Muskrat Jamboree

[raven]

In the last week, I have: applied for two jobs; entered the competition for the Lucy Cavendish Prize; started agricultural forfeiture proceedings; done a rural first registration; got four hours of CPD; approached two academics and two professional supervisors about references; gone to a three-day con 3,500 miles away.

(I am very tired.)

(I also have concrud.)

I am so tired, and I have such concrud, that I think I shall listen to the Gaslight Anthem very loudly and let you have the edited highlights of Muskrat Jamboree, oh yeah:

-My ROOMIES, alpheratz and soupytwist who are the best roomies a girl could ask for. I arrived somewhat mangled on Thursday evening in the snow (after I fare-dodged on the T by mistake - dear state of Massachusetts, I owe you $2.50) and soupytwist looked after me and got me my registration packet and dinner and fangirls (I met celli and slodwick and have no very clear memory of what I said to either of them) and then I went to bed. The con hotel was pretty fabulous, but of all its myriad wonderfulnesses the beds were way up there. Big squishy pillows. Also alpheratz's alarm clock tone is "Glosoli", which I found sufficiently charming that I didn't care it was stupid o'clock in the morning.

(Americans also say "ass o'clock in the morning", which is much more expressive, only I can't pronounce it. I forget who it was at the con who got me to say "I pawned my porn at the pawn-shop" but yeah, same deal, terminally non-rhotic &tc.)

-Fandom blind date! I was holding up Slings & Arrows; soupytwist did The Middleman; it was awesome. Also slash pictionary, which was hilarious and joyous and kind of a testament to the wondeful human brain - you could draw five stick figures with a couple of semiquavers and trust the whole room to shout "One Direction!" - and kind of exhausting, also, so I went to the craft table and found grown women studiously engaged in covering pictures of pretty people with glitter. It was the best.

-Make-up! So, commodorified very kindly offered to make me up for the dance, and by the time she'd done with me I didn't quite recognise myself. I had gold glitter on my eyes and sprays of glitter on my cheekbones. I looked like her Midas touch. (Here's the thing. I never liked school all that much. I didn't aspire to be prom queen. But I walked into the MJ dance party wearing a short red goth dress, covered in glitter, surrounded by all these gorgeous, unrepentant, unapologetic women, and felt like these are my people, this is my place. Fangirls, you are as beautiful as the night sky.)

-The vidshow was amaaaaazing. It started with Starships and got everyone going; there was a sweet interlude of Home; and at the end of The Adventure, the atmosphere in the room was electric, collective, transformative - I was transported.

-Dance party! There was daaaaaancin'. There was also a lot of sadness for the bandom fans when it came to light right in the middle of the party that My Chemical Romance broke up. That was not a highlight, so I skip over it. The daaaaancin' was awesome though; I like watching lots of ladies doing Gangnam Style.

-Saturday was a quieter, more disjointed day - soupytwist and I both slept through the nine o'clock panels, and I didn't really get myself together until we got to my first serious panel, Kink 201. Which was fun and interesting, but the hotel were also leasing space to a casting call next door to the consuite, and it was packed full of children. (And some adults - one of whom was so obnoxious (who, outside of fiction, actually says, "What're you looking at?) that I was v. uncharacteristically driven to be very rude in public.) And, argh, you don't want to be doing a kink panel when there are literally fifty kids just outside the room. "Don't crack the whips! It'll scared the children!" ...yeah.

(It later turned out the casting call was some sort of elaborate scam; I felt bad for the kids, but not the dratted woman I yelled at.)

-In the afternoon was the Twenty Years of Due South panel, which I liked a lot, and afterwards we went for ice-cream and thence to a costume room party, which was all pretty fun. I was getting tired and anxious again, but I had a good time in the end - especially eating peanut chilli ice-cream (mmmm), and playing Apples to Apples, Fandom Edition. (I won, largely based on the observation that gay sex is quite popular, competence kink is cool, and accidental marriage is bogus!)

-Sunday was also rather disjointed, as the con proper was over by eleven and my lovely roomies departed homewards before lunch. I went for lunch at the restaurant closest to the hotel (an amazing fake Irish Viking bar serving Irish classic dishes, such as BBQ brisket with biscuit and chai-apple French toast) and got to hang out with spuffyduds and queue among many others, and that was really great. I got to talk a little about my real life with someone from fandom who Gets It. Isn't that awesome? It was awesome and... affirming, I suppose. I sometimes worry I am fighting some wars on my own, and it turns out I'm... not. That is very vague. But I finished my con experience feeling very, very good, not just about fandom, but about life - the life I've made.

I flew into Heathrow yesterday very early morning, got home and slept like a dead thing; I am about to do the same again. Lovely, lovely con. I don't know if I can make it to Seattle for BP, but here's hoping.

(Also, the final crucial detail. Following the end of Connotations, there is a space, I believe, for a fan-run con in the UK. A general one, not a vidcon like vidukon_cardiff. soupytwist and I have plans. Watch this space.

Comments

[frith_in_thorns]

That all sounds so very very lovely! :D

(Are you going to NineWorlds, btw? Does that count as a fan-run con?)

[raven]

:P I am not currently registered for NineWorlds, but I may be moderating a panel there, so the quick answer is: I'm not sure, ask in a bit. :) And... not the same way, I think? This is the panel list for MJ - not really the same deal, I think.

[celli]

:D

[raven]

lovely to meet you guys!

[spuffyduds]

SO great to meet you, and LOVE the fan-run-con in the UK idea. I'm SO there if I have the $!!!

[queue]

Seconded liek wo.

[raven]

awww, yay! It was so lovely to meet you too, and watch this space. :)

[surexit]

there is a space, I believe, for a fan-run con in the UK

*EXCITED*

[raven]

:P :P

[soupytwist]

You are HARDCORE, my friend. HARDCORE.

Also, awesome. On maaaaany levels. ♥

[raven]

you are forgetting, m'love. WE ARE HARDCORE AND AWESOME. WE'RE GOING TO RUN A CON!

[fiercynn]

It was so awesome to meet you! And I am totally in favor of both a general fan-run con in the UK and of you coming to BP next year. :D

[raven]

You too! I wish we'd got a bit more time to hang out. <3

[queue]

I got to talk a little about my real life with someone from fandom who Gets It. Isn't that awesome? It was awesome and... affirming, I suppose. I sometimes worry I am fighting some wars on my own, and it turns out I'm... not.

Yes. This.

Seriously: talking with you at the Genuine Authentic Irish-Type Pubbish Place With Improbably Good Sweet-Potato Fries was one of the highlights of MJ13 for me. I occasionally feel like the lone crooked (non-straight ... yeah) voice in the world of law and legal stuff; it was such FUN to discover, unequivocally, that this is really not the case.

Delightful.

Feel better soon, please.

[raven]

I'm really glad you enjoyed that as much as I did. It was such a perfect note to finish the weekend on. Hopefully we can hang out again at cons!

[queue]

Very much so, agreed, and agreed :-). In the meantime, online communication FTW.

[msilverstar]

Wow, you have a hell of a life!

[raven]

Sometimes, yes. :)

[brynnmck.livejournal.com]

I am so glad you had such an amazing time, and that it was so affirming in so many ways. (Also CHAI-APPLE FRENCH TOAST? OMG. I'm drooling just reading that.)

Needless to say, I would LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE it SO VERY MUCH if you could make it to BP at some point, just as I would love to attend your future, currently-embryonic con, finances and vacation time permitting. I had somehow missed that you were going to MJ, and when I found out that you were, I was that much sadder to be missing it. ♥

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Oh, lovely Brynn! Why do you have to live so faaaaar. Boston is doable because relatively, it's close - it's a direct seven-hour flight, which made my workmates go *side-eye* at me ("You're going to America for the WEEKEND?"), but not out of the realm of stuff I can do. Seattle for me is a fourteen hours' flying time, with layover - sigh. BUT. If, come next spring, I have a job, and a job who let me take a week off, then I am THERE. I really, really, really want to come, I want to see yoooooou. <33

[littlered2.livejournal.com]

That all sounds so fantastic - I'm glad you had fun! (And I would definitely come to your con. I intend to become better at fandom at some point.)

Good luck with the competition! Your writing is fantastic, and I hope the judges think so too. And enjoy your sleep.


I forget who it was at the con who got me to say "I pawned my porn at the pawn-shop" but yeah, same deal, terminally non-rhotic &tc
I always feel vaguely awkward saying "pawn-shop", as there is always the fear that people will misconstrue it as "porn". Damn non-rhoticity.

[helle-d.livejournal.com]

This happened when I met with R yesterday! He told me that you two had had a look around your prospective new neighbourhood but that you had been put off by the number of pawn shops. Took a few minutes for the miscommunication to emerge ... I suggested that next time he talk about pawnbrokers.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

You should totally come to our con. EVERYONE SHOULD COME TO OUR CON. :) It will perhaps be a very long time in the planning, but fingers crossed.

Thank you - I am not v hopeful re: Lucy Cavendish, but not so much I didn't enter. :)

[littlered2.livejournal.com]

I will! Especially if there are lots of people there with whom I can talk about Buffy.

Entering is a good thing - no chance of winning if you don't do that. I hope very much that they like your work.

[littlered2.livejournal.com]

By the way, are you still planning to send me Cabin Pressure episodes? If not (you are Busy and Important, so I completely understand), that is absolutely fine, as frith_in_thorns has offered me them as well, so you do not need to worry.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

If she has not already, I am happy to! I'm sorry, I completely forgot!

[littlered2.livejournal.com]

That's fine, you've been busy! If you're happy to, then yes please. (If it's a lot of effort, I will just ask Frith, so don't worry.)

[bibliotropic.livejournal.com]

My first thought was, "Muskrat Jamboree? Isn't that a community festival in Inuvik?" *headdesk* I'm so terrible at fandom.

This sounds amazing, though. Jobs and contests and fannishness all over the place. Are there pictures of the make-up?

Seattle is geek heaven. If you go there, I will probably have to kidnap you. <3

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

heeeee! That cracks me up. I noticed fangirl MJ has displaced the original MJ on search listings. Oh fandom. There are pictures of the make-up, but they are not very good - it seems as though the glitter had to be seen in motion. Which is kind of awesome in its way, but I'd like to have had good pictures!

If I make it to Seattle, you will be first to know. <3

[helle-d.livejournal.com]

Muskrat Jamboree sounds amazing! I've never really considered going to cons, but I am very jealous now, it sounds like you had an amazing time! I hope you get a chance to sleep for about twenty hours though at some point.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

That 20 hours sleep is coming up tonight, hurrah! Cons are AWESOME. if we hold one you should come to it. *nods*

[highfantastical.livejournal.com]

the Twenty Years of Due South panel

!!!!!!!

Good luck for the competition. I know CP and she's lovely, so fingers crossed she also has VERY GOOD TASTE.

p.s. I would attend a fan-run UK con! ;)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

The full title of the panel was "For Reasons That Do Need To Be Explored At This Juncture: Twenty Years of Due South"!!!

Prob not very good taste but very anomalous taste! Looking at previous shortlisted works, I think my little novel about spaceships and aliens is hanging out round the back of the wrong bike shed. But we shall see. :)

(ps. watch this space.)