woke around 9:30 to another rainy Melbourne day, and debated for a while on whether or not to do the laundry this morning. I'm sure if I leave it for tonight I'll just be tired again, and fail to do it once more. Then I realized that if I'd already gone and done it, instead of spending time debating it, I'd be half done, so I went downstairs and put the clothes in the washer. I wasn't kidding yesterday about having to wear my Darth Stewie pajama bottoms as pants today if I didn't do my laundry, but then I started thinking, they look just like plack pants, and it's a science fiction convention, so why not wear them? They are clean, after all!
* * * * *
I actually ate breakfast from the hotel breakfast bar. A raspberry and white chocolate muffin. They make marvelous muffins here in Melbourne, and they LOVE coffee. There isn't any place you can't get coffee, and they never offer only plain. I'm not sure anyone here even drinks plain coffee. You always seem to get a choice of flat white (with steamed milk), cappuccino, latte, etc.
* * * * *
Grumble. I should have remembered that hotel dryers take forever. I put it on low so I wouldn't fry my clothes, and 30 minutes later my clothes are still too damp to deal with. I had to go back up to my room to get money, then to the hotel front desk to get change for the dryer, so now I'm just sitting outside the laundry room since I am hoping that another 15 minutes will be enough. That's about the time it would take me to get back up to my room, and back down again, so I might as well just hang out down here. So I brought the computer with me so I could get caught up on a few things. The most annoying part is that this is taking longer than expected, and I am missing out on some panels I wanted to see today. With limited programming hours, that means I miss a lot. Oh, well. Can't be helped.
And... another 15 minutes in the dryer on medim still wasn't enough. I've had to put most of the clothes back in for another 15 mintues. Grrrrrr....
While I wait I am uploading photos from my first day in Sydney so I can post them to the blog sometime today, probably whenever I get back to the room tonight.
* * * * *
Hurray! Laundry done at last, and I can go back to my room, peruse the schedule for today, take a shower, and get to the convention center. Again, the last regular panel is at 5:00pm, and the only panel at 2:00 pm is the Guest of Honor Speech (today is Kim Stanley Robinson). At this rate, the 2:00 panel will be the first thing I make it in time for. Ugh. Like I said, oh, well.
* * * * *
Yay! The tram came less than a minute after I walked to the stop. I know it's only two huge blocks to the convention center stop, and another huge block to the actual convention center, but I'm trying to be as kind to my knee as possible, and give it a break from walking when I can. If I can ever find a doctor who is willing to really work with me on figuring out how to solve my excruciating knee pain, I'll literally be able to jump for joy.
I did make it in time for Kim Stanley Robinson's Guest of Honor speech. Hurray! Too bad the auditorium only has entrances from the very top in the back, and I can't do all those stairs. I may brave them for the masquerade tonight, though.
* * * * *
Yikes! I haven't been watching the news on TV, so just now heard there was an earthquake off the coast of New Zealand, which has affected Christchurch. My good thoughts and prayers go out to them. I hope everyone is okay.
* * * * *
14:00 Guest of Honor Speech: Kim Stanley Robinson. The plan for his speech was to be interviewed by Sean Williams, who was unable to attend the convention at the last minute due to illness, KSR interviewed himself. In interviewer mode he had on a jacket, which he removed to switch to interviewee mode. Very entertaining. Great speech about his life growing up, and how he became a science fiction writer.
* * * * *
Brilliant soul that I am, I discovered that I put my receipt into the site selection ballot box yesterday, instead of my ballot. In my defense, I put the piece of paper in they told me to, without looking at either of them. Duh. I should have checked. I got it sorted out, though.
* * * * *
Between the time it took for sorting out my site selection voting and waiting in line for coffee, I ran out of time to go to a 3pm panel. So, I popped into the Dealer's Room, bought an issue of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, and attempted to purchase a really cool steampunk necklace, but they were all sold out. I got their card so I can check out the stock later. www.darknouveau.com.au
* * * * *
16:00 Panel: Just A Minute. Panelists: Paul Cornell (moderator), Jennifer Fallon, Patrick Nielson Hayden, China Mieville, Ellen Kushner, John Scalzi, and Cat Valente.
The panel was supposed to be in P1, but the room was locked. So after waiting for someone to come unlock the room, Paul Cornell announced that the panel would be held in P3, and the large group all walked to the other end of the first floor, only to find out that Kim Stanley Robinson was in P3 holding another panel. After another few minutes of waiting about in the hallway, Paul announced that we would be holding the panel in P1 after all. This prompted Patrick Neilsen Hayden to dub this "The Paul Cornell Convention Exercise Machine!"
After walking en masse to the other end of the convention center again, we were able to get into P1.
John Scalzi is hilarious. That's all I can say right now because I am just laughing too hard to type more.
Topics included "The Stars, My Destination," "Is Twitter Killing Blogs," "The Worst Book I Ever Edited," "Out of the Silent Planet," "Fantasy Is Better Than Science Fiction," "Beyond Lies the Wub," "The Two Towers," and "The Graveyard Book."
Even though the panel got a late start, it kept going until it was done as there was nothing in the room afterward. It was just too much fun to leave in order to go to a 17:00 panel!
* * * * *
I just heard someone's cell phone ring with the new Doctor Who theme. I really do need to figure out how to make ringtones for my iPhone.
* * * * *
Too late to join a 5pm panel without being a lost. The masquerade starts at 7pm, which means I should get in line by 6:30 in order to get a good seat. Right now that gives me an hour to find dinner, or I have to wait for after the masquerade. I've had snack food and two coffees today, but no real food. I should get something soon. But where?
* * * * *
I am already not liking the scent of just the one item I am wearing today that I washed earlier. It's made me sneeze at least once. I may have to wash everything again after all. (insert expletive here)
* * * * *
I speed walked across the street (as best as I could manage with the bad right knee and bad left ankle) to the food court at the Crown Casino since it was the closest place with takeaway food still open. I got wet getting over there and back since it's raining a bit harder now than it was earlier. Dinner was a hot-pressed chicken sandwich and a Coke.
I ate while sitting at tables near convention registration, and chatted with Pat Simms, Sue Francis, and John Stanley. John is trying to reach his travel agent about his and Jeanne's next travel stop, which is Christchurch, New Zealand.
Finally, at 6:50pm they opened the doors to the auditorium so we could find seats for the masquerade.
* * * * *
19:00 The Masquerade.
It did not, of course, start on time, but when do they ever at a huge convention?
I chatted with folks in nearby seats while we waited for the masquerade to begin, and wound up selling one of the TARDIS phone charms to a New Zealand writer named Sally.
This has to be both the smallest and most unusual Worldcon masquerade I've ever seen. The house lights were on the entire time, as were the stage lights. And rather than leaving the stage right after their presentations, they each stopped to have a chat with the Emcees, who asked questions about their costumes, and who made them. There were only a handful of entries, and none of them were mentioned as being in any class (Novice, Journeyman, Master). Only a couple of the entries were better than Novice anyway, and many entrants were first-time costumers, as well as first-time convention-goers. But all of them were entertaining.
The Emcees are telling jokes while we wait on the judging results. Only, one of them was a Twilight Zone story. The guy had been scheduled to be on flight 93 on 9/11/2001, but had changed his flight to return home a few days earlier.
The masquerade winners are listed on the AussieCon 4 Masquerade Page: http://www.aussiecon4.org.au/index.php?page=93
* * * * *
I am debating on going back to my hotel room to dump stuff off before going to the parties tonight. I am leaning toward yes since it is such a pain to carry the big tote bag around in crowds.
* * * * *
Parties tonight at 21:00:
Crowne Plaza Bridge: London in 2014
Crowne Plaza Corporate Left: Reno in 2011
Crowne Plaza Corporate Right: Texas in 2013 & New Zealand in 2020
Party tonight at 21:30:
CO Nightclub, 2nd Floor of Crown Casino: Brotherhood Without Banners (George R. R. Martin).
[NOTE: The photos will be added later. For now, just the Blog.]
I had every intention of doing the laundry when I got back to the hotel last night, but I was just SO tired! I thought if I got a couple of hours of sleep I could get up, do the laundry, then go back to sleep. But that wasn't to be either. When the alarm went off, I just turned it off, rolled over and went back to sleep.
I woke around 9:30 to another rainy Melbourne day, and debated for a while on whether or not to do the laundry this morning. I'm sure if I leave it for tonight I'll just be tired again, and fail to do it once more. Then I realized that if I'd already gone and done it, instead of spending time debating it, I'd be half done, so I went downstairs and put the clothes in the washer. I wasn't kidding yesterday about having to wear my Darth Stewie pajama bottoms as pants today if I didn't do my laundry, but then I started thinking, they look just like plack pants, and it's a science fiction convention, so why not wear them? They are clean, after all!
* * * * *
I actually ate breakfast from the hotel breakfast bar. A raspberry and white chocolate muffin. They make marvelous muffins here in Melbourne, and they LOVE coffee. There isn't any place you can't get coffee, and they never offer only plain. I'm not sure anyone here even drinks plain coffee. You always seem to get a choice of flat white (with steamed milk), cappuccino, latte, etc.
* * * * *
Grumble. I should have remembered that hotel dryers take forever. I put it on low so I wouldn't fry my clothes, and 30 minutes later my clothes are still too damp to deal with. I had to go back up to my room to get money, then to the hotel front desk to get change for the dryer, so now I'm just sitting outside the laundry room since I am hoping that another 15 minutes will be enough. That's about the time it would take me to get back up to my room, and back down again, so I might as well just hang out down here. So I brought the computer with me so I could get caught up on a few things. The most annoying part is that this is taking longer than expected, and I am missing out on some panels I wanted to see today. With limited programming hours, that means I miss a lot. Oh, well. Can't be helped.
And... another 15 minutes in the dryer on medim still wasn't enough. I've had to put most of the clothes back in for another 15 mintues. Grrrrrr....
While I wait I am uploading photos from my first day in Sydney so I can post them to the blog sometime today, probably whenever I get back to the room tonight.
* * * * *
Hurray! Laundry done at last, and I can go back to my room, peruse the schedule for today, take a shower, and get to the convention center. Again, the last regular panel is at 5:00pm, and the only panel at 2:00 pm is the Guest of Honor Speech (today is Kim Stanley Robinson). At this rate, the 2:00 panel will be the first thing I make it in time for. Ugh. Like I said, oh, well.
* * * * *
Yay! The tram came less than a minute after I walked to the stop. I know it's only two huge blocks to the convention center stop, and another huge block to the actual convention center, but I'm trying to be as kind to my knee as possible, and give it a break from walking when I can. If I can ever find a doctor who is willing to really work with me on figuring out how to solve my excruciating knee pain, I'll literally be able to jump for joy.
I did make it in time for Kim Stanley Robinson's Guest of Honor speech. Hurray! Too bad the auditorium only has entrances from the very top in the back, and I can't do all those stairs. I may brave them for the masquerade tonight, though.
* * * * *
Yikes! I haven't been watching the news on TV, so just now heard there was an earthquake off the coast of New Zealand, which has affected Christchurch. My good thoughts and prayers go out to them. I hope everyone is okay.
* * * * *
14:00 Guest of Honor Speech: Kim Stanley Robinson. The plan for his speech was to be interviewed by Sean Williams, who was unable to attend the convention at the last minute due to illness, KSR interviewed himself. In interviewer mode he had on a jacket, which he removed to switch to interviewee mode. Very entertaining. Great speech about his life growing up, and how he became a science fiction writer.
* * * * *
Brilliant soul that I am, I discovered that I put my receipt into the site selection ballot box yesterday, instead of my ballot. In my defense, I put the piece of paper in they told me to, without looking at either of them. Duh. I should have checked. I got it sorted out, though.
* * * * *
Between the time it took for sorting out my site selection voting and waiting in line for coffee, I ran out of time to go to a 3pm panel. So, I popped into the Dealer's Room, bought an issue of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, and attempted to purchase a really cool steampunk necklace, but they were all sold out. I got their card so I can check out the stock later. www.darknouveau.com.au
* * * * *
16:00 Panel: Just A Minute. Panelists: Paul Cornell (moderator), Jennifer Fallon, Patrick Nielson Hayden, China Mieville, Ellen Kushner, John Scalzi, and Cat Valente.
The panel was supposed to be in P1, but the room was locked. So after waiting for someone to come unlock the room, Paul Cornell announced that the panel would be held in P3, and the large group all walked to the other end of the first floor, only to find out that Kim Stanley Robinson was in P3 holding another panel. After another few minutes of waiting about in the hallway, Paul announced that we would be holding the panel in P1 after all. This prompted Patrick Neilsen Hayden to dub this "The Paul Cornell Convention Exercise Machine!"
After walking en masse to the other end of the convention center again, we were able to get into P1.
John Scalzi is hilarious. That's all I can say right now because I am just laughing too hard to type more.
Topics included "The Stars, My Destination," "Is Twitter Killing Blogs," "The Worst Book I Ever Edited," "Out of the Silent Planet," "Fantasy Is Better Than Science Fiction," "Beyond Lies the Wub," "The Two Towers," and "The Graveyard Book."
Even though the panel got a late start, it kept going until it was done as there was nothing in the room afterward. It was just too much fun to leave in order to go to a 17:00 panel!
* * * * *
I just heard someone's cell phone ring with the new Doctor Who theme. I really do need to figure out how to make ringtones for my iPhone.
* * * * *
Too late to join a 5pm panel without being a lost. The masquerade starts at 7pm, which means I should get in line by 6:30 in order to get a good seat. Right now that gives me an hour to find dinner, or I have to wait for after the masquerade. I've had snack food and two coffees today, but no real food. I should get something soon. But where?
* * * * *
I am already not liking the scent of just the one item I am wearing today that I washed earlier. It's made me sneeze at least once. I may have to wash everything again after all. (insert expletive here)
* * * * *
I speed walked across the street (as best as I could manage with the bad right knee and bad left ankle) to the food court at the Crown Casino since it was the closest place with takeaway food still open. I got wet getting over there and back since it's raining a bit harder now than it was earlier. Dinner was a hot-pressed chicken sandwich and a Coke.
I ate while sitting at tables near convention registration, and chatted with Pat Simms, Sue Francis, and John Stanley. John is trying to reach his travel agent about his and Jeanne's next travel stop, which is Christchurch, New Zealand.
Finally, at 6:50pm they opened the doors to the auditorium so we could find seats for the masquerade.
* * * * *
19:00 The Masquerade.
It did not, of course, start on time, but when do they ever at a huge convention?
I chatted with folks in nearby seats while we waited for the masquerade to begin, and wound up selling one of the TARDIS phone charms to a New Zealand writer named Sally.
This has to be both the smallest and most unusual Worldcon masquerade I've ever seen. The house lights were on the entire time, as were the stage lights. And rather than leaving the stage right after their presentations, they each stopped to have a chat with the Emcees, who asked questions about their costumes, and who made them. There were only a handful of entries, and none of them were mentioned as being in any class (Novice, Journeyman, Master). Only a couple of the entries were better than Novice anyway, and many entrants were first-time costumers, as well as first-time convention-goers. But all of them were entertaining.
The Emcees are telling jokes while we wait on the judging results. Only, one of them was a Twilight Zone story. The guy had been scheduled to be on flight 93 on 9/11/2001, but had changed his flight to return home a few days earlier.
The masquerade winners are listed on the AussieCon 4 Masquerade Page: http://www.aussiecon4.org.au/index.php?page=93
* * * * *
I am debating on going back to my hotel room to dump stuff off before going to the parties tonight. I am leaning toward yes since it is such a pain to carry the big tote bag around in crowds.
* * * * *
Parties tonight at 21:00:
Crowne Plaza Bridge: London in 2014
Crowne Plaza Corporate Left: Reno in 2011
Crowne Plaza Corporate Right: Texas in 2013 & New Zealand in 2020
Party tonight at 21:30:
CO Nightclub, 2nd Floor of Crown Casino: Brotherhood Without Banners (George R. R. Martin).
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