Arisia 2012
Jan. 17th, 2012 01:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pryderThe party's over... well, the dead dog party is probably still going but I'm not there.
I had a good Arisia this year. I earned my 2013 membership by Thursday evening (truck unload and con suite setup), attended an unusually high number of panels for me (including two interesting ones on gender, a cosplay panel, a costuming panel on dressing for one's body type (got some useful advice there), a burlesque panel, and one on cohousing), spent a bit of time at the Transcending Boundaries table, gave blood on Saturday, danced at the contra dance, the techno contra (!) dance, the Girl Genius dance, and the all-night Saturday club dance, heard the Sassafras and Stranger Ways concert, ordered a corset from Pendragon (and now that I know what their clasps look like I suddenly noticed a LOT of their corsets being worn!), and bought a pretty red skirt from Cloak and Dagger. And lots of good conversations with friends old and new, and hugs and more hugs.
The party scene seemed low-energy and poorly attended this year; I did get info about the Spokane in 2015 Worldcon bid which sounded promising. (The competing 2015 bid is Orlando; unlike the last Orlando Worldcon, this one is evidently on Disney property. I'm still skeptical about going to Florida in August. So far as I can tell, London is the only serious bid for 2014.) I didn't go to the Rocky Horror, Buffy, or Dr Horrible live shows this year; I had a quick peek in at the Repo (A Genetic Opera) live show and decided it wasn't for me. (Horror mostly isn't my genre.) As usual, I skipped the Masquerade; it's too long sitting in one place for my taste. And I somehow never got around to visiting the art show, which I regret. (I doubt I would have been buying anything but it's always fun to look.)
What didn't happen: anything bad. A few people wanted to talk about my transition, and their questions were intelligent and respectful. A lot more just accepted my new self, complimented me on my outfits and jewelry, or said it's good to see me so happy. I think I'm now officially a recovered (rather than recovering) shy person; transitioning seems to have taken care of the remaining remnants of it. My virtual self was always very outgoing because she was confident that OF COURSE everybody would want to talk to a charming and beautiful woman like her, and bringing that confidence out into the real world seems to be working well. (I'm certainly not as beautiful as my avatar but I do my best at being charming and gracious.)
Thursday was another example of something I already knew: I'm transitioning to being a woman, but I am very much NOT transitioning to being a helpless twit. Helpless twits don't unload trucks or move around heavy cases of soda. I have had many excellent role models for being a woman who is not helpless, most notably Marian.
I had a good Arisia this year. I earned my 2013 membership by Thursday evening (truck unload and con suite setup), attended an unusually high number of panels for me (including two interesting ones on gender, a cosplay panel, a costuming panel on dressing for one's body type (got some useful advice there), a burlesque panel, and one on cohousing), spent a bit of time at the Transcending Boundaries table, gave blood on Saturday, danced at the contra dance, the techno contra (!) dance, the Girl Genius dance, and the all-night Saturday club dance, heard the Sassafras and Stranger Ways concert, ordered a corset from Pendragon (and now that I know what their clasps look like I suddenly noticed a LOT of their corsets being worn!), and bought a pretty red skirt from Cloak and Dagger. And lots of good conversations with friends old and new, and hugs and more hugs.
The party scene seemed low-energy and poorly attended this year; I did get info about the Spokane in 2015 Worldcon bid which sounded promising. (The competing 2015 bid is Orlando; unlike the last Orlando Worldcon, this one is evidently on Disney property. I'm still skeptical about going to Florida in August. So far as I can tell, London is the only serious bid for 2014.) I didn't go to the Rocky Horror, Buffy, or Dr Horrible live shows this year; I had a quick peek in at the Repo (A Genetic Opera) live show and decided it wasn't for me. (Horror mostly isn't my genre.) As usual, I skipped the Masquerade; it's too long sitting in one place for my taste. And I somehow never got around to visiting the art show, which I regret. (I doubt I would have been buying anything but it's always fun to look.)
What didn't happen: anything bad. A few people wanted to talk about my transition, and their questions were intelligent and respectful. A lot more just accepted my new self, complimented me on my outfits and jewelry, or said it's good to see me so happy. I think I'm now officially a recovered (rather than recovering) shy person; transitioning seems to have taken care of the remaining remnants of it. My virtual self was always very outgoing because she was confident that OF COURSE everybody would want to talk to a charming and beautiful woman like her, and bringing that confidence out into the real world seems to be working well. (I'm certainly not as beautiful as my avatar but I do my best at being charming and gracious.)
Thursday was another example of something I already knew: I'm transitioning to being a woman, but I am very much NOT transitioning to being a helpless twit. Helpless twits don't unload trucks or move around heavy cases of soda. I have had many excellent role models for being a woman who is not helpless, most notably Marian.
