Days Two and Three

I'm enjoying a little downtime between daytime activities and nighttime activities, so I suppose I should catch up on events.

Yesterday's panel was about Headology and Boffo in the Discworld, looking at the various characters who play mind games with others. The moderator asked me if I had any personal Boffo (you'll know what it is if you read the books), and I went blank, so I claimed I didn't want to give away my secrets. In truth, I'm all about the headology and Boffo. When I was working in PR, I was known as the Client Whisperer, or the Client Slayer, because I had a knack for figuring out what the client really needed, which usually wasn't what they said they wanted, and giving it to them in a way that they were convinced it was what they'd wanted all along.

And then there's Boffo -- the artifice to convey an image. I guess my entire convention persona is pure Boffo. That's why I dress up and put on the glam, and then there's the waist-length curly hair or the fancy hairstyle. I'm deliberately setting myself apart, mostly because even if I wore standard convention attire -- jeans and a nerdy t-shirt -- I still don't really look like I fit in this crowd. I get a lot of "What's she doing here? Did she get lost?" looks. So I go for the extreme in not fitting in, and then I can startle people with the level of sheer geekiness on panels.

There were opening-night festivities in the park yesterday evening, and it was a really pleasant night. Free ice cream, music, games, etc. And then I completely misread the time for the writers workshop reception in the SFWA suite. I'm going to blame my phone, or perhaps my learning curve for the phone, and the way it deals with time zones (it decided that all the events I entered when I was at home were taking place in the Central Time zone). So I thought the 9-11 p.m. event was 7-9 p.m. But I ended up just hanging out there until the event started, at which point it became so noisy and crowded that I escaped after about half an hour with fellow quiet introvert Robert J. Sawyer, and we talked business on the walk back to the convention center, where I ran into other people heading in the direction of my hotel. So I was escorted back to my hotel by Archchancellor Ridcully (my escort was in costume).

This morning I was up really early, but since my phone tells me I walked almost eight miles yesterday (and I was feeling it), I took a shorter walk (only about a mile and a half) and then went for a short swim, sat for a while in the spa, and then did some time in the steam room, which felt good in such a dry climate. Then I had my reading, and people came! There was a cookout in the park for lunch, then I was supposed to help facilitate a discussion about Terry Pratchett's books for kids as part of the children's programming, but the kids weren't really interested, so we bailed early. After that was my autographing, where I wasn't that lonely and pathetic, after all. There were people there! Who liked my books!

Tonight there's a session on social dances of the 19th century, followed by a steampunk ball. I'm definitely going to the learning/practice session, but we'll see how much steam I have left for the ball. It'll feel like it's almost my bedtime by the time it starts.

Fortunately, when my hotel gives us wine in the evening, they also give us appetizers, which includes some really nice soups. The first night, there was a lentil and orzo soup, and last night was a yummy minestrone. So I get something that somewhat qualifies as a vegetable. That might fortify me before I face the evening.