Program participants have been asked to let as many other people as possible know that there won’t be the usual emails to members of the convention as to their convention schedules. Please go to World Fantasy Convention tentative schedule. Pass the word.

I’m sort of edgy and irritable, so it’s good that everyone’s out of the house. Maybe I need something cathartic. Hmm. It’s less than 24hrs till take off and I’ve been unable to do the online check-in with Qantas. This sort of thing just erks the devil out of me, and is part of the reason I’m on edge. It’s a system that should work and usually does. When it doesn’t – when systems like that don’t – they really bother me.

I am, however, all packed. I could leave in 30 minutes if I had to (which I happily don’t). I’ll have an early lunch with Marianne then spend some time with the family, before hopefully getting an early night. In the interim I’m piecing together some WFC social plans and getting into the swing of that. It should be a great time, though this is the first time I’ll be at a WFC without either the Aussie contingent or Charles. It’ll be interesting to see how it goes.

Now, I could tell you all of the people I cannot wait to see, but I’d leave someone out and that would be bad. I can’t wait to see everyone, especially if we’ve already made plans.  It should be a lot of fun.

Hmmm. We need a new webcam and some other stuff. Back in a bit.

As I’ve blogged already, I will be attending World Fantasy Convention in Columbus, Ohio over the Halloween weekend.  My scheduling is light and I am available for social liaison for most of the weekend, however I will be on this panel:

Saturday 1 pm Panel A13: Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 2010. Kathryn Cramer, Ellen
Datlow, Jonathan Strahan (m), Paula Guran, Gardner Dozois

There is a general AUTOGRAPH RECEPTION at Friday: 8-11:30PM in the Regency Ballroom. Although I’ve been to many World Fantasy Conventions, I’ve never actually gone to one of these. However, right now I have no dinner plans for Friday night. If I remain free, I shall be there too.

There’s an odd thing that happens when I travel by myself to the other side of the world. I leave before I go. It varies from trip to trip, but in the few days prior to leaving my focus shifts and turns, and moves towards my destination. Suddenly I’m not so much thinking about what’s happening in front of me, but about travel plans, destinations, schedules and such. Is this connection planned, am I going to have anyone to have dinner with there, will that thing be fun…and so on. Attention just slips away.

I can tell I’m almost at that point. Alisa Krasnostein flew out for World Fantasy last night. Part of my attention went with her. Emails are coming in about plans, or not, and I’m thinking about what goes into my suitcase. I leave in 50 hours, but part of me has already left.

It’s four o’clock on Tuesday afternoon. I’m at work tomorrow and Thursday, home Friday, and then at around six o’clock on Saturday morning I’ll head out to the Perth Airport to begin the loooooong peregrination. As you all know, I’m headed to Columbus, Ohio (birthplace of the always dear EllenK) by way of Sydney and San Francisco/Oakland.

There’s much I’m looking forward to. I believe there’s Mexican food waiting for me in Sydney with Nick, Adrian, Cat, Rob, Deb, Chris and Terry on Saturday. Sunday is the big hop across the Pacific (can it really be my 32nd?) and then I’m staying with Ellen for a night before heading over to Oakland late Monday. I’ll be seeing Amelia for dinner with E, then sleeping at the place formerly known as Charles’s.

Tuesday will be Locus folk and Locus work during the day, and a very, very welcome dinner with Bob and Karen that night. Wednesday Liza and I fly to Ohio together, and then there’s dinner with Alisa (yay!), Gary (yay yay!) and everyone else and the convention.

I will, of course, intend to stay in touch during this part of the trip and the follow on week or so, but I most likely won’t. I’ll try though.