Wednesday morning at WorldCon

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Copied from notes handwritten at 11 am on Wednesday August 17, 2011:
The convention hall is large, like a cavern. There is twice as much open air above us as any of the dealer’s room booths use. The booths themselves are like the stalls at an arts festival or a farmer’s market. Each small space has it’s own focus and flavor. I wander through them and wonder how far the contents of each booth has traveled. I wonder how hard the booth runners worked, propelled by their dreams.

If I close my eyes, I hear the steady rumble of the air handling system. It blows cool, and creates the illusion of a breeze. Above that, bangs and clatters echo as people continue to set up and organize their spaces. Sometimes I can hear the sounds of voices. They blend into a pleasant babble, like a stream. Occasionally a cluster of voices breaks into comprehensibility. Usually this is because someone is angry or frustrated. Booth set up always exposes tools forgotten or problems not previously considered. There is a frission of stress in the air, because the doors will open to the public in an hour. Not everything is ready and no one knows yet if the sales will be enough to cover the pile of bills necessary to transport merchandise and set up the booth. Most of the arguements are simple sparkings of stress, not actual emergencies.

We are not immune to any of these stresses. WE had the emergencies of the wobbly tables, these thumbtacks won’t work, and the forgotten camera cable. We set up the table and display the merchandise. As per our usual pattern we have already rearranged things twice. Each convention space is different and our merchandise changes over time. We always have to shuffle things around. Then I make notes about how we could run things differently and what supplies would be more useful to us.

At huge shows like GenCon, the convention center rolls out carpet and pipe and drape to help define spaces. We have only what we brought, the tables, and some tape lines on the concrete floor. Creating a congenial space is a challenge, yet so many booths succeed. Bare tables turn into book shops, jewelry stores, and craft stalls. Each space acquires its own feel. Witht the booths set up, the shopkeepers have some time to visit. We begin to know our neighbors and the booth starts to feel like part of a small town market rather than a foreign and sterile place. Five days from now, when it all gets torn apart, I will be sad. This market in this configuration will never exist again. I must do my best to savor it while it is here.

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Trip Notes

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Breaking the 8.5 hour drive into segments helped the trip feel a lot faster. We stopped at the airport to pick up our booth helpers. Then we stopped in Elko for gas. Then we stopped in Winnemucca for dinner. The hardest leg was the last one because it was late and everyone was tired.

Going to bed right after the long road trip proved difficult. The kids had to burn some energy first. I don’t begrudge them. They were marvelous for the whole drive. Fortunately we had some handy grandparents who were delighted to let them play for a bit.

Setting up the booth went really well and quickly. We’ve got the right team. I always have a moment during booth set up when I look around and fear that we simply haven’t brought enough stuff. That is when I have to remind myself that I did careful math ahead of time and we will be fine.

I don’t like casinos. Fortunately there seem to be enough places which are not mid-casino that we can hang with friends. We’ve already begun to run into familiar faces. This is happy.

We left the hotel for dinner and found an wonderful Italian restaurant called Veccia. The food was amazing, if a little on the pricey side. As we were walking over we noticed a building under demolition. It caught my eye because of the mill wheel stuck to the side of the front building, which was still standing. On the way home we wandered back toward another section of building still stood. We looked at the wreckage trying to determine what the building might have been. We suspected a hotel. This was confirmed when there were open doors in the remaining section. We could peek inside and see that it was a themed hotel. We saw an ocean room, a castle room, a caveman room, and one that was so bare we couldn’t tell what it was. The top floor was inaccessible, but we could peer in the open doors to spot pieces of murals which suggested outer space themes. One lone door on the edge of the wreckage said “pirate room.” It was fascinating to look at this building which had obviously been created with attention and care, but which was being removed to make way for something else.

This morning when the kids headed out with my parents, I felt myself snap into greater focus. Instead of being split across mother things and business things, I only had one. I wish I hadn’t been so tired heading into the day. It was hard to sleep last night.

But now we’re set up and ready for tomorrow. We’ve had a lovely dinner and an interesting walk. Next we’re relaxing and settling in for a long night’s sleep.

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Brief update

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My days have been full of packing, organizing, and cleaning. My evenings have been occupied by connecting with friends, putting kids to bed, and watching the first season of Heroes with my older two kids. (We finished tonight and have happily written our own ending chapters without having to watch any of the remaining seasons.) All of this has not left me much time for the slow unwinding of my thoughts which is the condition most conducive to blogging. Life gets busy, word count goes down. This comes as no surprise to any writer anywhere.

The emotional arcs of the week have been just as tightly packed as everything else. Howard and I both have gone the rounds with self-doubt, anxiety, and pre-convention jitters. Gleek and Patch have both settled back into being content with the fact that they’ll be going to a new school, except I can see the small signs that they’re still a little on edge. Kiki came to me this evening to talk about her pre-trip feelings. She is a homebody and always misses her house and her kitty. Link is the only one of us who is bopping through this week like it is normal.

And yet, it is all coming together. We’re all going to have fun. Then we will move onward again.

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Preparing for the Weeks Ahead

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My kids start school in twelve days. This means it is the ideal time for me to begin moving bedtimes and wake-up calls earlier. I should be organizing the house and sorting through clothes to see what got unwearably ratty during summer play. My kids need calmness and stability so they can enter the new school year with confidence and a good night’s rest.

I leave for Reno in three and a half days. There are dozens of things yet to accumulate and accomplish in order to meet the various needs of the trip. I must prepare everything so that the booth can earn enough money to pay for it all. I must plan and pack my clothing so that I can present a professional appearance while at the show. I also want to get to wear some of the fun things I own which don’t get aired otherwise. Howard needs all of his things prepared so that he can be Howard Tayler Cartoonist and participate in the Hugo Award Ceremony. The kids need to be prepared and packed so that they can spend 5 days with their grandparents. Those five days are bracketed by long road-trips. The last hours of road trip will end within thirty hours of the first hour of school.

There must be something I can do to make this Reno trip compatible with creating calmness and stability before school starts. Honestly, I haven’t had the time to figure it out. Instead I helped my teenage daughter light a fire in our firepit so that her friends could roast marshmallows. I helped the neighboring mother, who stopped by, to assemble smores for a dozen neighborhood children. Then I let my youngest two stay up past their bedtime playing night tag while I sat and visited with my neighbors. At the end there was a bit of a meltdown followed by a warm snack and a back rub. None of the things I did this evening seem to help any of the things which are coming up, except it feels like I made exactly the right choice for how to spend my time.

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Lists and Staging

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This is the week when WorldCon preparations swamps everything else in my life. You’d think that would be next week when I am actually at WorldCon, except that I’ve arranged for everything else to be managed next week. Next week I can give WorldCon 100% attention. This week the preparations are all mixed up with feeding kids, house chores, shipping packages, customer support, and community events. At the moment it feels like I’m not doing any of these things particularly well. We’ve also reached the stage where it is too late. We wanted to create better banners as backdrops for the booth, but there isn’t time to get them made and shipped. We’re going to have to pay more for fliers and business cards because we have to print them locally instead of at the discount place online. I have half a dozen other clothing and sewing ideas, but have neither time nor clothing budget to execute on them.

My major focus for the next week is thinking ahead. I have to make sure that nothing critical is forgotten. I have to anticipate what we’ll need without ever having seen the space in which we will be setting up shop. I have a packing list for the booth, a packing list for me, a packing list for Howard, and I still need to make a packing list for the kids. I also have price lists, inventory lists, and schedules of events. It is all coming together and yet I’m fighting back a persistent feeling that it is all falling apart. To combat this feeling I’ve started piling things up in the front room.

Our front room is often used as a staging area. This time as I accumulate pieces I am stacking them where I can see them. Once I put them in the pile, I can stop trying to hold them in memory. Also I can start gauging how much stuff we have to haul and whether it will all fit into the two vehicles we’ll be driving to Reno. Our neighbors will loan us a car top carrier, which will help, but it will still be tight. My internal volume estimator says it will all fit, but actually seeing the stuff stacked up will help me know that for sure. I’m taking process shots for later blogging.

I think I am doing today what my younger two kids did last week. They each had a day where they cried about going to a new school because they didn’t know what to expect and were worried about it. The next day they were fine and have continued to be fine with only small signs that they still have increased levels of tension. Here’s hoping that tomorrow I can be back to excited anticipation instead of stressed worry.

In good news, we have Schlock Mercenary water bottles to sell at WorldCon. The Writing Excuses badge ribbons also arrived. We now have all our merchandise in hand. Tomorrow I will go shopping to acquire booth supplies and dressings.

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Remaking a Formal Dress

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Last May I bought a dress. I bought it, not because of what it was, but because of what I could make from it.

I loved the bright color and the full swing of the skirt. It reminded me of all those long dresses that Ginger Rogers used to wear when dancing with Fred Astaire. Or perhaps the fancy dress Grace Kelly wore in High Society. I knew I could make something from it, but first I had to get rid of the lace and ruffles.

You can see that the skirt was extremely sheer. There must have been a slip or underskirt which got separated from the dress. My first step was to solve that problem by adding additional layers of chiffon. I chose a yellow with a hot pink underskirt. The different colors would show through creating shifting highlights as the skirt moved.

I used the skirt of the dress as a pattern. It was pretty simple since the skirt was a full circle.

The skirt was also far too long. Its original owner must have been taller than me or habitually wore seven inch platform shoes. So I trimmed the skirt and hemmed it.

There is a lot of sewing involved when you have three layers of full-circle skirt. Particularly when you have to hem around twice to get the proper narrow roll. The resulting dress was wearable, but exceedingly simple. It was time for me to take some of that ruffle and some of the left over yellow chiffon and make the dress much more attractive.

I played with draping and wrapping the fabric that I had available. The waist of the dress was high, so I knew that I wanted to add a wide belt to create a better silhouette. I also decided that those triangle sleeves needed to go. Unfortunately none of the pieces of orange chiffon were wide enough to make sleeves. So I got creative.

I sewed together two segments of ruffle so that the hemmed bits were together.

I used the sleeve piece from a dress pattern I had, making sure that the seam ran down the center of the sleeve. Once the sleeve was constructed, I slit open this sleeve seam so that it gaps open attractively along the top of my arm only being joined at the top of the sleeve and at my elbow. I’ll try to get a picture of this the next time I try on the dress.

I decided to make long drapes off my shoulders to add interest in the back. Besides I had to do something with all that left over ruffle. You can see the huge pile of it on the floor. I still have a pile of it even after the dress is done. I’ll hold it against future alterations or repairs.

The next steps involved a lot of hand sewing. Most of the things could have been done on machine, but tacking things into place by hand made unpicking and re-sewing much easier. I did a lot as I was figuring out the best ways to accomplish the look I’d hoped for.

I am pleased with the result. I’ll take pictures when I’m wearing it and all dressed up, but for now you can see it on the hanger.

I loved this project. I loved breathing new life into an old dress. I loved taking it apart and re-using the old pieces. My brain is already burbling with ideas about how to do this again, only with a completely different dress. For now I need to put my dress aside until a week from Saturday when I get to wear it to the Hugos.

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Sometimes the Timing is Just Right

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Howard went off to GenCon and I had a few days where I was done with GenCon planning and not yet into the urgent pre-WorldCon scramble. The kids needed and outing, so we went to the zoo.

We arrived just as some of the early arrivers were leaving for lunch, and so we got a close parking space. We wandered in to the zoo where we found that the baby elephant was taking a bath. I snapped a picture just as she flapped her ears adorably.

We wandered onward to discover that the bird show was due to begin in just moments. We found seats near the front. They weren’t shaded, but when the ranger asked everyone to scoot in, we scooted right into the shade. The bird Show was amazing and I had a couple of perfectly timed shots.

We walked out of the bird show to discover that the carousel had no line. We all found animals to ride, except Link who declared his disinterest in the whole thing with a particularly 13-year-old-boy tone. He elected to sit on one of the carousel benches. I told him to make sure he rolled his eyes a lot as we went round.

We wandered up the hill and had lunch at uncrowded tables because everyone else had already eaten by then. As we were ordering lunch a woman came up to me. She was a Schlock Mercenary fan and recognized me from a presentation I gave at LTUE last February. After lunch, we happened into the small animal house just as they were feeding many of the small animals. This meant that the animals were active and cute rather than sleeping. There we met the Cheshire Cat.

The sign said “Sand Cat” but I know that face. He blinked at us in a very impressive and knowing way.

We exited the zoo just as rush hour was headed into it’s peak. Traffic was heavy all the way home, but despite the truly impressive construction zones we had to traverse, there were no serious traffic blockages. Home was calm and welcoming. Howard called and we talked for a good thirty minutes about the convention and the zoo. Then we wished each other a Happy Anniversary. All is as it should be.

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Promises

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The fabric was cut and folded neatly, ready to be sewn. When it was done it would be a fairy dress, floaty and beautiful to match the dreams of a young girl who fell in love with a picture on a pattern in the craft store. Gleek clutched that pattern and begged with big brown eyes. I couldn’t say no. Then we raided our fabric stash at home and found the pieces we needed. All was ready and waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Other sewing bits got piled on top as I occasionally rummaged in my sewing box to make various emergency repairs. Mostly the sewing box resided in the closet with the cut fabric hidden inside. Life marched on. One Halloween passed, then another. The dream dress was mostly forgotten, except every so often when the Gleek would remember and remind me. I would sigh and carefully not promise exactly when the dress would be done. Promises matter. I don’t want to break them. Yet the cut pieces of fabric were like a promise. They were a task incomplete.

Another dress was dreamed of. This time it was mine. I bought an out of date dress and had grand plans to re-make it into something lovely. Stolen minutes went into the measuring and cutting of bright chiffon. Time came to hem and I dusted off my sewing machine. I pulled out my sewing box of supplies. The pieces of that previous dream dress were there. My dress needed to be done within a week. It made sense to work on it first. The project with a deadline takes precedence. Yet my kids so often must be patient when I have a project. They spent the summer at home instead of with lessons and trips because I needed the calendar to be empty. They foraged for their own meals far more often than I want to confess. My kids must wait on me for permission and for most of their dreams. Gleek’s dress had been waiting on me for two years. I put aside my bright chiffon and finished a fairy dress for my daughter to dance in. She looked beautiful.

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Howard on the Eve of our 18th Anniversary

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Tomorrow is the 18th anniversary of the day I married Howard. This year I’ll be spending the day at the zoo with the kids. Howard will be spending it running a booth at GenCon. This is right in line with our tradition of not planning our lives around anniversary celebrations. The best possible celebration of our marriage is living and working together each day. Also, with all the other exhausting planning that we have to do for summer conventions, neither of us has left over energy for orchestrating an anniversary event. That said, I do try to take at least a minute or two on the anniversary day to look at that guy I married and think about how lucky I am.

There he is. Making me laugh, just as he does almost every day of our lives.
The banana has a story, of course. Howard was standing at the booth next to Tracy Hickman (of Dragonlance). Howard put down the book he was showing to customers and in a signed-too-many-things-today haze, Tracy picked it up and signed it. They joked together that Tracy would probably just auto-sign whatever was in front of him. Howard put it to the test by placing a banana in front of Tracy. So Howard had a Tracy Hickman autographed banana for lunch.

I made a really good decision all those years ago when I held his hand and said “I will.”

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Gleek Worries about Her New School

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“I don’t want to go to New School. I want to go to Old School!” Gleek sobbed while curled up in my lap. We are three weeks away from the beginning of school, and Gleek’s fears about her new academic program boiled over. She listed all the friends she will miss. She talked of how stressed she feels. “I don’t want to go to school!” she cried. All of the things she was leaving behind were concrete and easily visualized. All of the things ahead were vague, uncertain, and therefore fearful.

I held her tight and let her cry. I did my crying and fretting last Spring when we made the decision to switch her to a new school and into a gifted program. It still feels like the right decision, but Gleek’s fears have a solid basis in reality. The switch is going to be hard. The work will be much more demanding than what she has been doing. Adjustment is going to be difficult. It is possible that four months from now we’ll be shifting and doing something else. I held my crying girl and knew I had the power to solve her fears. I could switch her back to Old School at any time. I won’t do it until we’ve given this plan a solid try. We need the information that attempting this will give us.

What I expect to happen is that Gleek will pull out of this afternoon’s emotional low. She will be fine for the next few weeks. She will be scared and worried on the first day of school. Then things will be new and interesting. Gleek thrives on things that are new and interesting. There will be more tears and worries. I will hold her and listen just as I did today. When the litany of fears begins to repeat I will find a distraction for her, just as I did today.

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