Arisia 2011 Report

I should start by saying that I don't consider myself a frequent Con goer. My first sci-fi/fantasy convention was New York City Comic Con during its inaugural year. NYCC is trying to become an East Coast answer to San Diego Comic Con (not going to happen any time soon) with a de-emphasis of fan-based panels and forums and a big film/TV push. The second convention I went to and still frequent is Dragon Con in Atlanta, a Con with a number of big media names, but also a good number of fan panels.

My interest in Arisia stemmed from the fact that it appeared to be mainly fan-based panels, and thought-provoking panels at that. The few times I went to panels at Dragon Con expecting stimulating conversation and debate I found myself sorely disappointed in the direction chosen by the moderators. Not that the folks at Dragon Con aren't an audience amenable to such discussions: I've had any number of great conversations with folks while waiting on lines for various celeb panels. But the programming (IMO) seemed to focus on celebrities and squee, with a number of informative science panels.

So my expectations for Arisia were quite high. And they were pretty much met. ( A look at all the panels I attended over the four day convention. Long. )

I really had a great weekend, and I owe a lot to emily_goddess for telling me about this convention and then sharing her time with me in Boston (had my first experience with Ethiopian food with her and her boyfriend, and she introduced me to an honest-to-God astronomer *grin*). I learned a lot and I had tons of fun and y'all totally need to come to this Con next year.

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Yesterday I went to replace my phone (sigh) and saw True Grit. Once I logged into my gmail account all my contacts reappeared, and it turned out that Kindle archived all the books I purchased previously. Score for me! True Grit was a good movie, a nice way to pass two hours.

The drama lately in the house has been littlest bro's dismissal from college due to academic reasons. It's tough for him: my parents have always been lax when it comes to guiding him, and he doesn't strike me as having much drive or motivation when it comes to school. Of course, my parents would never consider that my brother may not be ready for college. Even though they themselves never completed it when they were his age (my father got his associate's degree six or so years ago). So it's been tense, to say the least. I feel bad for him for a number of reasons, but aren't really sure how to help him aside from trying to be a non-judgmental voice and guide. Don't know if I'm always successful, but I'm trying.

Great-grandma is in the hospital, working on her third week. She's 95 years old, but the reason for her hospitalizations are always related to her chronic constipation (when you see old folks on TV shows commenting on how glad they are that they've had a bowel movement, that's true-to-life and there's a valid reason for it). This episode is turning out to be worse than any I've known, and it's come to the point where nursing home placement is being bandied around by social workers in the hospital. I'm not a fan of nursing homes or prolonged hospital stays, knowing what I know, but I'm not sure what we can do with Granny at this point. She was able to walk when needed prior to her hospitalization, but once you're admitted and you're older and it takes more than thirty seconds for you to make it to a restroom hospital staff slaps a "Fall Risk" bracelet on you, make you stay in the bed, put you in diapers, and you become debilitated. Fact of life. Frustrating as fuck.

More snow tomorrow. Yay.