Author: Allegra

Born when atmospheric carbon was 316 PPM. Settled on MST country since 1997. Parent, grandparent.

So long and thanks for all the small salty fish!

So this is me checking out of writing a daily blog. The blog will be coming down as soon as it is safely backed up, and I can stop paying for it. I will be letting the domain name go because honestly I’m never going to be a famous writer and nobody gives a shit about the stuff I write except a small number of cool people but that aside I’m tired and the original purpose of the blog has expired. I have zero ‘engagement’ with an audience and after twenty years of busting ass with no payoff I’m good with it dying. I wanted control, I got control, but who cares? I know I no longer do. And eventually this household will break up and I won’t have tech support to the standard I’m used to, which is banging on Jeff’s door at 4 am to ask wherefore I cannot log in, while he drops what he’s doing to help! LOL I’ll never get THAT again. Plus bots keep attacking the site and slowing everything down.

I will be sending out a weekly digest of events, thoughts, video and photo links, and new writing/songs every week via email. So far my mOm, my pOp and Leo and Dave and possibly Alex? I dunno … have indicated that they want to see it; email me at allegra      ‘fraught’ sloman atty gmail if you want to subscribe. But the offer’s only good for as long as the blog is up, so that should keep out the punters.

I don’t want to train AI, unpaid, when I have one of the most distinctive writing styles of anyone on the planet, in English, anyway.

I’m TheCorrection on bsky, not that any of you would get accounts, and I’m under my maiden name on facebook, and I’m under my own name on tumblr.

Happy birthday to me! Now I’m going to take my sick ass to the bathroom and have a nice, long hot bath, and relax. It won’t be long now!

 

Coughing has slowed to a crawl

Thank goodness. I’m very dehydrated so I should go have something yummy to drink.

LOVERLY chat with the fOlks last night, pOp got in on the act by saying he didn’t know what to say, which also is typical. We were happy about a dentist appointment being cancelled and rescheduled until when pOp can lie in the arms of Morpheus during the appointment. Yeah, painless dentistry is much preferred.

Other than that the fOlks sound fine which is cheering. They admitted that it’s weird having a 65 year old daughter. But as I pointed out, a 65 yo daughter WITH DAMNED GOOD HAIR. From the video Sunnie Larsen took. I look BLONDE under the lights. You can see Cindy’s back and Miles Vorkosigan in the reflection.

 

Coughing A LOT

Alex is here, I’ll run him to school in half an hour. I’m staying in my room and only leaving with a mask on my face. I suppose I should dress, heavy sigh.

Managed the school run with no issue, and Alex liked the fidgets I bought for him at Orycon. One’s chain mail, one’s a three by three bubble popper. He pronounced himself pleased with both of them.

I keep trying to call my mOm and the phone’s always busy. Anyway mOm I tried. I can’t help it if you’re popular!!

 

later

 

coughing has died down, COVID test is negative. I really don’t believe it. I was out walking to get the COVID tests and I got out of breath INSTANTLY. Picked Alex up some treats at the same time.

 

and so con ends

I have so many thoughts and feelings. My intimates have been made aware of the worst of it (there is a worse, but it’s getting better as they say) and the good is little spangles of art and conversation, the gifts each of us bring to circle (a poem recited about the sailor who has no coin and must trick his way across the Styx, a pan pipe forced to play out doors because of the fucking panini / con rules, Ann Prather singing Practice Practice Practice and a ghastly hilarious song about how sore your balls are after a vasectomy, in-character Bilbo singing a song about what a bunch of dipshits the dwarves are, That’s Not Gneiss, which I think was written by a Geology professor in the 50s and made it into the filkbuche, ably sung by Cecilia Eng, Eric of the Faithful Sidekicks singing a song about various jobs that is a PUN IN EVERY LINE, Miles Vorkosigan singing a song about a naked man running down a street (he’s a defence lawyer, nuff said eh pOp) and yet more besides).

The con candidly apart from the merch room that one open circle and individual convos was a bust but I got a road trip with my best pals so I WON. And we were good roommates, no huhu.

found the atm

So I stuffed twenty bucks US in the hospitality room tip jar (uphold the right of broke queer kids to get brekky!!), grabbed a Death Wish Blueberry and Vanilla coffee -high test bREW AND TASTY TOO – tipped the maid J. $20 and now I’m off to the dealer room for something to hud my pants up with and to see if tshirts are here yet instead of just really spendy kimonos.

Lest we forget mofos

 

LATER – I HAVE AN ANTIQUE SILK JAPANESE OBI-TIE HUDDIN UP MY PANTS. I got Alex a chain mail fidget stim, some lovely patches (a skull with the advice BE NICE OR GO AWAY), a CD with Advent instrumental music for Peggy. Peggy is being nice to the other con goers and not sharing her respiratory tickles with them so she’s about to jump on a bus and go explore downtown Portland some more.

May be an image of 3 people

Thank you Ian Bristow for this FABULOUS pic of our two fave Dunnett heroes.

another lovely day along the waterfront

Much more overcast today. Winds were apparently howling in owld Burnaby last night if the weather channel isn’t lying.

Briefly participated in a filk last night and then kind of emotionally imploded (it was a filk memorial) and THEN learned that Frank Hayes is in hospital and since I had just put his concert on my list of things to do I was most upset. I did wish him a speedy and uneventful recovery. It was awesome to hear Dornbeast memorialize Creede Lambard by singing one of his songs, and Cecilia Eng memorialized Zander Nyrond (a long time fannish filk favourite of John’s.) Cindy and I sang Brooke’s Last Page for John and OH GOD I was done already and fled the scene. Peggy and I stayed in the hotel room and Cindy did the singin’ and playin’ the rest of the night. I love con, but it’s emotional and I’m just not used to having to manage all them big feels and the ‘panini’ hasn’t made it easier. (Panini is slang for the pandemic “WORST.SANDWICH.EVER”)

Amazing to have a bath while Peggy’s playing bass along with the blues program on CBC on Friday night, she made the fixtures ring. And of course I felt a lot calmer after washing my hair, although the hot water just …. stopping … was tiresome. I had enough to finish up. The hotel shampoo is quite nice.

This morning I swear I am going to not be a fucking turnip, but the odds are even. I’ve taken my pills AND BRUSHED MY TEETH AND APPLIED DEODORANT don’t all rush to thank me at once and apparently there’s a food truck next to the banquet entrance right this second so many that’s where I’ll get brekky?

Also, apart from the cold, I fucking love this hotel. It’s very accessible. AND THE BANQUETTES TUCKED INTO EVERY CORNER HAVE POWER OUTLETS BUILT INTO THEM so you can sit in a sunny nook, charge your laptop and drink your coffee and keep an eye down the corridor where your friends are.

I didn’t bring all of my laptop charger and Peggy loaned me hers. She had no idea what she was going to do with a laptop she said but she brought it anyway.

Oh, and hospitality’s open too now. I should feed. Where the fuck did I leave my american money? A smile won’t git me breakfast.

safely arrived

I had some issues with wifi (reddit is permablocked in this hotel, isn’t that hilarious? and I had to call tech support, although not about that, because I have an elderly Mac laptop) and I still don’t know if my credit card works but I am safely ensconced in the Hotel for Orycon. I have slept hours past my usual getting up time and am now listening to the furtive stirring of my roommates. Cindy and Peggy, because They Are Prepared, brought tons of breakfast stuff and so now all I need to do is get some food in me and then I can skate off to the reg table, which opens in about 25 minutes. That would be ten minutes. I am dressed, finally remembered to take me pills, we are awake, our day of delights has commenced.

Bought edibles across the street. Two ten milligrams at bed time and I was able to shut up (Peggy says *they* kept me up but believe me I gabbled like a lonely chicken) and sleep long about ten pm. Oregon is a reasonably sensible place.

Met a one armed bearded fan named Bandit last night. Within seconds he was telling fabulous con anecdotes and bickering with his partner and I asked him long they’d been married and he said about a year and I was howling because they sounded SO MUCH LIKE BRAD AND OMAR when they were bickering. Anyway Cindy paid fer mah steak. Twas good.

14 seconds of blue sky just now. That’ll be it for the day.

I still haven’t gone to reg. Peggy made me morning tea. Twice.

 

email exchange

for the dignity and privacy of everyone involved I will not cut and paste the email exchange between Cindy, Peggy and Allegra, because we all sound like amiable lunatics. Let us just pencil in that we are all quite anxious about the trip but we’ve all found our passports so really the rest of it is gravy.

This is Brooke’s fundraiser for a powered wheelchair.

 

lovely evening

We had two men out of six at the able, highest Dunnett ratio yet, lol. The Faux Bourgeois is a lovely restaurant, but quite loud. I had the soup oignon (divine) and escargots (not so, but still nice). I will have the beefsteak next time, Ingrid was almost overcome with happiness with hers; there were a lot of duck confits on the table too, and Simon had never had sweetbreads before. Jan had TWO desserts LOL. No alcohol for me but we killed three big bottles of San Pelligrino. Remembered to lard my tights with hand cream and so managed to kill the static.

I didn’t nap all day so I was tired. So tired I started getting migraine signs so I taxied hoping it would clear, it did. First guy drove like an idiot and cheated me, second guy was a total sweetheart with a delicate understanding of the needs of other motorists and how to increase and decrease speed without popping me through the fucking headrest….. Life’s like that. Seating was for 7:30, I got home at 10:30, absolutely shaking with tiredness… at which point I could not sleep. LOL

And I’ve miscalculated leaving dates, I’m actually leaving tomorrow morning. So I’m making dispositions for coverage thank you Jeff.

Love the world, hate its governments, be well everyone.

FOOD 2NITE

SO looking forward. However, I woke up before 2 am and that means I’ll have to have a nap today. I’m not looking after Alex so… that should be easy, right? Anyway I hope to have a compleat report for the drooling multitudes.

Coffee made, tea made, peppermint tea made; contemplating panancakes again.