I
probably should have figured out that something was wrong when
I
woke up last night at 4:15 AM feeling like I had the worst case
of flu in the world. I was shivering, nauseated, and aching because
the bed was so frigging uncomfortable, so I staggered into the
bathroom, had a long hot shower and drank a couple of glasses
of water. The glasses of water were because I recognized these
symptoms -- I was dehydrated, although I couldn't figure out why
(it's not like I'd been doing serious aerobics or fencing drunk
with Selina in the hallways).
Finally,
I wrapped up in the complimentary bathrobe, pulled cushions from
the loveseat and chair in the room and arranged them on the floor,
and went back to sleep. Not the most comfortable of situations,
but it was still better than the bed.
Around
7:40 AM, I was dozing fitfully when I had an unpleasant accident.
I lurched back into the bathroom, swearing all the way, and threw
the nightgown in the tub while I used the shower stall to get
cleaned up. At this point, I realized that I felt absolutely frigging
dreadful -- everything below the duodenum was trying to make a
break for it, I hurt all over, I was running a fever, and I just
wanted to die.
Oh,
and I was supposed to fence in three and a half hours. Ha. Ha
ha ha.
Judging
from the symptoms and the gastric results, I had a touch of food
poisoning. Right now the culprits are down to the hotel breakfast
or a poppyseed muffin I had late Thursday night (the, erm, gastric
results lean towards the muffin). In any case, the results had
me green and curled up in misery on the nasty-ass bed while Lyndon
tried to talk me out of going to the fencing demo. I even called
Julia and asked her to inform Notre Captaine of the developments
so that she could come up with an alternate fencer in the next
two hours.
But
short of death, I will not disappoint Queen and Captaine. Moving
like a geriatric turtle, I got up, got cleaned up, put on my gear
and walked slowly over to the convention center, where Elizabeth
took one look at me, announced that I was green and that I shouldn't
fence if I didn't think I was up to it, she already had Dan Procopio
lined up as my replacement. Blessed woman.
So
I participated in the entrance, the footwork exercise and the
final salute, and sat out the actual fencing, which in retrospect
was probably for the best. I was told that my color improved from
green to white while I was sitting there, so at least that's something.
And I'm very glad that I made the effort to show up, as the LOCUS
photographer was there and took pictures of us for the mag. Whee!
Afterwards,
Lyndon took me back to the room and put me back in bed while he
went out to find a sporting goods store. Sweet man, he came back
with a 3/4 sized air mattress, upon which I have been napping
all afternoon. It is now 6:30 PM, I've had a glass of water and
a low-carb bar, and Julia is on her way over here to see if I'm
fit to come out for dinner. I have to be -- I have an erotic reading
tonight at 10:00 PM in the SFF.Net Suite.
Ooooerg.
. .
Later
--
It's
amazing, what a long nap, a bit of food and a nice shower will
do for you. I feel somewhat human again.
I
got two calls this afternoon, one from Steve telling me that he
was in his favorite restaurant when "Do You Know the Way
to San José" came on the Muzak, indicating that my
evil plan was working. I cackled madly and thanked him, then went
back to sleep.
The
second call was from Julia, who wanted to know if I was in any
shape to have dinner. I told her to come on up and see. She did,
and announced that it would be a good idea for us to go off to
the SFF.Net Suite so that I could try some nibbles and see if
they would stay down.
So
we did. And I did, and they did, and I was ensconced in a chair
chatting with Julia, Dan, Vera and a variety of other people while
carefully eating grapes and the occasional piece of chocolate.
When Tom Powers came through with not one but two rare flasks
of Scotch, I was feeling well enough to sample each.
Whoo.
Felt MUCH better after that. Julia and I decided to bop down to
the SFWA Suite and see if we could help Adrianne Gormley at all,
and she set us to work pouring ice into buckets and chilling tons
of bottles of water and pop. Shades of Chicon 2000 -- I eventually
told Julia that I was coming back up here to take a shower and
get ready for my erotic reading at 10:00 PM tonight, so she told
me to go and get ready. Sweet girl.
So
here I am, freshly showered and ready to go off and arouse the
reading public. Oh, and according to the scale in the bathroom,
I lost seven pounds over the last two days. Go food poisoning!
Even
Later --
Well,
Monissa was the only one to show up to my reading, but she was
lovely and attentive, so thanks, Monissa!
Afterwards,
I took the laptop back to the room and pretty much made the round
of parties -- pictures are available here.
Ironically, when I stopped back in at the SFF.Net Suite there
were a group of people who had come to my reading. Admittedly
they were 45 minutes late, but it still warmed my heart a bit.
General
party reviews -- the LA in 06 Space Cadets party was an absolute
hoot, with some of the folks from the Lux Radio show playing mad
scientist characters around the place. The Japan bid was jammed,
and I bought a fan there, which turned out to be great foresight
when I walked into the Tor party and almost melted, it was so
slammed. The belly dancing party was fun -- they asked me to dance,
but I felt a bit odd not being dressed properly and all, so I
demurred. The Gay/Lesbian/Bi Fandom party was fun, had tasty munchies
and I got some nifty stickers there (although Selina stopped me
at the door, held her hand about three feet off the floor and
said, "You have to be this gay to enter this party."
I told her to stop being a dork and give me a sticker. Apparently
when Lyndon stopped in later that evening, she told him that they
ran me off for pretending to be a lesbian), and the Costumer's
Party was stunning.
And
now it's 1:34 AM, and I have got to hit the sack. Later, taters.
