Thursday, and an Introduction

Hi, everyone! I'm a new addition here, so here's a short introduction before I get into my Thursday experiences.

I'm a recent college graduate and a Boston area resident, which means I've been commuting in after work for the last couple days. Tonight I drive the car in and start the hard-core attendance-- no more turning into a pumpkin when the T closes! (For anyone who's curious, driving in Boston is, in my opinion, just as nasty for the locals. The only difference is that you know to expect the unexpected.)

In fandom terms, I'm relatively new, having just started attending cons in the last year or so-- but I've been reading and writing SF for very close to as long as I can remember. I just started submitting stories earlier this year, so I'm hoping for some good tips from the panels here. Outside of SF, I work in the environmental sector and am involved with the Ig Nobel Prizes. I also keep my own weblog over at LiveJournal as gjules. And finally, I should mention one last thing-- I'm not a general! Despite the confusing "Gen," I'm just someone with the first name Genevieve, who felt that Genevieve Jules was a bit too close to Mary Sue for comfort.

Thursday I arrived after six and went to buy discounted parking passes, after which I went to meet a friend who was volunteering in the con suite. We headed out to the Prudential Center food court, where I started to demolish a plate of chicken quesidillas (highly recommended). My hands were nice and messy when my friend saw a couple old friends and called them over to say hi. It was after I'd been introduced that I looked down at con badges and realized we were talking to Jim MacDonald and Debra Doyle. I think I managed not to go fangirl, but let me tell you, it was a close call.

After that, I went to George Scithers' panel on starting a magazine. The short version: don't. The long version also seemed to be don't. If I were interested in starting a magazine, I would have found it quite depressing. As I'm not, I found it interesting-- and vicariously depressing.

I then went on to "Whose Line is It Anyway?" where a raucous good time was had by all, until everyone was chased out by the horrifying suggestions for casting Sandman: The Movie. Cyndi Lauper! Keanu Reeves! Enough to turn anyone's stomach. After some further wandering and much looking around, I headed down to the T to make it back home before it closed.

For Friday? I'm about to go brave Boston traffic to head in for tonight's events-- so look for me tomorrow afternoon.