Part One, because I have a lot of musings on my reading and will thus be covering it separately.

Also! I am not going to name absolutely everyone, because I'm certain I'm forgetting a ton of people. Also also! I realized belatedly that there were people there whose friendslist I'm on, who've commented on my LJ, whose real names I had not connected with LJ names. So if you knew me and I was just doing vague smiles and nods at you and didn't seem to know who you were, um, sorry? Future reference, if you see me at a con, please please introduce yourself so we don't have a weekend of missed opportunities! I like meeting people!

...also also also, for those who met my daughter, is she not totally awesome?

Thursday
I hauled feste_sylvain in from dinner and immediately pounced upon tithenai, csecooney, sevenravens, pattytempleton, cucumberseed, rosefox, and ever so many other people! He'd only met Rose previously, and I'd been bouncing off the walls for months telling him about how many totally awesome people he'd get to meet. Just ridiculously excited. There is a gorgeous rightness to introducing people who are among your favorite people and yet have never met. Circles getting completed! Connections being made! Yay!

We proceeded to time_shark's Speculative Poetry Workshop.

...about which the less said, the better, no really. I actually had to flee the room at one point because I was not going to be able to keep a straight face. (Not time_shark's fault; he did an excellent job.) Poor sevenravens watching me grow ever more incredulous. Poor skogkatt, whose introduction to me was that look of dawning horror. Poor tithenai, who saw me tear out of the room like a bat out of hell and was concerned that I was in tears before realizing that no, I was trying to suppress laughter. Oh dear.

In my defense, I only said "That's what she said" once during the entire workshop. And it was to cucumberseed, who knows what he was getting into with me, and who said "This just kind of dribbles off at the end and goes on a bit too long."

Hee.

Friday
Worthy of note before any programming: met Brett Savory, who greeted me with "I published one of your stories." Yes! That is what I like to hear! Nifty person, too, and so's his wife, who I met later that evening. Shiny new people = always a highlight of any con.

Noon - 2:00PM: A Midsummer Night's Dream. Acts I & II: Innana Arthen (Puck), Ron Drummond (Egeus), Greer Gilman (Hermia, Starveling), Adam Golaski (Bottom), Caitlin R. Kiernan (Oberon), K. A. Laity (Quince), John Langan (Demetrius, Snug), Shira Lipkin (Helena, Flute), Faye Ringel (Hippolyta, Fairy), Benjamin Rosenbaum (Theseus), and Eric M. Van (Lysander, Snout).
Act III: Mike Allen (Bottom), Inanna Arthen (Helena), John Crowley (Oberon), Ron Drummond (Snout), Mary Robinette Kowal (Titania), Greer Gilman (Hermia, Starveling), Nicole Kornher-Stace (Puck), John Langan (Demetrius), Shira Lipkin (Flute), and Benjamin Rosenbaum (Quince). This was completely hilarious and I loved it and I want to do it every year forever. Highlights included both Bottoms, Faye Ringel's singing, John Langan's Demetrius, Ben Rosenbaum's Quince, Nicole's spontaneous Puck, and most especially Mary Robinette Kowal's Southern-belle Titania. The actors were not the only ones having a blast, either; the audience was in stitches. So much fun.

And even for that do I love you the more.
I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius,
The more you beat me, I will fawn on you:
Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me,
Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave,
Unworthy as I am, to follow you.
What worser place can I beg in your love,—
And yet a place of high respect with me,—
Than to be used as you use your dog?

Again I say hee. I usually play Puck or Hermia in this, so dear lord I had forgotten all about I am your spaniel! Had we not all been seated, I'd've flung myself at Demetrius's feet. As 'twas, I think I did it justice; I was getting compliments all weekend.

2:00 PM: The Year in Short Fiction. Ellen Datlow, David G. Hartwell (L), Shira Lipkin, Konrad Walewski.
...I was frustrated in this one. Ahem. Let us just say that I am reading different things by different people in different places than many of the other panelists. And when we agreed on the quality of certain stories, we apparently did not agree on the quality of the venues in which said stories appeared. Which puzzled me. But okay. I did get a bunch of my recommendations out there. I brought up "Non-Zero Probabilities" again (N.K. Jemison, Clarkesworld), because I am going to be pissed off if that does not win the Hugo.

"Eros, Philia, Agape" by Rachel Swirsky (from Tor.com)
The Regime of Austerity, by Veronica Schanoes (Strange Horizons)
And Their Lips Rang with the Sun, by Amal El-Mohtar (Strange Horizons)
Nira and I, by Shweta Narayan (Strange Horizons)
The Mermaids Singing Each to Each, by Cat Rambo (Clarkesworld)
From the Lost Diary of TreeFrog7, by Nnedi Okorafor (Clarkesworld)
Homeostasis, by Carlos Hernadez (Futurismic)
A Programmatic Approach to Perfect Happiness, by Tim Pratt (Futurismic)
Notes Toward a Comparative Mythology, by Nicole Kornher-Stace (Fantasy)
Reading by Numbers, by Aidan Doyle (Fantasy)
Shades of White and Road, by Camille Alexa (Fantasy)
Light On The Water, by Genevieve Valentine (Fantasy)
Offerings, by Stephanie Burgis (Fantasy)
each thing I show you is a piece of my death, by Gemma Files and Stephen J. Barringer - (Clockwork Phoenix 2)
Don't Mention Madagascar, by Pat Cadigan (Eclipse 3)
The Assimilated Cuban's Guide to Quantum Santeria, by Carlos Hernandez (Interfictions 2)
Child-Empress of Mars, by Theodora Goss (Interfictions 2)

3:30PM: My reading, which I'll cover in a separate post.

4:00 PM: Mythic Delirium / Goblin Fruit Group Reading. time_shark and tithenai (hosts), Erik Amundsen, Kate Baker, C.S.E. Cooney, Gemma Files, Francesca Forest, Theodora Goss, Nicole Kornher-Stace, Shira Lipkin, Caitlyn Paxson, Sonya Taaffe, Catherynne M. Valente, JoSelle Vanderhooft.
Everyone was fantastic! Many of us do such very different things, so the reading had so much range and variety. Truly something for absolutely everyone. Mad props to csecooney for absolutely bringing down the house with her grand finale, "The Sea-King's Second Bride". Epic. Epic! So much love! And half the fun was watching Elayna react to Cooney's full-force explosion of poetic wifely frustration.

5:00-6:30PM: Dinner with the fabulous upstart_crow, where we were talking so passionately and at such length that I, um, missed my 6:00 panel entirely. Oops. But I was only listed as an optional participant for if the leader wanted to call on me, I wasn't A Panelist. Still, I feel guilty about that. But as you can see, I was kinda severely busy all day and desperately in need of a break.

And then we actually attended some panels I wasn't on! The New YA Golden Age was a good panel in itself, but I was pretty frustrated by the end - because Elayna had her hand up for most of the latter half of the panel, and the mod never did call on her. The only actual young adult in the room, ignored. Well, okay then. Paolo Baciagalupi did see her and kept trying to direct the mod's attention to her, but no dice. I did thank him for trying. The New and Improved Future of Magazines was likewise good, but had a complete lack of fistfights. ktempest, what's up with that? :P

And this (9PM) was when the exhaustion caught up with me. I spent a considerable amount of time dithering about whether I ought to go home with Adam and Elayna or stay for the Meet the Pros(e) Party; I opted to stay, and I'm pretty sure this was the time I spent hanging out with pattytempleton in her room. And introducing her, via Sonya Taaffe, to "Title of the Song". I'm pretty sure.

Meet the Pros(e) was, as always, hella fun. For the uninitiated: It's called that because all panelists get a sheet of labels with one sentence of their choice from their work; you circulate and trade stickers, often using them to make absurdist poetry. So you are meeting the pros and also the prose. It's an excellent way to kick-start mingling, especially for often-shy people.

I may have been slightly inappropriate with pattytempleton. Maybe. Maybe more than slightly. Well. I cannot help myself around that girl! I am just saying. *fans self*

And then I went home, and slept a little bit but not nearly enough.

EDIT: Also, because apparently people are curious about my clothing these days and seem to think I have some style: the grey dress with the interesting neckline was from Anthropologie (Speckled Ink dress), and the jewelry was by Wyrding Studios.