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thatcrazycajunGot home from Conterpoint 2007 this afternoon, a day later than originally planned. Turned out to be an interesting weekend...in more ways than planned, and in at least some respects in the sense of the famous Chinese curse ("May you live in interesting times").
Songbird swears up and down that before she left for Kenya, she handed me my invitation to the wedding of starmalachite and stevemb, which clearly stated it was to be held on Sunday evening, following the con—not Saturday as I had believed until arriving at the con and perusing the program book. Naturally, I have no memory whatsodamnever of seeing the invite, and thanks to this misapprehension (which several other con members apparently had shared and thus found themselves in the same boat), I was stuck with a non-refundable plane ticket that said I needed to be en route back Dulles Airport way to return my rental car and go home at precisely the time the happy couple was scheduled to be heading down the aisle in Conterpoint's main function room! Aargh and double aargh.
Several agonized hours of consideration and about $270 in additional costs later (though AirTran did cut me a break and give me the option of changing my coach ticket to business class, thereby waiving the $60 change fee and saving me at least a little of the financial bite), I managed to wangle an extra day's stay to remain present for the union of Mr. and Mrs. Brinich (and the dessert-laden, Clam Chowder-accompanied reception following). Thanks to and blessings upon Michael Feldman and Marly Kennedy (of Terran Consulate fame) for offering me last-minute free crash space, and apologies to the new Mrs. B. for not having had the foresight to bring wedding and/or birthday presents (though I did get to participate in the organized group performance of the "Mongol Birthday Song" for her at the dead-dog filk late Sunday night).
Seeing my friends united in matrimonial bliss, seeing and hearingcadhla sing (and watching her wench at the Interfilk auction in person, another all-too-rare pleasure), and getting told by Merav Hoffman that I actually possess that elusive performer's quality known as "presence" (news to me!) made it all worth the hassle and expense. What the hell, I was already spending way more hundreds of bucks than a person in my current precarious situation should be spending on anything that isn't a basic necessity of living (e.g., apartment rent/deposits, food, clothing, utilities, books, Net access); in for a penny, in for a pound, right? And these two are both friends, goddammit, and long, close and generous ones; when push comes to shove, such people are beyond price in my life.
The wedding finally got under way an hour late due to delays in bridal prep (for the filk contingent, this was nothing new; there's a reason they call it "fannish standard time," folks!), but it was more than worth the wait.madfilkentist provided organ accompaniment (Jerry Goldsmith's Star Trek: The Motion Picture theme on processional, John Williams' ending music for Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope on recessional), and the Rev. Alexandra Honigsberg (widow of David, much-missed author, musician and rabbi, who passed away suddenly in March) performed the ceremony, as she had for two other friends of mine (museinred and her husband Steven Joel) at the Darkover Grand Council a couple years back. I had not made the connection between her and David at the time, but was reminded by the Songbird after I finally got back today; if Alexandra should read this by some chance, please accept, again, my thanks for doing so beautifully by my friends despite your still-fresh loss, and my most heartfelt sympathies on said loss. CORRECTION: The presiding cleric was not, repeat NOT, Mrs. Honigsberg; mea culpas all around. See response from starmalachite below.
As for the con itself, half my friends list was there, so I feel no urgent need to post a full report here for the ones who attended, and many of them will doubtless do so for the benefit of the ones who could not attend. I will say that Wild Mercy, the guests of honor, gave fantastic performances both in concert and in open filk, as did Vixy and Tony, Tom Jeffers (half of Dandelion Wine) and his lovely fianceé, and toastmaster John Huff. (As an Internet stream was set up, some of you should have been able to hear for yourselves what the concerts sounded like.) Kudos to Scott "Kludge" Dorsey, of Kludge Audio, for handling the audio engineering duties with his usual skill and aplomb, and to all the con staff for putting together a most excellent weekend, which would have been so even without the nuptial festivities tacked on. And I feel compelled to note that the DC suburb of Rockville has become a lot harder to find my way around on my own than it was 11 years ago when I lived and worked in the very near vicinity of the con hotel. On the other hand, they have a spanking-new Krispy Kreme now, among many other recently-built nearby amenities, so it evens out. (If you're around there, some good, fast-foodish Turkish cuisine is to be had at a nearby chain place called—swear to Goddess, I am not making this up—Moby Dick's House of Kabob.)
And while on the subject of friends (and friends-list members), belated hippos, birdies and ewes tojenkitty and autographedcat , whose birthdays were yesterday, and to jhitchin , who has his today. Glad you all were born; stick around awhile. :-)
starmalachite and stevemb, which clearly stated it was to be held on Sunday evening, following the con—not Saturday as I had believed until arriving at the con and perusing the program book. Naturally, I have no memory whatsodamnever of seeing the invite, and thanks to this misapprehension (which several other con members apparently had shared and thus found themselves in the same boat), I was stuck with a non-refundable plane ticket that said I needed to be en route back Dulles Airport way to return my rental car and go home at precisely the time the happy couple was scheduled to be heading down the aisle in Conterpoint's main function room! Aargh and double aargh.Several agonized hours of consideration and about $270 in additional costs later (though AirTran did cut me a break and give me the option of changing my coach ticket to business class, thereby waiving the $60 change fee and saving me at least a little of the financial bite), I managed to wangle an extra day's stay to remain present for the union of Mr. and Mrs. Brinich (and the dessert-laden, Clam Chowder-accompanied reception following). Thanks to and blessings upon Michael Feldman and Marly Kennedy (of Terran Consulate fame) for offering me last-minute free crash space, and apologies to the new Mrs. B. for not having had the foresight to bring wedding and/or birthday presents (though I did get to participate in the organized group performance of the "Mongol Birthday Song" for her at the dead-dog filk late Sunday night).
Seeing my friends united in matrimonial bliss, seeing and hearing
cadhla sing (and watching her wench at the Interfilk auction in person, another all-too-rare pleasure), and getting told by Merav Hoffman that I actually possess that elusive performer's quality known as "presence" (news to me!) made it all worth the hassle and expense. What the hell, I was already spending way more hundreds of bucks than a person in my current precarious situation should be spending on anything that isn't a basic necessity of living (e.g., apartment rent/deposits, food, clothing, utilities, books, Net access); in for a penny, in for a pound, right? And these two are both friends, goddammit, and long, close and generous ones; when push comes to shove, such people are beyond price in my life.The wedding finally got under way an hour late due to delays in bridal prep (for the filk contingent, this was nothing new; there's a reason they call it "fannish standard time," folks!), but it was more than worth the wait.
madfilkentist provided organ accompaniment (Jerry Goldsmith's Star Trek: The Motion Picture theme on processional, John Williams' ending music for Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope on recessional), amuseinredstarmalachite below.As for the con itself, half my friends list was there, so I feel no urgent need to post a full report here for the ones who attended, and many of them will doubtless do so for the benefit of the ones who could not attend. I will say that Wild Mercy, the guests of honor, gave fantastic performances both in concert and in open filk, as did Vixy and Tony, Tom Jeffers (half of Dandelion Wine) and his lovely fianceé, and toastmaster John Huff. (As an Internet stream was set up, some of you should have been able to hear for yourselves what the concerts sounded like.) Kudos to Scott "Kludge" Dorsey, of Kludge Audio, for handling the audio engineering duties with his usual skill and aplomb, and to all the con staff for putting together a most excellent weekend, which would have been so even without the nuptial festivities tacked on. And I feel compelled to note that the DC suburb of Rockville has become a lot harder to find my way around on my own than it was 11 years ago when I lived and worked in the very near vicinity of the con hotel. On the other hand, they have a spanking-new Krispy Kreme now, among many other recently-built nearby amenities, so it evens out. (If you're around there, some good, fast-foodish Turkish cuisine is to be had at a nearby chain place called—swear to Goddess, I am not making this up—Moby Dick's House of Kabob.)
And while on the subject of friends (and friends-list members), belated hippos, birdies and ewes to
jenkitty and autographedcat , whose birthdays were yesterday, and to jhitchin , who has his today. Glad you all were born; stick around awhile. :-)
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no subject
Date: 2007-06-26 01:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-26 01:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-26 01:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-26 02:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-26 03:34 am (UTC)Matt? Turn on the sparkle more often. You have it, don't let go.
*hugs*
LMG
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Date: 2007-06-27 02:44 am (UTC)Matt, honey, I don't know *where* you got that idea.
I am totally gobsmacked that I didn't recognize her. Granted, I was all the way in the back of the room, and we didn't interact at all, but wow, I never would have known it was her.
Uh, that's probably because it WASN'T her. It was the Rev. Sharon Henderson, a friend of France's from the order of St. Michael. Let's squash this rumor Real Good.
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Date: 2007-06-27 02:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-27 02:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-03 03:09 am (UTC)