I went to the Guest of Honor Interview at eleven o'clock, where author Joe Haldeman was interviewed by his wife and agent, Gay Haldeman (along with Rusty Hevelin). Pretty interesting, and I at least had some background, since I'd read his breakthrough novel Forever War two weeks before, and was just finishing up his recent book Forever Peace that very week. What struck me most about them was how relaxed the Haldemans were. Very cool people. If I'd been in the mood to talk with my conjestion, I'm sure I would've loved to talk to them.

At noon I headed down to see some old high school friends, one who works for the Columbus Crew, and the other a disenchanted computer programmer who just moved from the Akron area. We had lunch, hung around, and talked little about the past and a good deal about the future. I left them just before two o'clock and got back in time for the second half of a panel on the technical singularity.

I'd read Vinge's NASA paper on the singularity, so I felt I could probably get involved in the discussion, but there was so many tangents that I found I didn't have much to say. Or that I did and none of it seemed appropriate.

After the panel, I talked briefly with fellow Hamster Mary Turzillo and a few other writers I hadn't yet met. Then, not remembering anything especially interesting for the 3 o'clock hour, I walked back into the room where the Singularity was discussed. Big mistake. I found out later that I'd missed Haldeman's reading in the other room.

Instead I sat in the audience for a panel discussion on what messages aliens are getting from our television and radio signals. Will they see them as an act of war?

Now, let me say that what attracted me to Context was its small size and literary roots. The "slogan" I read on the website was something along the lines as "for people who actually read the stuff." So this panel wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I decided to attend.

Still, I'd enjoyed listening to Bill Levy and a few of the other panelists at Millenicon so it was at least mildly entertaining. My thoughts on the subject? It isn't worth worrying about. If the alien response to our television signals remotely resembles the American response to our television signals, I don't think we have to worry about aliens getting off their couches again. Much less coming to Earth and responding with force.

Then there was a talk about Tolkien that I wanted to avoid, though, in retrospect, I probably should have stayed if only to meet fellow RMer Charles Finley. I'm just tired of hearing about Tolkien is all. Not only are the upcoming films generating a lot of hype (perhaps deserved--I'm as excited as the next fantasist), but I just finished re-reading the Lord of the Rings in July, making me wonder at its popularity. Yes, it's beautifully descriptive and obviously influential (which is probably why the panel discussion didn't sound very relevant to me), but it was also extrememely boring with all the action happening off stage. ("Say, Frodo, old boy. That was a great battle, wasn't it?" "Sure, sure, old friend." And so it goes.) But my biggest problem with Tolkien is shared with Disney, Hollywood, and most other modern entertainment. The bad guy is ugly, the good guy is beautiful. But that isn't even enough. The bad guy has to be of a bad race! And the good guy has to be of a good race! This and four-book trilogies of five-hundred descriptive pages of worldbuilding per novel. That's Tolkien's legacy! Maybe I should've gone to that panel after all. I could've ranted and raved and come in with guns blazing.

But that's the panel I didn't attend. I went to "Getting an Agent" instead. For future reference. Gay Haldeman was great. I learned a lot, but much of it was pretty basic stuff. Sat near Joe Haldeman. I asked him a question as an aside, and filled in a blank when he couldn't remember the name of a book. Kinda neat, felt like we were both human. Not what you'd expect. Since there were plenty of newbies in the audinece, I opened my mouth and suggested and plugged Speculations and the Rumormill discussion board a bit, but that pissed off an agent on the panel who assumed when I said "discussion board" that it was a place where newbie writers who got rejected trashed the agents who rejected them as unethical. I tried to clarify, but then just shut my mouth. It's true, there are message boards like that. That's why the Rumormill is about the only message board I ever read anymore. The rest of the panel went pretty smoothly. Let me say again that Gay Haldeman was really cool.

At five I attended the panel I promised Funsized (my wife) I'd attend. It was called "Living With a Writer." Panelists included Gay Haldeman, and the spouses of RMer Linda Dunn and Hamster Maureen McHugh. It was interesting, but everyone's background seemed pretty similar and none of it seemed to apply to Dear Wife's situation. I took notes in my head, but, as I suspected, it didn't benefit Funsized's perspective much. I did get to quickly introduce myself to Linda, though.

Funsized had to work on Saturday, so she couldn't go down to Columbus with me in the morning and/or attend that panel (or any panel, unfortunately), but she felt it was as good an excuse as any to get out of town and see some friends. So she visited some friends in Columbus who picked me up for dinner after the "Living With a Writer" panel.

Later that night I met up with another friend and his girlfriend, and spent the night (Funsized stayed with the friends we ate dinner with). Funsized rejoined us in the morning and we went out to a nice breakfast and hung out for a bit. One of us turned on the TV before we left and learned that we were dropping bombs in Afghanistan. I considered stopping back at the the convention, but nothing interested me on the Sunday schedule. So Funsized and I drove back separately to Cleveland, listening to reports on the attacks on the various radio stations throughout Northern Ohio for the two-hour trip.

If the theme of my trip was frustration at not having enough time for anything, then the lesson I learned was in where the benefits of such a trip lay.

The panels are interesting and all, but what I remember from Millenicon aren't the formal discussions, but casual discussions, hanging out with other writers, chewing the fat and enjoying ourselves. Talking about writing. Even my spending time with friends over the weekend was too structured to be enjoyable. I even missed the poetry readings and filking.

I don't know when I'll attend another convention. Not this year. Not until I'm back on track with my goals and writing routine (if I don't have time to write, I don't have time to talk about writing). I'll try and get Funsized to come with me to the actual convention next time, though I am only slightly more acquainted with fandom than she is.

The bright side is there's a Hamsters meeting this weekend. Which means the "hanging out with writers" stuff I missed at Context should be fulfilled on Sunday.

Hey, I said I was learning.

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