No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on April 16, 2017

But first, a Blessed Easter to all who celebrate it.

Yesterday found me on a few more panels than I was going to original join in but they were fun and I think the audience had fun too. Today is my Sherlock: Fire All Can(n)ons panel about Sherlock and the Media as a whole stretching back to when the stories were written.

Interestingly enough the topic I have been talking about the most is the state of publishing and how it effects both the big publishing houses and the little press and the self-published or whatever we are call it this week. I have been giving advice to people about the topic pretty much the whole weekend. Some stuff I said on a panel got them to thinking about various things that they have been running by me since.

Last night we viewed the new episode of Doctor Who with a bunch of other fans. I will have a New Who Review up later this week. Short version, really like Bill. Glad Nardole is still around. Interesting episode over all. Thumbs up. I will be reviewing Class as well.

My one minor complaint that is not just about this convention but a trend I am seeing at larger conventions. The convention has two hazards. One is the over sized objects people are carrying around and don’t seem to be aware of where they are. The second is a new trend of walking along with your ‘soundtrack ‘ blaring. Not everyone wants to hear it. It is nice that we have gotten speakers down to such a small size but if you really need to hear your ‘theme song’ to get into character, there are lots of small ear buds and ear phones you can use to hear it.

I am grateful for this lovely day.

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Posted By Kathleen David on April 15, 2017

Why this is a retro version of the Florida SuperCon is that they are back to their original venue, which is not large enough for the full convention but it is a nice size convention.

The staff has gone above and beyond. They have been right there to solve any issues swiftly. Everyone is polite and helpful. I take comfort in knowing that the convention is well run from the handlers to the volunteers.

Yesterday was a bit of a light day so Caroline had a chance to talk to Zach Callison who is a young voice actor probably best know for voicing Steven Universe unless the kids are younger then they would know him as the voice of Prince James from Sophia the first. Gigi Edgely saw us and came over to give us a hug and catch up on life. She and Caroline had a nice conversation on drawing and the influences on the artist.

We had people at the table. Caroline hasn’t sold any of her amazing drawing yet. Yesterday seemed a bit lightly attended and a lot of people were ‘window’ shopping. With good luck, it will be better today.

The wrestling component is a big part of this convention including a ring set up for matches all during the day. Everyone had a lot of fun. You could tell when a match was going because we could hear the slam into the mat and the cheers or boos of the crowd.

With the exception of the non-working AC in the hotel room, which is a building problem not a room problem and they have been working on it, it has been a very pleasant convention.

Onto Day 2 and the premier of this season of Doctor Who and the first episode of Class or maybe a ball game. Right now the dice are in the air and we will have to see how it lands.

I am grateful for staffs that are firm but polite.

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Posted By Kathleen David on April 14, 2017

Getting in the day before a convention starts is a lovely thing if you have the time to do it. That way you can slide into rather than rush and feel like you are never going to catch up.

Our flight down was pretty much textbook so I am crossing my fingers that the return will be the same. Peter and Caroline were cleared with TSA and I was not so our wait and experience was a little different including that they got to keep their shoes on and I had to take mine off. Also my bag was searched. I had some cinnamon bread in it for Caroline for breakfast today. Apparently that object trigger the search. The plus that came out of it was that I told the TSA agent where Mastori’s was and how good their cinnamon bread is.

Getting to the hotel was a little bit of an adventure and our first Uber driver who did very well getting us there with all our luggage which was three suitcases and two bags per person. They told us for the ride back to inform them we had a lot of luggage.

Once at the hotel we watched Supernatural, Riverdale and the Blacklist redemption then went to sleep.

Today is the beginning of the convention. We had the morning to wakeup on our own power and get ready for the day ahead.

I am grateful for TSA agents with a sense of humor.

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Posted By Kathleen David on April 12, 2017

I had an entry for Monday but our wi-fi provider, who keeps insisting that we have real wi-fi when in fact we have next to none, killed the Internet in our area for ‘repair’. Now that it is ‘repaired’, we are even slower than we were before the ‘repair’. Not very happy with our lack of Internet provider.

The salient points from Monday were the following.

This week is Caroline’s Spring Break along with Passover and Easter. We attended a Seder on Monday evening with family. The end of the week will find us in Miami at the Super Retro Con and for a change I will be participating in a panel or two at a convention outside the usual conventions.

This week is about getting from point A to point B then regroup and do it again. Peter just got back from the Philly Convention so he is doing this dance for another week.

Sunday I got a number of bits and pieces on projects done. I was hoping to make today another day of finishing projects because I want to get my table clear before I start on the next one but due to circumstances this is looking less likely.

The Go Fund Me page is slowing down and we are still not quite at our goal to save our ášš(ets). We appreciate all the help we have been given so far and like I said before we are never going to be able to thank you enough.

My mind will probably be in travel mode for most of the week. Think good thoughts for us as we travel up and down the East Coast.

I will try to update this week. I know I have been quiet but I felt like I was being such a downer recently since I have been in the dumps. Then I was talking to a friend who said that hearing that I was struggling a bit with my feelings helped them sort out what was going on with them. I made a decision that I will be a public voice for all the people who can’t talk about their depression because it might cost them their job or their children or their life.

Four years ago I posted a entry entitled Suicide is not painless talking about what would not have happened in my life if I had succeeded in graduate school to kill myself. In those four years I have added a lot of adventures and experiences that I would have never had if I had succeeded. So remember that suicide does not end the chances of life getting worse, it eliminated the possibility of it ever getting better. And if I can help one person with that message then I have done well.

Today is about getting ready for ready for travel tomorrow. Cat/House sitter is in place. But I have cat boxes to deal with and laundry from the past two weeks but I have Caroline’s help in this. Then packing and making sure we have everything we need like Sunscreen and swimsuits and passports and, well the list goes on.

I am still grateful for everyone who has helped us in our time of crises.

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Posted By Kathleen David on April 7, 2017

Since we put out what has been a thorn in our side for 20 years.

People have given us hope that we might be able to get this monkey off our backs.

I don’t think Thank You covers the feeling of gratitude I have for everyone who has helped us.

We do feel the love and support coming from the Internet and appreciate it and humbled by it.

Yes, there are those who have decided to be mean about it and crow over the situation, but they are in the minority. This included someone making a parody go fund me page and twitter account, which seems to have been erased off the face of the Internet.

We choose to focus on all the folks that have helped us. The information we are getting to help this situation. The outpouring of how important Peter and his work has been to their lives. Writing is a lonely profession. Most of it happens in front of a computer screen and you hope that you can entertain and, sometimes, enlighten. Seeing that his work has made people’s lives better in ways that we never imagined is rather amazing.

And we are so close to getting this behind us. We can see the finish line now we just have to get to it and with your continued help, we will.

I will admit to being depressed recently. Stress long term is hard on the body and I have been stressed to the nth. I am hoping that my lack of enthusiasm about any creative is related to this and I will be able to break out of it soon. A friend suggest that I just start working on something and go from there so I think this weekend is going to be just that.

I am so very grateful to everyone who has helped us in our time of crises.

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