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Random Thoughts about WisCon 38 (2014)
May. 28th, 2014 11:11 amI mean it when I say random. In the past I've been super-organized, with daily posts, and panel writeups and everything. But nope, you're not getting that this time.
SFRA - I went over to Inn on the Park to see the Tiptree panel. Glad I went over for that. That's the only thing I went over there for. It's a short 5-10 minute walk. The room was AWESOME. It has a 180-ish view of the capitol and the water and whatnot. And it's just quite a shock to find a panel in that room. The layout was odd though. The audience chairs were not centered with the panel table.
Flights/times/whatnot - I definitely think arriving in time to catch the readings at A Room of One's Own is sort of the latest time I want to arrive. Next year I might want to arrive Wednesday. Definitely leaving on Tuesday was a great thing this year. I got to extend the con with random conversations throughout Monday and even at Tuesday breakfast. The afternoon flight out also wasn't full. Though we did get a 1-hour delay because "all flights into Boston are delayed". And the plane wasn't going to be full, but they stuck some airline crewmembers on it and filled it up.
Delta - They charge 25$ for a checked bag, but then when you get to the gate they're begging and threatening you to check your bag (for free this time) because there's no room on the plane for all of them. Such a ridiculous policy. You're just causing more work for your employees at the last minute. And now how do the people feel who paid 25$ to check their bag ahead of time?
Food - Madison is awesome for restaurants and WisCon is awesome for going out to meals with people. And yet I didn't really do that this year (or last year), because the Governor's Club Lounge food is "free" and more convenient, and the consuite as well. I did get to Noodles & Co, because I had that in mind my whole trip there. 'Shuttle to hotel, check into hotel, go get noodles'. We're getting our own Noodles & Co this summer though, so that will be less a thing next year for me. And Keyan and I and someone she knew went to the Spanish tapas place. It was disappointing this year. Only 4 vegetarian tapas, and one was olives (gross), and one was goat cheese (not as bad as I was expecting), and one was sold out (zucchini). How can you not have some form of mushroom thing?! There wasn't even a vegetarian flatbread.
More food - I didn't do the dessert salon this year, and I never saw chocolate mousse in the governor's club lounge! I didn't get any chocolate mousse! Might have to do dessert salon just to make sure I get some. Also it turns out you have to show up for dessert in the lounge at 9pm. They put everything out, and then only take away. They never replace or add. Unlike the appetizers/hors d'ouevres, which they will replace if something runs out. And they love putting booze and coffee in the desserts. Bleh.
Reading - So I repeated what I did last year and wrote my story at the last minute, at the con. Although not all in one sitting. I think I wrote it in 3 different stolen hours. Which is one more reason I did fewer 'eat out' things. I really should write what I intend to read before the con, so I have more time at the con. It was an idea I had been working on, and I tried to use what I'd learned at the Motivation Conflict Uh.. one other thing RWA workshop I attended about a week before WisCon. I think the story is reasonably good, but needs some work. Then I had some panic at the reading, because I was thinking it over and thinking I had been particularly unfair to my trans char for the sake of the main viewpoint char and her character/story arc. But actually I didn't get to that part in the reading. So I can fix it now without anyone seeing/hearing it first. :) I liked that people laughed at my reading. And two people came up to me after to say they liked it. Yay! And it gave me a sense that what I'd written was not just enjoyable, but actually important. (Which is a later theme addressed in the GOH speeches.)
SFRA - I went over to Inn on the Park to see the Tiptree panel. Glad I went over for that. That's the only thing I went over there for. It's a short 5-10 minute walk. The room was AWESOME. It has a 180-ish view of the capitol and the water and whatnot. And it's just quite a shock to find a panel in that room. The layout was odd though. The audience chairs were not centered with the panel table.
Flights/times/whatnot - I definitely think arriving in time to catch the readings at A Room of One's Own is sort of the latest time I want to arrive. Next year I might want to arrive Wednesday. Definitely leaving on Tuesday was a great thing this year. I got to extend the con with random conversations throughout Monday and even at Tuesday breakfast. The afternoon flight out also wasn't full. Though we did get a 1-hour delay because "all flights into Boston are delayed". And the plane wasn't going to be full, but they stuck some airline crewmembers on it and filled it up.
Delta - They charge 25$ for a checked bag, but then when you get to the gate they're begging and threatening you to check your bag (for free this time) because there's no room on the plane for all of them. Such a ridiculous policy. You're just causing more work for your employees at the last minute. And now how do the people feel who paid 25$ to check their bag ahead of time?
Food - Madison is awesome for restaurants and WisCon is awesome for going out to meals with people. And yet I didn't really do that this year (or last year), because the Governor's Club Lounge food is "free" and more convenient, and the consuite as well. I did get to Noodles & Co, because I had that in mind my whole trip there. 'Shuttle to hotel, check into hotel, go get noodles'. We're getting our own Noodles & Co this summer though, so that will be less a thing next year for me. And Keyan and I and someone she knew went to the Spanish tapas place. It was disappointing this year. Only 4 vegetarian tapas, and one was olives (gross), and one was goat cheese (not as bad as I was expecting), and one was sold out (zucchini). How can you not have some form of mushroom thing?! There wasn't even a vegetarian flatbread.
More food - I didn't do the dessert salon this year, and I never saw chocolate mousse in the governor's club lounge! I didn't get any chocolate mousse! Might have to do dessert salon just to make sure I get some. Also it turns out you have to show up for dessert in the lounge at 9pm. They put everything out, and then only take away. They never replace or add. Unlike the appetizers/hors d'ouevres, which they will replace if something runs out. And they love putting booze and coffee in the desserts. Bleh.
Reading - So I repeated what I did last year and wrote my story at the last minute, at the con. Although not all in one sitting. I think I wrote it in 3 different stolen hours. Which is one more reason I did fewer 'eat out' things. I really should write what I intend to read before the con, so I have more time at the con. It was an idea I had been working on, and I tried to use what I'd learned at the Motivation Conflict Uh.. one other thing RWA workshop I attended about a week before WisCon. I think the story is reasonably good, but needs some work. Then I had some panic at the reading, because I was thinking it over and thinking I had been particularly unfair to my trans char for the sake of the main viewpoint char and her character/story arc. But actually I didn't get to that part in the reading. So I can fix it now without anyone seeing/hearing it first. :) I liked that people laughed at my reading. And two people came up to me after to say they liked it. Yay! And it gave me a sense that what I'd written was not just enjoyable, but actually important. (Which is a later theme addressed in the GOH speeches.)