My Face for the World to See (Part II):
The Diary of Sherilyn Connelly
a fiction
The Diary of Sherilyn Connelly
a fiction
August 11 - 20, 2012
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My Face for the World to See (Part II): The Diary of Sherilyn Connelly a fiction
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Monday, 20 August 2012 (nightsea wind) 8:06am Ilene and I didn't go swimming again after Thursday night, but I did try to use the hotel's tiny fitness center this morning. Unfortunately, it was super-stiny, but not just a regular gym funk. That, I can handle. The problem was that I was getting nauseous—I think it might have been because the pipes and equipment and stuff for the pool was accessible from what was essentially the gym's closet, and there was no actual circulation in the room since the door automatically closed and the windows didn't open, and basically after about fifteen mintues I had to leave before I threw up. So, I walked up and down elevent flights of stairs several times, and I worked up a good sweat. The air was much healthier in the concrete stairwell. And I've been making up for it all by downloading huge videos on the hotel's wifi. 10:27am There's still a few of us Everfree Northwest attendees around the hotel this morning. I feel like we're the vestiges of an occupying force. 7:14pm Back home, finally. That was a very, very long day of traveling, little of which was actually on a plane, though I did have a Rarity plushie to comfort me. It's a present for Marta, but it did its job well today, and I won't be seeing Marta until tomorrow anyhow. | ||
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Sunday, 19 August 2012 (untz-untz-untz) 8:42am Breakfast at 13 Coins, where it's a Bloody Mary morning, though I am not flying down to Houston. Or anywhere, at least not today. I have had many a Bloody Mary this weekend, and I expect there will be more before we return to California. 9:53pm Frakking godsdamned norm, someone who was more than a little confused about the convention going on around them, asked me you're actually a guy, right? Almost made it the entire weekend without that happening, and I'm not at all surprised that it was from a civilian and not a fellow My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fan. 3:12pm Much to my plesant surprise, I ran into Apple Cider again this morning, and he invited me to guest on the Bronyville Everfree Wrap-up panel which was about to happen, so I did. It was fun, even if nobody in the room other than Cider and his partner Chef Sandy knew who I was. Afterward, Porter and I had lunch in Aqua Terra, where I found myself getting melancholy. It wasn't helped by seeing a girl, clearly a convetion attendee (they're impossible to miss) sitting alone at a different table. I realized that she looks a lot like the pictures I've seen of Marta as a teenager, which broke my heart all the more. As tempted as I was to go over to her and say hi! i'm also feeling alone. wanna be best friends for the rest of the day?, that would have been creepy on more levels than I could count. And what if she said no? That would horrible. As a compromise, Porter (who's been footing the bill for the entire weekend, gods bless him) went to the waitress and paid for the girl's meal on the sly. The girl will probably never know who did it, but acts of anonymous kindness are the best kind, and hopefully it lifted her out of the sadness which I was projecting onto her. 6:42pm There are still events happening in the convention, but I've been in my room (a separate room that I was initially going to share with Marta, but since she couldn't come it's mine all mine) working on various worky things, including sorting through the pictures and videos that will be in my eventual Everfree post on the weekly, and also more mundane things like order my textbooks for the new semester, which starts this Wednesday. The real world, it's waiting for me. Oh, and while ordering my textbooks I might have also ordered a messenger bag from WeLoveFine, since they sold out of them in the dealer's room. 9:12pm Final fancy-ish dinner of the trip, back at Spencer's. As much as I've been enjoying eating out, especially on Porter's gracious dime, I'm kinda looking forward to getting back to my regular diet. There'll be far less cheese, that's for sure. Also, I'm missing Bad Movie Night. The feature is Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man, so it's probably just as well that I'm two states away, but still, it's always weird to be away from my show. | ||
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Saturday, 18 August 2012 (saying their piece) 8:44am The hotel's restaurant is overwhelmed by the number of people who are actually ordering things. You'd think they'd be used to it by now. 1:05pm We're down the street for lunch at 13 Coins, where I ordered a spinach salad that comes with bacon and asked for avocado instead. That might be the most Californian thing I've ever done. 4:13pm For as much as I'm enjoying Everfree Northwest—I'm definitely coming back next year, though I expect that it'll be just me and Marta—I am not liking this hotel. We're totally staying at the Marriott in 2013. 8:14pm I've watched very few of the fan videos while I've been recapping the series, but now that I'm on hiatus for the next year or so, I have a lot of catching up to do. Goddamn, but Ponies: The Anthology II is good stuff. Our attempt to eat at the sushi place near the hotel was foiled by them being out sushi, though we were there long enough for me to accidentally meet Apple Cider from the Bronyville Podcast, so that was nice. We're now eating at Aqua Terra, because it's a good place to eat. sometime after midnight More dancing, more sweating, more loathing for this hotel. They haven't quite figured out how to make their electronic keys work. Or not not work. | ||
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Friday, 17 August 2012 (from woodstock to altamont) 12:53pm Wow. That was all rather intense. The turnout for registration at eight o'clock this morning was in the upper double digits, and it still hadn't begun by the time I was due for the tech setup of my panel at half past nine. (The new and improved California flag featuring Fluttershy appeared, however!) But I went ahead to my setup, which got taken care of in spite of the many other fires going on, and the entire schedule got pushed back an hour so I didn't do my thing until noon, and not many people showed up, but that's okay, I appreciated the twenty-odd people who did show up and I managed to get a couple tentative laughs and what the heck, it's still in the official convention guide in print so that means it totally happened. 3:12pm No breakfast this morning before my panel, so I made up for it at lunch in the Marriott's also-gorgeous Aqua Terra restaurant with a full quesadilla followed by a Charred Cauliflower "Steak" (their quotes, not mine). What the heck, I earned it, and I'm now finally on vacation. I even got registered, f'reals! It's not a press pass, but it's still neat. 7:05pm At the hotel bar with Porter. The staff are all very friendly, the non-convention guests are bemused but very polite, and there's a special drink for Everfree, te Apple Blossom. 1 oz Jack Daniels Honey, 1 oz sour apple Schnapps, 4 oz pineapple juice, and dangerously tasty. sometime after midnight There was much dancing tonight, and there will be more tomorrow. | ||
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Thursday, 16 August 2012 (next year in new jerusalem) 3:33pm Drove Phoebe to Ilene's place, Porter arrived shortly thereafter, Ilene's father drove us to the Oakland airport, and now we're at the Sea-Tac Holiday Inn in Seattle, where it's actually warm, because it's summer outside San Francisco. It's easy to forget that. Also, I've had what I think is a lack-of-caffeine headache since this morning. I had a little coffee on the plane, but it's still with me. Must hydrate, and I'm sure I'll be fine tomorrow. 5:24pm There's a truck with "Everfree NW!" painted one side and "Ponies!" with a Pinkie Pie silhouette on the back. We are in the correct place, that's for sure. 9:22pm Porter and Ilene and I had drinks and delicious but surely calorifically dense appetizers in the gorgeous Atrium Lounge at the Marriott, the other hotel hosting Everfree, and then Ilene and I went swimming in our hotel's pool. I am now thoroughly exhausted, but Ilene really wants me join her and Porter for a late night dinner at the Spencer's restaurant in the nearby Hilton. Oh, what the heck. I'm on vacation. At least, I will be after my panel tomrrow morning. sometime after midnight Nommed down a caesar salad and my second Bloody Mary of the night while half asleep at the restaruant. It was a strangely pleasant experience, kinda like eating while stoned, but without having to be stoned. Now, sleep, hopefully. | ||
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Wednesday, 15 August 2012 (a stage of development) 10:38am Attending my very first preview screening as a member of the press. It's a film aimed at very small children, and I'm told there's a strong mommyblogger presence. Good heavens. 12:48pm Well, that was an experience. And I got asked if I have a business card, which I do not. Good heavens, do I need a card? 7:37pm Two articles went live today: my recap of the second season finale of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic on the weekly, and a story about catsitting for Jonco and Heather on Catster. Mostly, though, today is all about packing for Everfree. Since Ilene is going to be checking in luggage anyway, I'm borrowing Marta's ginormous suitcase, the one she took with her to Mexico. I'm not going as far as she did, nor for as long, but I'll most likely fill it all the same. | ||
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Tuesday, 14 August 2012 (resting on a turtle ) 7:54am In a generous attempt to prevent Janeway from getting at my window, my upstairs neighbors have moved the wooden table back in front of the living room window, then put the plastic garbage can with rolled up chicken wire on top of it horizontally, then tied it all down with bungee cables. Janeway is not letting it hold her back. And, of course, it's creating an entirely new kind of racket, this time with echo-chamber assist from the wire in the cylinder. Fun. It's enough to make you think that maybe she shouldn't be left alone all day long. Meanwhile, for the first time in my life, feeling sad has been making it easier to get to sleep. Usually it just keeps me awake all night. Being thirty-nine rules! 1:04pm Wet 'n Wild lipstick costing more than ninety-nine cents negates the sole reason that Wet 'n Wild lipstick exists in the first place. | ||
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Monday, 13 August 2012 (nothing you haven't seen by now) 8:12am One of my fluffy posts for the weekly, and probably one of the last I'll do for a while since that well is running dry, is up, this one about a bungee-sex contraption from a 2000 sex convention. It is what it is. 2:35pm I'd had a squidtightening appointment for this evening, scheduled sooner than usual because of Everfree this week, but I've canceled it because I just don't have the necessary fundage. Instead, I'm just doing the color. Right now, I'm beaching my roots while listening to This Mortal Coil. I feel so 1998! | ||
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Sunday, 12 August 2012 (the democratization of it all) sometime after midnight My last Bad Movie Night for a couple weeks, since I'll be in Seattle next Sunday for the tail end of Everfree. Typically bleh turnout for Angel Heart, though Marta did make one of her rare appearances, mostly because she was traveling through the neighborhood and because Daisy was one of the hosts. I tell myself every few months that I'm going to stop asking Marta to come to Bad Movie Night (since she simply does not like it, which is perfectly fair), but I intend to stick to it going forward, f'reals. Dropped her off at her place afterward and while she was okay with me staying over if I wanted to, it's extra-foggy out and the post-Outside Lands traffic is particularly gnarly and I would have to leave early tomorrow morning to come back here since she needs alone time, so I just came back here. With my earplugs in and fuzzy purple hat and the white noise machine turned on full blast, I can't even hear the noise from upstairs. Darn near. | ||
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Saturday, 11 August 2012 (the worst word that she could think of) 1:22pm Slept better than I expected to last night—I thought for sure that, given the quasi-napping I did during the day, it would be well-nigh impossible to get to sleep, even at half past midnight—had another crying jag this morning as I began to realize that the events of the last few days are dredging up the hurt from over five years ago, especially that horrible, horrible Christmas of 2006 when things started to seriously go downhill with my girlfriend, and apparently no matter how hard I try I'm still not over that pain, even though it was a million lives ago and I've long since written that book (and failed to publish it and eventually stripped it for parts). I've also been asked to review another movie for The Village Voice. So that helps. It's just work, tout ce qui compte c'est le boulot. | ||
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