Day in the Life of an Idiot

 Some time ago, I registered for CONZeland, the 78th World Science Fiction Convention.... which begins today in North America, because it is already tomorrow in New Zealand.  

I spent a surprisingly large portion of the day yesterday trying to figure out WHEN things were happening and how to sync my Discord account to their Discord channel and get set up with their other concurrent systems.

I was hoping to be able to download my schedule into my Google calendar so everything would show up completely in CDT, (GMT-6,) but if that was possible, I never figured it out. In fact, I just wrote down everything, translated to my time, on a piece of PAPER. Because, while they *did* have a way to show your time on panel descriptions, the problem was that I could never get the full schedule to appear that way. If I wanted to see *my* time zone shown, I'd have to click through to each full panel description individually. I mean, I'm glad it was there AT ALL? 

Still, this means the list under "my schedule" is pretty useless as something to quickly refer to.  And the time slots, even translated to my time zone, all appear in military time, and, as someone whose dyslexia also effects numbers, I can not easily remember what time 1800 hours is, even if you're just saying,"D'uh, Lyda, subtract 12!" That just doesn't happen easily in my head, I have to write it down to do the math, by hand, each time.

So now I have my scribbled notes. 

That should work just fine. 

This is only important because I have ONE thing that I absolutely MUST attend tomorrow (my Wednesday, New Zealand's Thursday) my UK publisher, Wizard Tower Press, is hosting a party for their authors, which includes me, and I am doing a reading for them at 2 pm (CDT.GMT-6).  IF you are also attending WorldCON, please come? 

My publisher's press release, regarding the event: https://www.cheryl-morgan.com/?p=28097

I will be reading from my newest release, Unjust Cause, which you can buy here: https://wizardstowerpress.com/books-2/books-by-tate-hallaway/unjust-cause/ or anywhere fine books are sold. This book can come to you as paper, hardcover, or e-book. /advertisement.

I have actually not yet checked to see how the party rooms operate. Are they Zoom? Are they Discord voice/video channels? This is going to matter because I'm going to have to figure out which computer to use, because not all of mine have the same processing power. If there is more than one "room" in a Zoom meeting, it has previously (at the Nebula parties I attended)  not been possible to navigate independently from my iPad, whereas it is/was, when I use Mason's old computer (which, technically, is one of mine now.)

Ah, virtual cons. 

I mean, I have really loved them? I really loved the way the Nebula parties were structured and WisCON was a blast. but, there is always this tech adjustment to be made at the start.

Hope to see you there!

 There was a lot of snow, but we had our "Silent" Reading party, anyway.

I would say it was a success. I honestly didn't know how much reading would actually get done, but think everyone other than Shawn and I actually finished a book.  I bailed on the book I was reading, actually. It was called OUT OF TURNS by Anne G. Faigen.  What I wanted was another book like GHOST MONTH, which I really enjoyed--which was a light missing person mystery that was really more a travelogue of Taipei.  The mystery was little more than an excuse to go places in Taipei and "show them off" to the reader. That was GREAT.  Mysteries are fine, but when I'm reading one base in another country, what I really want are details about that other country.

It's weirdly difficult to find good novels that take place in Taiwan. 

Anyway, I started the STRANGE CASE OF THE ALCHEMISTS DAUGHTER instead, and am enjoying that a lot.  I only wish I'd started it sooner, given the two dud books I bounced out of.

So, our party had, as I think I mentioned, a "high tea" theme.  Our friends brought Victoria cakes and a fruit terrine.  We provided finger sandwiches (cucumber!  cream cheese and walnut! brie and apple!) and scones with clotted cream and lemon curd.

And, of course, tea:



I'm actually supposed to be a work right now, but Mason has, I think, a migraine.  He complained of a sore throat this morning, but he had bathroom issues and a really bad headache, that the Tylenol did not touch.  He is prone to sore throats in the morning, but the stomach and head thing could be related, as it's really common in younger people to have stomach upsets with migraines.  So, he's napping right now. If that doesn't punch through the headache, he's going to try to migraine prescription that his doctor gave him years ago (which he's never had to use.) I suspect that's going to do it.  The way this suddenly came on feels very much like one of his mom's migraines. 

We ended up taking him to school only to have to turn around and fetch him. I was able to let work know that I had to bail. I always feel bad when timing works out like this. No one can control a sick kid, but I work so rarely that you'd think the timing would work out better. Ah, well. It's not like I was on for a terribly long shift--only four hours. I suspect they can make it without any one, if the office can't get an emergency replacement.

So there you go. My weekend in a nutshell. You?

'm turning 50 one week from today. It's a big milestone and I've been thinking about how part of me would really like to throw a party. The neurotic part starts to worry that I don't actually have that many friends. The lazy part of me is like, "Whoa, that's a lot of work, man. Plus you'd have to clean the house." Then the first part comes back and mutters, "But 50 is a big deal, right?"

Today, I was presented with a solution. A friend of mine, Tyler Tork (his pen name) invited me to his birthday party where he's turning 55. Tyler and I, both being writers, have friends in common, so I thought, "There you go. The two bird problem solved with one party."

And it was fun.

Although I got very lost trying to get there. The party was thrown at the GPS (Geek Partnership Society)'s space in Northeast Minneapolis. Northeast is not a neighborhood I know terribly well on my best days. I don't own a smartphone so, speaking of the OTHER kind of GPS, I don't have access to a talking inter-active map. I usually compensate pretty well by having a decent working knowledge of Minneapolis/St. Paul and extensively availing myself of Google maps and note taking before I head out places. Google Map directions seemed pretty convinced that NE Broadway DIRECTLY connected to Jackson. It didn't. After an hour of driving through the Presidential streets, I called Shawn and begged her to look up where Jackson was supposed to be NEAR. Between Central and Monroe. Well, I managed to find one street that seemed to be something else where Jackson would be, but turning down it DID take me to NE Jackson and from there the building was easy to find.

That was less fun.

But Andre/Tyler had a good spread of food and I got to talk to people I knew fairly well, but hadn't hung out much with socially: Abra Staffin-Wiebe, Michael O'Leary, Jr., Conrad Zero, Karl Jones, and Dreamwitdth's own sraun (and his wife, Irene.)  We talked about Chuck Tingle, erotica writing (like the nitty-gritty of dealing with things like Amazon's search functions), and jumped around squeefully about Andre/Tyler's new book deal.

A good time was had.  I'd say it worked darn well for a substitute party for myself.

On Saturday, I had my forty-second birthday party, and I learned something important about myself. I'm old.

Also, my friends are old.

This is not a bad thing, not at all. But I'd sort of forgotten about that when I'd been planning it in my head. When I'd been thinking about this party, I was remembering the sorts of parties that Shawn and I threw when we were in our twenties and thirties. You know the sorts, where the party was technically still on the next day because someone had crashed on your couch? When you woke up and thought, “what the hell happen here?”

The party on Saturday was over by eleven. Most people, in fact, had left before nine.

Yet, it was a wonderful party. There were good folks, good conversation, excellent cake... but it wasn't a close the bars down, hung over like a hound dog the next day kind of party. It was a smallish group of people sitting on the couch and in a circle on the rug, talking excitedly about life, the universe, and everything. It was a party where kids had a place and their own room full of LEGOs and toys and the grown-ups drank coffee or pop.

I couldn't have asked for a better party, but it did make me readjust my idea of what parties are like at our house these days. They're quieter affairs. There are fewer folks, but the conversations are higher quality... because you can hear what's being said.

The wild days of my youth are passed, perhaps, but I think at forty two I've found “the answer.” This *is* what it's all about. I have some awesome friends, and really, what the heck else do you need in life, eh?