geoviki | Azkatraz!

The Azkatraz Post (at last)

First, though, I owe a bunch of thanks to everyone who sent along their sympathies for my post-Az events of – well, if not actual doom, then Serious Unpleasantness. The tree spent the week sprawled across the yard, but we are very grateful that the house was spared. We'll miss it but we'd have missed our roof a whole lot more. The annuals are history, but the perennials, including the daylilies (*sniff*) will bounce back next year. Our part of town resembles a weird mashup of spring and fall, with shredded leaves drying all over the ground and those tough leaves that managed to hang on through wind and hail making the greenery look a lot less green that last week.

My son is also managing to bounce back from the flu. For a few days it was like he'd been replaced by someone else – he was actually 1) home, and 2) reading books (Harry Potter, to be exact). I'm pretty sure it was swine flu because he's had flu shots every year so should have some immunity built up to the run-of-the-mill types. The CDC states that those under 18 have no resistance whatsoever to swine flu. Another of his co-workers/friends came down with it as well. He's back to his wandering, TV-watching self now, though.

I've been to SF about a half-dozen times, including a family trip just 2 years ago, so I'm kinda familiar with at least the touristy parts of the city. I was really looking forward to having the con here this year. It's an easy city to get around in, and there's lots to do.

Because Azkatraz is my 5th HP con, I know a lot of fandom people who I adore to bits and who tolerate hanging with me. My homies include

bethbethbeth,

femmequixotic,

ze_dragon,

amanuensis,

pir8fancier,

titti, and

sabershadowkat. Some new peeps I met through these folks:

perverse_idyll,

noeon,

leela_cat, and

nuclearsugars. *waves*

There are some special women who've been to all (or most) of the cons I've been to that really make it special, including

dementordelta,

novembersnow,

furiosity,

kerryblaze,

gatewaygirl,

snottygrrl,

mijan,

djin7,

coffeejunkii, and

themostepotente. I'm sure I'm forgetting someone; forgive me! Then there are newer friends who I always love to see again, like

joanwilder,

potteresque_ire,

dracofiend,

anathema91,

dbassassin,

alaana_fair,

fiona_fawkes,

romaine24,

sesheta_66,

leni_jess,

sassy_cissa,

alisanne,

ravenna_c_tan,

chibitoaster,

dacro,

reddwarfer, and

acromantular and her little spider. Then I met some women for the first time at this con, including

rickey_a,

melusinahp,

red_rahl,

bryoneybrynn, [Bad username or site: lizardspots (who's been on my flist since the beginning of time), <lj user=slashpervert @ livejournal.com], and

meredyth_13. Sadly, there are just not enough hours in a day to really spend the time with you that I'd like to, which makes the baby Jesus cry. So if all I managed to do was give you an enthusiastic hug in passing, please know that I wanted to do so much more to around you.

My flight on Thursday was uneventful and can I just say that I love any city that has such great mass transportation from airport to city. Easy-peasy to get to the Parc55. I checked in before my darling roommates,

meri_oddities and

cordelia_v. We had this city view from the 28th floor:

Thursday night, of course, was HBP. Because it was no longer an Imax showing, some of us had decided to buy online tickets for an earlier show rather than stay up until the (east-coast) wee hours and probably fall asleep in the theater. (First, though, we celebrated

ze_dragon's birthday at El Sotano, a nearby Mexican restaurant.) I've read a lot of your reviews of HBP and you are all probably right and certainly more articulate, but I'm easily pleased. I'll just say I enjoyed the hell out of it. Especially Draaaaco! Poor woobie.

People know I'm the kind of person who likes to plan out stuff ahead of time, but the online abstracts stopped at "R" if you read it using IE. Did the rest of you find the official program very artsy but nearly impossible to find actual information in? I mean, basic stuff like "where is the Welcoming Feast?" I hadn't realized that there were no official talks/panels on Friday, which I found odd, but it worked out for the best because it gave us an extra day to just hang out. A bunch of us went out to Pir8's house for brunch (and learned about microclimates 'cuz it was probably 30 degrees hotter out there, but beautiful!). For dinner, we wandered off to the dim sum restaurant right by the hotel, a good choice for a big, diverse group like ours.

So being the researcher I am, I checked out some night spots we might like to try. I was sad to miss Bootie night (where DJs play mashups, which practically originated in SF, but that are featured every other weekend, and this was not that weekend) and also to miss Vamps, the hot new J-Rock group featuring Hyde, who were in town the following week. I came up with Martuni's, which turned out to be the find of the trip, I think. Martuni's is a gay, sing-along piano bar that's very welcoming to everyone. Our group included Femme, Dragon, Beth, Cordelia, Noeon, and me. Within the first 30 seconds, we were new BFFs with a slightly drunk rock guitarist/teacher/transvestite named Marilyn. Can I mention that he was quite physically affectionate, even though I'm pretty sure I wasn't his preferred gender? The online info I'd found mentioned that gay bars do not stint on the potency of their drinks, and we managed to put that to the test – it's true! Mmmmm, sour apple martinis FTW! Cordelia make sure we ended up sitting round the piano, and we gave full voice to the group songs (I'm a Believer! Mack the Knife! All that Jazz!). Joseph, the piano player, invited Cordelia to perform "Over the Rainbow", and then she, Femme, Noe, and I sang an enthusiastic version of "Dancing Queen." (There are pictures. I don't have one. Yet.) People are wonderfully friendly there, and I wholeheartedly recommend it. This is the place I also discovered that Femme can tie a cherry stem into a knot with her tongue. This impressed me no end, and I have a sample as a souvenir right here on my desk.

Saturday brought actual programming, not that I managed to go to anything but the Welcoming Lunch. Instead,

meri_oddities and

cordelia_v,

bethbethbeth,

femmequixotic,

ze_dragon,

amanuensis,

pir8fancier,

djin7,

cluegirl, and I took a cruise around the bay. Gorgeous day and great company. We split up after that and I did a little shopping at Cost Plus (got some nice jewelry) and Trader Joe's.

Me - the only one who actually used sunscreen (I'm naturally that pink).

Then came meet-up night. First off was the H/D meet-up, with the lovely

winnett as hostess. There are so many of you I either knew or wanted to meet, and it took me the whole 2 hours to make it from the door to the back of the room, which goes to show how great it was. Still, there were some of you I specifically wanted to meet and never did, so I do regret that it wasn't hours longer.

rurounihime? You are one I missed and am sad about.

kaalee? I wanted more of you!

oldenuf2nb? I wanted to spend much more time getting to know you, too. Your daughter's gorgeous, BTW, and was so sweet to give me her H/D pin. Oh, but I didn't win any of the door prizes, so major failz. Hahaha!

Then I was off to the Snarry meet-up, always one of the highlights of any con. Why, yes, I am a huge Snarry shipper, didn't you know? *uncrosses fingers* Well, anyway, I really ship the Snarry shippers, and that's good enough for them to include me every year.

djin7 and

dracofiend and others did a great job organizing this – the hors d'oeuvres were excellent, mmmm (bacon-wrapped water chestnuts, and I'm going to try to make them at home).

Sunday was the day I got serious about panels and stuff. First up was the Snarry panel, slightly overlapping (why, oh why?) with the H/D panel, followed by Furiosity's panel on wank, and then another artist's panel.

The HD panelists

I have to confess that I'm one of those annoying people in the audience who says my name before I comment, not so that I can get applause (which kind of embarrasses me) but so people I'm hoping to connect with can tie my name to my face and hopefully track me down afterwards. Was it me or did those nametags have horrifically small font? I mean, I'm used to having to unobtrusively stare in the direction of women's boobs to pick up the name, but this time I felt like I was within suckling distance before I could read the buggers! So please forgive me for forgetting your name, and would the women I had a delightful conversation with about KAT-TUN please comment because I have drawn a blank on your name even though we've met before, and I know I know you. I blame advancing age.

The ball is always a highlight because I love to dance. I don't dress in costume, but I do try to tart up a bit.

femmequixotic did my makeup for me because I am hopeless at that. I did look nice until the sweat from dancing and the heat of the room melted it off, but thanks, sweetie! I thought the music was pretty good, but the dance floor was too small and it was so bloody hot that we lasted about an hour, tops. I went back to the room to blow-dry my hair, it was so wet.

Cordelia got us in gear to go back to Martuni's. Our group this time was Femme, Dragon, Perverse Idyll, Sinick (in full Snape regalia, which didn't even turn heads), Rex Luscus, Ac1d6urn, Pir8, Cordelia, and me. This time, the pianist, Katie, was a woman with terrific skill at both piano and vocals, but who wasn't as much of a crowd pleaser as Joseph. The singers in the crowd were more professional, too. And do not believe everything Cordelia tells you about how extroverted I am, because I can come over all shy quite often, but I thought the people there were so friendly that I couldn't help but respond. Oh, and I might have mentioned in passing to an adorable young guy who asked me if were we there for something special that we wrote gay porn. He was suitably intrigued and ran off to tell his friends that we were his favorite people he'd met there, ever. I suspect he was exaggerating, though.

Poor Pir8 never did make it home that night before having to give a talk Monday morning on writing, which she somehow thinks wasn't wonderful, but we know better. She has such a beautiful speaking voice that I could listen to her reading the phone book, but she instead talked about some fascinating and useful stuff about how to be a better writer.

People were staring to leave on Monday, but I stuck around until after the Leaving Brunch on Tuesday, trying to spend time with folks I'd missed earlier, including

novembersnow,

incapricious and

meredyth_13 among others.