Fun is sometimes a four-letter word.

That's it. If I ever meet you at a con, I am going to make you have fun, even if it kills me.

I am making more fun for you.

And you are exceptionally good at your job! :-)

At a couple of the cons I go to, I spend a large chunk of the con running room parties, plus roadying for my friends' bands. Depending on how available other people are to share those duties, there are some years that I don't get the chance to have much fun. But I am happy nonetheless, because I know that my work was essential to other peoples' fun.

I'm in disagreement right now with some of the co-hosts of one of those room parties, because I have an idea for a change to make something less stressful/chaotic and more efficient. But some people think my idea will make things "less fun" for them when they're volunteering. It hasn't been "fun" for me for a long time, but I'd like to make it less stressful, since the party needs all the volunteers it can get.

In any case, I hope you can find little bits of fun at most of your conventions. It's always better when there can be little bits of fun.

I am kind of curious about what keeps you coming back to conventions you're a regular at. I always assumed you did that because you enjoyed those conventions, and that might be true to some degree, but you seem to have a pretty businesslike attitude about it, so there's probably more to it than that. I've seen some former guests of honor return repeatedly to a con and say they do it because the con is so much fun. I guess different people have different outlooks on things, and different ideas of fun.

That's sad. On the one hand, it might be cool to have the level of career success that you have such "celebrity problems", on the other hand, it sucks that so many people can't treat celebrities as people with their own needs, especially at times when they're obviously not in career-mode at the moment. They expect you to have fun, but can actively interfere with your ability to do so.

I've enjoyed your guest of honor appearances at a couple of conventions, and I would have found it really cool if you'd shown up and hung out in the filk circles, just as another person and musician. I would be sad if I wanted you to hear a song and you slept through it, but I wouldn't be angry. And I'm sadder to hear that you like filk circles but find it difficult to enjoy them anymore.

"But every time I do something I consider "fun" (latest example: chasing lizards around the rocks at Disneyland).... "

But for some of us, watching you chase lizards around those rocks would increase OUR fun.So you have that as a plausible excuse - er, ah, REASON to have a little bit of fun. ;)

This is an excellent distinction, well put.

I teach a particular variety of folk dancing. I have a great deal of fun dancing! Teaching dance is enjoyable work among my friends. Teaching dance to a roomful of beginners in an audience participation/outreach context is satisfying, enjoyable work which is not what I would ever do for fun, but I'm glad to do it, and it gives me great pleasure to know the people on the dance floor had fun. But it's always a little awkward for me when I feel I have to assure someone of how much fun I had, wouldn't've chosen to be anywhere else, etc.

I am a strange person. I read this whole post and immediately wonder, "What kind of M&Ms?"

My dad used to hide a bag of peanut M&Ms for his own personal use somewhere around the house. He'd periodically move it as it got discovered and pillaged... each of us kids apparently would only take a few, but when we compared notes as adults, it turns out that all five of us have memories of taking a few M&Ms, so that would add up...

um...

I appear to have entered the loopy phase. Apologies.

I totally hear you. It's part of why I've been dithering on volunteering as a panelist (while I don't have books currently available, I have been published; medical and life issues have been such that it's only been this year I have really started to get back into things, and not really as much as I would like even then). I would like to see more specific panels than just, for instance, broad topics like Feminism in SFF and Disability in SFF. I've been three times and the panels pretty much go the same way, so I'd like to suggest other things, and many people have suggested I volunteer, but that involves the con becoming work. (I may still decide to do it anyway. We shall see. A lot depends on my anxiety, really.)

I want to thank you for all the awesome stuff you did at Norwescon, because it was amazing to meet you, and I loved your Q&A and concert. I especially appreciated the concert given you mentioned you were having such severe foot pain; as I have both, well, chronic pain, but I've also had severe tendinitis in my achilles tendons to the point that standing was agony, so... having had that experience myself, I just wanted to thank you for being willing to put yourself through that to make awesome fun times for the rest of us. (Also, I totally wore my new Slasher Chicks tank out today to lunch with my gf and her Other Husband. SO COMFY. >_>)

Hrm. Do you never go to cons any more just to go to the con, to go to panels (maybe sitting on one or two, but mostly just being in the audience), participate in filking, etc.? I understand that you are extremely busy with your work (and I can't imagine how you get as much stuff done as you do!), but if you are now going to cons only when you're a guest, when you are expected to work as part of going... that makes me a bit sad.

There was a Toronto Trek convention, some years back, that had George Takei and Marina Sirtis as guests. Sirtis appeared only for her GOH talks and for one other headline event, and for her autograph session. Takei did those, and one or two other panel things, and the rest of the time he sat in on sessions and wandered around and hung out and... was just a con-goer. Seemed to be having a good time.