I really should have posted day-by-day, as I won't be able to sum up all the awesomeness that was C2E2 in one post. But I'll try!

( pics and lots of text describing three days of fun! )

And that was basically it! J and I took the bus back to Madison, arriving at the Union Terrace after midnight. J was a lifesaver at that point because I was emotionally exhausted so she dealt with the issues that cropped up involving the bus. I imagine she was exhausted too, but she was acting gracefully so maybe she scored some super soldier serum or gamma irradiated blood at the con. Luckily I had Monday off work to sleep in and dream happy dreams of geekdom.

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I walked into one of the clinic rooms to get some vitals on a patient who'd had a transplant a few weeks ago, and he was lying on the bed taking out his own staples. I stared at him a moment and he asked me why I looked surprised. Well, it was the first time I'd seen someone take out their own staples. He replied that it hurt less this way and that the nurse practitioner had done half and then given him the staple remover to do the rest.

So that's one benefit of working with very sick people; some of them feel comfortable doing their own minor procedures. To be fair, a lot of our patients prefer to give their own injections, and we just watch and document that the patient self-administered with supervision. But I feel staple removal is a step above injections.

I finally finished reading Avengers: Children's Crusade. I'd been spoiled for the ending since it ended, but I'd left the last three issues just sitting on my coffee table, staring up at me with their Doom/Wanda covers and failing to entice me. Considering Wanda might be my favorite Marvel character, and I've read some pretty strange comics just because she's in them, it's a bad sign when I can't be bothered to keep up with her epic return to heroism.

( Spoilers for Children's Crusade and AvX #0 and #1 )

This time tomorrow I'll be in Chicago! \o/

This entry was originally posted at http://garrideb.dreamwidth.org/26417.html. You may comment on either site. There are comments on DW.

First of all, I've found a new apartment for next year. This means that, come August, if anyone wants to crash on my couch, I'll actually have a couch to crash on. It's a ground floor 1-bedroom, and is much larger than my current efficiency. It allows pets, too, so I might get a cat or a bunny or occasionally steal Pippin.

Next, Marvel things! With C2E2 soon, and the Avengers movie coming up I have all the feelings about fandom right now. So I bought Cap/Ironman cross-stitched buttons from arachnes_web's craft post. They are awesome:



The one on the right has glow-in-the-dark thread so it looks like this in the dark:



Then there was AvX issue #0. In theory I should be super excited about Wanda's return, but Children's Crusade took so damn long that I lost momentum. Also, I saw a bit of preview art and was put off by how ridiculous Wanda's boobs were. Then harmonyangel told me there was Carol/Wanda slashiness, and she was not kidding.

( scans of awesome under the cut )

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I went on a walk last night and ended up at the canoe launch by the hospital, and almost decided to chuck my clothing and swim out to Picnic Point. The reasons not to - it was late and I'd have to take a shower afterwards, I had a cut on my finger and who knows what's in the lake, if my blood sugar dropped or I somehow got injured, no one would know where to look - won out. But afterwards I was angry at myself for being safe. I value a certain amount of recklessness and spontaneity, and yet have none in my life.

I passed the field where the marching band practices on the walk back, and as a consolation I climbed the tower used by the band director. It was too easy, though. The gate was open so I didn't have to climb the fence, and although the bottom rungs on the ladder were blocked to discourage climbing, the handrails had horizontal bars and my legs were long enough to use those without trouble. I stretched out on the platform at the top and tried to enjoy the night sky, but it was too cloudy to see any stars.

I left feeling lonely and wishing I was the kind of person who could invite strangers on the lakeshore path to join me for an illicit climb, or knock on friends' doors late at night for an adventure.

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I went to bed last night after reading a XMFC/Andromeda fusion fic, and then had a lovely space opera dream. In the dream I was on a ship that had alarms between the three shifts of the day, since of course there was no morning, afternoon, or night. When I heard an alarm my first thought was, oh, first shift is starting, and then I woke up a little and thought, oh, that's a fire alarm.

I evacuated in what seemed a very leisurely way to me - I went to the bathroom, pulled on a t-shirt and pants, and put my hair in a ponytail before leaving my apartment - but I was still one of the first people out on the street from building that has over a hundred residents.

The pre-dawn weather was pleasant and we weren't out too long, so not a bad experience. But the alarms were still blaring fifteen minutes after going back inside, so I grabbed my laptop and retreated to Panera.

Happy St. Patrick's, everyone. Any exciting plans? I'm planning to watch The Wind That Shakes The Barley with harmonyangel and try Jameson whiskey for the first time.

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I just walked away from the biggest temptation ever. As I was leaving the clinic for lunch, I saw a giant crate full of dry ice pellets, just sitting there with no one around. I thought it was packing styrofoam until I saw the 'Caution: do not touch with bare hands' sign. I haven't had the chance to play with dry ice in forever, and I was so tempted to fill up a cup with the pellets and hide it in my locker until my shift is over.

I used to buy dry ice for my Halloween parties, but the place that sells it only has regular office hours, and I haven't been able to time it right in years. And now I own a green laser and think of all the fun things I could do with dry ice and a laser!

...if the crate is still there when I get back... no.

I had an awesome weekend! On Friday harmonyangel and I went to the first screening of We Are Wisconsin, a documentary about the protests against Governor Walker's attempt to take away our unions' collective barganing rights. It was a good film. I was a bit nervous going in, because I get uncomfortable when, say, our union protest gets compared to other protests around the world. Unions are important, yes. They save lives, too. Most medication errors occur when nurses are overworked, and unions have been vital in controlling hours and patient loads. But it isn't the same as protesting against a government that is actively killing its own people. Hell, our protestors weren't even in danger of being peppersprayed - our cops were often protesting with us (they're union too)! So I was happy that the film didn't go the hyperbolic route. It had excellent footage and was very engaging.

Then we went back to harmonyangel's place and watched Blood Drips Heavily on Newsies Square (which was delightful) and the first episode of Downton Abbey (which was also delightful, but in a less funny, less bloody way).

On Sunday I had Indian food with crash_g0ddess and her sister, and then we went back to their place to play Catan. I love that game, and I want to keep challenging them to rematches until I win! I was also happy to snuggle with their cat.

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John Barrowman is coming to C2E2! Not too surprising - I think his sister teaches in Chicago... or somewhere in WI? Anyway, I'm not sure if I'm a fan enough to wait in crazy lines and possibly pay through the nose for a chance to say hi and get an autograph... but he's the first guest announced this year for which I'd consider doing those things. I think he's pretty fantastic, and I do love Capt. Jack Harkness.

And then there's the other con that is the highlight of my year... WisCon! Programming sign-ups are open. I've signed up for the two that I proposed, so hopefully enough people express interest that they are included. They are:

Women in Superhero Films
From the Batman reboot movies to the Marvel Avengers tie-in movies, superhero adaptations are everywhere. Have these movie adaptations subverted or improved the roles of their female characters, or do they reinforce sexist standards? Are team movies our best hope for superheroine action, or can we keep hoping for a Wonder Woman film?

and The State of the Super Heroine in Comics
Let's talk about the ups and downs of recent superhero comics from a feminist perspective. Did the DC reboot affect your pull list? Did Batwoman live up to its hype? What will fill the gap left by X-23? Is Storm getting her narrative dues? And what's up with the Scarlet Witch? Come ready to air your complaints, dissect gender issues in comics, and recommend your favorite titles!

But man, there are so many interesting sounding panels, covering all sorts of fascinating topics. Addiction in Fiction; Anti-Heroism Defined; all sorts of panels about YA literature - especially The Hunger Games, which I plan to have read by WisCon; Heteronormativity in YA Dystopian SF; panels about vidding and fanzines; Assistive Technology is One of My Fandoms (insulin pumps FTW!); The Last Universal Common Organism as an Ocean-Filling Megaorganism (what does that mean? I'm not sure but I want to learn!); Lab creation of virulent virus - the dilemma of dual use technology; It's Actually Quite Hard to Rip a Bodice: How to Use (and Not Abuse) Historical Details in Fiction; My Shepard: Avatars, Subversion and Identity in Video Games (I don't even play video games & I'm interested!); many panels about class and the Occupy movement; Peace Studies; Ayn Rand's SF/F Legacy: A Feminist Approach (I never could finish Atlas Shrugged, but I'm interested in hearing about the book in a sci-fi context); Baba Yaga - and Other Retired/Secret Goddesses (Baba Yaga Laid An Egg is another book I plan to read);

...I better stop there. Just. So much I want to hear explored by a bunch of fandomy, feministy nerds. Is it May yet?

...I lied. Here are two more panels that sound so much like something I'd propose that I might have to start looking for a doppelganger:

Women in Comics
What did the past year bring us for women in comics? What fates befell female characters; what women are doing good work in the field? Discussion of Marvel's Fear Itself event and DC's New 52 reboot are welcome, as well as conversation about non-superhero and indy works.

We're Not Contortionists: Ridiculous Female Positions in SF/F and Comic Artwork
A fun (if slightly depressing) panel on how women are depicted in cover artwork on SF & F books and in comic book characters. Artist Kate Beaton and author Jim C. Hines, among others, have recently been calling out the silly and impossible poses artists are putting women into in comics and on covers. This panel is an Action Panel! The organizer creates a Powerpoint of the offending illustrations. After a brief presentation, the panelists take up the challenge of duplicating the impossible poses before the audience!

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I finally finished Fall On Your Knees! At this rate I'm reading one novel per month, which is much slower than I hoped. I really need to cut back on my fanfic reading if I want more books under my belt this year.

( My feelings about Fall On Your Knees. A few spoilers. )

I also watched the first three episodes of Slings and Arrows. Paul Gross is hotter as a Mountie than he is as a Shakespearean actor. I think it's the hair. I feel that they tried to give him a hairstyle that screams 'slightly mad!' which they really didn't need to do. Paul Gross can do slightly mad with his eyes. He doesn't need unkempt hair.

Rachel McAdams is adorable. Martha Burns' character is a nice combination of angry/vulnerable that I like, and I'm digging her chemistry with Paul Gross. My favorites were the melodramatic morticians. Unlikely that they'll come back, though, unless more characters die.

The opening of the pilot episode, in which the director fixes a toilet in his dilapidated theater and then sets the stage for The Tempest, plunger still in hand, was an excellent hook. I'm not as sold on the opening theme, in which folks at a pub are singing a satirical song about Hamlet. It was cute the first time, but I skipped it for each episode thereafter. Overall I liked the show and plan on watching more.

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I am trying to read more original fiction this year, as for a while I'd fallen into reading only non-fiction or fanfiction. My first book of 2012 was Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. I was familiar with both authors (I've read several Discworld novels and American Gods) but everything I knew about Good Omens came from fandom osmosis. From various fic summaries and meta discussions, I had gleaned that it was about an angel and a demon who were supposed to be enemies but who were actually flirting over tea and were maybe raising the antichrist together.

Which was wrong, of course, but not as wrong as one might expect.

First of all, I was finally able to identify a few quotes that I've seen floating around the internet. I've seen these quotes pop up in icons and sigs probably for as long as I've been on the internet, so it was nice to finally put a source to phrases such as:

He was an Angel who did not so much Fall as Saunter Vaguely Downwards.

Many people, meeting Aziraphale for the first time, formed three impressions: that he was English, that he was intelligent, and that he was gayer than a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide.

and

The lorry blocked the road. And the corrugated iron blocked the road. And a thirty-foot-high pile of fish blocked the road. It was one of the most effectively blocked roads the sergeant had ever seen.

Secondly, ( Under the cut: vague plot points, some griping, and TV Tropes links. )

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I have kidnapped harmonyangel's fish. I will gaurentee his safe return for one million dollars, or perhaps a really classy latte. I'm talking design-drawn-in-the-foam classy.

Here is proof of life. For the record, it is really hard to get a fish to pose with a copy of the newspaper. As soon as the paper is in the bowl the print becomes illegible, and then what's the point? So you'll just have to take my word that these pictures are current.



( I am an obliging captor; more proof under here )

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