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How best to I sum up this weekend? This way: 16 hours of programming vs. 19 hours of sleep. The greatest lesson I learned is that when asked to be Guest of Honor at a con, limit your programming to >10 hours. I only skipped one panel – Friday afternoon, a panel on Peter's work, and I only skipped it because I was exhausted, and because I'd already been on an almost identical panel at noon that day. I even got Peter's blessing before skipping the panel. Had I not missed it, I'd have returned home after 17 hours of programming vs. 19 hours of sleep. It will be at least one day before I have recovered, physically and mentally, from the con. Susan Straub told me to take two days, but there's already email in my inbox insisting it has to be dealt with today. Fuck it, Dude. Let's go bowling. I hate this "job."

We were going to stay in Burlington until this morning, but, instead, waited until sunset and came home last night. Kathryn and I both wanted to wake up in our own beds.

LiveJournal truly has died, hasn't it? Those of us who remain are crypt keepers, I think. Ah, well. That's a better profession than writing.

I'll try to post some sort of summation of the experience, thoughts on Readercon 23, but it'll likely be tomorrow before I do. Maybe I can even find a handful of photographs I don't loathe. Which is going to be a challenge. But, as I have said repeatedly, I don't do "con reports."

Friday night, I did a podcast with Peter, Gary Wolfe, and Jonathan Strahan (Jonathan was in Perth, Australia, and so was there via Skype; Skype still freaks me out, by the way). You can hear the podcast here. I haven't listened to it yet; I might later.

I was good and bought not one single book. Then again, I only made it into the dealer's room once, and that was about fifteen minutes before my signing on Saturday.

I have decided I hate the tattoo. Well, not the tattoo itself. The design is perfect, as is the placement, and the sentiment. But as it heals it's turning that hideous blue-green that always makes me think of drunken marines on shore leave. Obviously, this poses problems, likely of the sort that cannot ever be resolved*. I was very fucking specific about wanting black/grey work.

Oh, and I came back to the news that a brilliant friend has cancer. And there was also Neil Clarke's heart attack** during the con, which rather makes all my kvetching here rather petty.

Okay, gonna go lie down or something. Er...after the email.

Knackered,
Aunt Beast

* Note that I did NOT get the tattoo on a whim nor impulsively. I took years deciding if it was right to do this. Too bad I didn't take at least a month to be certain I had the proper artist.

** He is out of ICU and recovering.

Comments

( 54 comments — Have your say! )
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vulpine137
Jul. 16th, 2012 06:13 pm (UTC)
But I like my crazy little crypt. Hope you get some good rest.
greygirlbeast
Jul. 16th, 2012 06:15 pm (UTC)

But I like my crazy little crypt.

You are welcome to it.
flameelf
Jul. 16th, 2012 06:28 pm (UTC)
I have to think that eventually, people will tire of micro-flashes of (sometimes)wit with large sides of stupid and will go back to wanting to read/write more in-depth. At least, I hope that's so! They might not come back to LJ, but FB won't always be the monolith it is now, either.

Grey :)
greygirlbeast
Jul. 16th, 2012 06:30 pm (UTC)

They might not come back to LJ, but FB won't always be the monolith it is now, either.

Yeah. Some atrocity we have not yet seen will become the new black.
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(Deleted comment)
greygirlbeast
Jul. 16th, 2012 06:54 pm (UTC)

Even fun cons are way too draining for me.

This is why I rarely do more than one per year. I don't know how people who do ten or twelve a year – and I know people who do, professionals – manage it.
(no subject) - jeffreyab - Jul. 17th, 2012 04:32 pm (UTC) - Expand
cucumberseed
Jul. 16th, 2012 06:51 pm (UTC)
Home on the Remains
I achieved Harrison Bergeron brain (more accurately Harrison's dad's brain) sooner this Readercon than usual. I am sad I did not get to hang out with you this year, but the "Wet Dreams and Nightmares" panel was my hands-down favorite of all panels at all cons to date.

Yeah, I agree about LJ. Sometimes I feel a little like a dewgong miner or something that lives on the god-corpses in the old D&D Planescape setting.
greygirlbeast
Jul. 16th, 2012 06:56 pm (UTC)
Re: Home on the Remains

I am sad I did not get to hang out with you this year,

Same here. We had a nice little gathering Saturday night into Sunday morning. It would have been great had you been there.

but the "Wet Dreams and Nightmares" panel was my hands-down favorite of all panels at all cons to date.

I think I agree. If only it had been an hour longer.

Sometimes I feel a little like a dewgong miner or something that lives on the god-corpses in the old D&D Planescape setting.

Pretty much.
martianmooncrab
Jul. 16th, 2012 07:52 pm (UTC)
It will be at least one day before I have recovered, physically and mentally, from the con

..hope you rest up well.

on the tat... wait til it heals, there is a process where it looks crappy until it settles down. But then, if you arent happy, I know a great artist here (my 2nd cousin no less) who does touch ups and original work. She is going to do my "tramp stamp" weds of Winged Monkeys...
greygirlbeast
Jul. 16th, 2012 07:55 pm (UTC)

on the tat... wait til it heals, there is a process where it looks crappy until it settles down. But then, if you arent happy, I know a great artist here (my 2nd cousin no less) who does touch ups and original work.

It's pretty close to healed. This is the colour it turned AFTER healing.
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matrixrefugee
Jul. 16th, 2012 09:53 pm (UTC)
Me too, re: sticking with LJ: Facebook feels too much like a social experiment to see how much privacy people are willing to give up. Tumblr might have pretty fandom pictures, but one has to wade through a morass of hyper-political vitriol to get to them. Twitter is like a series of telegrams, useful, but not good for conveying things of substance.

Edited at 2012-07-16 09:53 pm (UTC)
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alumiere
Jul. 16th, 2012 09:26 pm (UTC)
I spent a lot of the weekend wishing I had been able to attend readercon. I hope other than the exhausting schedule it went well

As for the tattoo, let it finish healing then go back and talk to someone. It may be a reaction between your skin and the ink; my first tattoo did something similar so they went back over it with a different black and it solved the problem.
alumiere
Jul. 16th, 2012 09:31 pm (UTC)
And then i read the other comments - I would still go back and talk to the artist or someone at the shop. Maybe there is something they can do. I'm sorry that it didn't turn out as planned.
(no subject) - greygirlbeast - Jul. 16th, 2012 10:52 pm (UTC) - Expand
Marc D. Goldfinger
Jul. 16th, 2012 09:54 pm (UTC)
Reader con 23
It was great to see and hear you. Thank you so so so much for the Alabaster: Wolves comic. Rest for a beat!
greygirlbeast
Jul. 16th, 2012 10:53 pm (UTC)
Re: Reader con 23

You're welcome.
fornikate
Jul. 16th, 2012 10:26 pm (UTC)
fortunately that's the good thing about black, you can always put it over color....sometimes people's skin just doesn't take it well :(
greygirlbeast
Jul. 16th, 2012 10:54 pm (UTC)

Again, there's no way to tattoo over these fine lines without making a mess. And I can't imagine there are many colors you could but over black, since the colors will blend. Not that this is black. If it were, I'd be happy.
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opalblack
Jul. 16th, 2012 11:05 pm (UTC)
Sometimes your skin can change the ink colour, it's just chemistry. I knew a woman once who had permanent lipliner done and it turned black.

You should be able to get someone to go over it. Fine linework can be difficult to repair when something like this happens, but it's not impossible. I'd recommend my lady in Belfast (Karen at Alternative Ink), but that's a little out of your way.

I second the suggestion to go back to the shop and show them. Unless they're *total* fuckheads (which, honestly, you can usually tell at a great distance), they'll want to know their work went awry and likely take pains to keep you happy. It's not worth it to them to just tell you to suck it up, tattooists live off their reputations.
greygirlbeast
Jul. 17th, 2012 05:07 am (UTC)

You should be able to get someone to go over it. Fine linework can be difficult to repair when something like this happens, but it's not impossible.

I've got one mess. I do not need to risk a second, and possibly worse, one.

Unless they're *total* fuckheads (which, honestly, you can usually tell at a great distance), they'll want to know their work went awry and likely take pains to keep you happy. It's not worth it to them to just tell you to suck it up, tattooists live off their reputations.

And this is where I say they can go fuck themselves. Do a thing right. No second chances.
Samantha Richards Clossick
Jul. 17th, 2012 12:42 am (UTC)
I'm sorry about your friend, I hope things go well for them. Cancer is a bitch, who I really do not like. The tattoo. I know several very good artist's in pvd who I could refer you to for a consultation. Where did you go?
You never know, if you get someone really really good, they may be able to darken it. I've seen some tattoo miracles in my life, so hold out some hope. =)

greygirlbeast
Jul. 17th, 2012 05:08 am (UTC)

See above.
_MissC
Jul. 17th, 2012 12:49 am (UTC)
_MissC
Don't know if this would make you feel better, but if you let us see a pic of your now-greenish tattoo, we could all pitch in and find pictures of the good things which are this color (to remove the "drunken marines" vibe and replace it with, say, an impression of sunlight through seawater or the flesh of a particularly venomous cephalopod).
greygirlbeast
Jul. 17th, 2012 05:09 am (UTC)
Re: _MissC

It's a kind offer. But there was only ever one thing that belonged in that spot. It's now become simply a question of how to repair or remove it.
cimeara
Jul. 17th, 2012 01:30 am (UTC)
You are right, of course. About everything, but in particular I went back to look at the photo of the tattoo. The "y" and "p"... I can't see how the upstroke off the descender could be redone. But how noticeable is the color on those very thin lines? Maybe just the wider strokes could be blackened?
greygirlbeast
Jul. 17th, 2012 05:10 am (UTC)

The color is uniform throughout. When you factor in the delayed bleed effect, as the ink spreads during healing, widening lines, infill is impossible. Why do people keep suggesting this? It's not like wear talking crayons.
esanko
Jul. 17th, 2012 03:35 am (UTC)
Livejournal is not, NOT dead. Thank you for the brilliant writing. Thank you. Love every... it all... minute of... you utterly rock. Excuse me, "bow tie"!
greygirlbeast
Jul. 17th, 2012 05:12 am (UTC)

Thank you. But denial has never yet saved a corpse. My FL is down by 85%...
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katesavage
Jul. 17th, 2012 03:53 am (UTC)
Bummer about your friend developing cancer. I have been thinking about stopping platelet donations but maybe not just yet.

It was good to sit in on your panels this year. I discovered you at Readercon after going to panels you were on for a couple of years. Before I knew it, I was going to panels you were on because I was so impressed by how articulate and pithy you are.

Having little impulse control, I bought too many books to read anytime soon. Upside is writers, publishers and independent dealers make money. I am looking forward to reading the Centipede Press Karl Edward Wagner books. I also caved and got the Sub Press Deathbird Stories collection. I have read most of the stories but it is a lovely book and reading it will be a joy.
greygirlbeast
Jul. 17th, 2012 05:14 am (UTC)

I also caved and got the Sub Press Deathbird Stories collection.

It's a beautiful book.
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