I had a perfectly splendid time, although I will say that I cannot 1) drink, 2) stay up late, 3) eat as much as I used to be able to. Also, having left my Claritin at home had a material effect on my clearheadedness. Still, I enjoyed all my panels (surprisingly, the Monday morning 10am panel on Children in Jeopardy in SF and F may have been the best, despite the hour and my feeling, before hand, that I had a very limited range of things to contribute. In fact, I talked my head off, the audience was engaged, my fellow panelists smart and equally talkative...I woke up, even!). And I got to see a midwestern thunderstorm! (People who don't live in San Francisco may not understand my passionate longing for thunderstorms...we don't get 'em much, and I love them.)
I bought a new pair of Laurie Edison earrings, because I so love Laurie's work. I got to read with Pat Murphy, Nisi Shawl, and Eileen Gunn (talk about your rarified company) and made people laugh. I bought a book or two, I talked with too many people to count, and on Sunday night after the Tiptree Awards and Guest of Honor speeches I stood around in the hallway on the party floor working on a free-form song spear-headed by Elise Mattheson and Ellen Klages that involved "doing wrong things with squid." (Sample verse: "You may think I'm a little bit odd, but I've got a thing for a cephalopod.")
All in all, an excellent weekend. This morning at breakfast a bunch of us more or less spontaneously broke into "We Are Wiscon!" to the tune of the current Farmers' Insurance jingle. I love my People.
Now sitting in the adorable Madison airport waiting for my flight to Chicago, and thence (we hope) home. Last time I came back from Wiscon I had stomach flu and my flights were cocked up, so I'm hoping that this time I get compensatory good flight luck. We'll see.
