(no subject)

[graculus]

Time for the ubiquitous holiday/MW post, I think, now my brain has started moving a little swifter than before...


You know, it always takes me a good couple of weeks to get truly out of work mode and this particular trip just seemed to run and run, which is always a good sign I'm enjoying myself.

The itinerary was this: Montreal for a couple of days, then down to Ottawa to visit obelix and her hubby before flying off to exotic Lansing the following day. Back to chez obelix late on Memorial Day, then back to Montreal on the Wednesday for a couple more days until flying back to England on the Friday evening. Well, at least that was the plan! :P

[apologies in advance to any Francophones around here for dropped accents etc...]

I really liked Montreal, though I didn't get to see all that much of it, despite my best intentions. There's a plethora of places to buy coffee, which is always a good sign, and I found it relatively easy to get around. The only downside, for the first couple of days anyway, was the god-awful weather - if I wanted to get rained on I would have stayed in England! Ironically, when I got back there was a mini heatwave, which was a little too hot for me. Yes, I am that picky!

Still, if anyone is planning on visiting, I heartily recommend the first hotel I stayed in, the Hotel Place d'Armes. While the other hotel was very nice as well, the only downside of this one was the lack of coffee making facilities in the room (they had a machine downstairs) - the breakfast was scrummy, the room pristine and you had to walk past a station full of firemen to get there from the nearby metro (with my brain going 'must not gawp at the firemen, must not gawp at the firemen' as I did so). Anyway, I got an excellent deal courtesy of Expedia (or was it Travelocity? I don't recall, one or the other), but it was still money well spent.

So, off to Ottawa by train and visiting chez obelix, who is always good company and the perfect host! *smooch* And when we got back we went looking for gay porn dvds with seanchaidh but that's another thing altogether... ;)

So, off to MW: the con seems to start earlier and earlier every year and this time round I'd decided I was going to try and be good and get the balance right. Last year I felt like I missed out on stuff because I was in the dealer's room (though it has its upside, as everyone comes to you and you don't have to make an effort). I don't feel I missed much by only going to two panels all weekend, since I got to hang out with people from my various fandoms anyway and in a much less stressed way than some of the panels. Because god knows there are some real odd bods about at the con (myself and minions excluded, naturally!). ;)

The panels seem to get a bit one-trick pony after you've been a couple of times as well. Not including the one-word answer panels (*grins at cara_chapel*), we have the requisite 'OMG the ev0l perverted slashers are taking over, wtf!!!11!1!!111!!! How can we save our fandoms from the paedophiles people we're much too inclined to label because they like stuff we don't like and we're miffed that their sick and twisted kind might be helping keep our otherwise moribund fandom alive but we don't want to get off our arses and actually do something about it other than whine!11!!!!!!!111!!' (or something like that). Next verse same as the last and it gets a bit wearing after a while.

And yes, before anyone asks, I have run panels a couple of times myself and probably will again, if I can ever come up with a cogent idea that doesn't get hijacked by an oddbod or scheduled against the art auction so only 3 people turn up...

Still, I got to hang out with the UNCLE contingent a bit, which is always good - honourable mentions go to bluster, keelywolfe, ndannais and sithdragn for totally corrupting my plans to hall crawl when I hit their room. Curse them for being right next to the stairs! Season's greetings also to przed - good to see you as always! :)

Meanwhile, over in Mag7 land, who should I encounter but jensenrick, who I dragged off to lunch with that fannish groundhog dmarley (not dead, just unmodemed at the moment and surprisingly not twitching from lack of internet access!). For some reason, jensenrick revealed he had been pimping my fic to the unwashed MW masses... poor lambs, the lack of characters called 'Chris' and 'Vin' having sex therein will confuse them so! :P

Think that's it for the con, other than the passing mention of my picking up a FanQ award for a certain SG novella I slaved over for two years (coming soon to a website near you as soon as I can be arsed to code the bloody thing), general lack of sleep and the ease with which kitt can be suborned into any bloody fandom you put your mind to. Hmmm. What fandom shall we choose for next year? ;)

So, back to chez obelix, sadly without my luggage which disappeared somewhere between Lansing and her place, taking all my underwear with it. There was much cursing, followed by musing on when my luggage would reappear and whether it would be delayed by the customs people watching the gay porn video I'd packed in there. In the end it took 36 hours to resurface, turning up a few hours before I was due to jump on a train back to Montreal. And yes, I did buy underwear as well as going shopping for gay porn, though if I'd had to make the choice... ;)

No sign of Harry Squatter and the Sorceror's Bone alas (and yes, of course we asked!), though I did get a copy of How the West Was Hung, Solicitor (recommended by dementordelta in her gay porn movie meme iirc), and a couple of others, one promising 'nasty manly sex' (I'm thinking this is a Good Thing).

After which fruitful doings, back to Montreal and the run-up to what was due to be the longest trip back from Canada ever (well, by me, anyway). My first clue should have been when my flight was delayed leaving Montreal. If I'd realised, I should have talked to the airline then and tried to get onto a later flight from Paris but the penny didn't drop. So I missed my connection and then discovered that Birmingham was the In Place To Be this weekend. Because there were no flights available either directly or via anywhere else in the western hemisphere until an ungodly hour this morning.

Cue Air France, for it was they, booking me into a hotel and me flopping onto the bed and sleeping the sleep of the dead. No trips to the Louvre or whatever for me, I was barely awake enough to make it to the appropriate shuttle bus, let alone navigate the Paris metro. The most annoying thing was the way the airport staff kept asking me if I wanted my luggage - no, I'd much rather spend the next 24 hours or more in the same clothes I'm wearing now that I've been wearing all day and without any form of toiletries or anything. Uh huh.

Anyway, home now, trying not to let the vexations of the past 36 hours overshadow all the fun I had on this trip. Or think too much about my OMG!!!!11!11!! 5 weeks left at work, even though my 'tell us what you think of working for us now you are buggering off!' questionnaire was waiting for me when I got home.

That's it, I think. Need to go pick up the kids, who I've missed terribly, as usual. Also the second lot of post-trip washing is calling my name, if the first lot is dry, so I'll bid you all adieu! :P

Comments

[chance1562.livejournal.com]

Congrats on the FanQ!

Are you going to be "honest" in the questionnaire or really tell them to go to the hot, pokey place? <g>

[graculus.livejournal.com]

I have every intention of being honest - I also plan to ask for an exit interview and know exactly which two people at the top of the food chain it's worth my while talking to... why waste your time talking to the monkey when you can bitch to the organ grinder? ;)