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Well, things have happened.
May. 18th, 2018 08:31 pmLife is being very strange right now.
I had a wonderful time at RainbowCon. RainbowCon is a small convention at Steve and Colleen and Naomi’s house that is kind of a cross between a House filk at a very large house and a convention. This is wonderful in that attendance tops out at about 25 people and I could really meet and interact with just about everyone at the convention. I actually learned ten names over the weekend (some of the people there were people I already knew, so I think only 2-3 people got away without me learning their name.). Now whether I will actually remember those names is a question, but I did actually know them for those couple of days.
I flew in on Tuesday since the time wasn’t a problem for me, and that meant I could spend several days with my hosts and Gwen Knighton Raftery before the con actually began. This is one of the great pleasures of being a guest at RainbowCon, because Gwen and I actually got to know each other a little, and got to know our hosts.
The whole thing was kind of complicated by my mother-in-law having a sudden stroke-like-event at the hospital where she’d gone to have some broken bones pinned after a fall that sounded serious, but not life threatening g. My husband and I talked it over and we agreed that I should stay at the con while he flew out to where his mom was in the hospital. So on the one had I was genuinely having a wonderful time and doing my best to see to it that the other attendees had a wonderful time, and on the other hand I was genuinely concerned for my in-laws.
The whole thing was further complicated by one of the children of my hosts having had a medical emergency a couple of weeks previous and still requiring regular care in Seattle. The con itself was on Whidbey Island, which I had thought of as just outside Seattle, but which was actually about a 2 1/2 hour drive from the airport with a ferry ride in the middle. The con went off beautifully, but M’s absence was rather deeply felt, and I dedicated one of the songs in my concert to them. And then the next day, M could come for a while, so I got to sing the song for them in person.
I learned a new sort of game, called the Game of Wings and Scales, in which the participants cooperate (or don’t; there are prescribed ways to contest things) to build a dragon, describing the various parts of the dragon and what happened to make them as they are or what historical events they affected, and attempt to weave the whole thing round into a story. It was quite fun. Our second dragon was shaping up to be quite special, with very large wings on which tiny octopodes were developing a civilization and with scales that through a magical accident had developed rudimentary minds that in communication with each other became a hide-mind that was telepathic and could prophesy the future. The octopodes were attempting to communicate with the hide mind when we had to stop because we ran out of time.
We had a number of workshops; I taught a couple, one on how to construct a tune when the Muse has stood you up and one on constructing lyrics, and Sunnie taught one on jamming, and one on Zentangle drawing which I was sorry I had to miss. Gwen taught one on singing harmony with Lady We’re Singing, a hymn that she wrote, and the sound of everyone’s voices filling the room seemed to lift us up and carry us along. Gwen’s concert was a thing of beauty and included several songs that people asked to learn later, and mine went rather better than my previous concerts—all that jamming and rehearsing with Yonder and Back has been upping my game, I think. I had also learned a new tune just two weeks previous, called Josephine’s Waltz, which I did with Sunnie (see above about upping my game), and Gwen sang harmony on one of my songs.
One of the last events was a teaching and request circle; Naomi and I both wanted Gwen to do Wishing Well and I recorded it, and I did I Will Remember so that Naomi could record that, and I asked Gwen for Last Run, her ShadowRun song (I need to find out what ShadowRun even *is* but I liked the song very much) and for Into The West which she does a beautiful version of. I also asked Naomi and Steve for Home Is Wherever and its companion song Windward, and for Bigger On The Inside.
RainbowCon had a rented camping trailer in the driveway to serve as extra room given the number of guests; it worked quite well I thought and provided a semi private space to withdraw to when introvert time was needed. Sunday night, after most everyone had left and Gwen and I and Steve and Colleen and Naomi and Glen had talked and sung ourselves out, I said goodnight and walked out to the trailer and saw that the stars were out. Given how close we were to Seattle the skies were quite dark and I could see a lot more stars than I was used to, if not the Milky Way, quite. I lay on my back on a log in the yard and pointed out constellations to J, who is quite a good kid, and at twelve, bursting with cool new things he wants to tell about, but also interested in learning more. We found the Big Dipper and the North Star and Casseopia. I didn’t see Orion but the curve of the hill and the rise of the forest may have hidden him, and also there was only one log, and craning my neck for long periods is no longer a happy thing for me.
Mimmoths (Girl Genius vermin that are basically miniature mammoths) had infested my luggage, which often happens, and J had been kindly helping to wrangle them but even so one got away and ordered a mimmoth from Naomi’s computer. Dab also expressed an interest in staying behind and J was willing to accept custody so Dab is now living with J and the new mimmoth which apparently says its name is Max is living with Glen and Naomi.
Then I came home. It is just me at the moment, because my husband is helping his dad and siblings look after his mom, while running his (fortunately online) May class remotely. For a while we thought he might be coming back any couple of days now, but a week ago he said he’d be at least two weeks, so Lauren helped me retrieve his car from the airport, and I went to his physician’s office to arrange to have his prescriptions sent to a pharmacy near the hospital my mother-in-law is in.
The past few days have been lawn mowing, which he normally handles, and general yard work, since there’s nothing like waiting for the grass to dry so I can mow another part of the lawn to make me look around and say “I should take that proto-hedge out of the fence while that is still a possible thing.”
There is a big hole in the porch roof where the roof washing guy fell through it and I have ordered parts to put together a new porch roof and after much miscommunications and frustration they are FINALLY coming on Monday. At which point I’ll have to find someone to put it together, but each trial in its own time.
I had a wonderful time at RainbowCon. RainbowCon is a small convention at Steve and Colleen and Naomi’s house that is kind of a cross between a House filk at a very large house and a convention. This is wonderful in that attendance tops out at about 25 people and I could really meet and interact with just about everyone at the convention. I actually learned ten names over the weekend (some of the people there were people I already knew, so I think only 2-3 people got away without me learning their name.). Now whether I will actually remember those names is a question, but I did actually know them for those couple of days.
I flew in on Tuesday since the time wasn’t a problem for me, and that meant I could spend several days with my hosts and Gwen Knighton Raftery before the con actually began. This is one of the great pleasures of being a guest at RainbowCon, because Gwen and I actually got to know each other a little, and got to know our hosts.
The whole thing was kind of complicated by my mother-in-law having a sudden stroke-like-event at the hospital where she’d gone to have some broken bones pinned after a fall that sounded serious, but not life threatening g. My husband and I talked it over and we agreed that I should stay at the con while he flew out to where his mom was in the hospital. So on the one had I was genuinely having a wonderful time and doing my best to see to it that the other attendees had a wonderful time, and on the other hand I was genuinely concerned for my in-laws.
The whole thing was further complicated by one of the children of my hosts having had a medical emergency a couple of weeks previous and still requiring regular care in Seattle. The con itself was on Whidbey Island, which I had thought of as just outside Seattle, but which was actually about a 2 1/2 hour drive from the airport with a ferry ride in the middle. The con went off beautifully, but M’s absence was rather deeply felt, and I dedicated one of the songs in my concert to them. And then the next day, M could come for a while, so I got to sing the song for them in person.
I learned a new sort of game, called the Game of Wings and Scales, in which the participants cooperate (or don’t; there are prescribed ways to contest things) to build a dragon, describing the various parts of the dragon and what happened to make them as they are or what historical events they affected, and attempt to weave the whole thing round into a story. It was quite fun. Our second dragon was shaping up to be quite special, with very large wings on which tiny octopodes were developing a civilization and with scales that through a magical accident had developed rudimentary minds that in communication with each other became a hide-mind that was telepathic and could prophesy the future. The octopodes were attempting to communicate with the hide mind when we had to stop because we ran out of time.
We had a number of workshops; I taught a couple, one on how to construct a tune when the Muse has stood you up and one on constructing lyrics, and Sunnie taught one on jamming, and one on Zentangle drawing which I was sorry I had to miss. Gwen taught one on singing harmony with Lady We’re Singing, a hymn that she wrote, and the sound of everyone’s voices filling the room seemed to lift us up and carry us along. Gwen’s concert was a thing of beauty and included several songs that people asked to learn later, and mine went rather better than my previous concerts—all that jamming and rehearsing with Yonder and Back has been upping my game, I think. I had also learned a new tune just two weeks previous, called Josephine’s Waltz, which I did with Sunnie (see above about upping my game), and Gwen sang harmony on one of my songs.
One of the last events was a teaching and request circle; Naomi and I both wanted Gwen to do Wishing Well and I recorded it, and I did I Will Remember so that Naomi could record that, and I asked Gwen for Last Run, her ShadowRun song (I need to find out what ShadowRun even *is* but I liked the song very much) and for Into The West which she does a beautiful version of. I also asked Naomi and Steve for Home Is Wherever and its companion song Windward, and for Bigger On The Inside.
RainbowCon had a rented camping trailer in the driveway to serve as extra room given the number of guests; it worked quite well I thought and provided a semi private space to withdraw to when introvert time was needed. Sunday night, after most everyone had left and Gwen and I and Steve and Colleen and Naomi and Glen had talked and sung ourselves out, I said goodnight and walked out to the trailer and saw that the stars were out. Given how close we were to Seattle the skies were quite dark and I could see a lot more stars than I was used to, if not the Milky Way, quite. I lay on my back on a log in the yard and pointed out constellations to J, who is quite a good kid, and at twelve, bursting with cool new things he wants to tell about, but also interested in learning more. We found the Big Dipper and the North Star and Casseopia. I didn’t see Orion but the curve of the hill and the rise of the forest may have hidden him, and also there was only one log, and craning my neck for long periods is no longer a happy thing for me.
Mimmoths (Girl Genius vermin that are basically miniature mammoths) had infested my luggage, which often happens, and J had been kindly helping to wrangle them but even so one got away and ordered a mimmoth from Naomi’s computer. Dab also expressed an interest in staying behind and J was willing to accept custody so Dab is now living with J and the new mimmoth which apparently says its name is Max is living with Glen and Naomi.
Then I came home. It is just me at the moment, because my husband is helping his dad and siblings look after his mom, while running his (fortunately online) May class remotely. For a while we thought he might be coming back any couple of days now, but a week ago he said he’d be at least two weeks, so Lauren helped me retrieve his car from the airport, and I went to his physician’s office to arrange to have his prescriptions sent to a pharmacy near the hospital my mother-in-law is in.
The past few days have been lawn mowing, which he normally handles, and general yard work, since there’s nothing like waiting for the grass to dry so I can mow another part of the lawn to make me look around and say “I should take that proto-hedge out of the fence while that is still a possible thing.”
There is a big hole in the porch roof where the roof washing guy fell through it and I have ordered parts to put together a new porch roof and after much miscommunications and frustration they are FINALLY coming on Monday. At which point I’ll have to find someone to put it together, but each trial in its own time.
