It's been a strange week.

Went to my 20-year high school reunion last weekend. I thought perhaps, that after 20 years, the specific high school experience would be not as important to people as having grown up together; the fact that some of these folks went to school K through 12 with me would mean more than the rest. A lot of them were my good friends until middle school when, alarmingly, appearance became more important than... well than anything else. I was wrong. Several people with whom I had been very good friends as a child just seemed remote and uncomfortable. Maybe it was just them. On the other hand, I was pleased to discover that Craig Ruffolo is just a really nice guy, and Josh and Brenda and Charles, among others, continue to be very cool and I was happy to reconnect with them.

The picnic on Sunday, however, was much more laid back. Everyone's kids were running around together. Joe Poppas and I geeked out on SF for a good 45 minutes. Made me feel better about the whole thang.

The strangest moment of the entire weekend was when someone I had considered to be my personal tormentor, the overly handsome male peer in high school whose pointed comments about my appearance and intelligence always stung fiercely (WS for those who would know him), who continued his reign of abuse long after the generic cuts of middle school had ended.... well, he came up to me and said he just wanted to say hello before I left the picnic on Sunday. I was floored. Dumbfounded. If I'd had any idea that he would come up to me, I would have had some pithy offhand remark at the ready. But instead, I made polite conversation, and left in a state of shock. I asked Matt if he thought maybe he'd wanted to say he was sorry; Matt said perhaps that was the apology.

Go figure.

Regardless, I'm done with summer. Bring on the snow!

It was, at least, entertaining in Denver. I'll never forget drinky time.

Home from Denver and Worldcon.

Fun little fact about the Mile High City: it takes 3 months to acclimate to the altitude, till the nausea and fatigue and general malaise (genius or no) finally relent, due to the extra pint of blood your body creates to port around the necessary oxygen for day-to-day functioning. So going there for 6 days is just long enough to truly experience what high altitude feels like. Not a great place to be hungover. Fortunately I managed to go to bed early the first few nights, not get too saucy the big nights, and by the time Sunday rolled around I was going to bed right after dinner. Makes me feel old, but I'm not suffering quite as much, perhaps, as some of my counterparts.

Got to:

See Daryl Gregory again and do an interview with him. He's fun and smart and writes great stories; go read one now.

Hang out with the other 2/3 of my dastardly trio: Blake Charlton and Paolo Bacigalupi. They are just a hoot, and if I could bottle the fun we have I'd be a millionaire.

Saw Jay Lake who again reminded me how cool he is. Never fails. Talked to: Annalee of I09 about blogging and journalism, who patiently dealt with my barrage of questions; David Louis Edelman; Kim Greyson; John Picacio, still the hardest working artist out there; Lou Anders, who made me feel like I might be on track after all; of course all the off-site Locus folks like Gary Wolfe, Mark Kelly, Jonathan Strahan, Graham Sleight, Beth Gwinn; the Hades of Edge SF, who are a couple of the nicest people you could hope to meet; Irene Gallo; Liz Gorinsky, who once again managed to lead the late-night breakfast charge (yay Liz!); Jeremy Lassen; Chris Roberson & Allison Baker (holla!); Vivian Perry, who came to my rescue with a Hugo Awards ceremony dress loan; hmm, who am I forgetting? A ton of people, I'm sure, but it was great to see everyone.

Of course there were many meetings and interviews and publishing discussions and gossip and panels and I am so tired now. But happy I went.

If I can get my butt in gear I will post photos.

Toodles.