Highlights of Arisia, part two.: seanan

Highlights of Arisia, part two.

Welcome to the second, and hopefully final, portion of my not-a-con-report for Arisia. I really did have a wonderful time in Boston, snow and all, and I'm definitely going to be going back. Eventually. After I've had the opportunity to take a nice nap, and maybe watch a whole lot of really, really dumb television. Anyway, here are the summarized highlights (and lowlights), for your amusement and edification.

My candy corn hat! The Agent knows me too, too well, it seems, and when the time came to give me the last piece of my holiday gift, she led me to the dealer's hall and purchased me a felt candy corn hat from one of the local vendors. Yes. I now have a hat that looks like a piece of candy corn. TREMBLE WITH FEAR, MERE MORTALS. I wore this hat to almost every serious panel I had during the weekend, and proclaimed proudly that wearing it provided that I was a professional. I never said what kind of professional.

The Mad Science song circle! I didn't make it to very many filk events this year, sadly, because I was busy with other programming and also wound up spending most of Sunday vilely ill (more on this in a moment). But the Mad Science circle was awesome, and Ben Newman sprung a positively wicked new science parody on me. It was a very cool circle, and I'm so very glad I got to go.

Alice and Josh! My life is better when it contains large quantities of Alice, and since I had to leave my beloved Maine Coon in California, I supplemented diet of Alice with a local fan and acquaintance of mine from this blog. She and her husband took me to dinner, where I ate, unsurprisingly, shepherd's pie, and then she and I sat and talked for like an hour and a half while he ran off to a panel. It was a really nice, relaxing way to spend an evening, and I had a wonderful time. Since they didn't run screaming, I assume they did, too.

Meeting Toni! My friend Toni lives near Boston, and was able to come out to the convention on Saturday, transforming herself from "my Internet-only friend Toni" to "my friend Toni, whom I have met in real life." She brought her husband, who was witty and fun to talk to, and I brought Diana, who was witty and fun to talk to and bought me chicken fingers. There were exchanges of books and hugs, and life was very good. It's nice to have people transform from words on a screen into actual humans. It makes me happy.

The Guest Breakfast! Arisia had a special breakfast event on Sunday, where people could buy tickets to have a special, intimate breakfast with the Guests of Honor and Special Guests. Each of us had a table of our very own. Sadly for me, someone at the next table over was wearing a mango-based perfume, and the breakfast went rapidly from "yum yum, free fruit" to "quietly excusing myself, walking to the bathroom, vomiting copiously, and walking back to my table to resume being entertaining." I would become progressively sicker for most of the day. It was so much fun. My poor roommates had to deal with my basically being a creepy dead girl from a horror movie. How I try their patience.

Cat and Seanan strike back! Cat and I are getting pretty good at our urban fantasy girl version of "An Evening With Kevin Smith." Every time it happens, the crowd gets a little bigger, the questions get a little smoother, and our comfort levels get a little higher, which leads to, you know, more swearing, more craziness, and more references to Lord Byron's penis. It's a victory for everybody! This installment of the Cat-and-Seanan Show was pure hammered awesome, and we only had to decline one question, which is possibly a record. More impressively, I wasn't even able to walk without throwing up an hour before the panel. So this is what I do for love.

Better Off Ted! Diana and Cat introduced me to this show, and Cat's Netflicks account allowed us to wallow in it each night before bed. I now require the box sets. And maybe a meat blob.

Post-antibiotic science fiction gone wild! My final panel was on Monday morning, and was all about post-antibiotic science fiction. It turned into "Seanan defends her thesis on causative agents for the Black Death" for about twenty minutes, which seemed to be fun for everyone, if a little more mentally rigorous than I had wanted to be that early in the morning on the last day of a convention. I recommended not licking things as a way to avoid infection. You're welcome.

Flying home! Actually, the flight was pretty lousy. But my cats made up for it.

See you next time!

firynze

January 24 2011, 20:15:13 UTC 6 years ago

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Your hat sounds AMAZING and...dude, I would have loved to hear you hold forth on Black Death causative-agent theory. I'm such a nerd. :-D

scifantasy

January 24 2011, 21:07:56 UTC 6 years ago

Here you go.

*smirk*

6 years ago

hoppytoad79

seanan_mcguire

kittikins

January 24 2011, 20:24:46 UTC 6 years ago

I love Better off Ted! "Deal with it" is a permanent addition to my personal lexicon. Also, the insult generator is fantastic fun. Happy watchings!

January 25 2011, 05:04:15 UTC 6 years ago

I'm so pleased that this exists. Even if it did get canceled.

the_dark_fyre

January 24 2011, 20:29:25 UTC 6 years ago

You'd be the second person I'd have heard the lesson on not licking things from. The first was a doctor of veterinary medicine specializing in epidemiology. (The take-home lesson at the end of the lecture was, rather specifically, 'don't lick the dog')

I think you may be onto something!

January 25 2011, 05:04:26 UTC 6 years ago

It's an important safety tip!

January 24 2011, 20:44:39 UTC 6 years ago

But the Mad Science circle was awesome, and Ben Newman sprung a positively wicked new science parody on me. It was a very cool circle, and I'm so very glad I got to go.

I'm particularly glad to hear that.

January 25 2011, 05:04:34 UTC 6 years ago

Que?

markbernstein

January 24 2011, 20:49:41 UTC 6 years ago

Better Off Ted is wonderful. There's a moment in the fourth episode, the one with the new sensor system, that had me staring in awe and saying, "I can't believe they went there." Sadly, while there's a box set for the first season, no second season set has yet appeared or been announced.

I'm glad you had a good time at Arisia. We'll try to make Conclave at least as enjoyable.

January 25 2011, 05:05:25 UTC 6 years ago

I really, really hope there's a second season box set. Really really.

Debbie says Wild Mercy should be able to help me out if y'all decide you want me to do a concert. So there's that.

janeg

January 24 2011, 20:51:52 UTC 6 years ago

I want to see a picture of you wearing this hat!

Seriously, mango perfume? Phil would have run out of the room, and even a lover of mangos like me doesn't want a fake mango scent in the air, especially at breakfast. How insensitive of the wearer, and I'm sorry you got ill.

January 25 2011, 01:18:50 UTC 6 years ago

Since it hit her allergy, it must have been real mango. If you're going to be poisoned, be poisoned by the real thing.

I seriously doubt that the wearer had any idea there was someone around with a mango allergy.

argonel

January 24 2011, 21:11:32 UTC 6 years ago

Is there going to be a Cat and Mira show at convergence this summer in MN? Since it is your alter ego that is officially on the program and all that. Or are you just planning on changing your identity to match the occaison. Two author guests for the price of one.

January 25 2011, 05:06:42 UTC 6 years ago

According to the website, it's me that's officially on the program, unless I missed an update. I don't know if I could be Mira for a whole weekend. She's a little scary.

But yes, there will probably be an installment of our traveling roadshow, assuming they're willing to give us the program space.

andrian6

January 24 2011, 21:14:00 UTC 6 years ago

Better Off Ted! Diana and Cat introduced me to this show, and Cat's Netflicks account allowed us to wallow in it each night before bed. I now require the box sets. And maybe a meat blob.

The outtakes/alternate takes from the "All employees must swear" episode is one of the most hilariously filthy things I've ever seen.

January 25 2011, 05:06:52 UTC 6 years ago

Noted!

kitrinlu

January 24 2011, 22:06:15 UTC 6 years ago

"Seanan defends her thesis on causative agents for the Black Death"

Omg, I love that song! XD

Sucks that you had to deal with the mango perfume attack (and seriously, wtf, mango perfume?!), but I'm glad you had a great time otherwise :)

deakat

January 24 2011, 23:46:08 UTC 6 years ago

I used to love Body Shop mango perfume oil in the early '90s, before my chemical sensitivity progressed to a point where I could no longer wear fragrances. They don't sell the oil anymore, but they do have a line of mango products, including soap, body butter and even hand sanitizer.

One of the things that I love about WisCon is that they ask people to be aware of how their fragrance may affect others. I still have some problems with air quality, but it certainly helps.

yellowblackhaze

January 24 2011, 22:49:04 UTC 6 years ago

For a moment I thought the hat was actually made out of candy corn! Glad you discovered Better Off Ted. I loved that show!

January 25 2011, 00:15:28 UTC 6 years ago

I was expecting a hat covered in candy corn, but apparently reality is intended to disappoint.

alicetheowl

January 24 2011, 23:27:41 UTC 6 years ago

Since they didn't run screaming, I assume they did, too.

It was the highlight of our convention, our month, possibly the whole year. We had an awesome, wonderful time.

I looked at my twitter feed after the weekend was done, and muttered to myself, "Wow, I think my friends will all know how much I like

seanan_mcguire after this weekend." Because there was an awful lot of fangirl squee.

I hope our paths get to cross again, and I'll be watching your appearance schedule for anything that'll put you within a few hundred miles of Schenectady.

January 26 2011, 03:09:24 UTC 6 years ago

This makes me really happy. :)

spectralbovine

January 24 2011, 23:46:19 UTC 6 years ago

Better Off Ted! Diana and Cat introduced me to this show, and Cat's Netflicks account allowed us to wallow in it each night before bed. I now require the box sets. And maybe a meat blob.
Yeah, I'm considering mainlining this next, as I heard good things about it and it sounds bizarrely hilarious and right up my alley.

January 26 2011, 03:09:36 UTC 6 years ago

MEAT BLOB, SUNIL, MEAT BLOB.

jeffreycwells

January 25 2011, 03:26:28 UTC 6 years ago

Fun Fact: Andrea Anders from the cast of Better Off Ted was my high school classmate and drama club co-geek. We did "Arsenic and Old Lace" together.

January 26 2011, 03:09:47 UTC 6 years ago

Dude, awesome!

dormouse_in_tea

January 25 2011, 03:59:38 UTC 6 years ago

I am filled with absolute horror that the aerosol version of mango can kill you also. That's, like, NOT FAIR. :(

You are a most admirable Guest for cons, tho, given that you kept right on being entertaining.

January 26 2011, 03:09:59 UTC 6 years ago

Thank you. I truly made an effort.

January 25 2011, 21:16:02 UTC 6 years ago

I recommended not licking things as a way to avoid infection

A friend of mine cheerfully recounted this from the panel, both because she loved the succinctness of your advice, and also, because she apparently had one of those perfect "knowing what to say at the right time to say it" moments when later in the discussion when someone asked about STDs, and she piped up from the audience with: "I believe that was covered under 'Dont lick things'"

January 26 2011, 03:10:15 UTC 6 years ago

She was awesome!

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Highlights of Arisia, part two.

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