Today was the only pre-booked tour on my schedule. Some friends were going on a bus toor to Tara and Newgrange and I took the opportunity to tag along. Tara is the sort of site where you need some deep background to understand what you're seeing. The tour guide did a great job of sketching in the background in the available time, but I suspect for many of the tour members it was simply a big hill with a bunch of bumps on it. The tour was enjoyable, but there was a certain sense of being processed through a tourism machine.
conventions
Blog entry
(This post is stitched together from various facebook postings throughout the day.)
My "rest day" was restful in the sense that I didn't have anything in particular I was committed to accomplishing. It started with an excellent night's sleep. (Maybe readers are bored with me talking about my sleep habits, but between my usual sleep issues and coming off jet lag, the topic is highly relevant to me.)
I’ve given up on the idea that I can plan where to eat breakfast. The lovely place I ate on Friday opens much later on weekends. The recommended bakery has yet to be open any time I drop by, despite it being within advertised hours. So my strategy will simply be to wander until I see a likely looking place that’s open.
I took the train that got me in to Waterford around noon, with the last return train leaving at 18:30. That was plenty of time to see the things I wanted to see, plus time to sit at the river’s edge with a sandwich when I didn’t want to walk any more.
By some miracle, I got a full night's sleep Thursday night (that is, a full night plus going to bed around 7pm), briefly interrupted by a very resonant rainstorm in the wee hours. But the placement of my room means I get no street noise, which is nice.
Despite all my self-deprecating mentions of getting to airports entirely too early for Significant Trips, I didn't actually spend that much time hanging out twiddling my thumbs. After check-in and security, I had an early dinner--or rather a late and substantial lunch. I figured they'd feed us something dinner-like on the plane but didn't want to count on it too heavily. (They did, but it was fairly light.) Then I really only had half an hour or so of wandering around the gate before they started boarding.
Worldcon proper doesn't start for another week, but I'm taking my "extra time" before the convention this time. At the point when I'm writing this, everything is packed, cleaned, organized, set up, checked in, and so forth.
I'm delighted to be able to contribute to the programming at Worldcon this year -- a privilege I try never to take for granted. I'll be joining panel discussions on podcasting, online fannish community, and Regency fantasy, as well as doing a reading and being available for autographs.
Here I am at the end of my first Sirens conference, sitting in the lobby waiting for my shuttle bus. And I figure if I don't blog about the conference now, it will probably slip down my priority list during week. (Note: parts of this were written at the airport later.)
I've posted my schedulde for Worldcon next week! If you're planning to be there, I'd love to see you--whether at my programming or just to hang out. Hear me talk about gender, mythology, and podcasting! Hear me read (possibly something from "The Language of Roses" -- I haven't quite decided yet). Buy my books and bring them to me to sign! Talk to me about all the things you love about SFF!
Hey, look! I actually got my BayCon schedule up on the blog a month before the convention starts! I'm going to be on some really intriguing panels. The one about "What did it look like when our ancestors created and wore costumes?" looks particularly intriguing and a refreshing take on historic costuming.
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