The WisCon That Almost Wasn't , Part Two

Saturday morning, Alex's fever was broken. That was good, as we could stay in Madison.

We spent the morning at the Farmer's Market. We didn't buy much, just a few jars of jam and a lily of the valley plant. Then we met a couple of people from the OWW for lunch. (Hi again to Jodi, Holly, and everyone else I met at WisCon!) Alex fell asleep shortly lunch and slept through most of it. Afterwards, I had my first two panels, the ones on Keeping Up with Science and Resolving Time Travel Paradoxes. They went well, though I think I contributed more to the first panel than the second. I also listened to a panel on bisexual characters in fiction. Meanwhile, Eugene took care of Alex, since we weren't sure if he was ready for daycare. That meant I had to leave my laptop in the hotel room so Alex could listen to "Yellow Submarine," so I don't have any notes from Saturday's panels.

After the last panel, we met some college friends for dinner. We walked around the Capitol building for a while; Alex proved he was back to himself by climbing all the stairs. When we stopped at a coffeehouse for dessert, he took my brownie. I guess it was more appealing than his cookie.

I went to some of the parties while Eugene put Alex to bed, but I didn't drink anything and was back in the room around 11:00. I'm fun like that. ;)

Sunday--We had breakfast at the hotel, then brought Alex to the daycare center at the con. One of the babysitters remembered him from last year. I sat with him for a while until he was content playing with some of their toys, then went to my final panel on Keeping Science in Science Fiction. Our moderator never showed up, but another panelist took over, and it went pretty well. I'm glad to say that people were engaged in all of the panels I was on.

Alex napped early again, sleeping through part of the lunch break. We decided to let him sleep and had lunch by ourselves at a Himalayan restaurant on State Street. Then Eugene bummed around for a while on his own. I wound up missing the first panel of the afternoon, since our lunch was late, so I stopped at the Soap Opera and shopped. I also brought Alex some leftovers from lunch, but after two bites of flatbread he refused the rest. I did take notes at the final two panels I attended (Wish Fulfillment in Fiction and Dear Writer, I Don't Want Kids!); soon I'll upload them to my website.

We met some friends for dinner at Ella's Deli. Alex really loved Eugene's meal, or at least the lunch meat. He's quite the carnivore! Then we gave him a few rides on the carousel; he didn't want to leave. I missed the guest of honor speeches, but I did get to go to some of the parties. They had a fancy dress party and a belly dancing party, among others. Those two were the most fun. I met a few more writers and tried belly dancing briefly. Since I missed part of the lesson, I was as graceful as an elephant with a broken leg. It would be fun to take lessons if I had the time. Of course, that'll never happen.

Monday: We checked out and had breakfast at a pancake house. Alex threw a tantrum because he was hungry, but chocolate chip pancakes and an apple waffle cured that. We planned to visit the zoo, but again he napped early. So we let him sleep in the carseat and visited Borders separately. (One of us stayed with Alex while the other browsed.) We drove around campus for a bit; it's changed so much since we were there. We did stop briefly at Memorial Union, where we got to see a mother duck with lots of baby ducklings--at least fifteen.

Then it was time to bid Madison a fond farewell and head home. We stopped in Janesville to eat and let Alex run around. He had a great time but fell asleep again on the way home. We got in late, but still managed to get most of the unpacking done before bed.

So, that was my WisCon. Sorry I don't have pictures. I did pick up several books in the dealer's room; I plan to give two of them in later contests. While I'm glad to say Alex is better, I seem to have the flu. Taking nighttime medicine at work was a big mistake; I was very groggy and sleepy today. I couldn't even write during lunch! If I'm not feeling better tomorrow, I might just bring Alex to daycare and head back home for some rest.