Rosemary Kirstein

Whilst hunkering down and enduring the crunch at the DayJob, and preparing for Xmas and New Year, the fun thing on my horizon is Boskone, NESFA’s regional science fiction convention, taking place in Boston, February 17-19.

Boskone is one of the conventions I try not to miss. It’s a favorite — but you know, by now I’ve been to an awful lot of them across the years…

So, when I was signing up and they asked me what I wanted to talk about, what sorts of panels I wanted to participate in, and what great ideas I had for new panels or discussion groups, I sort of went, “Um, um… well, you know, same old…”

Then I thought: wouldn’t it be great if I knew what panels my readers wanted to see me on, and what subjects they would like to hear me talk about?

Then I remembered: Oh, right. I could ask them.

So, what do you think? If you’re going to Boskone, or are willing for the moment to imagine that you will be going, what panels, discussions, or brainstorming sessions would YOU attend if you know that Rosemary Kirstein would be there?

If you’ve never been to a convention, take a look at last year’s Boskone schedule for inspiration. (And you can see what panels I was on last year — I’d be happy to repeat; they were interesting and fun.)

(Oh, how 21st cen, to be crowd-sourcing my con panel ideas…)

In other news: Hooray! First trailer for The Hobbit!

This makes me happy. I’m tired, I’ve been working the DayJob too hard too long, and I’m so happy to see Middle Earth.

Yes, it’s been almost three weeks…

I’ve been holding off, mainly because there were some really excellent posts I wanted to post, but they would take thought and consideration, instead of just nattering off the top of my head. In other words, be actually written, and merely not chatted.

Well.

That would require time, wouldn’t it? Yes. You see my quandry.

Actually I did have some time: the entire Thanksgiving four-day weekend was mine, all mine, as my sister headed up to New Hampshire to hang with friends, giving me the entire house to myself. I got some very nice writing done, and de-stressed myself.

Because of the situation at the evil DayJob, I had been previously too shell-shocked to get much done on either of my projects, and it was a great relief to know that it’s all still there, and I have not lost the ability to connect with the deeper core of my creativity.

But I determined that Steps Must Be Taken to sort out the work situation — but also that Temporarily Nothing Can Be Done Yet, because of the holidays. Seriously, no one is going to make any great changes in organization or job assignments right now. Most people are just hunkering down and getting into the holidays in their outside life. At work you just keep on keeping on until things settle down.

So, after Thanksgiving I once again made my issues known to my superior (who is in pretty much the same boat as I), and we’ll see what happens in the new year.

Meanwhile, it’s overtime all the way.

Seriously. As in: Think it can’t get worse? It’s gotten worse.

But let’s not go there.

— Except, I must say: I’m really tired of people at work breezing out the door at 4:30, or 6:30, or 8PM depending on their shift, and seeing me still there, and making comments like: “Hey, it must be great to get all that extra overtime pay!”

They are rather surprised when I don’t do the socially expected thing of smiling sweetly, and making some tritely positive comment. I’m prone instead to say things like: “No, it’s not nice. I don’t want money. I want my life back.”

Because I already went through the phase of putting a good face on things, and after four months I’m unable maintain it.

So, here we go, back into the fray tomorrow.

But, hey, some good things have also happened!

Like: Hello, I went to a Broadway play!

And: OMG, I saw Jake Shimabukuro live, and it was unbelievable.

Which I will tell you about, both.

But not right now. Because I’ve already gone on too long, complaining again about the freakin’ DayJob.

The Wind Horses are still in place.

I’m still wearing a different Darlene scarf every day, attempting to keep myself sustained and inspired as much as possible.

And I startled my boss by putting in for two weeks off in January (immediately after my vacation days reload for the year). Still waiting to hear back.

And now, for your elucidation, education and inspiration, here’s a video from TEDx, wherein John Bohannon suggests an alternative to the inevitable-yet-dreaded Power Point presentation.