Road Trip Update: Cat Nap

Hi Comrades!

The next several dispatches will be fairly brief, owing mostly to the fact that I will be on the road within the next seven hours (kicking off at 03:00) and the vehicle I'm driving to the convention, although sporty (5-speed Hyundai Elantra), is not designed for mobile computing.

I am currently sitting in said scout vehicle outside my daughter's dance class. As soon as this is over we'll head home and I will try to grab about five hours sleep before hitting the road. I don't like to stop much on the road, but I do drink ridiculous amounts of water - so I'm not sure yet how I'll compromise on that. I'm sure I'll have to stop more than I want to, so I'll dash of a note when I do and let you know how the trip is progressing.

I may jump on Skype from the car tomorrow morning sometime (user ID: jademacalla), so if you see me online give me a call.

For those of you who are also heading to the convention, be careful. Looking forward to meeting all of you.

Jade

Road Trip: Logistics

It's a new brand new week, so let's kick this thing off.

As I sit down to write this the countdown timer on my dashboard says 78 hours, 23 minutes, 32 seconds until I hop into my car and head out for 36 (or so) fun-filled hours of non-stop surreality. After several days of actually thinking about making some sort of plan for this trip I still have:

• No place to stay should I feel the need to collapse someplace relatively safe

(Actually, that is not quite true. My agent on the ground, the shadowy and extremely well-educated, Ms. Angela Sasser, has arranged for a backup bivouac with an exceptional artist by the street name of 'Mistress of Spam', along with various others of her family and friends. I feel bad about imposing on the domestic arrangements of so many nice people in one small room, so unless I become a threat to myself and others I will probably just prop my eyelids up with toothpicks. Do check out Mistress of Spam's artwork, though; absolutely beautiful.)

• No Princess Leia slave girl outfit
• No 20-sided dice
• No idea if it is going to be possible to post video within such a compressed schedule

(Which is not to say that I will not be shooting miles and miles of tape; just not sure I'll have the time (or wish to take the time) to do even the most basic editing and compressing. Still playing with this one. If I can figure a way to do it without cutting into too much visiting time, I definitely will. If not, I will still be blogging in real time here...maybe a little audiocast of some of the fun.)

As of right now, the tentative schedule is:

310807 - 0300: Leave for Atlanta

310807 - 0301 to 1030: Drive one of the most boring stretches of road this side of the modern incarnation of Route 66, arrive in Atlanta

310807 - 1100: Wander aimlessly though the hotel looking for Elf-ladies and Demonesses (sounds like my last family reunion)

310807 - 1130 to 1800: General roadie duties, helping to set up artwork and such

310807 - 1800 to 010907 - 0300: Bacchanale

010907 - 0300 to 0400: Breakfast at Waffle House (drink 3 gallons of coffee)

010907 - 0400: Tearful goodbyes, back to Tampa

010907 - 1400: Mow lawn

Next: What to wear?

Road Trip Ramp Up

Hi there, Comrades.

Some of you have been following this occasional site for some time (and you know just how occasional it can be) and some of you, no doubt, have only just arrived, have read a couple posts, and are now looking hopefully for the back exit.

If you're in the latter category I hope you'll stick around. The next week or so should prove to be entertaining in at least the same way that watching monkeys that have gotten all liquored up on fermented Challa Berries and falling out of trees is entertaining - and if all goes according to plan that will we be starting point for a more active presence here.

To recap:

I am getting ready to embark on a little road trip.

I live in Tampa, Florida (USA) and I am going to the DragonCon Sci-Fi convention in Atlanta, GA (USA) to visit some dear friends that I have never met (at least not face-to-face). I don't have quite enough time for the trip (because I also want to get back home to spend the holiday weekend with my family) and I don't have any place to stay whilst I am in Atlanta (because it hardly seems worth the effort to find a hotel, no matter how cheap, for such a brief visit). Also, I do not have any of the following: a Princess Leia slave girl costume (lost it in a fire), 20-sided dice (got rid of them 'cause they always came up '11'), action figures (unless you consider me to be one), or even a brown coat (although I do have a nice olive drab coat).

Yet in spite of all this (or, more likely, because of all this) I am not only still going but I am also going to report on and webcast video of my little trip in (more or less) real time. I am hoping to bring you interviews with interesting people, commentary on the wacky proceedings, and a documentary on just how goofy an already goofy person can act after long periods of (at best) very little sleep.

Follow the planning and the actual event by keeping an eye on PORTFOLIO (the video show) and DISPATCHES (this web journal).

Next: The Tentative Schedule

I'm tempted...

...to just wait a couple more months and make it a cool, crisp year since writing anything here. But I'm feeling like I want to get things sorted out - insofar as 'things' are related to the various ways that I communicate on the 'nets. Verdict: no wait.

I am also tempted to do some new episodes of PORTFOLIO. I forget how much fun those were, especially the ones where I got to do stuff with all you cats. Yup, I think it's about time. Now, how should I go about embarrassing myself this time around...

The mind boggles at the endless possibilities.

Other old/new stuff too; soon, I hope.