redbird | If I had more time and energy.... (Reply)

It would be nice to be in Montreal for Worldcon. But: I get 2.5 weeks' vacation a year, and I have other things I need to do with it. I also have finite energy, and Wiscon feels large these days. If I had lots and lots of time, yes, Worldcon and some days to recover afterwards. It wouldn't have been the "take commuter rail to Worldcon" thing I pulled for Millennium Philcon (my last worldcon), but there was a certain appeal to a Worldcon in a conference center right above the metro station I use semi-regularly when going for dim sum or to Maple Delight for ice cream.

Energy being finite, I will visit Montreal and the people I care about there later in the year, when everyone is less overwhelmed. The disadvantage is I don't get the cool energy of lots of people bouncing off each other, but I also don't have to put as much energy into the socializing when I'm seeing three or four people, or even a dozen for an evening when that isn't part of an n,000-person event. I live in a city of more than 8 million, but I don't interact with them socially in groups that size very often: the thousand people near me at a Worldcon are part of a different kind of thing than the hundreds near me on the rush hour subway, or even the crowd at a concert that I'm attending alone or with one or two friends.

One of these years, I will get to Worldcon again. In the meantime, I hope those of you who are there have a wonderful time. (I have enjoyed Worldcons; at this point, I doubt that I can do so if I have to go right back to work afterwards. Not if I think of the whole experience: because a month or year later, I'd remember the crash as well as the good stuff, and in the moment I'd have to deal with the tiredness and with working while that tired.

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