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WorldCon Paper, Scissors, Stone
Aug. 9th, 2009 12:14 pmI've been having a great time at WorldCon, but its beginning to take its toll. To echo many of my friends on LJ "I guess I'm not as young as I used to be."
For me the great dilemma is that there are 3 things that are very important to me at WorldCon: Interesting Panels, Great Parties, Sleep. The trouble is that the panels start early and the parties run late which really eats into the whole sleep thing. Had we been able to affrd a hotel room at the con, so that morning's would consist of a quick shower and a stop at the local restaurant for breakfast, and no commute, I would be getting an extra 90 minutes or so of sleep a night. As is, I've been getting by on 6 or 7, and its starting to tell.
In the past I've either a) gone without sleep or b) spent less time at parties. I'm getting too old to function without my sleep, so this time around I've been cutting out the early-morning panels. Thats because, much as I like insightful discussions, I've been finding that the panels are less and less likely to do that for me.
I don't think its the panels. I think its because I'm in enough internet forums with the kind of thing that interests me that I now find many panels on my favorite topics to be rather dumbed-down for a wider audience. I still enjoy going to the ones that are on the periphery of my interests, as those ones still often contain things I didn't already know, but overall the experience is not as valuable as it used to be, when it was one of my few sources of intelligent discussions.
One thing I do find I'm missing though, is not being a panelist this time around. Its not so much the getting on the panels part, but the discussions with the other panelists that happen before and/or after the panels, often in the green room.
A friend of mine gets around the not-being-a-panelist thing (although this year he is) by finding authors or speakers that interest him, and inviting them out for drinks or dinner on his dime. He gets good conversation, and they get a free meal. It works out well for both of them. Alas I am currently far too poor to employ that strategy, but its a good one!
Oh, and one more observation: I've always been impressed by Julie Czernada as an author, but I didn't (necessarily) expect to be impressed by the real person at this Con. I had really wondered if it was a good idea when I saw they made her Con MC, as many authors are not really good at public speaking or projecting their voices, or engaging an audience, but it turns out she's brilliant at all of these.
Too bad I haven't gotten a chance to talk to her in person, as I'd love to discuss with her, her ideas on designing aliens as its clear that she's one of those rare authors who really gets it right.
For me the great dilemma is that there are 3 things that are very important to me at WorldCon: Interesting Panels, Great Parties, Sleep. The trouble is that the panels start early and the parties run late which really eats into the whole sleep thing. Had we been able to affrd a hotel room at the con, so that morning's would consist of a quick shower and a stop at the local restaurant for breakfast, and no commute, I would be getting an extra 90 minutes or so of sleep a night. As is, I've been getting by on 6 or 7, and its starting to tell.
In the past I've either a) gone without sleep or b) spent less time at parties. I'm getting too old to function without my sleep, so this time around I've been cutting out the early-morning panels. Thats because, much as I like insightful discussions, I've been finding that the panels are less and less likely to do that for me.
I don't think its the panels. I think its because I'm in enough internet forums with the kind of thing that interests me that I now find many panels on my favorite topics to be rather dumbed-down for a wider audience. I still enjoy going to the ones that are on the periphery of my interests, as those ones still often contain things I didn't already know, but overall the experience is not as valuable as it used to be, when it was one of my few sources of intelligent discussions.
One thing I do find I'm missing though, is not being a panelist this time around. Its not so much the getting on the panels part, but the discussions with the other panelists that happen before and/or after the panels, often in the green room.
A friend of mine gets around the not-being-a-panelist thing (although this year he is) by finding authors or speakers that interest him, and inviting them out for drinks or dinner on his dime. He gets good conversation, and they get a free meal. It works out well for both of them. Alas I am currently far too poor to employ that strategy, but its a good one!
Oh, and one more observation: I've always been impressed by Julie Czernada as an author, but I didn't (necessarily) expect to be impressed by the real person at this Con. I had really wondered if it was a good idea when I saw they made her Con MC, as many authors are not really good at public speaking or projecting their voices, or engaging an audience, but it turns out she's brilliant at all of these.
Too bad I haven't gotten a chance to talk to her in person, as I'd love to discuss with her, her ideas on designing aliens as its clear that she's one of those rare authors who really gets it right.
