Dear neglected blog,

I met someone else – well, two someone elses – and they’ve kept me away from you longer than I’d ever intended. One listens to my short idle thoughts, the other listens to me natter for ages with my pal Gary. But I’ve not forgotten you, even through these months of neglect.

I’ve been in Melbourne. Went there for WorldCon. Conventions fall into two groups: those that energise you and those that drain you. Having been home for almost a week I think I can classify Aussiecon 4 as a convention that drained me.  Not because it was a bad con, or because I had no fun, but because it was busy and demanding. There are some things I’ll treasure as I look back on it, though: the evening at Alex’s house with Tansy, Alisa, Tehani and everyone; long, unexpected and delightful breakfasts with Stan; dinner and lunch and more with Bob and Karen; the Melbourne Aquarium with Barbara, mum, Marianne and the girls; the room service party with Garth, Anna, Shaun, Chris, Chris, Deb, Marianne, and Liza; some real time to talk with Liza; a last minute coffee with Steve; a terrific Voyager party, and an unexpected meeting. All of those were awesome.

And then there were the Hugos. What an honor and delight! As you know, dear blog, I’ve loved the Hugos forever and never once imagined I’d be nominated. The past three years have been a giddy time indeed, in Denver, Montreal and now here.  It was close this year. I know just how close, and that’s even more pleasing. The Hugo voters, my community, rewarded my work more than I ever could have expected.  I was pleased to see Ellen win after another terrific year (even if I hope you can forgive me a tiny twinge of disappointment at not quite making it), and look forward to the years to come. I never take the Hugo voters for granted and assume nothing, but I’m far from done editing yet.

And that’s about it, dear blog. I hear Godlike Machines is printed, the Engineering Infinity copyedits are in my inbox, The Best of Larry Niven is around the corner, there’s a teetering tower of reading for the year’s best and cyberpunk books, people to follow up for Eclipse 4 and Under My Hat, and proposals to write. Busy, busy, busy.

Oh, and Columbus! There’s Columbus. In just seven weeks! Eek.

There’s much to say about the Melbourne weekend, but the main thing is that we’re all home, safe and recovering from jetlag, con crud and so on, and hopefully will be returned to full functionality soon.  After her sojourn in Royal Melbourne Hospital, mum has made a full and complete recovery. We don’t know what happened, but she was given a clean bill of health and seems fine.

I especially want to say something about the Hugos, but not right now. For the moment, it was an honor and a delight to be nominated, a surprising joy to have come so close to winning, and I take my hat off to the winner (congrats Ellen!).  The fan community has been exceptionally kind and supportive to me, and I can only be grateful and happy.

Well, we made it to Aussiecon. Had a fairly uneventful flight with Marianne and the girls. Got to the hotel, registered, and then saw friends in the evening. Thursday was start the event, see more pals, and so on. Plans went awry a little when mum, who was coming over to help with the girls suffered chest pains on her flight. She ended up on oxygen, and spent last night in hospital. She insists she’s fine, but she would. Waiting to hear results of overnight tests as write.

Good morning all. The plan today is simple. Achieve two things. First, organise everything for the trip to Melbourne.  I think I’ve been in some kind of denial about it, so I’ve done precious little. On the other hand, all I really need to do is organise clothes and electronics for six days and a bunch of events, and pack it. I’ll do that today (must not forget the Berocca).  Tomorrow I’ll help Marianne pack for the girls, and reconfirm everything (must not forget to pick up the tux and double check the calendar).

While I may podcast today, the other big thing is to decide if I go to World Fantasy or not. Today is the crunch day. I have bookings being held. I suspect if I lose them, any chance of finding acceptable flights go with them. I have no idea as to the right decision. Every permutation makes me anxious, so it may come down to the toss of a coin (I kid you not).

Meanwhile, Aussiecon departure in 48hrs.  Yay!

If you follow my twitterings (and, really, why would you?) you’ll have noticed that I’m in the midst of planning a trip to Columbus, Ohio for World Fantasy in October.  You’ll also have noticed that I don’t seem to be enjoying it, and you might just wonder why?

Well, it’s complicated. A portion of it has to do with being a ‘person of size’ to use the South West vernacular. I’m tall and overweight. This means leg room and seat width, especially on long flights, are critical. I’ve spent more than one hideously uncomfortable 14hr trans-Pacific with the edge of a metal entertainment unit digging into my shin and, frankly, I’m never going to do that again.  So I spend too much time obsessing about that.

I also have friends who I see to rarely, and a trip to World Fantasy provides a chance to stop and visit. There’s the Locus crew (Liza, Kirsten, Amelia, Carolyn, Fran, etc), Bob & Karen, EllenK, and others in Oakland/SF, and there’s Gary in Chicago. Visiting either city is very attractive to me, and choosing one over the other is always hard.

And then there’s the airlines, with costs, routes, and other things. I could bore you witless on aspects of luggage, seating preference, etc etc.  They all add up to a lot of decisions, and all of them contribute directly to either making you more comfortable, your trip easier, or make your trip impact on others less.  You get all of that into ny head, and it goes round and round and round. After a while, staying home can seem like the best (easiest) option.

Oh, and I come from a family of worriers. :)