There and Back Again

We made the trip to Montana and to Spocon without terrible incident. And by that, I mean the boy was relatively okay most of the trip. Some nausea and vomiting, but he made it through. I was proud of him, because I knew he had to fight through it several times.

On the trip, I realized that I haven’t been exercising very much here this summer. I used to walk a lot. I walked a lot in MT and in WA. The comparison then is clear and the solution is that I just need to get out more. I will do that.

I got to see a lot of friends, and yet not all of them. So it was bittersweet. I had some moments of intense sadness and wondering if we’d made the right decision to move, especially seeing how much my family has missed some of the people and the places. Yet the reasons for moving still stand and they were to benefit for the whole for the whole family. I hate doubting.

The dogs were well spoiled. They slept on our beds every night and went everywhere with us. They couldn’t have been happier. Now that we’re home, they are feeling slightly let down. After all, the kids keep hogging the couch and our bed is too high to jump up on. Oh the woe! Right now one of the doggies is snuggling up tight to me.

I got no writing done, but I did get a lot of work done on my syllabus and teaching schedule for the fall. That was a good thing. I also finished reading the book that I mentioned previously that I’d had a hard time with the beginning. After the first few chapters, I found that I did enjoy it. It wasn’t cookie cutter, though I’m seeing a fair bit of predictability in one of the main male leads and also with the ultimate bad guy. It definitely leads into another book, and it’s possible that where I think it’s going isn’t where it’s really going. We’ll see.

Spocon was a bit of a disappointment. I had two good meaty panels, and the Diversity panel was particularly good, but sadly, no author readings or signings ended up on the printed schedule. That meant I had a tough time finding them and the attendance was very very poor–if anybody found it at all. I also had some of the self-pubbed authors hawking their books like carnies along one of the hallways. I hate that–chatting and visiting with people is one thing, but hollering at people to ask if they read or that sort of thing . . . not cool. Costumes were really terrific, though, and the riverwalk was lovely.

We were supposed to have sunblocking shade screens installed before we came back, but unfortunately that didn’t happen. Apparently the frames are backordered so we have to wait a week or so.

Lots of stuff going on this week. We have appointments and school preparation and lots and lots of stuff. I will hopefully get some sleep. I’ve not been sleeping well for most of the trip or even on the home night. And weird dreams. May have those.

And you’ll notice that the website is slightly updated with Diamond City Magic on the menu bar.

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