Report from Tulsa

Very quick post from Tulsa, where I'm at Conestoga. I have a 9 a.m. autographing I'll have to get to soon, though I'm not sure I really need to rush as I seem to be the only one who knows about it. It's on my schedule, but it's not in the program book and hasn't been posted anywhere that I've seen, unless it was done this morning. But since it's the first thing this morning and it wasn't posted or announced last night, chances are that people will only see it or know about it if they just happen to be up early and wandering around. I guess you could think of it as a stealth autographing. That's after yesterday's panel, where my personal "here's where you need to be" schedule told me I had a panel, but I wasn't listed in the program as being on the panel, and then I was politely told by the people running the panel that I didn't need to do it, as they'd already put people on the panel, and it was all a little awkward and embarrassing. I suspect if I'd insisted on joining they'd have been fine with that, but at the same time, if they had really wanted me on there, the vibe would have been different, which is why I didn't make a fuss and said I was fine skipping it if they had the slots full. As I said, awkward and embarrassing. It's not a huge issue, as that gave me a chance to get checked into the hotel and get settled in, but I think someone is trying to give me a complex. Well, more of a complex than I already have. Everything else that I have on my schedule is on the public schedule. I just hope there's nothing on the public schedule that's not on my personal schedule that I've missed. Now I'm terrified that there's been some panel where they thought I was an inconsiderate no-show.

Other than that, I've had fun so far. I've run into a lot of people I only seem to see at conventions, so there have been reunions, and I've met some people I've only known online. The con charity is for an organization that trains service dogs, and they had one of the puppies they're socializing at the opening ceremonies last night, so I got some quality puppy time. Then I seem to have found the full extent of my skills and abilities as I finally made myself useful and helped set up the FenCon room party by filling the ice chests, one ice bucket at a time from the ice machine at the end of the hall. And, thus, I have been dubbed The Ice Princess. I really hope that they are actually referring to my ice-gathering endeavors and aren't secretly mocking my personality (yes, I seem to be having a paranoid weekend).

This is one of those hotels that has the Sleep Number beds, and either mine is broken (hitting the buttons doesn't seem to do anything) or I'm somehow using it wrong because it was incredibly uncomfortable, and my back and neck are awfully stiff this morning. I miss my down-topped featherbed.

In other convention news, I got my moderator schedule for WorldCon, and I'm moderating a panel with Larry Niven on it. EeEEEPPP! The man is a legend. Now I need to brainstorm some insightful and intelligent questions to generate discussion.

And now I suppose I ought to get dressed, now that I've had enough tea to function like a human being, and head to that autographing, just in case there are people with psychic powers who happen to sense that I'm doing a signing. Oh, and we may be faced with a Crisis of Epic Proportions, as it turns out that I forgot to pack any hair gel, and it's very humid. That means Hair of Epic Proportions. I may resort to the ballerina bun.