measi's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arisia musings: Saturday and Sunday (continuing from my last entry...) Erich got back to our room at 6 a.m., well after I'd fallen asleep to the sound of the TV. Since I'd lost our room key and had to go down to the front desk to get a new one, he was locked out. I stumbled over, let him in, and crashed back into bed. :) At 7:30, I woke up, as I usually do. The sun was streaming in my face, and the familiar (yet noticeably LOUDER than I remember them) sounds of Boston were outside. I pulled down the shade and read for a little while to try to tire my eyes out and get back to sleep for a bit. It worked-- for about twenty minutes or so. I was back up around 8:30, and about a half-hour later, I started to pester Erich, even though he had set the alarm for later in the morning. I was in a bit of a *cough* playful mood... but he was too tired. Within minutes, the morning frustration with the maids started. It seemed like every fifteen minutes, they were knocking on the door. We kept asking them to come back in an hour (which they ignored). If we'd had a do not disturb sign, it probably would have been easier, but *sigh* I guess it's just how that hotel is run. Around 10:30 I headed downstairs and outside to Au Bon Pain down the street to grab bagels and such for breakfast. I didn't take a coat-- it was very cold, but not painful. When I turned on the TV later, I was shocked to see the temperature had been around zero degrees (not including the wind chill). Whoops. Anyway... got breakfast. Erich had an experience making coffee, forgetting to put the piece in that allowed the water to pour from the coffee ground strainer into the carafe, and water got all over the place. I missed all of my morning panels. So did he. :) What a surprise, eh? Erich went gaming, even though he swore he wouldn't do that this year. And I just didn't sleep. The joys of Arisia... too much to do and see, not enough time or energy. By the time we were cleaned up, had coffee, etc., it was almost noon, and we were both pretty hungry. We headed over to Legal Seafoods, had a wonderful lunch with oysters (Erich tried them on the half shell for the first time) and fish. We came back to the hotel, did some more shopping, and then headed off to panels. We now, courtesy of the shopping trip, have a Monty Python "killer rabbit with long pointy teeth" (insert little hand guesture here). It's staying in the box, because the things written on the box are as amusing-- if not moreso-- than the rabbit itself. I had two new tarot decks-- the Robin Wood deck and the Celtic Dragon deck. Both are beautiful. Hopefully I'll learn how to read them. At three, I went to a writer's workshop with Clayton Emery. He's an eccentric guy, but had some interesting points on writing and the formula that almost all Western-style stories go through. I took lots of notes. Hopefully some of those ideas will help me firm up my NaNo novel. He discussed how all stories have a general formula to make them work, which he calls the "Six C's" (actually five C's and a P): Character, Change, Crisis, Complications, Climax, and Point. Once I drag my notes out, I'll probably type them somewhere on here. Needless to say, it was a wonderful panel-- lots to think about and consider. At four, I attended a panel on "LiveJournal and other blogs." And it was PACKED. I might add that I was probably one of the few people there who didn't have a live journal. It seems like everyone had one. *shrug* Although there apparently IS an Arisia community on Livejournal, so I'm thinking of getting one just so I can keep up to date with what's going on, and maybe make a few new friends to see at the con. We'll see. The topics discussed were interesting ones-- issues of privacy, why we use our blogs and journals, things that have happened because of them (both good and bad), and the journaling community as a whole. There was a general feeling that people should watch what they say online for fear of retribution from work or friends/family. I agreed to a point, but I also have a streak of "If you're worried so much about 'getting caught' then why are you keeping your journal online? Or why don't you lock it?!?" I didn't say as much, though. In fact, I didn't speak up during the conversation. I just listened. I prefer listening on the panels to spur some thoughts, rather than get involved in it, anyway. I met up with Kimee a bit after 5 while browsing through the art show, and we headed back to my room to chat for a while, since we hadn't seen each other since last Arisia. It was good-- we caught up on some things-- particularly Nervousness gripes (since she was fucked over by a lot of people there... not surprised), and stuff happening with her work. She recently was introduced to Reiki through a friend, and we chatted a bit about that, too. I'll probably be teaching her when I next see her so she can boost her own energy and her parents' health a bit. I'm perpetually worried about Kimee's health. Probably to the point that I'm annoying her a bit. ANYWAY... Erich came back to the room at 6, and we hung out for a while and chatted. Kimee then left to go get ready for the evening DJ dance. Erich and I went shopping for a few things (blush) and then came back to the room and took advantage of being a couple in a hotel room. (hee hee hee). Apparently some people in a room near us had a similar idea-- volume was quite impressive! We hung out in the room, ordered pizza, and just relaxed for the better part of the evening. Both of us were really tired from the crazy day and the lack of sleep the night before. But around 11:30 p.m, we decided to head downstairs to go to the dance for a little while. We met up with Tony and Rachel on the Mezzanine outside the ballroom and chatted for a bit. The DJ wasn't set up yet in the ballroom. We waited for quite a while, and finally decided we'd skip the dance and go watch a movie in the film room until we were ready to fall asleep. Dark City was playing. I'd seen it (and love the movie). Erich hadn't. After the movie, we crawled back upstairs and crashed out... it was just around 2:30 a.m. On Sunday morning around 9 a.m., we were woken up by housekeeping... again. *sigh* We'd set the alarm for 9:30 a.m. anyway, so we got up, got cleaned up, packed everything, and checked out of our room at 10 (from the room's telephone, thankfully). It took a half-hour to get an elevator, since over 2,700 people were checking out of the hotel that morning. We walked over to the Boston Common garage, where I'd parked the car, and drove it to a closer garage so we could go to another panel and grab brunch before heading home. At 11, we attended a panel on villians-- how to create one that is effective. Again, it was an interesting panel with lots of ideas to consider. I took a lot of notes. Erich was taking several, too. More stuff to consider while I firm up that novel. We grabbed brunch at Fire + Ice (where we had our first date back in '01), and then headed home to crash. A good weekend. I'm sad that Arisia is over, but looking forward to next year. I'm just so thankful I have today off so I can get stuff done! 12:30 p.m. - 20 January 2003 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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