Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire

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Oh, babe. I hate to go.

There's something magical about airport departure lounges. They're these strange, impossible liminal spaces, where the world is infinite just because it's so limited. I spend a lot of time in them these days, what with the conventions and the work and everything else. The TSA at San Francisco is starting to know me by name.

I am heading home from Boston, where I just spent a wonderful, terrible, magical, mundane, perfect, flawed, absolutely incredible weekend as a Special Guest of Arisia 2010. The convention was warm and welcoming and filled with people who hugged me and were happy I was there. I had a terrible allergic reaction Sunday morning and spent most of the day sick even unto death. I sat on a stage with Cat and talked about gulper eels and Lord Byron's penis. I tried to make the hotel internet work, to mixed results. I curled up in a warm bed with two of my favorite people sitting nearby, and watched great television. I wandered around unfed and confused.

I had a fantastic convention. I am glad to know that someday, I will go back there. I am so very glad to be going home. And that, really, is the convention experience. You go to a strange place, you enter the airport departure lounge of your soul, and you do your best to fall in love with the people you meet there. And then you all get on planes and go home to your separate places, and you wonder whether you'll ever fly that route again.

My bags are packed. I'm ready to go. The city streets are filled with snow. I hate to wake you up to say goodbye...

But I will. And soon, Great Pumpkin willing, I'll say hello.

Thank you for everything.
Tags: cat valente, contemplation, conventions, good things, medical fu, post-con, utterly exhausted
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  • 39 comments
Oh, no! No poisoning!

I'm so glad that there were fantastic bits, and your analogy is the tiniest bit bleak and terribly lovely, as all things ephemeral are.
Thank you, darlin'.

taraljc

January 18 2011, 00:12:04 UTC 6 years ago Edited:  January 18 2011, 00:17:43 UTC

I wandered around unfed and confused.

*smacks you upside the head*

EAT THE FOODS.

(You know when it's me saying that, pot kettle and all. Still.)
I was unfed because of my schedule!
Wow, you've captured all the reasons I love conventions so beautifully. I hope I can find a way to go to one this year.
Me, too.
I am sorry that scarfs are not edible! I hope that the airport provides decent foods for you, and you get home safely, and find everything well there, from cats to phones to beds.

(Two out of those three things are on my mind just now, if the selection seems odd. *beth waves at her journal for the morbidly curious*)
You do not really look like your user icon, you realize that? I kept wondering why I recognized you, but didn't...
So glad you had fun! So sorry I wasn't able to make it out due to planning fubar. :( On the other hand, any money saved at this point is going into The Wedding Pit Account, so it could be worse. I either need to catch you in that someday next time or get my bottom out to SF. ;) But hooray for a good time.
It's okay! I shall see you sometime.
It was so awesome getting to meet you in person. You brightened every panel you were in, even the weirdly depressing ones.

I'd say the Seanan and Cat show was the highlight of the convention, except that there was that whole getting to sit and talk to you for hours the night before.

I feel so privileged. Thank you for making my weekend so filled with awesome.
Thank you so much for coming! I had a great time.

alicetheowl

6 years ago

seanan_mcguire

6 years ago

I'm sorry I missed getting a chance to meet you. I was only at the con for a few hours on Sunday, with my six week-old in tow. Thus, my mobility was a little bit restricted. :-(
Sad. :( Maybe next time.
The Seanan Cat show was one of my highlights of Aussiecon. I hope to catch another installment at Renovation later this year.
We're planning on a replay!

gorgeousgary

6 years ago

I was really glad I got to see you and Cat this morning (I didn't get to see much of the con beyond my own panels, my dealer table, and parenting duties). Safe travels home!
I am home!
I'm glad you had a good time. Two in a row. Hopefully it will help you destress somewhat.
I hope so, too.
I'm so glad I got to meet you at least briefly yesterday. And, I didn't say it at the time, but, I loved your professional hat. ;)
Yay!
I'm really glad I got to meet you. I'm sorry I was so completely confused at first! The Seanan and Cat show was a huge highlight of my con, and I told the Alice-flushing-things-down-the-toilet saga to my family tonight, and my dad and sister nearly died, they were laughing so hard. I think that was at the flushing-Thomas part. So, thank you muchly. :-)
Is okay! Thank you so much for being there.
So... this Lord Byron thing-thing...?
It was a whole thing.
Conventions are like a fantasy world of their own. Which is what makes them so wonderful.
Very true.
You and Cat are so adorable together. I want to hug you and squeeze you and call you George.
Tell me about the rabbits, George.
Pls to be sharing the Alice-flushing-Thomas story and tell us mroe about Lord Byron's penis.
You gotta catch the Cat and Seanan Show!

It was lovely seeing you at the con!

If you don't mind my asking - I was catching up on LJ on the way home from Arisia (while I was a passenger, not driving!) and I mentioned your mention of allergic reaction in the car and speculated on whether it had been something from the breakfast buffet - and my two fellow traveler's reminded me that one of them (who normally has guts of steel and no food allergies or intolerances) had felt ill on Sunday for the most of the day, and asked me to ask you whether your allergic sick woes may have been from something eaten at the breakfast buffet.

They are of the view that more data points is good information to mention as con feedback, in case it was a food thing.

It was actually an allergic reaction to a woman wearing mango perfume at the next table over. Sadly.

I did not die.
It was wonderful, as always, to see you. Two weekends in a row, even! Your GaFilk concert was terrific, and while I missed most of your Arisia appearances (too many duties of my own, there), I loved the "doom via antibiotic-resistant plague" panel and your songs at "Mad Science Circle".

I wish we had gotten to chat more (both weekends), but I figured (perhaps incorrectly) you'd be pretty busy. (Also, I can't believe I never got around to introducing you to ultimatepsi.) Now, I feel sad not knowing the next time I'll be seeing you; "twice in a calendar year" is lovely but not so great it's the first two weekends of the year and it'll probably be more than a year until the next. (Maybe ultimatepsi and I will visit the west coast this summer?)
Me, too. If you come out to the West Coast, give me a call.