I survived the weekend at A-Kon, and survive is the operative word. It was rather overwhelming. There were at least 12,000 people there, about 90 percent of them wearing rather elaborate costumes. And about half of them were staying at that hotel, which was a high-rise, so you can imagine the elevator fun (and some of those costumes didn't do so well for cramming into elevators). My exposure to anime is pretty much limited to my first crush having been on Speed Racer when I was in kindergarten, so I was rather out of my element and had no idea what was really a costume and what was just dressing weird. Still, I had a great time. I met some truly cool people, and the writers workshop went very well. I don't think I crushed anyone with my critiques, and I hope I truly helped, and then we had some very entertaining panel discussions. The last one was possibly the most entertaining, thanks to the exhausted zombie brains we all had, and I'm afraid my tired brain that was disconnected from my tongue led to me coming out with a truly hilarious mixed-up remark that may go on to live in con legend and could possibly even kick off an anthology of short stories. It might even go on to become my industry claim to fame.
I spent a lot of time when I wasn't on a panel and wasn't at my table in the hall hiding in the green room, and there it seems that my ignorance of the genre meant that at times I was hanging out with people who were apparently celebrities in the field, and I didn't realize it. I hope I didn't hurt anyone's feelings with my ignorance of how important they were, and I hope they enjoyed the chance to just hang out and be a human being without their stardom getting in the way. For once, I wasn't in the role of drooling fangirl.
But as your friendly neighborhood hermit, just being around that many people and with the associated noise levels, I'm now utterly exhausted and have only four days to recharge before I head to Oklahoma City for SoonerCon. I may not be much for human interaction this week. I had to run errands today, but otherwise I may be hiding in my hole and trying to catch up on all the stuff I need to be dealing with. I may go into minor fangirl mode next weekend, as the guest of honor is Stephen R. Donaldson. Oddly, I'm not a fan of his for the Thomas Covenant series, which is his main claim to fame. I couldn't get halfway the first book of that one. But I LOVED his mirror series (I think the official series title is Mordant's Need), Mirror of Her Dreams and A Man Rides Through. They're so deliciously romantic and magical and I loved the characters soooo much. There's just something about the idea of a hot guy appearing in a mirror, stepping through into your world, and then taking you back through the mirror into his world that appeals to me. The covers to those books are gorgeous and really capture the sense of romance (the originals, at least. The reissues aren't as pretty). And now I suddenly really want to re-read them.
But now I think I'm going to declare today a washout and let myself rest. This should be a "weekend" day for me, anyway.
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