It’s on again (and HavenCon report)

We have a new “go” date for my neck surgery:  Tuesday, May 5th.  After the surgeon got all in a flap about my blood work, I spent a day running back and forth between him and my family doctor, who examined me, looked at the lab results, and didn’t seem very excited about any of it, which I would expect because he’s a phlegmatic kind of guy.  He ordered a re-do of the blood chemistry and when everything came back within limits, as he expected it would, he wrote a letter to the surgeon telling him to chill out and put me back on the schedule.  So then I got to have a squabble with the scheduler, who tried to put it on for a April 21st, a day L will be out of town on business.  I explained very pointedly that wasn’t going to fly, and she got a bit huffy but went away and eventually came back with the May 5th date.  This also makes the blood bank happy, because they could get me onto their schedule to pull more platelets out of me before I have to take a break and recuperate.  I had this plaintive call from them last week:  “couldn’t you please come in and donate this week because Easter and we’ll need supplies??” And I couldn’t do it Saturday because—I’ll explain why in a minute—but I agreed to go next Saturday.

I didn’t go to the blood bank Saturday because I agreed to take M to HavenCon, a new (first-year) con in Austin.  There are several other cons in Austin during the year, but HavenCon markets itself as LGBTQ-friendly, and since M is currently identifying as bi/questioning, that’s right up there.  They had a good turnout for a first-year event, with minimal fuckups and not too many first-year mistakes.  M cosplayed Killua from Hunter x Hunter and was very pleased to have her cosplay recognized by someone—which was indeed a thing, because Hunter x Hunter is obscure so having anyone recognize her character was an achievement.  We went to two or three sessions including a really good panel on bi visibility and representation (recording of the whole session is here, about 45 minutes and lots of fun), wandered the dealers’ room a while, where I dropped about a hundred dollars on art and things for her.  We left about mid-afternoon because my hips were sore and she was getting blisters.  Still, she was happy with the day and is already talking about wanting to go to Wizard World Austin again at Halloween.  And HavenCon organizers sounded like they were successful enough they’re gonna go again next year, so that can be a thing.

Con-going seems to be turning into a thing that M and I do rather than L doing it; I’m more sympathetic and in-tune with the fandoms she’s into, and I am better at picking up on the finer points of fandom.  This is good, because M has other things she and L do together so I’m happy to have something she and I can share.  I guess one year I’m going to have to stump up for taking her to something like Dragon Con so she can see the big leagues of cosplay.

I also dropped a word of interest with Weird Girls, a YouTube channel and related Web site of which I’ve become a fan, saying I’d like to work with them if they have something I can contribute to.  They’ve had a standing general request out for contributors, and I kinda would like to have a role in helping them succeed.  The person I talked to said there might be a thing or two I could help with, so I wrote them an email expressing interest and now we’ll see whether anything comes of it.