All Fired Up

I think I got motivated by those writing sessions at A-Kon because I'm up and at 'em relatively early today, considering that I've already been to the library (I timed my visit to coincide with the toddler story hour, rather than immediately after the toddler story hour, when the library is swarmed by toddlers). Now all my errands for the day are done and I can focus on work. I felt like such a slacker when hearing about the work schedules of some of the long-time and big-name people on those panels, which made me want to get to work. I suspect that explains why they've had long, successful careers and why I'm me.

Plus, I topped the halfway point in the current project last night, which means I'm really getting to the part where I tend to crank it all out in a frenzy.

This was a light con for me, and since I'm not really into manga or anime, I only went to the sessions where I was speaking, so I just took the train downtown, did my panels, then took the train back. The train seemed to be popular with the con crowd because there were usually a number of people heading the same place on the train. That made for an amusing moment Saturday morning. The train was crowded, and I ended up standing near the front of the car next to a guy I'm pretty sure was a pro football player (based on my deciphering of his tattoos) who was going with his family to the zoo (which is on the same train line). There were a couple of people in full costume, complete with cat ears and face paint, and that didn't seem to raise much of an eyebrow. But then a guy who pretty much fit the stereotype of Fanboy #1 got on the train, and things got fun. You know the guy -- typical "nerd" and way too chatty about the things he's currently obsessed with, especially the moment he finds someone else who might know what he's talking about. Claims to have Asperger's Syndrome, but you're not sure whether he's had an actual diagnosis or if he's diagnosed himself and uses that as an excuse not to develop social skills. The football player was staring with horror at the way that guy went on and on and on. Even the people in full costume were giving him the smile-and-nod, gee, it's been nice talking, but we'd have to go if there were anywhere we could go looks. The whole thing made me crack up completely because you don't see too many situations where people who are obsessed enough to go around in public in full costume are like "your level of obsession is totally weirding me out."

Though, to be honest, if he'd started up the conversation with the people across the aisle from the cat people who were wearing Blue Sun shirts (in other words, the Firefly fans), I probably would have ended up joining the conversation. But I would hope I have the social skills to notice when the people I'm talking to are getting tired of the conversation.

Now I have to go determine whether or not you can get a cell phone signal on the observation deck of the Empire State Building. Can you hear me now?