The longer I sit here, the closer I get

1:46 a.m. Still less than the number I need to achieve, but the longer I sit here, the closer I get.

The plan is to acclimate me to dragon*con time. dragon*con, for those of you who aren't familiar yet, is the sci-fi/fantasy convention coming up Very Soon Now, of which I am part of the tech staff.

While dragon*con technically runs 24-7, its slowest hours are from three to eight a.m. Thus, my plan: change my sleep schedule so that I am sleeping from four to ten a.m. If I can function on fewer hours than that during the convention (and I believe that I can), I will.The hot tea in the mug to my left is so heavily saturated with sugar that any self-respecting Brit would refuse to even call it tea. I can drink hot tea and like it, but my growing up in the American South has ingrained in me an appreciation (requirement?) for sweet tea that I will likely take to my grave.

One-fifty. The plan is to make it to three a.m. Three a.m. here is four a.m. Eastern, equivalent to my goal. A pity I sit here with nothing, really, to do; it is difficult to pass time past two a.m. when you are not interested in drinking and you're the only person in the room.

The squeaking sounds in the bedroom are Jeff tossing and turning, trying to get to sleep. The licking and chewing noises to my right are Edmund trying to clean between his toes. (My sleep-deprived mind finds itself wondering when his dainty, often-washed toes had time to get dirty.)

I cannot pack; my clothes are in the master bedroom. Given that I'm more than a little in love with the ritual of list-making, I have three lists going right now:

  • Things I need to do tomorrow before we leave.
  • Things I need to pack.
  • A rough outline of the absolute minimum of clothing I'd need to take to stay clothed, decent, and fresh-smelling during the course of the convention.

(See, you're supposed to laugh at that: I luxuriate in making lists about my habit about making lists. It's funnier over sweet hot tea and sleep deprivation, I promise.)

It turns out that I'll be sitting in on the weblog discussion panel as one of the panelists. That's coming up on Sunday, for those of you inclined or able to come out to dragon*con. (Hint: I'll be the one in the rasta hat, and the braids, but that's the topic for an entry that's due to appear here in a day or two.) It should be quite interesting, if anyone dares to ask me a question. I could tell them that because of my website I've met just about the full spectrum of humanity, from the lovely guy I married to someone who is now a convicted felon.

Geekfests. Group weblogs (one of which has even had a paper written about it!). Geekmeets. BBSes. I can't claim to have seen it all, but I can claim to have been entertained by most.

After a small break of kitty-cuddling, it is now 2:19. I believe my current karmic duty is to read for a while, and then fall into a blissful, sugar-addled sleep.

I am so ready for dragon*con. I'm as bad as a kid on Christmas Eve.

Off to read.

(P.S. - for those of you who enjoy the same kind of quirky TV I do, if you're not watching Monk, you should be. Thanks, Stephen, for recommending this show…)

all tags: 
dragon*con

Comments

On , eviloompa said...
Adjustment...shmudjustment. There is NO adjusting to *con time and you know that Ames. Why even bother. You are one of my minions which means that you operate on the same schedule that I do. And we all know that means NO SLEEP. Sleep is for the week and the people with nothing better to do. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH But you know...as soon as you decide to go to sleep I will begin the 2nd Annual Dragon*Con Pick On People Radio Party and you will be reduced to fitful bursts of uncontained giggles and sleep will be the last thing on your mind. See...I almost have you trained. I think by next year you should be completely deviod of the need for slumber and then my mission will be complete.

On , gfmorris said...
Nice subtle, playful dig at Aaron there. ;)

On , Noah said...
I didn't realise you were a Morrissey fan. =)

On , starlady said...
Bah. Oompa, you'd better sleep :P or I will send MY minions to affix you to your bed with Saran Wrap. And if I see you in Centennial before 4 PM I will beat you with a cluestick. Ahh, dayshift... no sleep schedule adjustment necessary. Ames, I have about a dozen lists myself... in my head, so I'm guaranteed to forget something REALLY important. I've been putting stuff in my car all week just so I'm sure it at least makes it to Birmingham. And my mantra at the moment is "Don't forget the drum. Don't forget the drum. Don't forget the drum..."

On , domesticat said...
The drum circle on the deck is yet another thing I missed out on seeing last year. I realize that it is literally impossible to see everything that goes on at the 'con, but I felt like I missed so much last year. Last year I felt so overwhelmed by the convention that I barely knew where to start. I picked a few events (RHPS, Spock's Beard concert) and made it to those, but missed a lot of stuff. I'm hoping to see the forensic pathologist do at least one of his talks (and I know to go with an empty stomach). Drum circle. Maybe a bit of RHPS again. I'm damn well getting in on the two a.m. radio party this year (sickens me to know I missed it last year). I figure I'll pop in for part of the Buffy sleepover, I'll be part of the panel for the weblogging forum, and because of my job duties I'll see virtually everyone on staff. There's so much to do it's hard to find time to sleep, especially considering that between 2-6 a.m. is when all the wackos come out to play...

On , heather said...
Jess: find me for the drum circle. I definitely want photos of that. Oh dear, I'm not going to sleep AT ALL this year...

On , gfmorris said...
Does this mean that I have to sleep all of Labor Day Weekend like I did last year? :)

On , starlady said...
I've found that I enjoy the con MUCH more if I MAKE time for sleep. I know it's hard when there's so much stuff going on at all hours of the day, but if you get exhausted you won't enjoy any of it (cf. me and Kat coming straight from LWCE last year - we both collapsed on the third day of the con). This is why I'm willing to shell out the bucks for a room in the hotel, and not share it with all of Christendom - it's worth the money to have a place very close by where I can catch some sleep, and know that I'll have a bed in it whenever I need one. After five years I've realized a very important truth about Dragon*Con: you CAN'T do everything you want to. You can't even come close. Being in Centennial is nice for me 'cause the stuff I want to see tends to be in there... but other than the LOTR presentation and the drum circle, I'm not "planning" to do anything. That way I'll hopefully be pleasantly surprised at all the stuff I DO get to do this year...

On , PapaSmurf said...
List? What are these list everyone speaks of? I come from the old school of "Make it up as you go along".

On , siliconchef said...
Drum circle ... yes, we will attend the drum circle. I don't anything as wacky as last year's drum apparatus, but I will still bring drum.

On , gfmorris said...
"List? What are these list everyone speaks of? I come from the old school of 'Make it up as you go along'." "Son, I graduated from the Indiana Jones School of Management. Our motto: Plan B? We're still working on Plan A." *ahem* I make lists, but I rarely follow through.

On , domesticat said...
Thomas: that is why you're the Visionary Leader ™ and we're the grunts that find ways to make it all work for ya. ;)