About a week ago my computer had developed a little glitch. It basically went, battery? What battery? Which means if the power cord came out then it shut down. I'd had a similar thing in December that had resulted in the logic board and battery being replaced. So, after a bit of a talk with tech support it was arranged that I would bring it in to be looked at. Again. So, I backed it up, packed it up, and today headed into the city to get it looked at. And lo and behold when I brought it out for the tech to look at it it was quite sure that the battery was there and all good. *sigh* Tech magic at its best. Or possibly that I had had it powered off without connection to the power cord reset the power manager. Still, they made sure the battery was properly set and I took it home, deciding to not get the logic board replaced if it looked like it was working again. Could always come back if it acts up again. While I was up there I decided to purchase a wireless keyboard to go with my iPad because while the computer was acting up one of the side effects of the 'missing' battery was a very sluggish computer and I was doing things like my 750 words on my old Eee or iPad but it was very much slower on the iPad because of the lack of tactile feedback. If I was a two fingered typist like my dad it wouldn't matter so much but because I learned to touch type in my teens I really like having the tactile feedback as I type and the raised bumps on the home keys. I must say I am liking it already and indeed am currently using it for this post.
Checked the computer when I got home and it is indeed behaving, so overall today was a plus on the tech front.

So, things done this weekend:
Housework.
Laundry (4 loads)
Watched in pseudo-aunt mode children singing and dancing.
Got computer checked.
Bought wireless keyboard.
Grocery shopping.
Been fed by/visited parents.
Retrieved spare crochet hook.
Coughed a lot. Hope this cold goes away soon.

Originally posted at http://ariaflame.dreamwidth.org/68394.html where you may comment if you wish. There are currently comments on the original post.

Among the things I dealt with today:
Washing up. It had been sitting there a bit too long. There are some items which still need washed but the mound is now down to manageable levels, and I only stopped because the water was no longer something you put things in to have them come out cleaner. The rest will get in the next wash. I now have bowls for breakfast again. Yay!

Some media rewiring. My parents had been doing some home refurnishing type things. So, having an entertainment unit surplus to requirements they asked if I wanted it. I thought about it and decided that I would and a few weeks ago it was brought over with much cursing, dropping of things on toes and fingers and the usual things that happen when you are lifting a heavy long item up stairs with a right turn in them half way up. Still, it was installed and eventually there also came a tv, them having upgraded that as well, and since it was still a perfectly good tv I figured I might as well enter the age of having an actual TV that received digital signals rather than through the PVR. I didn't at the time though have an HDMI cable, so had been making do with the standard Red White Yellow AV cable thingies. The lack has now been repaired via COTD and today I actually got around to doing the plugging in of the cables. Only slight amounts of grumpy noises as I attempted on my own to feed cables out through small holes, and back in through areas at the back of a unit. For a moment or two I thought it hadn't worked and that there was a reason the cable had been on the cheap side... And then I made sure it was plugged in to the actual TV properly so now it is working all good! This also freed up the second set of standard old AV cables up, and now I'm also wishing I'd bought a 2nd HDMI cable because of course I could have used this rather than the AV cables to hook up my media player to the system. Ah well. I now have pretty much everything working except for my speakers for the stereo because the wires are too short. I'm told that is easy to fix. I am still anticipating my dad or someone telling me how. Or me getting tired enough and looking it up myself, but when someone says that they are going to sort something out for you, there is surely a certain window of time you grant them to remember to do so?
I must remember that my family also have bad memories sometimes. I'll try to do that.

After all of that, and testing it out a bit I did a portion of the housework, though not all, and then got ready for the Astrofest. I'd volunteered to help out at that and went along though on the way there it did not look particularly promising with fairly heavy cloud. Still, some cloud is no match for a waxing gibbous moon and we started with that, once we got the 30" Obsession Dobsonian all set up.
Luckily there were clear patches, and we did manage to hop from target to target while still showing good stuff. I think in order we went: The Moon, Jupiter, Venus, Jewel Box open cluster, M42 (Great Nebula in Orion), Saturn, briefly back to Jewel Box then back to Saturn again as the cloud cleared away from it. We did have a go at Omega Centauri (globular cluster) but there was too much background light and it looked not impressive. We did not bother with Mars. It's even more boring than Venus through a telescope.
The queue was never empty, including the odd swancon goer, and I was glad that earlier on I'd had a run around the inside bit and seen such things as the lego group's space themed lego stuff. I have pictures of that. Someone had hooked a camera up to one telescope and hooked that up to a high quality projector. The moon worked best on it, and it was possible to get some good moon pictures from just the screen. I took one of those too.
There was a cheer sometime between 8 and 8:30 I think when they finally managed to get someone to turn off the honking great bright lights in the nearby carpark, thus improving seeing conditions significantly.
There were apparently drinks for volunteers afterwards, but since the Obsession is not the easiest telescope to pack away, and we had to be off the field by 11pm, we skipped that. The end of the actual viewing session was signalled by the field lights being turned on. This did tend to cut down the remaining queue, and while the few that remained did get to see Saturn, it was apparently, according to those who had attended before, a vast improvement in finishing up.

Originally posted at http://ariaflame.dreamwidth.org/67981.html where you may comment if you wish. There are currently comments on the original post.

Originally posted by drhoz at For Aussies - House of Reps marriage equality survey

Or at least the badge of one. I've blogged before about the 750words thing that I've been doing for a while, but since mostly it's day by day just typing something about my day, or my thoughts, or my plans for tomorrow, in the most part it isn't the same thing that I would blog. So while occasionally bits of it have been lifted and placed in here, mostly it hasn't. Which is why I'm mostly still a lurker.

( Details and some angst )

Originally posted at http://ariaflame.dreamwidth.org/67775.html where you may comment if you wish. There are currently comments on the original post.

Well, I am posting late tonight but that's not only because of my usual 'browse the net until it's oh dear is that the time o'clock' problem. Tonight when I got home my fingers were shaking so much I didn't know whether I could type for a bit so I've been doing things not requiring manual dexterity and calming down.

It's one of those things. It's not even a real problem, but when you are out there, you don't know that. You don't know for sure whether all is well.
Starting from the beginning. I'd had my usual Saturday morning Scottish Gaelic study meeting and then got my stuff together, and headed off to the WABA South gathering and had a perfectly pleasant day playing some games (thinking back I remember Dominion, something called Wiz Wars, Colloretto, and Mystery Express). There may have been something else but nothing springs to mind at the moment. Drat. I do think there was something else. But have now forgotten what it was. It may come back to me. Oh right. Zombie Fluxx. I also had a game of Treehouse.
So, overall a pleasant day, even if I did get thoroughly beaten at Dominion by people a third my age. Again.

Oh well, such is the way of things. I did do well on Mystery Express though. In any case, by 10pm the game I was involved in finished up and the other players headed off, since the remaining games seemed to be full and part way through I figured I might as well head home early because my parents are coming over tomorrow (well later today now) to bring me a piece of furniture they are no longer using, helping me rearrange the furniture that is currently here, and helping me get rid of some furniture that is now surplus to requirements (and doesn't match anyway).

So I was heading home, changing radio channels every so often to find something listenable to (at the moment I'm not including politics in this as I'm trying to get more control over my emotions, not get angry. Don't drive angry) and mostly in an OK mood. Apart from a slight beep of the horn at the idiot that didn't know how to use roundabouts (you're meant to give way to people on them, not zoom in front of them, luckily I had slowed slightly and had my brake foot poised as it was extremely obvious they weren't slowing) it had been an uneventful journey so far.

When I reached the off ramp to the exit I take to get home however I had a bit of grumpy thoughts about the person behind me who exited behind me without indicating. I know it's not the most uncommon driving problem, but it made me think grumpy thoughts. Especially since it was a car, I think some sort of SUV which had extremely bright headlights, of the 'reach for the rear view mirror to flip it into the other mode' type. And then didn't think very much of it. Went onto the roundabout. Went off the roundabout. Turned onto the street that I take to go home. And the bright lights are still behind me. I know that some people do have to live in the same direction as me, and I'm not sure if it's the brightness of the lights that did it, but as I made turn after turn with the car always behind me, even when they could have taken another lane to possibly overtake, I got more and more nervous. I had no reason to think the car was following me. But by the time I got close to the final few turns before reaching my place I was seriously considering, if the car followed me into my street, of going past my place and doing a loop around the block. I even found myself locking the doors, which is something I don't do very often when I'm actually driving, for the moments when I was stopped at traffic lights or give way signs with them still behind me. As it turned out when I turned the final turn into my street they drove past the turning and on. I still found myself looking out, in case they had taken another route or something (adrenaline really gets the paranoia going doesn't it?) By the time I stopped the car the reaction to the adrenaline jag had hit and I was shaking slightly. I don't react well to adrenaline which is one of the reasons that I avoid horror movies, sports events, and roller-coaster rides.

I found myself also listening with that bit more attention to people going up and down the stairs outside even once I was home. It's now an hour or so later and I've now calmed down a fair bit, but it is funny how little things like that can remind me that for some women, especially those who have had an abusive partner or similar, that's how they live. All the time. And that sucks.

Originally posted at http://ariaflame.dreamwidth.org/67409.html where you may comment if you wish. There are currently comments on the original post.

So, after finding many many excuses not to ride today, sun was too hot, UV, windy, etc. etc. I finally decided that I needed to actually face my fears and get on the bike. It had been my intention initially just to ride to the end of the drive (which given where I live is a fairly long drive) but when I got there I figured that it had been going well so far. Why not go out the gate and go a bit further. So out I went, disappointing the icecream van man with my lack of funds for purchasing as I went past, and decided to head round the block.

I was keeping a sharp eye out for gum nuts, which I had found a little trouble last ride I had, and while I was a little nervous about riding in traffic the roads were pretty quiet. The trickiest thing is looking behind to make sure there's nobody behind, and remembering to signal, which feels a little unbalanced when slowing down. I was glad that I remembered when I put the tyre back on to put the brakes back in place.

I feel better for having done it. I still get a bit nervous at speed though. This stems from an incident quite a few years ago now, when I was cycling home from work, and there was this steep hill, at dusk, which as I was riding blithely down it I remember thinking, "Weren't they changing the position of one of the speed bumps around...." at which point I hit it (it not having being painted yet and not clearly distinguishable from the road in the light) went over the handlebars and was lucky to escape with no more than some nasty grazes and fabric burn. And a damaged bike. And broken glasses. And a crack across a tooth, that so far hasn't done anything worse. Kind friends helped me out (thanks artisanat) but I lost a chunk of confidence that day. The bike of that day got stolen not that long after that and it was quite some time before I got a new bike. Now it's just building up the courage again to ride it. I do intend to though. I've spent a lot of my life living afraid. And I didn't even really have too much to be afraid of, compared to some. So while I know to some this is not important, an everyday thing that they do. To me it's part of facing my fears. If I face the small ones, then maybe later I'll face some other things I have been avoiding dealing with.

Originally posted at http://ariaflame.dreamwidth.org/67162.html where you may comment if you wish. There are currently comments on the original post.

Managed another sleep in today, which I know I have to get out of the habit of, given that I go back to work on Monday. But this is something I will deal with then. I got the housework over and done with yesterday so that I could enjoy the weekend without any clashes, but of course I didn't actually have anything planned for the weekend, well, one thing. Which I did manage to do. I bought myself a bike a while back, and due to various things, including wussiness on my part, getting a new helmet (since the old one was almost certainly useless after the fall years back) and then most recently a flat back tyre. Now I don't mean it went flat recently, just that that was the most recent thing that I had as an excuse not to ride it. I don't remember if I've ever changed a tyre before. I know I've owned and ridden bikes. I did a fair amount of it as a child, and rode to school when we came over here, but either I didn't get a flat, or someone else dealt with the flat for me, because I was confronted with a tyre that I didn't have any experience of changing. However, since the strata company at my place has arranged for the storerooms to have their doors repainted I figured I would get the bike out, and then it was a case of since it was in my back room I had no excuse for not repairing the tyre. I had a replacement inner tube. I had the tools which I was told were needed for tyre changing, and I had the time. I figured that if I couldn't figure it out on my own, then I had some friends with bikes who might be able to assist or at least supervise me.

The first thing to do was to get the back wheel off. The first part was easy, but since it was the back wheel the chain needed to be unhooked. A booklet on bicycle maintenance suggested this would be easiest done with the gears set so that the chains were on the smallest wheels. Well, I'm sure it would have, but changing gears seems to involve riding bikes, which since it was in my small room, and had a flat tyre that was already partly unhooked, this was not going to happen, so went for plan B and tried to unhook it anyway. This was achieved and I got nicely messy in the process, bike chains being what they are. That was Friday's job. By the time I'd reached that point it was getting late and since I was picking my mother up from the airport later that evening I called it a night there and after having spread out some newspapers so that I didn't get any transfer oil on the carpet from the chain bits I left it at that.

The next day, Saturday, I got my Wii fit out of the way (expert level cycling on wii fit plus is going to take a bit of effort. I gave up after nearly 20 minutes, with several points still to find) and moved onto the actual wheel. I had some tools which I was told were used for this, but my initial attempts to work out how they were used were not, as they say, a success. Still, I am a scientist by training. Sometimes there is a time for trial and error, and sometimes there is a time for research. Enter youtube podcasts on changing bike tyres. I love living in an age where I can have a small device about the size of a book (my iPad) sitting on the floor beside me showing me how to use the tools, how to get the tyre off, the inner tube out, and very importantly, how to put it back on. While there appeared to be 2 small punctures in the old tube, I'm not entirely sure where they came from. They seemed to be more on the rim side than the tyre side of the tube which is a little worrying and something I should pay attention to in the new one. I couldn't detect anything in that spot on the rim of the wheel, though the tyre didn't have any noticeable sharp things, there were a couple of flakes of foil that seemed to be in there that might have been sharp enough to penetrate the tube. Don't know. Guess I shall wait and find out. Might repair previous tube for backup purposes, but ideally I should probably get a new tube and possible some more dust caps for the front wheel. If they can be bought separately. It appears that a while back someone did break into my store, but didn't steal the bike, rather small petty vandalism. The dust caps for the tubes were gone, and the back cover for the rear light (the bit that the LEDs were meant to shine through) was also gone. The mind boggles. Still. I apparently had a backup light and rear light that are connected and wind up rather than battery replacement so I put those on while I was at it. And attached the holder for the pump. If only when the previous bike got stolen it didn't have the holder for the heavy bike lock on it I'd have attached that too. May look to get another one.

All of which means of course that now I have a working bike, and a helmet, that I have no excuse any longer to not do any riding. I've been a bit bike shy since I came a cropper going down a hill quite a few years ago now, but I do need to get over this fear and get back on the bike. I figure if I start with short rides and avoid nasty bits to start with then that should be good.

Originally posted at http://ariaflame.dreamwidth.org/66982.html where you may comment if you wish. There are currently comments on the original post.

For the third year in a row I spent the New Year's holiday weekend at something that we call BroCon, which has no panels, or guests, or indeed programme or schedule, but is rather some friends of mine who like to have some people over for the long weekend at this point for gaming, the odd bit of movie or tv watching, and basically hanging out and enjoying ourselves without terribly much stress. At least one year I've done the actual New Year at another friend's party and gone to the weekend afterwards, but this year none of my close friends were holding a NYE party and I figured I would just spend the entire weekend at BroCon. Some people stay over, others drop in and out over the weekend. I managed to provide 2 lots of food this year, including my GF adaptation of a minced beef and pasta casserole recipe that has been a favourite of mine for a while. I'm getting reasonably good at cooking for different dietary needs. Since those who come tend to bring games there's a good selection available. Some years we've added things like rock band to the mix, but this year it was mostly board and card games that were the focus. Oh and a mini round of disc golf at a nearby park. At which I fairly sucked. But that's OK. I think practice will help. Mostly I seem to have a bit of griplock (release the disc too late) which may be due to my fingers being on the long side.

Games played over the weekend included, but were not limited to: Mah Jong, 7 Wonders, Dominion, Elder Signs (we were playing as the New Year started then got devoured by Yig. Hopefully it isn't a sign of the year to come), Ticket to Ride: Europe (with Alvin and Dexter - this is fun), Chronicle (A very interesting trick taking game by Z-man), breaking in my new copy of R3d November (gnomes on a failing submarine - though most escaped, myself and one other player had our gnomes crisped in a room on fire from which we could not escape. Whoops.) Oh, and multiple games of Dixit, which is a game of imagination, empathy, and knowing your friends, and also one of the more artistic games I've played. We didn't end up playing City of Chaos or Fortune and Glory (possibly the latter was a bit big to bring).

We also watched an episode of Grimm which is interesting, but made me jump a few times so I'm not sure if it is quite for me. Also Rare Exports, a Christmas Tale from I believe Finland, largely subtitled and while it is definitely a Christmas movie, it's not standard fare by any means.

I am now home and unpacked and quite glad that I still have a few days left before I go back to work.

Happy New Year to all. Here's hoping 2012 is a good year.

Originally posted at http://ariaflame.dreamwidth.org/66719.html where you may comment if you wish. There are currently comments on the original post.

Just a few brief notes.

Had yum cha with friends to celebrate one of them's birthday.

Learned that yes, it is possible to find instruction manuals for sewing machines that may be as much as a century old.

Used said instruction manual (as a pdf on my iPad - I love the juxtaposition) to learn how to wind bobbin, thread needle and actually sew on the lovely old Singer sewing machine that I inherited and didn't know if I could do anything with. Now I just actually need to learn to sew properly. Tension still tricky, but I have optimism that time and experimentation will sort that out. Sure, it's not going to have any of the bells and whistles that a modern sewing machine will, but I'm not sure how many of them will be working smoothly that long after they were made. OK, so it's hand turned, but I'm not looking to do things massively fast and I got a deep sense of accomplishment and joy just from learning how to do the simple things on it.

Originally posted at http://ariaflame.dreamwidth.org/66403.html where you may comment if you wish. There are currently comments on the original post.

When I follow certain particular posts, rather than the full page of someone I'm getting some odd effects in the styles. Particularly if it's a #cutid thing. It's like the css isn't kicking in properly.

Anyone else seeing any of this? I mean I could say 'show me in my style' but...

Sure there was dreamwidth and twitter and google plus and even Facebook but it wasn't the same.

Would post more but work a bit frantic since it is mid year o week and I have so much to do before Monday.

And at work.... *sigh*

Thanks to angriest for transport and offers of accommodation and setting up the actual accommodation I ended up with with mortonhall for the Wednesday night and Thursday day while Perth was a no fly zone due to ash. I managed to book another flight online for Thursday evening and mortonhall kindly drove me to the airport. It was a bit later flight than the original was, but not any more expensive thankfully so provided I get the refund on the previous flight that got cancelled I should be good bar the credit card booking fee since bpay can't be used for flights that leave the next day.

Many thanks to those who offered places to stay, both locally to Melbourne, and farther afield. Your generosity is appreciated.
I was lucky in that for me it was more of an inconvenience than a critical problem, but it really did bring home to me what dalekboy said in the late night panel he and angriest did on Sunday of Continuum 7. On the whole the fannish community is very generous, both with their time, and offers of assistance, and in some cases money (though thankfully that was not an issue here).

I did have a great time at Continuum. Provided that work is good and there are no clashes, I intend on returning next year when it's the Natcon as well. With crafty stuff.

Originally posted at http://ariaflame.dreamwidth.org/66133.html where you may comment if you wish. There are currently comments on the original post.

Up until midmorning I thought I was going home today, but it looks like that will not be happening since the ash cloud has reached Perth and while flights are leaving Melbourne they are not going to Perth today. No actual contact from Qantas but I have been watching the flight status and disruption page nervously and just as I was getting ready to check out, the update that flights to Perth after 1pm were cancelled made me check my flight and lo it was cancelled. Courtesy of the Fannish network I do have somewhere to sleep tonight at least and will work it out from there. I have contacted work and let them know I may not be in tomorrow. Or possibly next day. And parents who were going to pick me up from airport.

Would be easier to enjoy extra time if what happens next was not so uncertain.

Originally posted at http://ariaflame.dreamwidth.org/66033.html where you may comment if you wish. There are currently comments on the original post.

Arose at 8am again. If I can manage to maintain this when getting back to Perth then it will be good for my getting up in the morning stuff. Then got myself ready, headed down and got some breakfast and then headed downstairs to the Ether convention centre for the last day of the Con. I will say that the areas there are probably a bit small if we were aiming to do a Swancon sized convention there, but Continuum at the moment is not quite that big. They have a similar problem to Swancon though, but of that more later.
The first panel I went to today was the one on computer games and storytelling. Because it was primarily on computer games I did not follow most of it as I can barely find time to play the games I have never mind some extra ones, but I figure what the heck. I might have gone to another panel that was a late entry to the program but I did not see it on the board because I was running a bit late since I was waiting 5 minutes for a lift down due to I think a broken lift plus a lot of footy fans trying to go down. I eventually squeezed into the second lift that stopped at my floor and got to the con area.
Then it was off to Convention Running for Fun and ... which mostly consisted of people who had been involved in running cons in one way or another and had some good thoughts and advice for people who have done it before or who have not but are interested in doing so. The Continuum people actually have a similar problem to Swancon in that venues that have more space than this one are significantly more expensive than the one they are currently using. This can be an issue if you wish to grow your convention. Also some discussion about dealing with committee members who, for whatever reason, are not doing the jobs they said they would do.
After that I went to the Goodbye Sarah Jane panel for a last farewell to Elisabeth Sladen and her best loved character, which spanned series and decades. Yes, there was crying.
After that I joined spaetlese and another Perth fan for some dumplings at a little, well actually not terribly little, dumpling house hidden down an alley. The food was reasonably tasty, plentiful, and not that expensive. I was very full when we left and the only down side was a tendency to feel sleepy in the next panel which was the Lego panel. Long title: Lego is Cool. I Play with Lego Now. morton_hall was making something snazzy up the front, and someone else was giving us a talk on lego, while basic bags of lego were handed around and we pretty much all played with some lego and built things. I had forgotten how much fun lego can be.
After that the con came to nearly a close with angriest's panel INTERGALACTIC Atlas or basically British Telefantasy. It was meant to be from 1937 to current day but it was fairly apparent to him that this was not going to get squeezed into an hour, so he has split it into two parts, the first part containing 1937-1969, which he did manage to do though since it started a bit late it was cutting it a bit fine. Part 2 will be at Continuum 8, the 2012 Natcon.
Still, got through and there was some interesting stuff apparently on there, though due to the ephemeral nature of early tv before recorders and similar, most of the stuff showed early on has never been recorded and thus is lost to following generations. It did cover the early part of Doctor Who.
After that was the closing ceremony, where they showed the nifty continuum 7 video again, and did the thanks and so forth for everyone.
And then we had to leave as the centre was only booked up to a certain point. There was a dead dog party somewhere, but it involved getting a train, from somewhere, and along with 'do not drive tired' I also try to keep to 'do not try to navigate unfamiliar public transport systems tired' as something to follow. So instead I hung out with dalekboy and shazgirl for a bit. It took me quite a while to get hungry again though due to very large lunch and it was past 10 before I wandered down the street and got a toasted cheese sandwich, as while I was a bit hungry I was not too hungry and was eating to quiet stomach more than appetite. Nearly forgot about paying. Thus showing where my brain was. Not good. Now in hotel room and relaxing and getting this done. Tomorrow is a free day for me, and I may wander around and see what interesting things I can do. I may even go watch a movie.
Qantas does not have any indication yet whether my flight is affected by the volcano ash. I guess I will find that out tomorrow.

Originally posted at http://ariaflame.dreamwidth.org/65637.html where you may comment if you wish. There are currently comments on the original post.

Today I decided to give the buffet breakfast at the con hotel or the one I was staying at anyway a try. It was a continental as I was not in the mood for cooked, apparently if I had asked when booking the room I might have been able to get breakfast as part of a deal, but I was fairly stressed at the time of booking and did not consider it. This meant that I just got the normal price charged to the room. So will all get sorted when I check out. Whenever that is. But more on that later.
Buffet was nice with cereal and little bagels and nice yoghurt and tasty pastries so I was plenty full by the end of it. So after that I got my internet for the day sorted and got ready for the convention. I started the day with angriest and Sonia's panel on Dark Disney movies which had been swapped with the trilogies panel that ended up being run yesterday and this put in its place. Some dark movies got made then, and frankly I am amazed at what got a PG or G rating at that point in time. I do not think that I saw all of them as a child.
Then I went to a panel on Sexuality and Ethnicity in Modern fantasy which was interesting, and after that went to David Freer's guest of honour speech, which gave me a greater knowledge about his personal and writing origins and now I have two books of his on my iPad, or at least one of his and one he contributed to via the Baen free library so I shall be able to evaluate how much I like it myself. arcadiagt5 is already a fan, and I am enjoying the first one so far.
Went and got some thai for lunch along with arcadiagt5 though mine was snack size. Not up to full meal size twice a day.
After lunch I spent some time in the krafteeklatch doing some crocheting of granny squares and giving someone else a start on crochet. I think I got 3 or 4 squares finished today alone. Then I decided I could crochet in panels and went to the one on Podcasting killed the fanzine star, with much discussion about audiences for both and people who did either or sometimes both. Also interesting. Then it was on to the Etiquette of Social media where it was acknowledged that the social rules sometimes vary depending on which online community you are accessing or contributing to. But that there are some base rules that ought to be remembered by everyone accessing or posting in online areas.
After that went to the Outland panel where we heard a bit about how it came about, and what it was up to at this point (mostly waiting on a screening date) and saw a couple of short clips. I wasn't sure about what it was before, but just going by the clips it looks a lot of fun and I intend to watch it when the ABC shows it. After that I went to the Joss Whedon panel. I still have not seen all his stuff and some stuff I like more than others but there is a fair amount of his material that I like so went along and that was entertaining also. Then it was dinner time and after a fair amount of fannish discussion a group of I think it ended up as 8 of us went to the Lounge which was pub food, but not overly priced, and inside. I had fish and chips, but think in hindsight probably should have gone for something not fried. But not their fault and I got fed. After dinner I went to a panel about webcomics, then the Stephen Moffat Panel 'Don't Blink' where by demonstration of some knowledge about press gang I got invited onto the panel and we discussed the various things he has done and some of the strengths and weaknesses of his writing.
Then it was a fun panel on Pop-culture references and in jokes, though I was torn between that and the improv in the style of thing that dalekboy was doing in the next room. After that was the panel 'Danny, Mondy and Grant Do Something' that turned out to be without Mondy, so there was a discussion about the things that are good about fans, and the things that they sometimes don't do so well.
After the panel there was a milling about and a room party which I helped in transport of refreshments for, the bar being closed. I stayed and had some cheese and chat for a bit and then came back to my room and did this.
Tomorrow I may get to find out if my flight on Wednesday has been affected by the ash cloud from Chili.

Originally posted at http://ariaflame.dreamwidth.org/65463.html where you may comment if you wish. There are currently comments on the original post.

I got up and got ready for the day and headed down to get some breakfast. Tried a place near here but overall not impressed, where the flavours were discernable they were not particularly palatable. Not actually inedible, but bits of it were close. Won't go there again.
After that and gathering of stuff I headed down to the con. The first panel was on Missing the Good Stuff which was a panel on the things that might have been around recently, that you might not have heard of and this would be a shame if that happened. In the opinion of the panelists anyway. dalekboy and his little boy were filling in the panel and while an attempt was made to distract the young one with some fingerpainting via ipad, he was a bit too good at finding the switch to make it go back to the menu section. The panel was entertaining though I do not think there were any things that were mentioned that I remember that I had not seen and wanted to. Possibly Fringe which I have heard people go on about. And maybe Chuck.
Then it was the opening ceremony which was nice, short, and had a nifty opening music video for the con which got played twice. I believe it will be available online with a list of sources later.
Then it was half an hour before the Cat Valente's GoH speech which was filled in by a short presentation on spooky music, or the use of horror in music. Since he only had about 20 minutes he only did 5 examples, starting at 1937 and of course including Michael Jackson's Thriller which as he pointed out in spite of all the horror tropes is not actually a scary song at all.
Then it was the GoH speech and Cat talked for a bit, read us an interesting short story, and answered a few questions. Then it was time for lunch and after a bit of walking ended up with just a subway since I was not hungry much. Then it was the Chronos award winning boxcutters and their panel on the question of why does Australia not make adult genre tv or movies when it does lots and lots of genre tv for kids.
The answer appears to be money.
Then I went on the Alternate Energy Future panel and tikiwanderer made it after all and it was an interesting panel with some well known technologies, some less well known technologies, and some speculative ones discussed, as well as a few myths dispelled. I enjoyed it.
Then went to the spec fic under lights - scriptwriting for sf tv and theatre panel, which I find interesting even if I am never going to do that sort of thing myself.
After that the panel I was going to go to had been moved to 10am Sunday instead so I and some others including arcadiagt5 went to the games room and played a game of Red Dragon Inn, which is a drinking game that even teetotallers can play. After that the 6pm panels did nottempt us and we instead went for an early dinner picking up various people on the way, we ended up in chinatown at I think Kun Ming? Memory awful, and had a very nice meal after the usual negotiating on what we would have and amazingly the bill was easy to split. After dinner was the costume parade and Maskobalo and I got into my costume. Well the clothes was whatever I was wearing, but the main part was the eyebrow pencil for making lines on my face and arm and other exposed bits. Those who have seen the new series of Dr Who will know what I mean. I was not the only person to have this idea, I think we ended up with 4 in total, though not in same room. Most from interstate because it is a massively easy costume. Danced for a bit, and also played my new game Dixit for a bit as the music was at the right volume in the games room. Most people who played it liked it. I am not that good at it but I like it. I may improve. OK that's it for today.

Originally posted at http://ariaflame.dreamwidth.org/65035.html where you may comment if you wish. There are currently comments on the original post.

Woke up fairly early, ie 8am Melbourne time, which considering that is 6am Perth time is quite early. But since had nothing to go to that early apart from breakfast I did not immediately attack the day and indeed started it slowly with checking via the internets. Eventually rose, showered, dressed, and strolled down to find some breakfast just after 10am. This was after the main breakfast bit of the hotel was closed, the other was there for half an hour, but a place nearby was open for breakfast till 11am. Of course this being Melbourne there were probably half a dozen places within easy strolling distance that I could have obtained breakfast more cheaply, but I am on holiday and was inclined to try the porridge with the poached pairs and crunch oats. it was not bad and indeed was fairly filling. So much so really that I did not really bother with lunch. I did not actually feel hungry with an appetite until around 6pm. Still, I decided to explore the city a bit after breakfast and wandered into a few places. Things that I distinctly remember include The Magic Dungeon - which is like it sounds a basement store selling almost completely Magic the gathering cards. I decided not to purchase any. I also popped into Minotaur the pop culture store and also came out without anything, though a couple of books tempted me briefly. Possibly there the problem is too much choice. I went up a little arcade because it looked a bit like one that I remembered Haighs and possibly KoKo black being on. Now it did not have Haighs (which is fine because there is one of those practically in the hotel anyway) but I did spot Chokolait (sp?) and Koko black's I think it was. And I decided to have one of their belgian hot chocolates which I had heard much about, figuring that if I was not up to eating more I could at least drink some calories. I have to say it was very nice. Not quite the best I have ever drunk, but very very close. Opposite that was a store called The Game Stop which specialised mostly in board games and puzzles and jigsaws and the like and had the usual suspects of games that I like and am familiar with. Though no Tobago or I would have got that like a flash. However there was a game that I had played once, liked very much, but not seen in a shop since, and since it was there and not hideously priced, I decided that since my luggage was not particularly heavy coming over (I think less than half the limit) I would splurge. The game is called Dixit and is a bit like one of those games where someone gives a word, and others write definitions down and all are read out and people have to figure out what the closest one is. Except not like that at all, because it relies on no words at all. It can be played by people of different nationalities. OK, looking at the back I am wrong. There is some language, so the people playing have to speak the same language, but there is no text on the cards at all. Instead there are pictures. Beautiful pictures which people have in their hands. One person picks a card and gives an enigmatic sentence. Other players pick cards that they think match that sentence, or at least that they think other players will vote for. Bit like that first line of books game that I forget the name of right now. But it is a lovely game and I am glad to have it.
Headed back to hotel as I was feeling a bit tired and jetlagged at that point and read for a bit, then helped some friends unpack and get their stuff to their room, then went to dinner with arcadiagt5, and some others including a late minute addition of tcpip and spouse. We went to a place called Ramen-ya I think, just down little bourke from the hotel and had very nice meal. Then it was time for the con to start.
Got registered. I have a badge with a skull on it. Then sat in on continuum 101, helped someone with storing their stuff, went to the Chronos awards, then the Melbourne Geeks panel, then the debate I think, then stayed in the room for the Browncoats thing which I won a badge at. Then there was the mastermind quiz. By luck I managed to survive the elimination rounds and ended up on the final quiz. Where the questions got really really evil. I was behind for most of the time for this last bit, then I got a question that I managed to get with the assistance of the audience and brought myself up to equal points with the others. All tied on 1 point. They were evil questions, though some of the ones the others got asked I knew. Or was pretty close. So it got to the last round, and the others got their questions wrong. The one before me got a literature question that I knew the answer to, but that did not help me so I waited to find out the last question. And it was a Sandman question. And one that I knew the answer to! (Question was 'What was Delirium's previous name?') So I won and could pick first from the pile of crapola and felt rather boosted by that end result. So overall it was a pleasant evening and day and I look forward to the rest of the con.

Originally posted at http://ariaflame.dreamwidth.org/64810.html where you may comment if you wish. There are currently comments on the original post.

Today was the day for flying to Continuum. Well to Melbourne anyway since continuum starts Friday evening. Due to my flight being mid afternoon and various people either working or also away from Perth I decided I would make my own way to the airport, and since I had plenty of time up my sleeve I would not get a taxi, but rather catch public transport. I had little difficulty in finding the bus number that got there, but the journey planner was not surprisingly fairly useless. I decided to go for the simplest solution involving only two buses and a short walk. So I caught a frequent bus from near my place to the city busport, then walked a block, waited 5 minutes and got on the bus to the airport. It is not a trip for the person in a rush since the bus meanders somewhat on it's way there but I had left in plenty of time and arrived well before time at the airport, unlike the person on my flight who spent so much time getting parked and back to terminal that she missed that original flight and ended up on mine.

Flight unexceptional, movie the adjustment bureau wasn't bad, but small screen and headphones did not add to experience.

Got picked up from airport by angriest and Sonia and dropped at hotel where checking in went smoothly and I am all settled in and have treated myself to internet access which is not hideous for just wireless access, certainly compared to the quoted price for using airport wifi ... Which I did not use.

Going to try to adjust to Melbourne time by sleeping now.

Originally posted at http://ariaflame.dreamwidth.org/64555.html where you may comment if you wish. There are currently comments on the original post.