No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on March 19, 2007

Getting there was half the fun

The ice storm that dropped about 3 inches of ice pelts on Long Island with other areas getting more or less or snow did make for an “interesting” drive up to Rye. We have replaced the Garmin so I could focus on the road and not worry about the directions which was a very good thing. I lost count after 7 of the number of accidents and cars that had spun out of control and were stuck. I was lucky that most of the drivers around me were driving correctly for the conditions which were lousy. So a drive that normally takes about an hour and fifteen minutes took a little over three but we got there in one piece. Caroline slept most of the way but I had to wake her up at the hotel which put her in a foul mood for most of the rest of the day.

The Rest of Friday
Getting our badges was pretty easy. Getting Caroline out of the room was hard after getting her in the room once she found out that we had a roommate. She did warm up to Mary Aileen and we didn’t have any further trouble about the fact that we had a roommate.

I got the Doctor Who puppets into the Art Show and had a nice chat with a number of artists I have gotten to know over the years having done conventions on the East Coast. We went and got dinner at the hotel restaurant which had a nice buffet. Caroline played the Puppy Game on Ariel’s DS which was a big help this weekend while she ate her dinner.

I went to my first panel, “The Politics of Literary Acceptance,” to find only one other panel member had made it so far and the audience was not much bigger. In the end we had the audience pull up chairs and had a nice discussion on the topic. Ellen Asher who is a editor for the Science Fiction Book Club was my fellow panelist and was wonderful to do a panel with. After that I had rehearsal for the Harry Potter Roast as we put the finishing touched on how we were going to pull this off. We attended the Art Show reception for a short period but Caroline was getting a bit overwhelmed. So we went back to the room. Caroline went to sleep about 11:00 finally.

Saturday

The Day started early after an OK night’s sleep. Caroline got up about 7:10. I didn’t really have a panel until noon but I did have another gathering of the Harry Potter group for all the people who hadn’t made it Friday due to weather/work/life at 10. I went to that and then finally got to see the art show. My panel on “Joss Whedon Must Die” was very interesting and I think it was one of the ones I was most effective on since I could explain why some stuff happened in the order that it happened. I think I managed to explain options in layman’s terms so that the audience had a greater understanding of why there will be no Serenity TV series. I grabbed lunch in the green room and went back to the room to rest up for my next panel.
The Harry Potter Roast for me was part showmanship and part panic. I really don’t know how I did until others told me how I did. I am going to make this a separate entry since I would like to go into detail about it so expect a second entry from me today. Over all the group did well and we managed to make it through. I give special thanks to the audience members who kept Caroline in the room and entertained. So that being done, my big thing was over. Caroline was acting up so I took her to the room and got her fed. I didn’t attend the Masquerade because I didn’t want her to ruin it for anyone else. She fell asleep about 9:00ish which would have been about when the show started. Mary Aileen came back and I went out to find out who won and catch up with some folks. Again fatigue took over and I went to bed.

Sunday

Sunday got truncated due to Caroline waking up with a temperature of 102 and a very stuffy nose. So I gather stuff up and made my apologies to my fellow panelists since I had to bow up and get her home. I had to wait until the end of bidding in the art show to gather up my things there. I ended up selling Dr. Who #5 to a fan so that was good. I am so glad that I spent the money to valet the car since they cleared off all the ice and snow from it before bringing it to me (I did tip well for that one). I got the car packed up and the drive back was a lot faster.

After getting home, I off loaded the car and hugged Ariel who had been with her mother this past weekend at her cousin’s Bar Mitzvah. I then decided to shovel the walk so we would be in compliance for the town’s snow rules. In getting the shovel, I slipped on the ice and bounced the back of my head off the ice/pavement very hard (my neck hurts this morning as does my tailbone). I got up and shoveled the walk so others might not slip. Dinner was a simple run to a fast food joint just because I didn’t have the energy to do much else. I got Caroline to bed about 10:30 since she had an hour nap in the car. This morning we are about back to where we were yesterday morning except the temperature was just over 100 this morning.

So cleaning up and getting stuff ready for Icon is the name of the game today.

I am grateful for everyone who helped me at LunaCon. Y’all are the bestest.

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