This was my first Arisia, since I lived on campus for my first two years in Boston and consequently had nowhere to stay while the dorms were closed. Have I mentioned how much I love being off campus? Yeah.
Anyway, I arrived at the Hyatt Friday evening and spent some time getting my bearings before I met up with Cecilia Tan and got my mission for the night: hanging up flyers for the Circlet Press party. I had my first of many encounters with “Mount Arisia” as I hung a flyer up on each floor. I’ll miss some aspects of the layout of the Hyatt when Arisia moves next year, but honestly, I will not miss the elevator/stair situation. Ok, I might miss the exercise. Maybe.
I hung out at the Circlet party until about midnight, when most of the party moved to a different room for Cecilia’s reading. She read from a variety of stories, but for me, the star of the night was absolutely…well, you really had to be there. Two words: Alan Rickman.
On Saturday morning, I rushed to Cambridge yet still managed to show up to Daniel A. Rabuzzi’s reading a good ten minutes late. He read from The Choir Boats, which I bought on Sunday. (I’m only a few chapters in right now, but I’m enjoying it a lot!) I also met his wife, Deborah A. Mills, who does amazing woodcarving. They’re both just really cool people :)
After exploring the art show a bit, I went and gave blood for the first time. Word on the internet is that 101 people were able to donate, and I’m so happy to have been one of them. Unfortunately, the blood-drawing didn’t agree with me—I don’t know if I just didn’t eat enough juice and cookies or what, but I felt wobbly and cranky for several hours afterward. That certainly won’t stop me from donating in the future, of course. I’ll just make sure to guzzle even more delicious apple juice. Yum.
As I recovered (and honestly, at several other points throughout Arisia), I hung out at what I’ve come to call “my people-watching perch.” In fact, there’s photographic evidence!
Over the course of the rest of the day, I went to a few panels (Arthurian Legends: The Ultimate Fanfic, The Ultimate Showdown, The History of Fandom) and wandered through Dealer’s Row. I bailed earlier than I’d have liked, but sleep was in order.
Sunday was my big busy day. I went to The Changing Face of Publishing, The Mechanics of Anthology Construction, Charisma is Not a Dump Stat, and Stories that Changed Everything, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed. I ended up having some time to kill, since I had something to go to at midnight, so I decided to go find a party. This turned out to be an awesome idea. I somehow found my way to the Never Never Land Worldcon bid party, which was pretty much the greatest thing ever. I’m incredibly impressed by how great of a party Jacob and company were able to put on with such short notice. Props.
At midnight, I went to the shadowcast of Dr. Horrible, which was followed by a fabulously dirty shadowcast of Once More with Feeling. The Teseracte Players took every innuendo and ran with it. Good lord. Sunday night was definitely the highlight of Arisia for me.
On Monday, I braved the disgusting weather and returned to the con for a couple of last panels—Primary Sources and The Casting Couch. I meant to stay for the Sesame Street panel, but I was soooo sleepy. Thus, I said goodbye to Arisia and headed home for a nap.
On the whole, I had a good time at Arisia. I met a ton of awesome people, including some of my fellow Circlet editors, and I went to some entertaining and informative panels. The con was definitely more hectic than I’m used to, but I think the move to the Westin might help a bit with that. Speaking of the Westin, I’m planning to be at Boskone next month, and it looks like I’ll be helping out at the New Genre table. More on that later. And now, since I have class tomorrow, I should probably go to bed. Goodnight, dear readers!
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