Because life with a toddler means never having time/energy to post.

( OVFFCollapse )

( PhilconCollapse )

( ChessieconCollapse )

OVFF was good, but interesting and possibly unique. This was Sam's first con, so we weren't sure quite what to expect. Other than being fussy during the Sunday dead dog, I think he did quite well. It was a smooth drive in both directions, and it only took us about half an hour longer than usual. This may bode well for FKO still being drive-able if we want, rather than falling back on the fly to Buffalo/rent a car scheme.

Not surprisingly, everyone thought Sam was adorable, and many of his Filk Aunties including Auntie Judith, Auntie Brenda and Auntie Naomi got a chance to hold him. We availed ourselves of the excellent children's track, taking him to a Kookieklatch and Storytime, and a Stone Dragons kids concert which also featured janeg, phillip2637, and honorary Canadian catsittingstill. Tom and Sue invited me to sit in for a song, so I offered up musicmutt's "Chocolate is a Vegetable". As for the Kookieklatch, I MADE SAM A KOOKIE BUT I EATED IT. And we were read books about poop (Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi, I think), farts (The Gas We Pass: The Story of Farts by Shinta Cho, I think), and time zones (title gone due to Baby Brain).

Watching our friends' reactions was as entertaining as I expected. The prize for the best double-take goes to andpuff, who spotted us rolling Sam past the Lotus Grill, scooped her jaw up off the table where it landed, and came flying out of the restaurant to greet us. Honorable mentions go to unkbar and kilted_singer.

What I caught of various concerts was good. GOH's Heather & Ben performed the entirety of their new album "Imagineer". Toastmasters Kristoph and Margaret covered the spectrum from filk to medieval to Tolkien to Celtic. And it was great to hear Interfilk GOH meritmaat again. Also caught sets from Talis Kimberley, Cheshire Moon, and Joe Giacoio, and jodimuse's CD release concert. Plus sweetmusic27 and judifilksign were on hand because everything is better with fiddles and signing.

Due to the need to make sure I got enough sleep around Mr. Baby's feeding schedule to be functional, I didn't get to sing as much as I have at many OVFF's - or to hear some of the folks I usually seek out in the circles. Friday night I gravitated to one of the small rooms where mrgoodwraith, Bill Davis, and a bunch of folks whose names I didn't catch (and who were really good) but I think were billing themselves as The Usual Suspects. Crashed at around 12:30am. Friday I let the_sheryl enjoy the song contest, Interfilk auction and the early part of open filk while I went upstairs (after a stop at jodimuse's CD release party, put Sam to bed and took a nap. We switched just before midnight and I came back downstairs until around 2:30am. Hit the main room just as catalana and the Ropers were fading but in time to catch a chilling new song of Erica's inspired (IIRC) by a book about the Manhattan Project. Hung out there for about an hour until it looked like that room was starting to fade (and the mood wasn't quite doing it for me), then switched to the room where the Parodies theme filk had been scheduled and was pretty much still going. Caught a couple of songs from filkertom, markbernstein, and mrgoodwraith and got to sing "Let the Redheads Win" with judifilksign sitting right next to me. Obviously, I lived (*grin*). It was a fun little room.

The closing Jam was fun as always. Luckily gundo had a small amp I could borrow, since I'd forgotten to grab mine in the scramble out the door Friday morning. (The Squier I remembered. The amp I didn't even though IT LIVES RIGHT NEXT TO MY GUITAR CASES. Baby Brain again. Also, failure to be smart and stage my musical gear in the foyer Thursday night.) As usual, I offered up "Cover of the Rolling Stone".

Gave mneme and drcpunk a ride to and from BD's but we ended up sharing a table with Bill Laubenheimer, Carole Parker, and Cat Greenberg and her little boy. There was a bit of confusion about how many free spots there were at the table we'd staked out for us and Cat since it had more room around it for strollers and car seats than some of the tables in the area that's usually designated for OVFF. But everything worked out eventually.

All three of us were down for the Dead Dog filk, but I was too brain dead to try and get a song in edgewise in a big, competitive circle. Didn't help that Sam wanted a bottle shortly after we got back from BD's, then was a bit fussy following that even after a diaper change, so I ended up out in the hallway listening to the conversations out there, with Sam up on my shoulder. Finally decided to say goodbye to everyone and pack it in a bit after 10pm. (Which was OK, we needed to get an early start Monday morning since I wanted to be home for the first in a series of 50th anniversary events for the private Jewish school I attended from 7th to 12th grade.)

Next appearances for us will be Philcon (Saturday and Sunday only) and Chessiecon. Then life gets interesting, because our next couple of trips after that require flying. This will be a new challenge for my packing-fu.

I've posted my OVFF photos to Flickr. I didn't always have the best position to shoot seated performers on the stage. (Not without standing up and blocking folks shooting video behind me.) On the other hand, I was perfectly positioned to get some great shots of our beloved judifilksign, especially during "Apology" and "Daffodil the Highway Fairy".

It was a fun OVFF as usual. Some great concerts from Alexander James Adams, Betsy Tinney and S.J. Tucker, both as individual sets (mostly backed by each other, plus Heather Dale and Ben Deschamps) and in a truly inspired Sunday afternoon Tricky Pixie set, and from Talis Kimberley (backed by Betsy and decadentdave. Lots of great performances in the Pegasus Concert as well. And the always rockin' Closing Jam.

During the Dead Dog filk I finally managed, after almost two years, to do "Beware of the Sinister Salad" for Sooj. She was amused. Also rolled out my new Marty Gear tribute "Costumer", first for Heather Dale just before she and Ben left the con Saturday night, then in the main room.

Lots of good conversation, although of course there's never enough time to chat with everyone, Had Talis and Decadent Dave join us for breakfast one of the days, which was cool. Also had a nice chat with janeg. about various plans for next year's FilKONtario.

Got home around 6:30pm. Verrrrrrry tired. Phoned in a take-out order to the local Wing Stop, surprising the weekend manager who is used to seeing us stopping in for lunch every other weekend. (He's the only employee of any of the 5 establishments we frequent who recognizes us on sight.)

Have been informed by Nova that nobody loves or feeds her or her sister and that they have the Overflowing Catbox Blues. We've taken care of the latter two. Not sure where either kitty is at the moment, otherwise I'd work on the former.

Weekend rocked! Lots of good music, conversation, food, and hanging out. Seemed like there were a whole lotta people with "I'm new to OVFF" buttons, which is good to see. Congrats to the Pegasus winners; looking forward to another excellent and challenging ballot next year.

Didn't get nearly enough sleep last night. A certain feline was howling at the bedroom door a couple of times during the night. Also woke up once or twice on my own accord, for reasons I can't fathom. I didn't drink any coffee after lunch, and caffeine in iced tea (like the one I drank in the mid-afternoon) usually doesn't bother me. Oh well, hopefully tonight will be better.

Reading assorted con-reps reminds me of a few more highlights/comments:

-- In general, I liked the new hotel. The only real complaint I had is that certain rooms were really too small to be hosting a filk circle. On the other hand, I counted six circles going on Saturday night, which means there are lots of choices of where to settle. And a good chance of shyer folks finding a circle that's comfortable for them.

-- Having alternatives to the hotel restaurant right across the street is always a plus. Granted, since Sheryl and I are driving to OVFF these days that isn't the problem it once was. But it's still good to see. As an added bonus, one of said establishments was the Winking Lizard Tavern. Any Duane Elms fans reading this journal will immediately realize why we had to have at least one meal (Sunday lunch) there.

-- A large delegation of filkers from Utah showed up at the con this year, making their OVFF debut. In addition to the neat songs they brought, their appearance meant I finally got to meet Julia West, who -- like me -- was a denizen of the GEnie Science Fiction Roundtable. Julia's double-take when I mentioned GEnie was priceless.

-- The pause after after tarkrai opened the envelope containing the Best Filk Song was a dead giveaway that "A Thousand Ships" was the winner. I'm surprised the cheer that followed the announcement wasn't audible in Germany. On a related Pegasus note, vixyish's combined works-for-Seanan-or-Brooke acceptance speech was also quite amusing.

-- Had an enjoyable chat about Balticon with bedlamhouse and ladyat over a round of drinks in the bar.

-- Bought way too many books from Larry Smith, including Cryoburn, An Artificial Night, and The Truth of Valor.

And yes, I did play "Spacer's Home" in one of the Saturday night circles. 8-)

Running too much of a cumulative sleep deficit to think of an amusing title.

I had a wonderful time at OVFF. It was good to be back again after last year's miss-due-to-code-hearings. And I don't say that just for me...I could tell the Squier was still cranky over the fact she didn't get to go Columbus last year either.

Saw excellent concerts from TJ and Mitch, the Bedlam Bards, UT, S.J. Tucker, and mrgoodwraith and Kira. It was great to see both TJ and Mitch together, which I think I haven't done since LACon IV. (Only TJ was at Confluence for last year's "More Difficulties" gig.) Also was delighted to finally see Sooj in concert, having missed her last several passes through the Northeast (including StrowlerCon *sigh*). the_sheryl and I got to play Evil Squirrels (along with lord_korak and ldwheeler) for UT's "The Squirrels Are Taking Over".

Ended up missing Kathleen's Listener Request concert as I ducked out to the Con Suite where catalana and her fiance were hosting an engagement party. (Side note to my Three Left Feet colleagues...can we declare Erica an honorary member? She's marrying a Steve! *grin*)

Speaking of Con Suite parties, Juanita Coulson hosted one later on Saturday honoring her retirement from con dealerhood. There was lots of ice cream and cake. Om nom nom!

Open Filk was good. Friday night I managed to catch vixyish, tfabris, UT, and a couple of other folks I'm now forgetting as they were colonizing one of the smaller rooms. That was cool since I wanted to make sure I did "Songs Flying Free" for Vixy & Tony; the story I wrote it for is set partly in the Pioneer Square Underground. Saturday night I started in a room with most of the NY/NJ crew plus filkart and ithriel. Ada and weirdquark from Sassafrass also came in for a bit (and did "Somebody Will", to my delight), as did Cedric from the Bedlam Bards. Later I jumped across the hall to a room with catalana, billroper, daisy_knotwise, tarkrai, katyhh and surrdave. Ended up not playing anything, just listening for an hour or so. But that's fine, since it's been a while since I've gotten to hear Steve and Katy, and I often don't get to hear Erica and Dave even when we're at the same con.

The closing jam was good fun, as always. I offered up "Rolling Stone" and "Apeman". The former went over a lot better, which probably has a lot to do with the fact I was a lot more practiced at "Rolling Stone". Meanwhile, somehow I ended up being the designated tuning-check for everyone since I was plugged into an amp through my tuner. Okay. Not the job I'd choose me for, but hey, if it worked (which it seemed to), who am I to complain?

Ended up giving TJ and Mitch a ride to BD's. Actually sat with kilted_singer, his partner who's name I've forgotten, dvtune, kyttn, chaoticgoodchic and maverick_weirdo. Much good conversation was had. And of course the food's good too.

Congratulations to all the Pegasus Winners! This was definitely a tough ballot to fill out. Several of the nominated songs were personal favorites. In at least one case I nearly had to flip a coin.

More later, when I have more of a brain. I also still owe y'all a Getaway report.

Well, I survived Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and the FSGW Getaway and cleaning out my grandfather's house with Mom.

Now we get to enjoy a nice, normal weekend. Or as close to normal as a weekend gets around here. Planning to make our annual pilgrimage to RenFest tomorrow. Should be a nice, if windy, day. No problem, that's what thick wool cloaks are for.

One week to OVFF! Looking forward to getting back on track after last year's miss due to work. Especially looking forward to doing my more recent songs for my West Coast friends who haven't heard them yet.

The TiVO is calling with a stack of CSI episodes, as is the DVD of The Last Waltz currently here from Netflix. Of course, the ALCS and NLCS are also calling. Ah, the joys of October! 8-)

I confirmed this afternoon what I've suspected for a good part of the year--that I will sadly not be able to attend OVFF this year. The next round of hearings for the national model building codes start Saturday, October 25th. The parts I am responsible for covering run solidly from the morning of the 25th through to Friday afternoon the 30th.

Given I have a job that involves travel and fixed-schedule events, there was eventually bound to be a major conflict that completely wiped out a con. I just wish it wasn't what is sure to be the grandest, most rockin' filk con ever. *sigh*

(I'm tempted to simply chalk it up to karma--given I managed while on business travel last year to attend two housefilks, a Starport party, and a convention filk circle.)

In other news, due to the fact the construction industry is still in the toilet, it also turns out I don't have to attend the late-September meeting in Chicago that I was expecting to go to. Aside from not getting to see the group of members I work closely with (who I actually like a lot), I also won't get to hang out with any my Chicago friends.

On the other hand, the Chicago meeting was conflicting with part of the Folklore Society of Greater Washington's annual Getaway, which is one of my favorite non-filk, non-SF/F activities of the year. Since $EMPLOYER decided I don't need to go to Chicago, I can make the entire Getaway. So there's a silver lining there.

The other silver lining is that I'll pick up another two comp days from the code hearings. At the rate I'm going, I may be able to take all of December off and still have leave to carry over!

Back from OVFF. We got home around 6pm, ordered pizza for dinner, made a quick grocery run, and are now trying to stay awake long enough for Heroes. Had a great time, as usual, even if I didn't sing all that much (only five songs the entire weekend, not counting the insta on Friday). It was great to see stevieannie and micktim again, who we hadn't seen since GAFilk 2001. They rocked the OVFF casbah and had us howling at the moon. Arooo! musicmutt and chirosinger were great as co-Toastmasters, and sibylle was another great Interfilk guest. Of course it was great to see and hear all the usual (and unusual) suspects. I especially enjoyed getting to chat with beige_alert and moshez at the banquet. Also great to see filkertom up and on his feet. Bought a nice pile of books from Larry Smith (including the cadhla-recommended Mathematicians in Love.) and a bunch of CDs including Moebius Street, Dreams of a Far Light and More Vocals in the Monitors.

The Sunday jam really blew out the ceiling and walls this year. The Interfilk Guitar Class of 2006 was reunited--the Biernassers brought the painted-with-a-space-theme guitar they won in that auction and I (since we were driving) brought the Fender Squier S1 that I won. I lead "Cover of the Rolling Stone". micktim led the room in a rockin' "Howl At The Moon" and filkertom a similarly awesome "Rocket Ride".

Mucho congratulations to all the Pegasus winners!