I'm Back, and Stuff

[kelly_chambliss]

I'm home from my academic conference, where I had a fine time.

My paper went well; there were about 20 people in the audience (okay, 14 of them were my friends, but since I met most of them at this and similar conferences in years past, I think they count as attendees in a professional sense, too. We're all doing similar academic work). I heard some excellent papers overall, and for once, I did not buy a single book.

Every evening, I and three or four of my favorite women have a tradition of meeting in the hotel bar to drink and discuss academic and personal things. We enjoyed ourselves, even though two of us really horrified a third when we said that we had moral objections to the whole institution of marriage. "You don't mean it; that's just the demon rum talking," the third said, and ordered everyone another round.

I always feel academically energized after one of these events. Maybe I'll let go of my HP obsession long enough to write an article or two this summer.

The plane trips home were totally uneventful, but I was so tired once I unpacked that I took a nap for over three hours. I generally don't like naps, because I feel like a cranky child when I wake up, and I end up staying awake half the night. And sure enough, here it is 11:30 p.m. and I'm no longer sleepy (and I'd be irritable if given half an excuse). But I'm a night-owl who often stays up half the night anyway, so it doesn't matter.

Last year at this conference, I refused to pay the hotel's exorbitant daily internet rates and so had to rely on the kindness of free wifi cafes (of which there were few). The withdrawal pangs weren't worth the savings, so this year, I knuckled under to corporate greed and paid the fee. I didn't spend as much time on-line as I would have liked (there was drinking to be done), but I did have the chance to read a fic or two. So here is. . .

A Fic Rec: I've waxed rhapsodic here before about the Daily Deviant's March birthday bash, where people got to remix previous fic and art. Here's another fine and clever story, with witty hyperlink art and a sexual, confident Minerva: A Birthday Present

Other News from Minerva-World:
--Don't forget: prompt posting is going on at minerva_fest.
--This week's prompt at snape100 (the Snape drabble community) is "Snape/McGonagall"! Now that I am writing-deadline free (for the moment), I may have to answer this siren call.

Comments

[minervas-eule.livejournal.com]

Good to hear, you had a pleasant time and your cold did not get worse; to meet up with people one gets to see just on these conferences, is the fun part about them.
Nice to have you back here, though ;-)) !
(I had a great time these last days, too )

[kellychambliss.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to be back, too! And it's nice to hear that you had a good holiday, too. Did you have all your children at home? (lovely icon pic)

[minervas-eule.livejournal.com]

Did you have all your children at home?
Sadly: No, two out of three not at home....the first time, that we were not complete; but the eldest had only just left for Munich, to take her oral master's examination, which she passed last Monday, and my son does have his first real girl-friend since a few months now, and choose to spend easter with her and her family in Berlin *sigh: one usually does loose sons to the other family....*

As the traditional cakes (yeast-dough, one filled with poppey-seed, the other with sour-cream) has been much too big for just the three of us, I simply had to share it with Susanne and her husband, didn't I *ggg* (which I did after volunteering to sing in the protestant mass, being rewarded by her playing Vierne on the big organ !!)

[kellychambliss.livejournal.com]

I think you sound very generous indeed /g/, and I'm sure Susanne (and her husband) appreciated it.

The cakes sound lovely. I'm an absolute sucker for anything with poppyseeds in it. I may already have mentioned to you about my one trip to Munich, when I walked from one strudel stand to another, buying poppyseed slices. Delicious. I have a wonderful poppyseed cake recipe that I inherited from my mother -- dense and dark and moist, and I can eat practically the whole thing by myself.

[minervas-eule.livejournal.com]

I did remember your mentioning of the Mohnstrudel in Munich while I was baking it - I would have loved to share some with you, very, very much.... but, alas, it is not possible *sigh* I was not so keen on sharing with Susanne's husband *gg*

[pale-moonlite.livejournal.com]

even though two of us really horrified a third when we said that we had moral objections to the whole institution of marriage.

Hehe. I would have thought that's only logical (to have moral objections, not to be horrified).

[kellychambliss.livejournal.com]

Well, the one who felt strongly about the necessity of marriage (at least if you plan to have children) is 82. I'm not being "age-ist" /g/ -- she herself insists that it's "generational differences" that account for our disagreements about cultural things. I don't think she was all that shocked at my views (she's used to what she calls my "lesbian radicalism"); it was our other friend who really stunned her -- a 30-something woman with a fairly new baby who says that she and her husband only married so that he could get a green card (otherwise they would have stayed happily single together).

[tetleythesecond]

Hooray for a fun conference! And post-paper-session drinking buddies! Good to hear that you were healthy enough to deliver your presentation and enjoy yourself. As far as audiences go, I'd take quality over quantity any time. And while it would be an extremely sad thing to have less fanfiction from you over the summer if you decide to write articles instead, we probably should be generous and happy for your academic field because it'll be its gain ...

I hear you on the hotel WiFi. There are some hotels over here that charge up to eight Euros an hour (I've even seen thirteen, but that's not the kind of hotels at which I stay). I gave in to the temptation and got myself a USB modem for mobile internet access when my mobile phone carrier last tried to tempt me into extending my contract by offering me a widget. It's heaven. Yes, one can spend lonely hotel evenings without doing work fanficcing, emailing, LJing or Skyping home. But that doesn't mean one has to.

[kellychambliss.livejournal.com]

By Thursday evening, I felt more or less back to normal. I did have to leave one session due to a coughing fit, but the paper was only marginally interesting, anyway.

Hotel living is definitely more fun when the internet is connected, although eight euros an hour. . .wow. Luckily, my hotel wasn't that bad -- it was about 12 euros a day. But considering that internet access is free in many less-expensive hotels (not the big-city conference hubs), I hate to pay for it.

As for my academic commitment. . .well, we'll see how I feel come summer! But I really do need to get at least one article out. I have one I've been working on in a desultory fashion for a while; I could probably have it in publishable shape by summer's end. And it's not as if I'd need to spend every day on it.

[tetleythesecond]

That sounds like a good compromise! One article to make the academic field and the conscience happy, and one or two fanfics to make us all happy. Besides, you can't very well /not/ write for the Minerva Fest. And just I read that the femgenficathon is coming up again.

[diana-hawthorne.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you had a good time!!

[kellychambliss.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I really did.

[therealsnape.livejournal.com]

Internet certainly has done a lot to improve the leisure hours of business travel - but there's nothing better than a drinking buddy or two.
Glad the presentation went smoothly and that the conference was such a succes.
And of course we must all agree with tetleythesecond that HP's loss is academics gain, and be very generous and understanding about it. For now, I'll just stick to optimism: the summer is a long time off, long enough for the ardour to cool ... *grin*

[kellychambliss.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm back for 24 hours and already the passion is dying /g/. But I will have to do something scholarly this summer. Still, as I told Tetley, it won't take all my waking hours. . .

[the-winterwitch.livejournal.com]

Good to have you back, and nice to hear you had a good time!