If you don't want the death of the party after I'm gone, sing one for me

[sovay]

I may feel like a dishrag, but if so it's a dishrag who had a wonderful time returning to Arisia after six years, even if the ziggurat on the Charles is still a dreadful place to hold a convention. For the Dramatic Readings from the Ig Nobel Prizes, I performed selections from W. C. Meecham and H. G. Smith's "Effects of Jet Aircraft on Mental Hospital Admissions" (British Journal of Audiology, 1977) with what I hope was an appropriately haggard channeling of my sleepless night and Leonie Cornips' "The semiotic repertoire of dairy cows" (Language in Society, 2024) with what I hope was an appropriately technical rendition of cow noises. I heard papers on the proper techniques of nose-blowing, whether snakes dress to the left or the right, the sexual correlations of apples. It feels impossible, but it must have been my first time onstage since onset of pandemic. Readers who overstayed their allotted two minutes were surrounded by a chorus of bananas.

I had forgotten how much socializing my attendance of conventions used to entail. I turned the corner for registration and immediately spotted a nineweaving, followed in close succession by a choco_frosh, a_reasonable_man, and a sorcyress. I was talking to the latter in the coat check when Gillian Daniels came in and now I have a zine-printed copy of the second edition of her chapbook Eat the Children (2019/2026). I had not lengthy enough catch-up conversations with awhyzip and rinue and am now in possession of a signed copy of Nothing in the Basement (2025). I brought water with me and kept forgetting to duck outside to drink it. Dean gave me a ride home afterward and commented on my tired look, which was fair: six, seven years ago I could sprint through programming even after a night of anaphylaxis or a subluxed jaw and these days there's a lot less tolerance in the system. It seemed to be a common refrain. If I have fun and don't take home any viral infections from this weekend, it'll be a win.

Tomorrow, panels.

Comments

[kaffy_r]

I remember the joys of going to conventions, although I doubt I could do much of that sort these days. I used to enjoy hearing about the Ig Nobels from Geri, and the fun she had helping put the ceremonies together in earlier years. It sounds like you had an excellent evening.

[selkie]

Huzzah! I’m glad you went.

[asakiyume]

Hurray! Sounds excellent. And seeing the list of names of people you saw reminds me, indeed, of your reports from past years at Arisia and Readercon.

[genarti]

Wonderful!! The hotel is far from ideal for sure, but I'm so glad it's been a joyous return so far. We didn't make it today, but both Becca and I should be around the con tomorrow, and are definitely hoping to catch you on a panel and/or in general.

[gwynnega]

I'm so glad you went and had fun! I have such fond memories of the Ig Nobel Prizes.

[thisbluespirit]

Aww, so very glad you made it and it went well!

*crosses everything for you re. the last* <3