Darkovercon 2009 Schedule

Here's a rather belated schedule (my fault, not theirs) of what I'm doing at Darkovercon this weekend down in Maryland.  As usual, I'm mostly doing dance stuff, and this year everything is packed into one crazy day:

Saturday 11:00am-1:00pm
Early Playford Dances (1650-1670)
Weird country dances from the early editions of The Dancing Master, mainly unusual stuff: progressive rounds, longways multifigure progressives, and some of the more exotic short-set dances.  In previous years we've done this on Friday afternoon and had a small but game crowd.  I've no idea how well it will work on a Saturday morning.

Saturday 5:00-7:00pm
Regency Ball
Early 19th-century dancing, with live music and without the fancy historical steps.

Saturday 9:00-11:30(ish)pm
Clam Chowder Concert/B.O.G.S. fundraiser
I'm not a member of the musical group -- anyone who's heard me sing will be relieved to hear this -- but for the past twelve years I've run a fundraiser at the intermission on behalf of Children's Hospital.  I hope to bring in a couple of thousand dollars this year despite the recession/depression/unemployment rate.  The story of this fundraiser is related here; it started as a joke, but has evolved into a major charity event.  I'll be one of the folks up on the stage begging for money.

As usual, I'd be happy to see any Rixo readers who are attending the convention.  Saturday may not be the best day for this, but Friday and Sunday should be pretty relaxed. 

Other things I hope/plan to do at the con:

• hear Emma Bull (one of this year's guests) speak
• something craftsy; maybe the Kumihomo braiding
• attend the Steampunk Chrononauts Parade at 7:00 Saturday evening, though actually participating may be overly optimistic given that it's squeezed between the ball and the concert
• attend the midnight singing of the Hallelujah Chorus (but I won't be singing, just experiencing)

I will be traveling by bus once again, hopefully with a smoother return trip than last year.

Comments

[Serge]

I've run a fundraiser

Is this the one where, two or three years ago, you did a "Rocky Horror" show to help the event?

[Susan de Guardiola]

I've never done a Rocky show anywhere, ever, for any reason.

[Serge]

Susan... I seemed to remember an event or auction where some of your participants dressed like characters from "Rocky Horror". Or maybe it was something you had been planning to do. Most likely I misremembered things. Either way, my apologies.

I hope you have a good time this weekend. Even if you come out of it tired, it'll have been a good kind of tired.

My plans for the weekend... Ingesting some turkey, watching a couple of turkey movies. Maybe finally watch my dvd of the "War of the Worlds" musical. Reading. I just began Jack Vance's "Tales of the Dying Earth" and I think I'm going to love it.

[AJ]

Susan, I've done some kumihimo braiding and it's fun, easy, and (if you're using the cheap foam disk and not the wooden stand) very portable. One year while visiting NY I threw it in my bag and worked on it on the train. You should definitely give it a try if time allows.

My weekend plans include hosting my small immediate family tomorrow (possibly with the addition of some co-worker of my mother's, and I'm very irked that I won't know until tonight whether or not I'm hosting a stranger for dinner tomorrow), lazing around the house with my husband on Friday, going to a small craft fair, the gym, and a belly dance party Saturday, and peddling my jewelry at an even smaller gift bazaar for a few hours on Sunday.

[Marilee J. Layman]

Is Will coming with Emma? You could find out what he's like in person.

I picked up a two-person turkey dinner from my grocery store today and will reheat some of the turkey breast tomorrow and have some of the sides. Most of the turkey breast will go into the freezer in single portions. I'm currently eating pizza -- I was craving it and gave in. I'm not planning anything specific for the rest of the week, which is a good thing because I've been hurting a lot for about a week.

Loki woke me up this morning -- I'd been sleeping with the bad ear up and the alarm rang for 14 minutes before Loki decided it was enough. I may have to get a louder alarm.

[Clifton]

Happy Thanksgiving to all them as celebrates it.

We'll be going out to a fancy buffet for Thanksgiving dinner as we have for the last few years; this allows everyone to get what they want, including the carnivorous foster daughter, vegetarian wife, pisce-vegetarian me, and just plain picky-eater boy.

[Serge]

Clifton... That's one nice thing about buffets, besides not having to deal with the dirty dishes. That being said, I just came back from such a buffet and the very thought of eating one more bite of anything makes me go "Urp!". Also, I'm bone-tired after spending the night up because of work. I got almost 4 hours of sleep after that, but I need to go lie on the couch otherwise I'll be dozing all evening in the middle of my favorite turkey movies.

[Susan de Guardiola]

Marilee,
Yes, Will is coming. I am unsure whether I want to interact with him in person or not, though Darkover (being teensy-tiny) is certainly the place for it.

The discussion of Darkover novels in the other thread was quite timely, eh?

[Marilee J. Layman]

Yes, the discussion was very timely!

I'm not fond of buffets partly because I'm immunosuppressed right now and because they frequently don't have what I want.

[Serge]

Marilee... There is that, for you, true. What I finally realized about buffets is that I should stay away from most fares like sausages and turkey, because they very quickly make me feel stuffed. I should stick with salmon and fruit.

[Serge]

So, Susan, did you meet Will? If so, how did it go? Did you have a good time at the con, overall?

[Susan de Guardiola]

All I have to say so far is:

HULA HOOPS!

Give me a day or two to edit some interesting things I captured with my camera and all shall be revealed.

[Serge]

Hula hoops AND a promise that all shall be revealed? Oh-la-la.

[AJ]

I had a nice Thanksgiving weekend... it also involved hula hoops. The belly dance party featured black lights, and there were a bunch of people there with black-light reactive and/or lightup hoops. Various degrees of skill were displayed by the dancers... I was sure to stay off the dance floor whenever the one guy was playing with paired smaller hoops... He had bad control with his off hand and kept losing his grip. Getting hit by a flying hoop was not on my list of goals for the weekend.

[Serge]

On Thanksgivng, we popped in our DVD of Casino Royale. God, this remains an intense movie.