ovff

Dead tired, just got back from OVFF. Had a wonderful time; it was a much-needed mental break. I was pretty burned out by the end of last week and felt like someone had secretly lobotomized me in my sleep. Five minutes before I was supposed to board the plane, I suddenly realized that I had left all the hotel and convention information at home. In a panic (Allison was still teaching at school, and Jodi had already left for her flight in Toronto), I called my friend Luisa...she looked up the OVFF hotel info for me online. :-)

Many thanks to the OVFF concom for putting on such a great convention! And Talis Kimberley was a excellent GoH. Details forthcoming over the next while. Thanks also to those who nominated and voted for my song, "My Jalapeno Man", for a Pegasus Award...I was honoured to win a Pegasus for the song (tying with Tom Smith's "307 Ale" for Best Food/Drink Song). Allison wasn't able to be there in time for the Pegasus Concert, so Paul Kwinn (thanks, Paul!) stepped in to play the guitar part...see photo below.

It was great to see old friends again. For the first time, I opted to skip much of the regular programming so I could have more time to catch up with friends. I've been feeling somewhat homesick and missing familiar faces lately. So if you were at OVFF and didn't see me around a whole lot during the concerts and one-shots, that was why...I desperately needed to be able to talk to people this past weekend, not just sit in an audience. And even then, I didn't get a chance to talk to everyone I wanted to. As Mary Ellen Wessels commented at the convention, OVFF is like coming to visit your five hundred closest friends and then only getting to spend three seconds with each of them.

Can't write anymore, my brain is dead, need to sleep. More later.

Today's blatherpic (top of page):
This picture was taken in the hotel lobby just before I left the convention to go back to Philadelphia. From top left to bottom right: Scott Snyder, Paul Kwinn, Rand Bellavia, Beckett Gladney, me, Allison Durno, Jodi Krangle, Kathleen Sloan.

surrey writer's workshop

Hey, guess what? Jodi, Allison and I have been invited to be Filk Guests of Honour at Ad Astra in Toronto next February! We're very honoured. I'm pretty tickled; Ad Astra was the very first sf convention I ever attended.

The weekend after, we're Guests of Honour at Consonance in California (this time without our winter gear in tow, woohoo!).

The Surrey Writers' Conference was lots of fun. My workshops all seemed to go pretty well, in spite of the fact that I hate public speaking. At the end of my last workshop, an older man stood up in the audience. "I have a criticism of your workshops," he said, and I froze, awaiting the axe blow. "Do you think you could put more ENTHUSIASM into your presentation?" There was a moment of silence, and then the rest of the class burst into laughter. And I was mightily relieved. I, um, tend to get kind of carried away being excited about the potential of the Internet for writers. :-)

I got to meet people I've been e-mailing with for ages, like Gordon Kirkland and Devorah Stone. Gordon is touring with the Rock Bottom Remainders next summer (Stephen King, Dave Barry, Amy Tan, others). I might be a part of a Canadian equivalent he's putting together, we'll see. :-) I also might be collaborating with another musician-writer on his CD of songs about and for writers.

By accident, I ended up sitting beside Diana Gabaldon at lunch during the only day she was at the conference (Diana is the author of the Outlander series). Very nice woman, sharp sense of humour. Also enjoyed meeting Sarah Ellis, a children's author whose book, "Next Stop", was recently illustrated by my sister Ruth.

It was also fun to see how many people I recognized. Last year when I arrived, I knew NO ONE. This year, it was gratifying to actually to be able to remember people, and to be remembered by people. The Surrey Writers' Conference people are incredibly friendly and welcoming.

The conference was helpful to me on many levels. For one thing, it helped remind me why I started Inkspot in the first place. I'm also realizing that I really miss my own writing. Weird to say that, since I basically write all day and have a book coming out any day now. But I miss my children's writing.

I met a woman named Christie Bowling during the conference. She's going through something similar (overscheduled life, not enough time doing the kind of writing she likes). We've made a vow to each other that the next time we meet, that we'll each have gotten back into our own kind of writing (we even got into specifics, like stage in writing and revisiion, etc.).

Today's blatherpic:
Morning announcements at the Surrey Writers' Conference in B.C. yesterday.

childhood games

So over on blatherchat, the hot topic is conkers. Did any of you used to play this? I vaguely remember this game back in grade school...you prepare horse chestnuts by boring a hole through it and threading it with a string. Then you and another player take turns hitting the other person's conker and trying to crack it open. Here's a Web explanation of conkers.

What are other childhood games you loved/hated? I hated "Red Rover", where two teams of children with interlinked arms faced each other, challenging members of the other team to run over and break through their human wall. If you couldn't break through, then you became part of the wall.

A game I hated more (sorry, can't remember the name) involved everyone pummelling one poor soul with soccer balls. The child had to dodge the balls; if hit, they lost their turn. Hm...this was probably called "Dodge Ball", though it would just as aptly be "Sadism Ball" since it seemed to be the ideal opportunity for children to release any pent-up hostility they may have accumulated thus far in their lives without fear of retribution.

Now that I think of it, I tended to dislike any childhood game that involved teamwork and violence, which included the majority of childhood games.

Games I LIKED

Double dutch: skipping rope game, with two ropes.

Jumpsies: involved a long rope consisting of rubber bands that had been tied together. One girl would hold each end at varying heights (gradually increasing), pulling the rope taut so it was parallel to the ground. A third girl would jump over the rope as it was gradually raised until she flubbed it.

Wall-bounce ball game (sorry, don't know a proper name for this): required a small rubber ball and a wall. Each girl would take turns chanting a number of verses which involved bouncing the ball against the wall in various ways of increasing complexity (under the leg, claps between, etc.). Her turn ends when she flubs it.

Hopscotch: we used stones as markers or to keep points.

I was also very much into role-playing type of games, not the D&D type (that came later on in life :-)), but pretending we were princesses or explorers or characters from a favourite story. I remember on very snowy days, Ruth and I used to pretend we were Kay and Gerda, lost in the blizzard-torn wilderness, calling to each other. We'd argue about which one of us got to be Gerda each time (the little girl rather than her brother).

Today's blatherpic:
Allison, Jodi and I all wearing our Teddy socks last time we got together.

pearson airport escape tips

Feeling somewhat better. Didn't go into the office, stayed at my Philly apartment. Tried to stay in bed and rest, but I found it nearly impossible to stay immobile for more than an hour and inevitably dragged myself back to the computer to do more prep for the workshops I'm giving next weekend in Surrey. How sad is that?! Here I am, moaning about how I wish I could have a few days doing nothing but rest, and I can't even take advantage of the first legitimate excuse I've had to do exactly that.

I was pretty braindead by the time I finally packed up to fly back to Toronto last night. I forgot my power cord, my digital camera and cables, my cellphone power adaptor. Didn't pack any clothes, just my laptop and my workshop paperwork. After we boarded the plane, I fell asleep before we took off, woke up when the plane bumped down for landing. Darn, missed my four pretzel sticks (how the airline classifies this as a "snack" is beyond me).

I have the routine down pat for getting out of the airport as efficiently as possible. I always ask for an aisle seat, around the middle of the plane. Too far forward and you risk not having room for your carry-on luggage in the overhead bins by the time you board the plane (US Airways boards rear rows first). If your seat is too far back, however, you have to wait until everyone gets off the plane before you can finally leave.

As I get off the plane, I try to manoeuver the handle on my carry-on so that I can extend it and start pulling the suitcase behind me without having to pause. Then it's a speedwalk race to the Customs area! It's pretty funny, all of us pretending that we don't really care if we get to Customs before the other passengers, but meanwhile walking as fast as we possibly can. Sometimes one of us breaks down under pressure and actually starts to run (this has happened to me).

Making it to Customs before most of the crowd is important because if you time it right, then you can zoom through relatively quickly and be out of the airport in a few minutes. If you're too slow, then you can get caught at the end of a lineup of at least 20-30 people, at least one of whom will be a suspicious-looking sort who takes at least 20 minutes arguing with the customs official in the booth, holding up everyone else, and you can be in line for over an hour. There's also an art to picking the right line at Customs, quickly gauging the people who will be ahead of you to guess which line will move the quickest. You also have to check out the Customs official in the booth at the front of the line, to see if they're the type to wave people through with a bored "I can't wait to get home to watch Survivor re-runs" attitude, or the keener type who likes to pepper travel-dazed passengers with a zillion questions.

Tips on getting past the Customs official quickly: fill out your form correctly! If you forget to fill in any required field, or make a mistake writing the date, you are an instant Suspect. Don't hesitate when answering questions. Don't try to be too friendly. Don't act like you're in a hurry. AND FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, DON'T SLOUCH!!

Even after you're past Customs, however, the dangers are not yet over...you have to get past baggage claim. Don't let yourself get distracted by the loud beeping or confused-looking travellers standing your way with weeping children and luggage carts piled with suitcases. Get to that exit, quickly before the others figure out where it is. Dodge and weave between the crowds like the seasoned traveller you are. WHAT??? You actually have checked luggage and have to wait for that? AUGH, YOU FOOL! You'll never get out of here now. I hope you brought a book.

Today's blatherpic:
Garrison (with the nice-smelling head) and Brittany, at the cottage.

sick

Blah. My cold isn't a real surprise since Jeff's sick, many family members I encountered on Thanksgiving weekend were sick, and a bug is going around the office.

Today's blatherpic: A comic sent to me today by Shane "staxx" Stacks, who helps me with Inkspot. :-)